Is Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) the best growth stock to buy according to George Soros?

We recently published a list of The 10 best growth stocks to buy according to George SorosIn this article, we look at where Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) ranks among the 10 best growth stocks to buy according to George Soros.

The man who ruined the Bank of England

George Soros, the owner of Soros Fund Management, is considered one of the most controversial investors in investment history. The 94-year-old “broke the Bank of England” after allegedly earning $1 billion by short-selling the British pound in 1992. As of September 19, Soros had a net worth of $7.2 billion. He managed client funds in New York from 1969 to 2011.

Soros Fund Management was founded in 1970 and currently manages nearly $28 billion in net assets. The fund is the primary asset manager for Soros' philanthropic venture, the Open Society Foundations (OSF). To date, he has donated more than $32 billion of his wealth to the OSF. Last year, Soros passed the fund on to his eldest son, Alexander Soros, who now wants to take his philanthropic efforts to a new level.

The investment philosophy of George Soros

Soros is known for staying ahead of the market. In the past, he has made financial decisions after evaluating market feedback and predicting market activity, which has made or saved him millions, if not billions. This is what he calls the “reflexivity theory.” By applying this theory to finance and investing, Soros values ​​assets based on market feedback, predicts market bubbles, and takes advantage of market opportunities. A recent example of this was when Soros withdrew a staggering $73 million from two major technology companies just before the tech downturn in mid-July.

Soros also uses another method he calls the Soros Method to predict events in the financial markets based on current data. He then tests his theories on small investments, and if the theory seems to work, he increases his position or the size of his investment. However, this does not mean that Soros never failed or faced risks during his time as an investor. He has made numerous costly decisions from which he has learned lessons and has even cited them in his books. Here is an excerpt from his book, Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve:

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You could say that Soros' degree in philosophy helped him navigate his way into the financial markets. Now that we've covered Soros' investment philosophy, let's take a look at the 10 best growth stocks according to George Soros.

Our methodology

To determine the top 10 growth stocks according to George Soros, we examined his 13F portfolio and selected his top 10 growth stocks as of Q2 2024.

Why do we care about the stocks hedge funds invest in? The reason is simple: Our research has shown that we can outperform the market by mimicking the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks each quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (Further details can be found here).

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Value of Soros Fund Management shares: $56.21 million

Number of hedge fund owners: 308

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a technology company specializing in e-commerce, online retail, streaming, and data cloud services. Its e-commerce platform is available in 20 countries and ships to over 100 countries. Its proprietary cloud service, Amazon Web Services, is used by millions of active customers and has over 130,000 AWS Partners in 200 countries.

Founded in 1994, the company is on track to capture over 40% of the e-commerce market in the United States. As for its cloud segment, Amazon Web Services (AWS) grew its revenue by 17.2% in the first quarter and 18.8% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. AWS has consistently delivered operating margins of over 30% over the last five quarters, making it a star performer.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is also making progress in the field of AI. In recent months, the company has partnered with AI startups such as Anthropic and signed contracts with the U.S. government to test new AI models. As for AI hardware, the company has produced several AI chips to reduce its dependence on other companies.

Amazon's growth is undeniable, which explains its position in Soros' portfolio. Analysts are bullish on AMZN and their 12-month median price target of $220 suggests an upside potential of 16% from current levels. In total, AMZN was held by 308 hedge funds and Fisher Asset Management was the largest shareholder.

Diamond Hill Select Strategy stated the following about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q2 2024 Investor letter:

Total AMZN 7th place on our list of the best growth stocks to buy according to George Soros. While we recognize AMZN's potential as an investment, we believe AI stocks promise higher returns and do so in a shorter time frame. If you're looking for an AI stock that's more promising than AMZN but trades at less than 5x earnings, read our report on the cheapest AI stock.

READ MORE: $30 trillion opportunity: The 15 best humanoid robot stocks to buy, according to Morgan Stanley And According to Jim Cramer, NVIDIA has “become a wasteland”.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published on Insider Monkey.