Jim Simons / Renaissance Technologies Portfolio: Top Holdings (2026)

In this piece, we will look at Renaissance Technologies’ portfolio holdings as of Q1 2026 based on the firm’s 13F filing. Notably, the 13F used as the source for this article captures RenTech’s institutional funds (RIEF, RIDA, and RIDGE) and only includes long U.S. equity positions. This article does not reflect trades or holdings in the widely reported-on Medallion Fund.

The story of a successful mathematician and university professor turned investor is an inspiration for many. Jim Simons’ input had a major contribution to developing quantitative investing and the popularization of high-frequency trading. Simons founded and managed Renaissance Technologies and its flagship fund, Medallion, until his death on May 10, 2024. Medallion has been outperforming the S&P 500 for decades.

Renaissance Technologies has a $63.9 billion portfolio that is highly sector-diversified. However, in the last couple of years, the firm has focused on tech and pharmaceuticals.

The biggest holdings from the pharma sector are United Therapeutics (the largest holding, at 1.7% of the portfolio), oncology biotech Exelixis (0.9%), and Gilead Sciences (0.5%). Novo Nordisk was once a top holding in Renaissance’s portfolio, but it has since slipped to become 0.2% of the portfolio.

From the tech sector, Palantir Technologies (the second-largest holding, at 1.6% of the portfolio), Apple (1.2%), and Micron Technology (1.1%) are top holdings in the portfolio.

Changes from Q4 2025 to Q1 2026

The largest change in Renaissance Technologies’ portfolio between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 was the addition of Apple. The fund didn’t own any shares of the iPhone maker in Q4, but it snapped up enough of the company in Q1 2026 to make it the third-largest position, at 1.2% of the portfolio. Other new positions in Q1 include Meta Platforms, Lumentum Holdings, and Danaher.

Although United Therapeutics was Renaissance Technologies’ largest position in Q1 2026, the firm trimmed the share count by 6%. The firm also cut its share count in Palantir Technologies by 21%. Renaissance trimmed United Therapeutics, Palantir, Micron Technology, SanDisk, Intel, Gilead Sciences, and Zoom Communications. Meanwhile, the firm added to its positions in NVIDIA, Robinhood Markets, UnitedHealth Group, MicroStrategy, Barrick Mining, JPMorgan Chase, and Linde PLC, with a massive boost in Broadcom.

As far as major exits, RenTech sold all of its shares of Amazon in Q1 2026.

Rotation with the Magnificent Seven

Based on these shifts, we can make some observations. Given that Renaissance is a quant fund that trades purely based on computer algorithms, mathematical anomalies, statistical patterns, and mean reversion, we can see some interesting trends within these shifts.

Most interesting is the re-weighting between Big Tech and artificial intelligence as it pertains to the Magnificent Seven. Adding Apple as an instant 1.2% position to make it the third-largest holding is a major structural shift for a massive, diversified $64 billion fund. The aggressive move suggests the market signaled a powerful mean-reversion or momentum signal. It’s possible that Apple flashed a strong undervalued or stable cash flow signal versus its peers, or Renaissance’s model might have picked up on accumulation trends among institutional investors.

Although the firm trimmed some software or specialized companies, it aggressively added to hardware and core infrastructure giants NVIDIA and Broadcom, suggesting the algorithm preferred foundational AI hardware and data center infrastructure over software.

Adding Meta Platforms to the portfolio pulls in another cash cow, while purchasing optical components company Lumentum is in alignment with the massive boost in Broadcom, suggesting an automated bet on high-speed data transmission.

Selling into strength

United Therapeutics and Palantir both had tremendous runs in their stock prices, so trimming them isn’t a bearish signal, but rather, a systemic selling-into-strength move aimed at managing risk.

Also cutting names such as Intel, Micron and Zoom suggests a systematic reduction in names dealing with possible growth saturation or cyclical headwinds.

