Amazon, Meta, Microsoft Earnings Put Dan Loeb's Portfolio To The Test

Earnings reports from several key companies in Dan Loeb's Third Point portfolio hit the tape last week, offering fresh insight into holdings that, as of the fourth quarter of 2024, included major names across sectors.

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN: Loeb cut the stake from 3,700,000 shares in the third quarter of 2024 to 3,450,000 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

On May 1, the company reported first-quarter net sales of $155.7 billion, beating a Street consensus estimate of $155.04 billion and EPS of $1.59, exceeding the street consensus estimate of $1.36.
Amazon guided for second-quarter net sales of $159 billion to $164 billion, up 7% to 11% vs street view of $160.91 billion.
Amazon said the guidance is subject to “unpredictable” items that include foreign exchange rates, changes in geopolitical conditions and “tariff and trade policies.”
CEO Andy Jassy predicted a potential shift in consumer behavior reminiscent of the pandemic era while asserting that the e-commerce giant is doubling down on affordability.
JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth highlighted Amazon's Q1 revenue and operating income which exceeded the high end of guidance, with no significant negative impact from macroeconomic or tariff issues. He also pointed to AWS margins that reached an all-time high.
Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett labelled Amazon’s first-quarter as “on the steady side of OK,” but flagged the potential for impacts from tariffs which “could start hitting soon.”
RBC Captial Markets analyst Brad Erickson also highlighted the growth in AWS backlog and expects acceleration in the second half of the year.
Year to date (YTD), Amazon fell about 17.11%, vs. the ProShares Online Retail ETF ONLN, which declined about 4.70% over the same time frame.

Meta Platforms, Inc. META: According to the 13F filings released on Feb. 14, Loeb increased his stake in Facebook's parent company to 665,000, up from 545,000 in the third quarter of 2024, a 22% increase.

Meta reported first-quarter revenue of $42.31 billion, beating analyst estimates of $41.39 billion and EPs of $6.43 per share, easily beating analyst estimates of $5.21 per share.
Meta expects second-quarter revenue of $42.5 billion to $45.5 billion versus Benzinga Pro estimates of $44.06 billion.
Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan pointed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s list of five AI-driven opportunities: improved advertising, more engaging user experiences, business messaging, Meta AI and AI devices – notably, Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, which saw three times sales and more than four times active users year-over-year.
BofA Securities analysts see Meta as well-positioned to thrive in a softer macro-economic environment and highlighted the company’s capex spend as “building a foundation for long-term growth.”
Needham analyst Laura Martin questioned the company’s long-term terminal value, noting that Meta does not control its distribution or content and faces stiff competition from Apple, TikTok and YouTube.

Microsoft Corporation MSFT: Loeb slashed his stake in the company from 870,000 shares in the third quarter of 2024 to 600,000 in the fourth quarter.

The company reported third-quarter revenue of $70.07 billion, beating a Street consensus estimate of $68.43 billion and EPS of $3.46, beating a Street consensus estimate of $3.22.
Microsoft says its focus on cloud services and customer-centric solutions could help the company not only survive a recession but also grow through it.
Microsoft guided fourth-quarter cloud margins to about 67%, with intelligent cloud revenue expected between $28.75 billion and $29.05 billion.
Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan says that despite macroeconomic uncertainty and potential tariff risks, the company is set up to post free cash flow growth of 3% and earnings-per-share growth of 17% in fiscal year 2026, with Azure maintaining a 30% growth rate.
KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader writes that the quarter highlights a principal risk in not being overweight MSFT right now: We have no visibility into capacity unlocks. Microsoft’s return on investment math for AI is still difficult to make sense of, and there could be better stocks to play “offense” with.
Microsoft-Backed OpenAI has agreed to buy Windsurf for about $3 billion to take on competition in the market for AI-driven coding assistants.
YTD, Microsoft has risen around 3.12%, outperforming the iShares U.S. Technology ETF IYW, which lost about 9.93% over the same time frame.

Fortive Corporation FTV: In the fourth quarter of 2024, the investor acquired a stake of 1,900,000 shares in the company.

Fortive reported first quarter adjusted EPS of $0.85, which is in line with the consensus and, sales of $1.47 billion missed the consensus of $1.49 billion.
The company projects second quarter adjusted EPS of $0.85-$0.90 vs. street estimate of $0.98.
The company lowered FY25 adjusted EPS guidance from $4.00-$4.12 to $3.80-$4.00 vs consensus of $4.02.
Fortive appointed Neill Reynolds as CFO of Ralliant, effective June 2, 2025, and announced the filing of a Form 10 registration statement for the planned spin-off of Ralliant.
Barclays analyst Julian Mitchell maintained an Overweight rating and lowered the price forecast from $85 to $84.
YTD, Fortive declined around 10.91%, underperforming the WisdomTree U.S. AI Enhanced Value Fund AIVL, which lost about 0.04% over the same time frame.

Hess Corporation HES: Third Point held 625,000 shares in the company as of the fourth quarter of 2024.

Hess reported first-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.81, which beat the consensus estimate of $1.61 and sales of $2.94 billion, exceeded the estimated $2.71 billion.
The company projects a total production of 480-490 MBOE per day and Exploration and Production Capital and Exploratory Expenditures of $1.27 billion in the second quarter.
YTD, Hess declined around 5.07%, vs. the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF RSPG, which declined about 10.63% over the same time frame.