Before his portfolio management days, Denny Fish worked as a sales manager at Oracle. He saw the incredible demand for its software products as the dot-com boom flourished, an experience that would later inform his mindset as an investor: What was the next revolutionary idea he could get ahead of?
“I watched the internet boom, I had a front row seat because I was at Oracle and we were in the eye of the storm,” Fish said. “So it shaped my investment philosophy of, ‘Wow, always be looking for that big idea.'”
He continued: “Because the big idea is gonna express itself in a way that nobody can appreciate over multiple years and when you get behind that big idea, don’t let anybody shake you out of it because that’s what’s called a power law in technology investing.”
Two decades later, Fish was perfectly positioned for the AI boom. As a co-manager of the Janus Henderson Global Technology and Innovation Fund (JAGTX), his top holdings are a who’s who in the AI ecosystem: Nvidia, Microsoft, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Broadcom. Those four names alone, all of which he’s held for more than a year and a half, make up 42% of JAGTX.
The impressive lineup has led to a banner few years for Fish. Since the October 2022 lows, his fund is up 136%, crushing the S&P 500’s 81% surge.
Today, Fish still thinks AI is the big idea to get behind. But when asked which stocks he’s most bullish on right now, three out of the four were companies outside his top six holdings in the 25-stock fund.
4 stocks Fish likes right now
The first firm Fish listed — and the one that is among his largest holdings — is Taiwan Semiconductor, as chip demand remains uber-strong. It’s the fund’s third-largest holding at 9.49%.
“If you’re a Broadcom or if you’re Nvidia, there’s only one place you want to go to get your chips manufactured, and that’s TSMC given their process, know-how, and the lead that they’ve created,” he said.
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Next, he said Cadence (CDNS), an electronic design automation firm, is well-positioned for continued AI hardware demand. The stock is the fund’s eighth-biggest holding at 2.47%.
“It’s a global duopoly,” he said of Cadence and its competitor, Synopsis. “They have dominant market positions, incredible returns on capital, and there are businesses that you can’t move forward with chip design without one of those two companies.”
Third, Fish is bullish on KLA (KLAC), which produces process control systems for semiconductor chips. The firm “has a very dominant position globally, in that swim lane for, for semiconductor capital equipment,” Fish said.
At 1.88%, it’s JAGTX’s thirteenth-largest holding.
Finally, Fish mentioned Mercado Libre (MELI), a Latin-American e-commerce platform with a fintech business that offers digital wallets, lending, payment solutions, and money transfers. Fish said he’s impressed with the company’s use of AI.
“They’re doing really unique things with AI through their entire portfolio to improve the customer experience and also improve their underwriting and their fintech business,” he said.
Mercado Libre is the fund’s seventh-largest holding at a 2.64% weighting.