Increased diversification

The boosting of positions in Linde PLC and Barrick Mining signal hedging against potential volatility across the economy. Linde is an industrial gases behemoth, and boosting Barrick suggests Renaissance’s model features macro data inputs that picked up the stickiness in inflation or the technical breakout in precious metals, which pushed the fund into hard assets.

Both JPMorgan and UnitedHealth are blue-chip value stocks, so increasing these positions while adding Apple suggests the firm’s model shifted toward stable, liquid, cash-generating giants as insulation for the portfolio.

The moves in Robinhood and MicroStrategy were highly speculative, especially given their link to retail trading volumes and momentum in bitcoin. Adding to those names suggests the shorter-term trend-following signals picked up on robust positive momentum in both the crypto and retail rails they ride.

Jim Simons’ current portfolio holdings

Stock	Ticker	% of the portfolio	Recent activity	Current price	Position value	52 week low	52 week high
United Therapeutics	NASDAQ: UTHR	1.7%	Sold 6.4%	$568.89	$1.1 billion	$272.18	$609.35
Palantir Technologies	NASDAQ: PLTR	1.6%	Sold 21%	$136.43	$1 billion	$118.93	$207.52
Apple	NASDAQ: AAPL	1.2%	New	$311.29	$780.1 million	$193.46	$311.40
Kinross Gold	NYSE: KGC	1.2%	Added 2%	$28.26	$780 million	$14.35	$39.11
Micron Technology	NASDAQ: MU	1.1%	Sold 28%	$768.57	$730.7 million	$90.93	$818.67
VeriSign	NASDAQ: VRSN	1.1%	Added 1%	$309.32	$700 million	$208.86	$312.48

*Renaissance Technologies’ portfolio as of March 31, 2026 (May 14 13F)

*Stock prices as of May 22, 2026

Just six stocks earned an allocation of at least 1% of Renaissance’s portfolio.

• United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR), with 1.7% of the portfolio,

United Therapeutics is a biotech firm that develops and commercializes health-care products for patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions. Some of its products include Adcirca, Orenitram, Remodulin, and Unituxin.

UTHR stock has been a key piece of the puzzle for Renaissance Technologies’ portfolio for years. Between May 2025 and May 2026, the stock has surged 83.5%. For the trailing 12 months, UTHR trades at a record-high P/E of 20.92x as of May 21, 2026. The previous valuation peak was seen in 2022. On a P/S basis, UTHR is trading at a record-high 7.33x.

It makes sense that UTHR is at the top of the heap in Renaissance’s portfolio as it checks every one of the boxes on a quant’s list. It has massive operating margins, providing a margin of safety for RenTech’s algorithm, and it is unique among biotechs in that it is far less speculative than the norm.

UTHR is the dominant player in the pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment market, a highly valuable area that offers very predictable revenue streams that are also recurring. Whenever turbulence rocks the markets, RenTech’s models typically shift toward a mix of infrastructure, stability and cash flows. Macro cycles don’t feed into health-care demand, making UTHR a perfect statistical anchor for a multi-billion-dollar fund.

While investors might balk when a heavy hitter trims a position, RenTech’s 6.4% cut is business as usual for quants. Given that UTHR stock has soared, its total value within the firm’s portfolio skyrocketed organically. Quant models impose strict parameters for risk, preventing any single stock from taking over the portfolio. In reality, that cut was probably an automatic rebalancing move.

• Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PLTR) with 1.6% of the portfolio

Palantir, as a major innovative force in the tech sector, has drawn several big-name investors in recent years. Renaissance Technologies has been investing in Palantir for years, loading up on the stock when it was unloved and abandoned, building its position with an average cost basis around $15.28 a share.

Like with United Therapeutics, the cut in Palantir shares could have been mere profit taking, depending on the timing of the sale. When a stock climbs as aggressively as Palantir had up until early January, a quant model automatically moves to lock in gains by trimming the position, keeping it from taking a dominant position in the fund’s risk profile.

