Gilder Gagnon Q1 2026: A Diffuse Growth Book, Core Held

Gilder Gagnon Howe is one of Wall Street's quieter old-line growth shops, and its 13F has a distinctive shape: a broad, diffuse book of 252 positions where no single name dominates. Its largest holding, Nvidia, is just 5.3% of the $8.34 billion portfolio — a far cry from the 10%-plus concentration seen at high-conviction peers. The first-quarter 2026 filing shows the firm holding its growth-leader core steady while the action, as usual for this manager, happens in the long tail.

The top of the book reads like a roster of growth and momentum favorites — Nvidia, Netflix, Cloudflare, Amazon, Shopify, Meta — nearly all held roughly flat. For a firm known historically for active trading, the stability at the top is itself informative: the core growth names are anchors it is content to hold, while it churns the hundreds of smaller positions beneath them.

A growth-leader core, held steady

Nvidia ($441.7 million, 5.3%), Netflix ($403.0 million), Cloudflare ($366.9 million), and Amazon ($364.9 million) anchor the book, each held roughly flat. These are the high-growth, high-quality names that define the firm's style — and leaving them unchanged signals ongoing conviction in the growth-leadership theme.

The few changes at the top were modest trims: Tesla down 15% and Intuitive Surgical down 5%. Shopify and Meta Platforms were held flat. The picture is of a manager comfortable with its growth core, making only small adjustments to the largest names while preserving the overall tilt.

The breadth is the strategy

What sets Gilder Gagnon apart is how spread out the book is. The top ten holdings account for only about a third of the portfolio, with the remaining two-thirds distributed across more than 240 names — including growth names like Quanta Services and Natera in the upper tier.

That breadth reflects a strategy of owning many growth and momentum stocks in modest size rather than concentrating in a few. For a manager with this style, the meaningful activity is often in the tail — new positions and exits among the hundreds of smaller holdings — rather than in the large, stable core. A 13F that shows the top names flat does not mean the firm did nothing; it means the trading happened where this filing's summary view doesn't spotlight it.

A volatile reported value

The reported value has bounced around within a band.

The book has ranged between roughly $6.4 billion and $9.5 billion over the past two years, with one dip near $6.37 billion that likely reflects an incomplete filing, ending the latest quarter at $8.34 billion after a 12% decline. With a diffuse book of growth and momentum names, the reported total moves with the broad performance of high-beta growth stocks — so the quarterly swing is more a reflection of the growth complex's volatility than of any strategic shift.

What it signals

For investors who track institutional positioning, Gilder Gagnon's first-quarter filing is a study in a different model of growth investing: broad rather than concentrated, with a stable core of leaders and a churning tail of smaller bets. The signal at the top is steadiness — the firm is holding Nvidia, Netflix, Cloudflare, and Amazon as anchors of the growth-leadership theme. The actionable nuance is that for a diffuse manager like this, the absence of big top-line changes is normal, and the real activity lives among the many positions below the headline names.

FAQ

What is Gilder Gagnon Howe's investment style?
A broad, diffuse growth approach — owning many growth and momentum stocks in modest size rather than concentrating in a few. Its largest position is only about 5% of the book, and the top ten make up roughly a third.

What are Gilder Gagnon's largest holdings?
Nvidia ($441.7 million, 5.3%), Netflix ($403.0 million), Cloudflare ($366.9 million), and Amazon ($364.9 million) — a roster of growth and momentum leaders, nearly all held roughly flat in the quarter.

Did Gilder Gagnon make big changes in Q1 2026?
Not at the top. Most large holdings were held flat, with only modest trims to Tesla and Intuitive Surgical. For a diffuse manager like this, the meaningful activity tends to occur in the long tail of smaller positions.

Why did its reported value fall 12%?
The book is full of high-beta growth and momentum names, so its reported value moves with the broad performance of the growth complex. The 12% decline reflects that volatility more than any strategic change.