Billionaire Investor Bill Ackman Has Some Investing Advice Right Now: Buy the Dip on Quality

While the stock market has actually held up better than most strategists and analysts might have expected, especially given the surging price of oil due to the Iran war, both the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average have fallen into correction territory, which means they are both down at least 10%.

Timing the market is never easy, but it's been especially difficult for investors to know whether the conflict in the Middle East will be short-lived or could last longer.

Image source: Getty Images.

However, billionaire investor Bill Ackman has some investing advice right now: buy the dip on quality businesses.

Some of the highest quality businesses in the world are trading at extremely cheap prices. Ignore the MSM. One of the most one-sided wars in history that will end well for the U.S. and the world. And we have the potential for a large peace dividend.

One of the best times in a...

-- Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) March 30, 2026

Ackman runs Pershing Square Capital Management, the investment manager of Pershing Square Holdings, and has become one of the more closely watched billionaire investors in the modern era. Should investors listen to him?

What stocks is Ackman referring to?

Pershing runs a highly concentrated U.S. equities portfolio, with 11 stocks accounting for over $15.5 billion of capital at the end of 2025.

Based on Pershing's portfolio, one could conclude that Ackman is generally referring to the "Magnificent Seven." Pershing has piled into this group over the past year and now has a significant amount of the portfolio invested in Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms. Other stocks in the "Magnificent Seven," like Microsoft, have also been hammered and now trade at much cheaper multiples.

META PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

As you can see, valuations have certainly retreated. Now, while the Iran war has seemingly hurt most sectors of the market, artificial intelligence stocks were already struggling before, due to concerns about excessive investment in AI infrastructure and circular financing, among others.

Ackman has also been quite outspoken about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored entities that Ackman believes the Trump administration will eventually release from conservatorship and conduct initial public offerings for. "And Fannie and Freddie are stupidly cheap. Asymmetry at its best. They could be a 10X and it could happen soon," Ackman wrote on the platform X.

Now, AI concerns are likely to linger, at least in the near term, and who actually knows how the war with Iran will turn out. But if you have a long-term investing horizon, investors can certainly heed Ackman's advice.

And it doesn't have to be with the "Magnificent Seven" or Fannie and Freddie, which carry several risks of their own.

Look for stocks tied to businesses where the core thesis and business remain intact. If the only thing impacting them is the war in Iran, and the business is likely to be fine after the conflict, then now is a good time to buy for the long term.

Bram Berkowitz has positions in Federal Home Loan Mortgage. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.