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) with 1.2% of the portfolio

AAPL stock has exploded more than 53% over the last year through morning on May 22, 2026, including a 13% year-to-date gain. RenTech went from owning zero shares in the iPhone maker to more than 3 million shares, an astonishingly rare zero-to-hero move that suggests AAPL triggered a huge buy anomaly across multiple systems at the same time.

During Q1, RenTech dumped its massive position in Amazon and picked up its sizable Apple position. To continue growing Amazon requires continual, massive capex for its growing infrastructure in fulfillment and the cloud. On the other hand, Apple has been returning loads of capital to shareholders via its historic share repurchase programs and its fortress balance sheet, causing it to function as a sort of bond proxy.

For a time, AAPL was trading sideways while other tech peers entered hyper-growth phases. RenTech’s models are very sensitive to mean reversion, so they likely picked up signals that Apple was set to rally, which it did starting in April.

Apple is known as a consumer hardware giant, although Renaissance’s models examine the entire tech ecosystem. The concurrent moves of aggressively boosting its positions in NVIDIA and Broadcom while building a position in Meta Platforms point to a fundamental pivot for the fund as it rotated out of consumer e-commerce and retail sensitivity, instead focusing on the foundational layers of today’s digital economy: chip infrastructure, software network scale and the ultimate hardware endpoint.

• Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC), at 1.2% of the portfolio

Renaissance Technologies has been trading Kinross Gold for more than 10 years, and it currently holds a huge 25 million shares, with an average buy price of $3.91 a share. The stock is roughly flat year to date through morning on May 22, 2026, although it has gained 93% over the past year.

Of course, gold prices soared to historic highs earlier this year, transforming Kinross from a sleepy mid-tier miner into a behemoth of a free-cash-flow machine. Notably, Rentech’s algorithm held onto most of the fund’s Kinross shares despite trimming other big winners during Q1, likely calculating that the stock’s statistical upside looks intact in spite of the huge run.

Like Apple, Kinross is a massive cash-returning machine, having committed to returning 40% of its free cash flow in 2026 to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. Quant models favor companies that are cutting their share float because from a mathematical perspective, it raises earnings per share, also creating an automated buyer of last resort within the open market.

Based on the list of RenTech’s top five holdings during Q1, we see a traditional barbell approach. In the event of persistently sticky inflation or geopolitical or macro volatility that weighs on tech multiples, Kinross looks like a huge liquidity shield that should rise amid a fluctuating market.

• Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU), at 1.1% of the portfolio

Micron Technology has put up a blistering 154% year-to-date gain through morning on May 22, 2026, extending its one-year rally to an eye-watering 687%. Thus, it’s no surprise that RenTech’s models chose to sell into this strength as they reduced the position by 28%. Despite that significant reduction, Micron is still a major anchor for Renaissance Technologies amid its dominant position in the AI ecosystem via its high bandwidth memory products.

NVIDIA’s AI chips can’t function without the hyper-speed memory stacks built by Micron, which essentially holds a monopoly in the market. RenTech tends to build positions at relatively low average prices, and it did the same with Micron.

More broadly, the fund systematically trimmed hardware suppliers dealing with cyclical limits, instead rotating into mega-cap computing ecosystems.

• VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN), at 1.1% of the portfolio

Retail investors have been focusing on flashy AI apps and viral tech trends. However, RenTech’s algorithms have quietly been targeting the internet plumbing. The firm’s models target companies with unmatched pricing power, predictable revenue streams, and bulletproof competitive advantages — all things VeriSign represents.

The company owns the registry for all .com and .net domain names, also handling the routing infrastructure for a massive share of global internet traffic. Businesses see domain names as non-discretionary expenses as they never let their core websites expire, even during periods of high inflation or economic downturns. Thus, VeriSign enjoys an almost-100% retention rate for its customers, making it look like a high-yield utility asset.

Like many of the other names in RenTech’s portfolio, VeriSign is also a massive cash-returning machine, having returned more than $1.1 billion to shareholders in one year by slashing its share float. RenTech’s models see the company as a compounding machine.

Post-Simons era

Following the passing of Simons, CEO Peter Brown now helms Renaissance Technologies. Brown was at IBM before signing on with RenTech in 1993.

