Billionaire Ken Griffin Sells Amazon Stock and Buys an AI Stock Up 1,030% Since 2024 (Hint: Not Nvidia)
The Motley Fool·2025-12-26 08:55

Group 1: Ken Griffin's Investment Moves - Ken Griffin sold 1.6 million shares of Amazon and purchased 388,000 shares of Palantir Technologies in the third quarter [2][5] - Citadel Advisors, managed by Griffin, has outperformed the S&P 500 by 8 percentage points over the last three years, making Griffin a notable figure for retail investors [1] Group 2: Amazon's Performance - Amazon's revenue increased by 13% to $180 billion in the third quarter, driven by growth in advertising and cloud computing [4] - Operating income rose by 23% to $21.7 billion, with operating margin expanding by 60 basis points [4] - Wall Street estimates an 18% annual earnings growth for Amazon over the next three years, making its current valuation of 33 times earnings appear reasonable [5] Group 3: Amazon's Business Segments - E-commerce: Amazon is the largest online marketplace in North America and Western Europe, utilizing AI for customer service and operational efficiency [6] - Advertising: Amazon is the third-largest ad tech company, leveraging generative AI tools for brand campaigns [6] - Cloud Computing: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest public cloud provider, introducing new AI services and custom AI chips [6] Group 4: Palantir Technologies Overview - Palantir develops data analytics and AI platforms for various sectors, with a focus on ontology-based software [8] - The company was recognized by Forrester Research as the most capable AI/ML platform, surpassing major competitors [9] Group 5: Palantir's Financial Performance - Palantir's revenue rose by 63% to $1.1 billion in the third quarter, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of revenue acceleration [10] - Non-GAAP earnings more than doubled to $0.21 per diluted share, driven by strong demand for its AI platform [10] Group 6: Valuation Concerns for Palantir - Palantir's shares trade at 119 times sales, making it the most expensive stock in the S&P 500 [11] - The stock price has increased 11 times since January 2024, while revenue has increased less than 2 times, indicating a reliance on higher price-to-sales multiples [12] - Concerns exist that Palantir's valuation cannot continue to expand indefinitely, suggesting potential risks for future price corrections [13]