Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, is known for making concentrated bets on high-quality businesses with strong competitive advantages and long-term cash-flow potential. His latest portfolio moves show a clear preference for companies where market fears may have created attractive entry points. According to the source material, Ackman added six new holdings to the Pershing Square portfolio.
1. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)
Netflix is perhaps the most notable new addition because Ackman has owned the stock before. He previously exited the position in 2022 after the company’s growth outlook deteriorated sharply. His decision to buy Netflix again suggests he now believes the market’s concerns about the streaming company’s growth and engagement are excessive.
- Netflix has fallen substantially from its highs, creating a potentially attractive valuation.
- Ackman believes investors are focusing too heavily on watch time without considering the quality of engagement or geographic changes in Netflix’s subscriber base.
- Netflix continues to expand globally, generate strong free cash flow and benefit from its dominant position in streaming.
- Ackman believes short-form video is more likely to take viewing time from traditional television and weaker streaming platforms than from Netflix.
2. S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI)
S&P Global is another company Ackman appears to view as temporarily misunderstood. Concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt financial-data products such as Capital IQ have weighed on the stock.
- AI-related fears pushed S&P Global’s valuation significantly lower.
- Ackman believes investors are overestimating the threat AI poses to the company’s core business.
- Much of S&P Global’s market-intelligence revenue comes from proprietary and curated data embedded deeply in customer workflows.
- Even if AI disrupts some parts of Capital IQ, the company’s benchmark, ratings and other businesses remain major sources of long-term earnings growth.
3. Mastercard (NYSE: MA)
Mastercard is a classic high-quality network business and fits closely with Ackman’s preference for companies that possess powerful competitive moats.
- Mastercard operates one of the world’s dominant global payment networks.
- he continued shift from cash to digital payments can increase transaction volumes over the long term.
- stablecoins could actually expand the addressable market for payment networks rather than destroy their business.
- Agentic commerce could potentially increase digital transactions as AI agents make purchasing easier and more frequent.
- Rather than replacing Mastercard, new payment technologies could increase the total size of the digital-payments ecosystem.
4. Visa (NYSE: V)
Visa was added alongside Mastercard as part of Ackman’s broader investment in global payments.
- Visa has an enormous global payments network and benefits from the continuing digitization of consumer and commercial payments.
- Cash remains a large part of global transactions, leaving significant room for electronic payments to expand.
- Ackman believes stablecoins are more likely to create new payment opportunities in areas where traditional card networks are less established.
- The growth of agentic commerce could increase the number and frequency of digital transactions.
- Visa’s network effects make it difficult to replicate, giving the company a strong long-term competitive moat.
5. Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE)
Intercontinental Exchange is a new type of investment for Ackman but fits his preference for predictable, cash-generative businesses.
- The company has major positions in exchanges and financial-market infrastructure.
- Favorable market conditions and long-term secular trends could support continued growth.
- ICE to achieve low- to mid-teens growth under the favorable conditions he outlined.
- Exchange businesses can benefit from scale, network effects and high barriers to entry.
- Ackman views ICE as a relatively simple and predictable free-cash-flow-generating business whose valuation has been pressured by concerns he considers unwarranted.
6. Alcon (NYSE: ALC)
Alcon is perhaps the least familiar name among Ackman’s six new investments. The company specializes in ophthalmology and has leading positions in surgical vision, vision care and contact lenses.
- Alcon has a strong competitive position in a large and growing healthcare market.
- Its surgical-vision business is supported by a large installed base of more than 30,000 capital-equipment units.
- That installed equipment creates demand for high-margin consumables, giving Alcon an attractive recurring-revenue component.
- Ackman’s thesis anticipates mid-teens earnings growth, potentially combined with an expansion in the company’s valuation multiple.
- Alcon combines healthcare demand, a strong brand, an established global commercial network and recurring consumables revenue.
Ackman’s latest purchases reveal a common theme: he appears to be buying businesses where short-term fears have created a disconnect between valuation and long-term fundamentals.
