Pershing Square (LSE:PSH) is a FTSE 100 index An investment fund that invests in a small handful of… Standard & Poor’s 500 Stocks. In theory, this makes it riskier than your average fund.

In practice, manager Bill Ackman has made extraordinary gains with this highly-condemned strategy. Last year, Pershing Square generated a total shareholder return of 33.9%.

This was significantly higher than the S&P 500 (17.9%) and the FTSE 100 (25.7%). Since Ackman restructured the fund, the eight-year annual return has been 23% versus 14.3% for the S&P 500.

Pershing Square’s stock price has risen nearly 300% since its 2017 IPO.

Put money to work

As mentioned earlier, Ackman is not a fan of broad diversification. As of early 2026, his five largest holdings accounted for about 73% of the entire portfolio.

These are global companies with deep moats and strong brands e.g Amazon, Uber, alphabetAnd the hotel group Hilton International.

Obviously, given Ackman’s track record, it’s worth keeping an eye on what he’s buying. In November, he said that Pershing was “Seeing some high quality companies popping up at very attractive prices“He was willing to put in.”Some money for work“.

At the time, I figured Ackman might buy Meta platforms (NASDAQ:META). The billionaire likes to buy stocks when they’re not going well, and Meta shares are down 20% since August. Moreover, this was the cheapest Magnificent Seven stock.

Last week, Pershing revealed that it had already purchased Meta shares. In the fourth quarter, it acquired $1.76 billion worth of shares, putting the social media giant in a chunk position of 11.37%.

Should I follow Ackman and invest too?

Super intelligence payment

Meta platforms need no introduction. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have become an integral part of the daily reality of many people around the world. At the end of 2025, the number was 3.58 billion Users.

When you operate at this scale, the advertising opportunity is huge. In the fourth quarter, ad impressions across its apps jumped 18%, with the average ad price rising 6%.

This helped generate revenue of $201 billion in 2025, an increase of 22% year over year. The operating margin was 41%, which shows how profitable Meta is.

However, although I recognize the obvious quality of the work, I do have some concerns. First, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is doing his best to advance.”The superior personal intelligence of people all over the world“.

This would result in Meta spending up to $135 billion on AI in 2026 — far more than the company’s free cash flow last year ($43.6 billion).

Writing this, I’m having flashbacks to 2021/22 when Meta entered the Metaverse, even changing the company name to reflect that move. But this Reality Labs project has been a huge failure so far, and I’m afraid the AI ​​may not justify this excessive spending.

Another issue is the increasing move by governments to ban social media for under-16s, including in the UK. This may cause Facebook and Instagram to lose relevance among younger generations.

Deep discount

But Ackman disagrees. He said:We believe Meta’s current stock price underestimates the company’s long-term upside potential from AI and represents a severely discounted valuation“.

He may be proven right, but I’m not buying. I prefer Pershing Square itself, which is trading at a 23% discount to its net asset value.

I think the FTSE 100 fund is worth considering for investors who believe in Ackman’s high-conviction strategy.