During Q1 2026, Renaissance Technologies returned -4.58%, although as usual, it continues to put up massive annualized returns. The top 20 holdings on an unweighted basis are up 26.5% over the past three years on an annualized basis. Weighted, the top 20 have gained 33.06%.

Key takeaways

• Jim Simons was a renowned mathematician and pioneer in quantitative investing who used mathematical models, statistical analysis and algorithms to identify potential investment targets.
• Renaissance Technologies, and particularly its flagship fund, Medallion, constantly deliver high returns. Medallion is currently a closed fund.
• The current Renaissance Technologies portfolio has $63.9 billion in AUM that is highly diversified. The top 10 positions take 11.2% of the overall portfolio.

Jim Simons’ investment strategy

Jim Simons was known as a quantitative trading pioneer. To fully understand what he brought into the field, we need to go a bit back through history. Simons earned a B.S. degree in Mathematics from MIT in 1958, and he got a Ph.D. in the same field in Berkeley back in 1961.

During the Vietnam War, Simons worked for the National Security Agency as a codebreaker. After that, he switched to teaching and took professor positions at MIT and Harvard. As a pinnacle of his educational career, he was appointed as chairman of the mathematics department at Stony Brook University.

In 1978, Simons founded a hedge fund named Monemetrics. During work in finance, he realized how his mathematical knowledge could be applied to trading in the financial markets. While he worked as a codebreaker, he gained detailed insight into pattern recognition. He quickly identified the potential that this knowledge can offer in trading.

He was the first hedge fund manager to implement quantitative analysis into his investment strategy at that scale. This approach earned him the nickname “Quant King.”

Quantitative trading

Soon after his work at Monemetrics in 1982, he founded another hedge fund. He called it Renaissance Technologies (RenTec), and the rest is history. His mathematics and educational background allowed him to attract the top math, physics, and computer science talents. They formed a team that was focused on developing quantitative models used for trading.

Both RenTec and its flagship fund, the Medallion, achieved significant returns year after year. This overachievement can be attributed to several factors that are based on combining math and computer sciences.

Simons and his partners focused on gathering massive amounts of data. After proper analysis, this data can be used for identifying and exploiting price discrepancies between similar assets.

Simon’s approach heavily relied on high-frequency trading. This approach allowed him to gain massive returns on millisecond trades, earning from short-term market inefficiencies.

He and his team often developed and used data-driven algorithms combined with complex models to identify potential investment targets.

After Simons and his team started employing quantitative trading, other investment companies realized their potential. This triggered a boom in the investment world, where all major investors started implementing quantitative and HFT trading in their strategies.

This increased the need for professionals from the math and computer science fields, resulting in the pouring of new talent and capital into investment companies.

The HFT strategy, which came out of this development is often deemed as unethical. Many critics point out that it gives an unfair advantage to large companies that can afford to employ talent and use this tech.

But, in the end, most of his work in quantitative trading and his use of mathematical knowledge are hidden from the public. Rumors were heard that even coders behind the algorithmic trading programs didn’t know what exact logic was behind them.

Mathematical models

The core of every successful mathematical model is data. Vast amounts of it. Simons understood how important it is to gather as much data from several relevant fields to be able to identify trading and price patterns. He focused on diverse sources of data ranging from stock prices, trade volumes, news feeds, and all sorts of economic indicators.

In the late 80s, he worked together with James Ax, later a partner in founding Renaissance Technologies. After several failed attempts, they created a first model with data gathered from the World Bank and Federal Reserve dating back to the 1700s. That quantity of data allowed them to identify patterns of trading movements that repeat in cycles.

With the use of this model, it is possible to predict price movements and earn from them. One other good feature, which is the key to the whole approach, is that the model is dynamic and adjustable. Parameters change with time, and they can be modified and applied to the model.

Buffett and Soros devised their models, and they brought them annual returns in a range of 29% and 32%. Simons’s model averaged over 66% of returns in three decades, so his model is proven to be the most successful.

