Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Bets Big On Retail With Stakes In Coca-Cola, Costco, And Walmart Among Top Holdin

A significant portion of the portfolio of the hedge fund established by billionaire Ray Dalio is comprised of consumer stocks.

As of the latest 13F report from Bridgewater Associates for the third quarter, 14.59% of the hedge fund’s portfolio was invested in consumer discretionary stocks, and another 26.04% invested into consumer staples stocks. That’s 40.63% of the entire hedge fund holdings.

Also Read: No More ‘Cash Is Trash’: Billionaire Ray Dalio Says Cash Is Good But Only Temporarily — Here’s How He’s Positioning His Portfolio

Per Bridgewater Associates’ latest 13F filing, updated for Q3 2023, the firm adjusted its portfolio in favor of the consumer staples, discretionary, healthcare and IT sectors – a trend that can be observed to have begun in Q3 2020. Financials dominated the Bridgewater Associates’ portfolio until then.

Rank	Ticker	Security	Sector	% of Portfolio	Prev. % of Port.	% Change
1	IEMG	iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF	Finance	5.52%	5.46%	6.98%
2	IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	Finance	5.31%	5.54%	1.55%
3	PG	Proctor And Gamble	Consumer Staples	4.23%	4.33%	4.00%
4	KO	Coca-Cola	Consumer Staples	3.04%	3.05%	9.51%
5	COST	Costco	Consumer Staples	2.83%	2.69%	2.53%
6	PEP	Pepsico	Consumer Staples	2.74%	2.94%	4.43%
7	WMT	Walmart	Consumer Staples	2.60%	2.49%	5.04%
8	SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF	Finance	2.57%	2.84%	-3.84%
9	JNJ	Johnson & Johnson	Healthcare	2.56%	3.25%	-14.37%
10	MCD	McDonald’s	Consumer Discretionary	2.36%	2.61%	4.44%
11	PDD	Pinduoduo	Consumer Discretionary	1.61%	1.17%	-0.83%
12	VWO	Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF	Finance	1.42%	1.97%	-23.91%
13	SBUX	Starbucks	Consumer Discretionary	1.40%	1.66%	-6.89%
14	GOOGL	Alphabet/Google	Communications	1.25%	1.45%	-19.44%
15	CVS	CVS Health	Consumer Staples	1.22%	1.15%	7.58%

Created by Author, Data Source: WhaleWisdom

Above are Bridgewater Associates’ top 15 holdings as of Q3 2023. It is clear how heavily bent the portfolio is towards the consumer sector.

The hedge fund has increased its stake in consumer stocks such as Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG), Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST), PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP), Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), McDonald’s Corp (NYSE:MCD) and CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS).

Bridgewater Associates did shed some of its holdings in consumer stocks PDD Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PDD) and Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX). Meanwhile, healthcare sector stock, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), also saw some offloading from the hedge fund’s portfolio.

The consumer sector-heavy portfolio comes at a time when inflation (as measured by changes in the Consumer Price Index) in the U.S. came in at 3.2% In October, down from September’s 3.7%.

Over the past few years, 74-year-old Dalio has gradually scaled back his formal role at the firm. He resigned as CEO in 2017 and stepped down as Co-CIO last October to begin retirement. However, he remains involved in a more informal capacity as a CIO mentor, offering advice and meeting with investors.

Photo: Web Summit on Flickr

COSTCostco Wholesale Corp