Billionaire Bill Ackman Dumped His Fund's Stake in Chipotle and Has Piled Into This Dual-Industry Leader Over the Previous 3 Quarters

Amid the heart of earnings season lies one of Wall Street's most important quarterly data releases: the filing of Form 13Fs with regulators. A 13F allows investors to track which stocks Wall Street's brightest asset managers bought and sold in the latest quarter (in this instance, the fourth quarter).

On Feb. 17, the 13F filing from one of Wall Street's most-followed billionaire investors, Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, showed he completely exited his former top holding, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG). At the same time, Ackman was a busy buyer of a "magnificent" dual-industry leader for the second time over the last three quarters.

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Chipotle gets sent to the chopping block

As recently as March 31, 2024, Chipotle Mexican Grill was Pershing Square Capital Management's No. 1 holding by market value. But as of Dec. 31, 2025, Ackman had overseen the disposal of the 21,541,177 remaining shares his fund had held (as of Sept. 30).

The logical reason for Ackman to sell is to cash in his chips after an outsize gain. Between Sept. 30, 2016, and the end of 2025, Chipotle shares more than quadrupled. Chipotle handily outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 over nine years, reflecting its focus on responsibly raised meat products and its out-of-the-box innovation, such as its mobile order-focused drive-thru lanes ("Chipotlanes").

But Ackman may have had other incentives to head for the exit.

For instance, Chipotle Mexican Grill's comparable restaurant sales cratered last year. Following years of high single-digit comparable restaurant sales growth, revenue from existing stores fell 1.7% in 2025. Despite passing higher prices along to consumers, a notable decline in transactions is weighing on the company's operating results. It would appear that inflationary pressures have begun to take a toll.

Furthermore, Chipotle's stock is arguably no longer a bargain absent its supercharged comparable restaurant sales growth. A forward price-to-earnings ratio of 26 is a notable premium for a restaurant chain whose existing-store sales fell last year.

Image source: Amazon.

Magnificent Seven member Amazon has billionaire Bill Ackman's full attention

At the other end of the spectrum, Pershing Square Capital Management's billionaire boss can't seem to get enough of "Magnificent Seven" stock Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). After opening a 5,823,316-share position during the second quarter and maintaining this stake throughout the third quarter, Ackman loaded up another 3,784,508 shares in the December-ended quarter. The more than 9.6 million shares held make Amazon the new No. 3 holding for Pershing Square.

Most consumers are familiar with Amazon because of its world-leading online marketplace. According to data from Forbes Advisor and Analyzify, Amazon was responsible for 37.6% of U.S. retail e-commerce in 2024.

But while e-commerce generates a boatload of revenue, it's often a low-margin operating segment. The bulk of Amazon's operating income and cash flow originates from cloud infrastructure service platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is the leading global cloud infrastructure platform by total spend, and its growth rate is reaccelerating thanks to the incorporation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and large language model solutions.

Additionally, Amazon is historically inexpensive, relative to its future cash flow. Whereas Amazon's median multiple to year-end cash flow was 30 throughout the 2010s, shares can be purchased right now for just shy of 10 times forecast cash flow in 2027.

Sean Williams has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short March 2026 $42.50 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.