Data-driven analysis

As a part of his wider mathematical model strategy, collecting data is essential. Data is analyzed with algorithms for any subtle price discrepancies between similar assets or in related markets.

Machine learning models used for analysis employ different techniques, including:

• Time series analysis that helps with predicting future trends
• Regression analysis, which is used for identifying relationships between variables
• An unsupervised learning method is used for uncovering hidden patterns and groupings.

These models are usually employed for HFT trading, where trades are conducted at lightning speeds. These models can quickly recognize new patterns and make trading decisions based on short-term signals.

Success stories of Jim Simons’ portfolio

Soon after forming, RenTec Simons and Ax worked on expanding the original Leonard Baum’s models for use in trading. Together in 1988, they started a core RenTec fund, the Medallion. Initially, the success of their model was overwhelming; however, by April 1989, the tables turned, and the losses rose to 30%.

Simons and Ax had a series of talks about the future investment strategy of the fund. Simons wanted to reevaluate the model, and Ax pushed to continue using the same approach. Simons was the majority owner, so Ax departed.

Soon after, Simons teamed up with Elwyn Berlekamp, a Berkeley professor, to run Medallion. He bought the majority of Ax shares and, together with Henry Laufer, redesigned Medallion’s trading system. For this operation, it took them 6 months, and during 1990 they generated 55.9% gains. After that he sold his share of stocks to Simons for six times what he paid for them and returned to the university.

Simons took over Berlekamp’s place and ran the adjusted system. In 1992 it generated 34% gains, and a year later 39.1%. In a period between 1994 and 2014, it achieved an average annual 71.8% return. During the 2020s, the returns further increased to an average rate of 76%.

The Medallion Fund has been closed for new investors since 1993. Only Medallion’s past and current employees and their families have an opportunity to invest in the fund. The fund bought up the last old investor in 2005. Out of about 275 employees, 100 have a status of qualified purchasers, which means that their net worth is at least $5 million. The rest of the employees are accredited investors valued at a minimum of $1 million.

When we take all history performance data, we come to a figure of over $100 billion earned by this fund for their investors. Between January 1993 and April 2005, the fund had only 17 negative months and three losing quarters. These performances had not been achieved by any other hedge fund.

One factor that can be attributed to this consistent overachieving is Simon’s approach to investing. In all funds that he managed, hedge fund managers do not make investment decisions based on their emotions and personal judgment. The crucial trigger for an investment decision lies in the numbers that come as a result of mathematical algorithms and the massive amounts of data they use.

Take A Look At Jim Simons’ Trading Strategy Explained:

Portfolio management

Asset classes

RenTec’s portfolio is highly diversified, both by utilizing different asset classes and by not limiting themselves to a specific geographic region.

RenTec managers invest in equities like stocks from markets all across the globe. They utilize both small- and large-cap investments.

Their approach to trading currencies is by focusing on exploiting price fluctuations when trading in major and minor currency pairs. Recently, they also included trading cryptocurrencies in his portfolio.

Their diversified portfolio often includes commodities. Energy commodities like oil and natural gas offer a diversification edge that brings additional resilience of the portfolio to the market volatility.

Precious metals like gold and silver and actively traded agricultural products are also frequently traded. They are suitable for high-frequency trading and short-term earning opportunities.

An important factor to consider when it comes to investment targets is the liquidity of assets. Jim Simons does not frequently resort to investing in illiquid assets and prefers highly liquid assets.

This is due to his core high-frequency trading strategy, which requires trading with liquid assets.

Usually, trades are conducted very fast, and in these situations, there is no place for illiquid assets.

RenTec in October 2023 launched the Renaissance Institutional Futures Fund, implying funds raised interest in investing beyond traditional asset classes.

Risk management

The first risk mitigation principle that Jim Simons upheld is high diversification. Renaissance Technologies funds spread their investments across different asset classes, markets, and sometimes individual security types.

