Billionaire Leon Cooperman Says Investors Are Acting Like ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ — Reveals 2 New Stock Picks

Billionaire Leon Cooperman Says Investors Are Acting Like ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ — Reveals 2 New Stock Picks

Mon, August 24, 2026 at 5:57 PM GMT+3 2 min read

In a recent CNBC interview, Billionaire Leon Cooperman said that he has a negative view of the market amid a rising fiscal deficit and debt. The billionaire quoted Warren Buffett, who once said that the market sometimes reaches a point where investors don't respond to events like interest rates and believe it would be a mistake to get out of stocks.

"Like Pavlov's dogs, these investors learned that when the bell rings—in this case, the one that rings at the New York Stock Exchange at 9:30 a.m.—they get fed," Cooperman said, quoting Buffett. "Through this rally, they become reinforced and convinced that there is a God, and He wants them to get rich."

Omega Advisors recently posted its second-quarter filings, and it shows the fund was buying two new stocks. Omega picked up 880,000 shares of Amrize AG (NYSE: AMRZ), a building materials company, during the second quarter. The firm also bought 11.38 million shares of GPGI (NYSE: GPGI), a diversified industrial company.

Both positions were new additions to Omega's portfolio in the second quarter. In this article, we will analyze AMRZ in detail.

Amrize makes cement, aggregates, and roofing materials for construction projects across North America. Bulls are enthusiastic about the Building Materials business. Cement volume grew 5% and aggregates volume grew 6.5% in the second quarter, and aggregates pricing rose 4% on a freight-adjusted basis. CEO Jan Jenisch pointed to rising demand from data centers, energy projects, and infrastructure work, and management raised full-year revenue guidance.

Bear Case

Bear case centers on margins. RBC recently downgraded the stock to underperform and cut its price target to $48 from $60. The brokerage believes the company is selling more material without turning that into more profit. Second-quarter revenue rose 8.6% but adjusted EBITDA missed consensus and margin fell 74 basis points to 28.2%. Oil-driven inflation hit freight, diesel, and raw material costs. RBC flagged that AMRZ peers like CRH, Martin Marietta, and Vulcan Materials all beat expectations and held their guidance steady, while Amrize missed profit expectations and lowered its EBITDA outlook.

Catalysts

The catalyst to watch is the fourth quarter, when management expects pricing to finally catch up with costs. A pickup in commercial roofing demand linked with commercial construction activity could also help the company. Any easing in oil prices would result in lower freight costs that would be a positive for the company.

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