Carvana's S&P 500 Jump Delivers Over $500 Million Windfall To Viking And Coatue

Carvana Co‘s (NYSE:CVNA) leap into the S&P 500 didn’t just trigger a premarket surge — it delivered a staggering payday to two of the hedge fund world’s most influential investors. Viking Global‘s Andreas Halvorsen and Coatue founder Philippe Laffont are now sitting on an estimated $540 million in paper profits, after aggressively adding to their Carvana stakes ahead of the stock’s breakout run.

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Carvana Enters The S&P 500, Fueling A Momentum Stampede

Carvana will officially join the S&P 500 in the next two weeks, following the benchmark’s quarterly rebalance announcement on Friday. Shares jumped nearly 10% in Monday’s premarket trading, extending one of the most dramatic market turnarounds of the post-pandemic era. The inclusion forces index-tracking funds to buy exposure, injecting structural demand into a stock already surging on improved fundamentals and expectations for lower borrowing costs.

The move comes on the heels of a December rally driven by Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt’s upgrade and a long-term call for Carvana to reach three million annual vehicle sales by 2033.

Read Also: A Closer Look at Carvana’s Options Market Dynamics

Viking & Coatue: Billionaire Winners Of The Comeback Trade

In the third quarter, Halvorsen increased Viking’s Carvana position to roughly 2.1 million shares, while Laffont lifted Coatue’s stake to about 2 million shares, adding more than 200,000 shares during the quarter. Their average buy prices in the mid-$260s to high-$270s now look masterfully timed against last week’s close near $400.

At those levels, Halvorsen is sitting on roughly $268 million in gains, while Laffont is up about $272 million — a combined ~$540 million windfall before index-driven buying even begins.

From Bankruptcy Fears To Billionaire Breakout

Eighteen months ago, Carvana was dismissed as a funding-dependent pandemic casualty with bankruptcy chatter swirling. Today, it’s leapfrogging major tech names in performance, forcing passive funds to buy in, and minting a new class of winners out of the hedge-fund elite that backed the turnaround early.

If declining interest rates converge with forced index inflows, the trade’s next leg could be even louder. The billionaires were in long before the confetti — now they’re watching Act II from the front row.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Gemini.