They are a globally oriented corporation, which means that their investments are hitting all major global markets, further minimizing risk from sudden market twists. With this dense diversification, the fund lowers the risk of major losses.

By avoiding concentration and taking large positions, the risk of investment is even lower. Their use of position-sizing strategies is actively limiting the size of capital that is allocated for specific investments. By doing so, if even a certain holding is going through a rough patch, it would not have a major impact on the whole portfolio.

As a final security system, the use of stop-loss orders is limiting potentially high losses in unpredicted risk cases.

RenTec risk management teams are also well aware of the importance of stress testing. Before they decide to commit larger amounts of capital into a holding, they test it in different ways. They subject the target investment to different market conditions and monitor how it would hold against it. Only after it passes the tests is the investment considered.

But an often disregarded factor, the monitoring of the performance, is not forgotten. Both managers and algorithms are monitoring the current condition of all holdings, making necessary adjustments accordingly.

Diversification

Jim Simons heavily relied on diversification as a risk management strategy. He didn’t prefer large holdings, and his portfolio usually had several thousand small holdings. He diversified all the investments across the board, both in assets and geographically, resulting in minimal risk for losses.

Simons also aimed to diversify the portfolio by industries. His company’s current portfolio has this industry structure:

• Technology: 21.99% of the portfolio
• Healthcare: 15.01% of the portfolio
• Consumer Discretionary: 10.83% of the portfolio
• Finance: 10.31% of the portfolio
• Industrials: 10.85% of the portfolio
• Basic Materials: 8.27% of the portfolio
• Communication Services: 6.3% of the portfolio
• Energy: 4.49% of the portfolio
• Consumer Staples: 3.85% of the portfolio
• Real Estate: 2.27% of the portfolio
• Utilities: 1.98% of the portfolio
• Other: 3.75% of the portfolio

Case studies

Notable investments

We will pay special attention to recent investments that brought significant returns.

Although a small investment in Soleno Therapeutics Holdings brought him a massive gain of 3705%. Simons invested a mere $67.6 thousand into this, and he managed to turn that investment into $2.57 million.

Jim Simons’ investment into Camtek Ltd., a manufacturer of metrology and inspection equipment, netted him 1227% gains. His total investment into this holding was $3.32 million, and Simons turned it into $46.4 million.

Corvel, a provider of risk management solutions for work compensation, auto, health, and disability management industries, was another hit. Simons invested a total of $23.3 million and made $167 million so far.

UFP Technologies, the manufacturer of medical device packaging solutions and medical components, is one of the highest-grossing holdings. Simons has been trading their stocks since 2013, and he invested a total of $8.96 million. He turned this investment into a gain of 535% and $56.9 million.

Performance analysis

Jim Simons funds are known for their high return rates. He didn’t have a negative year back from 1989, and returns were always higher than 30%. His best years were 2000, 2007, and 2008, with 128.1%, 136.6%, and 152.1% returns.

In the 90s, the returns fluctuated between 31.5% and 93.4%, and many thought that no one could beat that. But in the last decade, Simons fund delivered even more. Between 2010 and 2018, the lowest return was in 2010 with 57.5%, and the highest in 2013 with 88.8%.

When combining data between 1988 and 2018, the average gross returns of Jim Simons fund were 66.1% before fees. No one managed to deliver those kinds of returns so constantly. Even giants like George Soros, Ken Griffin, and Ray Dalio cannot compete with these numbers.

FAQs

Closing remarks

When thinking about successful hedge fund managers, it is impossible to overlook Jim Simons. He revolutionized the investment process by implementing complex mathematical models and, more recently, machine learning. His core principle, which is based on analyzing vast amounts of data and using them to create mathematical models, has proven to be very effective.

His portfolio outperformed everybody in a three-decade period. No one came even close. Critics often point out the unfair advantage that large companies have over retail investors, and maybe they do have a point. But still, as time goes by, funds managed by Simons are creating even higher returns.

A career and approach that certainly demands a deep analysis, but since most of the crucial data is not available to the public, we can ponder about and try to figure out what he was doing so right.

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