David Tepper's Q1 2026 13F moves
TL;DR
Appaloosa Management's Q1 2026 13F-HR (filed 2026-05-15) shows a clean China-to-US-tech rotation: Amazon doubled in weight to become the #1 holding at 15.2% of the $5.93B portfolio, Alibaba trimmed from #1 (10.9%) to #6 (7.3%), Uber added back to 7.7%, Micron deepened to 9.5%, plus brand-new positions in SanDisk and Corning. JD.com, KraneShares China ETF, Qualcomm, American Airlines, and Whirlpool fell out of the top 15. Holdings count tightened from 38 to 31 — Appaloosa's most concentrated stance in recent quarters. Every move is reconstructable from EDGAR using Form 13F-HR.
The Q1 2026 picture
Tepper's Q1 2026 13F continues a multi-quarter trajectory: holdings count keeps falling (45 → 38 → 31 across three quarters), AUM has contracted ($7.4B → $6.9B → $5.9B), and the largest positions are being concentrated further. The Q1 2026 standout is the clean swap inside the top-of-the-book — Amazon now occupies the seat Alibaba held a quarter ago.
Position adds (and conviction increases)
- Amazon (AMZN) — doubled in weight from 7.3% in Q4 to 15.2% in Q1, becoming the single largest position. AMZN was already a meaningful position; the Q1 add is the kind of weighting move Tepper has historically made when his conviction crystallizes.
- Micron Technology (MU) — deepened from 7.2% to 9.5%, now the #2 holding. MU was a new Q4 2025 position; consecutive-quarter add suggests the memory-cycle thesis is compounding.
- Uber Technologies (UBER) — climbed back into the top 5 at 7.7%. UBER was a 3.2% position in Q3, absent from top 15 in Q4, and returns at scale in Q1 — a notable round-trip.
- Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) — added from 5.0% to 7.6%, climbing to a top-5 position alongside MU. Combined with Q1's new SanDisk + Corning positions, the semi/memory/glass-substrate thematic now spans four meaningful holdings.
- Vistra (VST) — added back from absent in Q4 top 15 to 5.1% in Q1. Combined with continued NRG exposure (4.3%), Tepper's independent-power-producer thematic is intact.
New positions (top 15)
- SanDisk (SNDK) — brand-new at 3.0% of the portfolio. SanDisk re-listed as an independent storage business in 2025; the position adds to Tepper's memory/storage thematic (alongside MU at 9.5%).
- Corning (GLW) — brand-new at 2.6%. Corning's optical-glass and display-substrate exposure overlaps with the AI-infrastructure read (fiber for data centers; glass for displays and devices).
Trims and out-of-top-15 changes
- Alibaba (BABA) — biggest weighting move of the quarter: from #1 holding at 10.9% in Q4 to #6 at 7.3% in Q1. BABA had been Tepper's flagship China bet through 2024-2025; the de-emphasis tracks the broader China-trim across the book.
- JD.com (JD) — was 2.9% in Q3, no longer in the top 15 in Q1. Continues the China trim alongside the KraneShares China ETF dropping out of the top 15.
- KraneShares China ETF (KWEB) — was 4.2% in Q3, 2.3% in Q4, no longer in the top 15. The broad China-tech beta exposure has been steadily reduced over two quarters.
- Whirlpool (WHR) — multi-quarter unwind: 5.9% Q3, 4.1% Q4, 1.8% Q1. Consumer-durables exposure reduced sharply.
- American Airlines (AAL) — was 3.1% in Q4, no longer in the top 15. Airline exposure trimmed.
- Qualcomm (QCOM) — was 2.8% in Q4, no longer in the top 15. Trimmed below the threshold even as TSM and SanDisk were added.
- Meta (META) + Nvidia (NVDA) — both trimmed: META 5.7% → 4.2%, NVDA 4.6% → 4.3%. Held but smaller.
What the pattern signals
The headline read is the China-to-US-tech rotation at the top of the book. Alibaba was the largest position for several quarters; in Q1 it's the #6 position while Amazon steps into the #1 seat at nearly double its prior weighting. Combined with the JD.com and KraneShares trims, the China-beta exposure has been materially reduced over the last two quarters.
The secondary read is memory + semis + power consolidation: Micron at 9.5%, TSM at 7.6%, SanDisk new at 3.0%, Corning new at 2.6%, Vistra back at 5.1% — five holdings, 27.8% of the portfolio, all in different links of the AI-infrastructure chain (memory, fab, storage, optical substrates, power generation). Tepper has historically taken thematic concentrated positions; this looks like the current thematic.
The third read is continued portfolio tightening. Holdings count fell from 45 in Q3 to 31 in Q1 — a roughly 31% reduction in position count over two quarters. AUM contracted ~20% over the same window. The picture is a smaller, more concentrated book by design, not a portfolio drifting smaller through losses (the holdings concentration math is deliberate). For context on how Tepper structures concentrated bets, see our 2009 bank-stocks deep dive.
How to verify this yourself
Every position change above is reconstructable from public SEC EDGAR filings. Steps:
- Open Appaloosa Management's 13F-HR filing history on EDGAR (CIK 0001006438).
- Compare the Q1 2026 13F (filed 2026-05-15) line-by-line against the Q4 2025 13F (filed Feb 2026).
- Position changes appear as: new CUSIP rows (new positions like SanDisk and Corning), increased share counts (adds like AMZN and MU), decreased share counts (trims like BABA, WHR, NVDA), removed CUSIP rows (full exits or out-of-top-15 trims like JD, KWEB, QCOM, AAL).
- Cross-reference with HoldLens's machine-readable /api/v1/snapshot/2026-Q1.json for a pre-computed summary across all 30 tracked managers including Appaloosa.
Our view
Six historical trades reconstructable from SEC EDGAR alone. Each essay traces the trade through 13F + Form 4 + DEF 14A filings.
Berkshire's 1988-89 KO purchase — $1.3B → ~$28B, untouched 37 years.
Berkshire's 2016-onward AAPL accumulation — largest equity position in firm history.
The $5B preferred + 700M-share warrants at $7.14 strike. ~$13B paper gain at 2017 exercise.
Appaloosa's $2B March 2009 distressed-bank bet (BAC + C + AIG). ~$7B returned. $4B Tepper payday.
Scion Capital's 2005-2008 subprime CDS trade — ~489% net return.
Pershing Square's 2012-2018 multi-year activist campaign.
September 16, 1992. The single-day macro trade that broke the Bank of England.
1997-2023 hold + board seat — the canonical long-duration value position.
2013-2016 long-side activism — public letter to Tim Cook, ~$2B realized gain.
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Recommended reading
The six books that map the mental model behind every 13F on this site.
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Not investment advice. Sourced from public SEC EDGAR Form 13F-HR filings (Appaloosa Management CIK 0001006438). All position changes verifiable from Form 13F-HR alone. 13F-HR data is a 45-day-lagged snapshot of long-only U.S.-listed positions — see 45-day lag explained and methodology.