Tiger Global among hedge funds riding AI mania to May gains

Tiger Global Management and other technology-focused stock hedge funds jumped in May, adding to a strong 2023 performance that’s helping them crawl back from last year’s losses.

Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global rose 6.5% last month, boosting its return for the year to 15.5%, according to people familiar with the matter. Alex Sacerdote’s Whale Rock Capital Management returned 14.4% in its public equity portfolio in May, bringing its year-to-date return to 23%.

Returns were driven by market enthusiasm for generative artificial intelligence, which has helped boost technology shares more broadly. Whale Rock and many other hedge funds hold stock in Nvidia Corp., an AI-linked chipmaker that climbed 36% in May, extending its 2023 advance to 159%.

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Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. were Tiger Global’s top two holdings at the end of the first quarter, regulatory filings show. Those stocks — along with Tesla Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Adobe Inc. — were among the S&P 500’s top performers last month, helping the benchmark eke out a 0.25% gain. Three-quarters of the companies in the index declined during the period. 

Many funds, however, are still below their high-water mark after losing money last year, and in some cases, in 2021 as well.