Bill Ackman Said High‑Quality Stocks Are Stupidly Cheap. He’s Right.

Bill Ackman’s highly anticipated Pershing Square USA (NYSE:PSUS) hit public markets on April 29, 2026, though not quite as planned. Priced at $50 per share in a $5 billion IPO, the closed-end fund opened at $42 and closed its debut session near $41, an 18% drop that underscored the structural challenges facing closed-end funds. Yet for investors willing to look past the rocky start, that widening discount to Net Asset Value has created exactly the kind of opportunity Ackman himself has been talking about: institutional-quality stock selection available at a retail-friendly discount.

Ackman’s late March comments on social media captured attention when he declared that “some of the highest quality businesses in the world are trading at extremely cheap prices.” While his specific callout targeted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as “stupidly cheap,” his broader thesis holds: the market’s fixation on short-term turbulence has left pockets of genuine quality mispriced. That dynamic persists today, even as the S&P 500 continues to grind higher. A few percentage points above rock-bottom valuations still represents a bargain when the underlying business is compounding earnings faster than its multiple is expanding.

Finding Quality in a Market That Forgot to Look

Knowing where to look remains the challenge. High-quality companies trading at reasonable multiples now coexist alongside frothy semiconductor names and speculative AI plays. The same stocks that looked undervalued at the market’s spring lows have become even more compelling as earnings growth outpaces valuation re-rating.

Take Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction), though notably no longer a Pershing Square holding after Ackman sold the position in the first quarter to fund a major investment in Microsoft. Alphabet’s Q1 2026 results demonstrated that AI is delivering real revenue, not just hype. Google Cloud surged 63% year over year to $20 billion, with operating margin expanding to 33%. Gemini Enterprise, the company’s AI workspace offering, grew paid monthly active users 40% quarter over quarter. At a current P/E of 28x, the stock still looks reasonable for a company that generated $174 billion in operating cash flow over the trailing twelve months and commands unmatched distribution across Search, YouTube, and Cloud.

The Infrastructure Play Nobody Expected

While software grabs headlines, the real “stupidly cheap” opportunity may sit in the infrastructure layer powering the AI buildout. Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) has quietly emerged as the indispensable energy backbone for hyperscale data centers. The company operates the largest nuclear fleet dedicated to clean, carbon-free baseload power, exactly what massive AI compute clusters require.

Vistra has locked in multi-year power purchase agreements with Meta Platforms and Amazon Web Services, positioning itself at the center of AI infrastructure demand. Q1 2026 revenue hit $5.6 billion, up more than 43% year over year, driven by surging electricity demand from tech clients. Unlike semiconductor names trading at nosebleed valuations, Vistra offers exposure to the AI revolution without paying the “AI tax.” It’s a quality company benefiting from a secular tailwind, yet trading at a fraction of the multiples assigned to pure-play tech.

Defensive Quality Hiding in Plain Sight

For investors seeking quality at an even steeper discount, consider the casino landlords. VICI Properties (NYSE:VICI) owns trophy real estate including the land beneath Caesars Palace and MGM Grand, assets with 100% occupancy and inflation-protected triple-net leases. Q1 2026 financials showed the portfolio maintained its perfect occupancy rate with a weighted average lease term of nearly 40 years.

Despite those fundamentals, the stock has been punished by interest rate volatility and concerns about regional gaming. That disconnect creates opportunity. VICI delivers stable, growing cash flow from mission-critical real estate, yet trades at a valuation far below its intrinsic worth. Like Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), which trades at just 18x forward earnings despite its AI-driven monetization engine, VICI represents the type of quality asset that eventually wins when markets shift focus from noise to cash generation.

The Bottom Line

Ackman’s core thesis holds up under scrutiny. Whether it’s the nuclear-powered backbone of AI infrastructure or trophy casino real estate trading below replacement cost, high-quality businesses are being discounted by a market overreacting to short-term headlines. Investors who stick with the names the market isn’t fully respecting yet, Pershing Square USA among them, may be positioning for outsized performance as fundamentals reassert themselves over sentiment.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect Pershing Square USA’s April 29, 2026 IPO results, Ackman’s Q1 2026 portfolio shift from Alphabet to Microsoft, current valuation multiples for Alphabet (28x P/E) and Meta (18x forward P/E), Alphabet’s Q1 2026 earnings showing 63% Google Cloud growth, and VICI Properties’ Q1 2026 100% occupancy confirmation.