Scottish Mortgage Breaks New Ground as Anthropic’s $45 Billion Revenue Bonanza Amplifies SpaceX IPO Fever

Shares surge to €18.70 as Anthropic's revenue soars and SpaceX nears IPO, attracting a new generation of investors.

The combination of a surging private AI bet and a historic IPO candidate has propelled Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust to uncharted territory. Shares climbed to €18.70 on Monday, a 4.27% gain that pushed the year-to-date advance to 34.63%. The previous 52-week high of €17.93, set just days earlier, was quickly overtaken as investors piled into the Baillie Gifford-managed trust.

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup that accounts for a significant slice of the portfolio, reported annualized revenue of $45 billion in May — a fivefold increase from $9 billion a year earlier. The explosive growth underscores why manager Tom Slater has tilted the fund heavily toward AI infrastructure and founder-led technology companies, including Chinese giant ByteDance. For younger investors seeking exposure to privately held winners, the trust offers a rare publicly traded window.

SpaceX remains the portfolio’s heavyweight, representing more than 20% of assets. The rocket company is preparing for a June initial public offering that could value it at up to $1.25 trillion, though market chatter has stretched estimates as high as $1.75 trillion. A successful test flight of the latest Starship V3 on May 22 provided timely momentum, but the IPO filing also revealed a first-quarter net loss of $4.27 billion against revenues of a similar magnitude.

Nvidia, another core holding, added to the AI tailwinds by posting a record quarterly revenue of $81.6 billion, driven by a near-doubling of its data center business. Over the weekend, the chipmaker broadened its partnership with Marvell Technology, reinforcing the ecosystem that Scottish Mortgage has bet on heavily. The trust’s net asset value now commands a premium of roughly 6%, reflecting the scarcity value of such unlisted technology stakes.

The surge is drawing a new generation of shareholders. An Invesco study found that 55% of younger respondents plan to use investment trusts within the next six months, compared with an average of 29% across all age groups. Social media and financial influencers are a key information channel for 36% of trust holders — a trend that has caught the attention of regulators. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority recently flagged 1,267 cases of potentially unauthorised or misleading financial advertising.

Scottish Mortgage’s valuation metrics remain unconventional by traditional measures. It trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.87 with a dividend yield of just 0.3%, while rival 3i Group offers a 3.2% yield on a P/E of 3.56. The trust’s exceptional net margin of 97.44% and return on equity of 28.15% reflect a structure whose value lies in its private holdings rather than in operating income.

With US markets closed for Memorial Day, attention centred on London, where the trust’s record price reinforced the market’s appetite for a bet that blends space exploration, artificial intelligence, and a fully invested stance — even as peers like Berkshire Hathaway hoard cash. The upcoming SpaceX debut in June promises to be the next major catalyst for this aggressive strategy.