Bill Ackman's new closed-end fund, Pershing Square USA, has put roughly 45% of its portfolio into just three stocks: Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Uber. Ackman detailed the concentrated bet in his first shareholder letter since the fund's IPO, arguing all three can compound earnings quickly while still trading at reasonable multiples.
Bill Ackman has put roughly 45% of Pershing Square USA's assets into three stocks since launching the fund's IPO earlier this year. Investors got their first look at the purchases last month, when Ackman sent his first letter to shareholders since the fund began trading. He said the launch timing worked out well, because the market offered a chance to buy into some of the most promising businesses right now.
Microsoft anchors the portfolio at 17.9%
Microsoft is the largest position, making up 17.9% of the fund's assets. Ackman argues the Microsoft 365 software suite is more resilient to AI disruption than rival software, pointing to Copilot AI, which has more than 30 million paid subscribers after subscriber additions more than doubled sequentially last quarter. That momentum helped the segment's revenue grow 14% year over year last quarter.
Management expects to spend $175 billion during calendar 2026 on Azure capacity for AI training and inference, on top of additional operating-lease expenses. Remaining performance obligations across the software and cloud businesses total $678 billion, which Ackman says can easily support that spending. Even after recent gains, the stock trades at 25 times forward earnings, and Ackman expects earnings per share to compound at about 19% annually over the next three to five years.
Meta's ad business is accelerating
Meta Platforms accounts for 14.7% of the portfolio. According to Ackman: "one of the clearest beneficiaries of AI", the company saw its core advertising business accelerate, with ad sales climbing 30% in the first half of 2026, up from 22% in 2025. AI improvements to Meta's recommendation algorithms are lifting both ad impressions and the average price per ad.
The company also released its Muse AI Agent to the public this year, offering a free tier alongside paid tiers, with potential to generate advertising and affiliate revenue. Its separate Meta AI chatbot has already reached 1 billion users through integration with Instagram and its messaging apps. Ackman expects Meta's earnings per share to grow at a 22% compound rate over the next three to five years, which he says makes its forward P/E of less than 22 look cheap.
Uber rounds out the top three at 12.8%
Ackman says Uber's valuation has become disconnected from its fundamentals amid fears that autonomous vehicles will displace ride-sharing. But he argues that view discounts Uber's value as a demand aggregator for autonomous-vehicle makers. Monthly active users climbed 16% last quarter, and monthly trips per user rose 2%. Gross bookings improved 24% overall. That operating leverage drove 40% year-over-year operating income growth.
With the stock trading near 20 times forward earnings, Ackman believes Uber can grow earnings per share at a 25% rate over the next three to five years if the network keeps strengthening as self-driving cars enter the market.
Source: The Motley Fool
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