Halftime Report · Oct 15, 2026
With Brad Gerstner, Founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital · Josh Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management · Stephanie Link, Chief Investment Strategist at Hightower Advisors · Malcolm Ethridge, Managing Partner at Capital Area Planning Group
Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, told CNBC's Halftime Report that his fund's AI exposure is the lowest it has been in three years.
He made the cut in a year when reported forecasts for Anthropic's revenue went from $30 billion to at least $100 billion. The caution is in his hedge fund. In his venture funds, which look further out, he is more bullish than before.
"When I look at '27 and '28, I'm even more positive." — Brad Gerstner
Brad runs a hedge fund, whose first job is to protect capital, alongside venture funds that hold for years, and he set out his positioning for both. Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management, Stephanie Link of Hightower Advisors and Malcolm Ethridge of Capital Area Planning Group then argued over what the week's bond market moves mean for AI stocks.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 6 arguments that matter.
Key Takeaways
Altimeter's AI exposure is the lowest in 3 years
Brad had already cut it to "medium-small" by the All-In Summit a month ago
Brad is even more positive on 2027 and 2028, a view he holds through his venture funds
Reported forecasts for Anthropic's revenue went from $30B to at least $100B this year
Josh Brown says the supply of AI-infrastructure debt, not hot CPI, is what moves bonds
Stephanie Link sees Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron as opportunities, not casualties, of the selloff
The next leg of AI belongs to the companies that use it, in Malcolm Ethridge's view
1. Revenue Has to Pay for Capex
For Brad, the market's number one question is whether AI revenue justifies the capex buildout: the money being spent on data centers and chips. His example of revenue arriving was Anthropic, whose expected revenue for this year has more than tripled in published reports since January.
Anthropic's revenue forecast has gone from $30B to at least $100B this year
"Remember the forecast for Anthropic at the start of this year, $30 billion. Now a lot of the reports have them doing at least $100 billion." — Brad Gerstner
He set that growth against the competition from open-source models, which raises doubts about how durable revenue like Anthropic's will be.
