Billionaire Bill Ackman Just Sold These 2 Stocks After They Disappointed in 2025. Here's Where He's Invested for 2026. | The Motley Fool

Bill Ackman is one of the most widely followed billionaire hedge fund managers in the world. Not only does his fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, perform well relative to its benchmarks, he's also very outspoken and shares his reasoning behind his fund's investments. The fund typically holds just a dozen or so high conviction investments, and Ackman and his team like to take long-term views on the stocks they buy. But sometimes it makes sense to sell an investment . If an investment thesis fails to play out or no longer rings true, it can be better to ditch the stock and redeploy the capital in other companies. Such was the case recently when Pershing Square exited its positions in two stocks. Heading into 2026, the team can focus on a few big investments driving returns for its shareholders. Image source: Getty Images. Dropping one of its longest held stocks Pershing Square finally sold the rest of its shares of Chipotle ( CMG +0.55%) earlier this quarter. The hedge fund initially invested in Chipotle in 2016, following two separate outbreaks of E. coli linked to its restaurants. Ackman and the team were confident Chipotle could recover and return to the strong same-store sales growth it saw before the incidents. Indeed, under CEO Brian Niccol, Chipotle averaged 9% same-store sales growth from his start through the end of 2024. But the restaurant has struggled in 2025. Comparable store sales declined through the first half of the year. For the third-quarter, comparable sales improved just 0.3%, but management warned it expects same-store sales to decline again in Q4 in the mid-single-digit range. NYSE: CMG Key Data Points Meanwhile, with its declining same-store sales, Chipotle isn't in a position to raise prices to offset the rising food costs of the last few years. As a result, it's faced pressure on its margins. Operating margin fell 800 basis points through the first nine months of the year to 16.9%. Pershing Square investment analyst Anthony Massaro pointed out the stock now trades for around 25 times forward earnings , which makes it historically cheap. However, the analysts don't have enough confidence it can return to its historical growth trends to justify staying invested in the stock. The turnaround story that's not turning fast enough Ackman and his team saw an opportunity to invest in Nike ( NKE 2.36%) last year, as the company looked to turn things around after a few managerial blunders. With the installation of veteran exec Elliott Hill at the end of 2024, Pershing Square saw fit to double down on Nike by selling its shares in the stock in exchange for deep in the money call options. That also freed up some capital for investment elsewhere. But the hedge fund exited those options contracts this quarter, as they're no longer confident in the turnaround. The biggest concern for the investment team is Nike's ability to return to its pre-COVID profit margins. It built a high margin business based on its brand...

Preview: ~500 words