Five Prepackaged Software Stocks With Strong Hedge Fund Support: From Adobe To Microsoft

#3. salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM)

– Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders (as of June 30): 60

– Total Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $2.14 billion

– Hedge Funds’ Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 4%

As of the end of the second quarter, salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) counted 60 hedge fund supporters in our database, down from 63 in the previous quarter. One of the largest positions was owned by Eashwar Krishnan’s Tybourne Capital Management, which last declared holding more than 2.36 million shares of the company. Also quite bullish seemed Columbus Circle Investors, which started a new stake comprising 742,906 shares during the April-June period. Shares of salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) have gained roughly 5.7% over the past six months. However, they have had a tough third quarter, tumbling almost 5%, most recently on the back of its earnings report released last week. For the second quarter, the company posted EPS of $0.24 on revenue of $2.04 billion, beating estimates by $0.02 and $20 million, respectively. Sales rose by 25.2% year-over-year, while deferred revenue spiked by 26% year-over-year. Despite the strong results, investors were disappointed by the company’s third quarter guidance; management said it expects EPS of $0.20 to $0.21, on revenue of $2.11 billion to $2.12 billion, while analysts had estimated EPS of $0.24 and sales of $2.13 billion.

  

#2. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)

– Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders (as of June 30): 68

– Total Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $4.1 billion

– Hedge Funds’ Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 14%

The runner-up in our list is Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), which witnessed an increase of more than 30% in hedge fund support over the second quarter. Among the largest shareholder were Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management, with 13.89 million shares or more than half a billion dollars in stock, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors, which acquired 4.85 million shares of the company over the second quarter, taking its holdings to 5.62 million shares. Same as many U.S. stocks, Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) had a rough start to the year, but has gained ground since February. Over the third quarter alone, shares have spiked by more than 12.5%. Most recently, the rally was driven by anticipation building up around the company’s Call of Duty XP, a huge in-person event related to its mega-popular war-game franchise.

#1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

– Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders (as of June 30): 131

– Total Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $18.82 billion

– Hedge Funds’ Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 4.7%

As one might expect, the most popular software company is none other than Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Among the 131 funds in our database long its stock, we could highlight First Eagle Investment Management, with 23.45 million shares, valued at roughly $1.2 billion on June 30, and Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, which held 18.3 million shares of the tech behemoth. After a pretty volatile year, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s stock has managed to return almost 4% year-to-date. Over the third quarter, however, shares spiked up more than 14%, largely on the back of strong fourth quarter results posted on late-July, and, most recently, by the acquisition of AI-scheduling platform Genee. According to a Microsoft blog post, “Genee uses natural language processing and optimized decision-making algorithms so that interacting with a virtual assistant is just like interacting with a human one,” and will serve to the development of the company’s Office 365 suite.

 Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no interest in any of the securities or entities mentioned above.