In this article, we discuss the 5 best stocks to buy right now according to financial media. If you want to read our detailed analysis of these stocks, go directly to 20 Best Stocks to Buy Right Now According to Financial Media. 

5. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 70  

Number of Times Stock Appeared in Top Picks of Financial Media: 3

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is a home improvement retailer. On March 4, investment advisory TD Cowen maintained an Outperform rating on The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) stock and raised the price target to $440 from $415. 

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Florida-based investment firm Citadel Investment Group is a leading shareholder in The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) with 1.2 million shares worth more than $447 million. 

In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Madison Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“We updated the sustainable scorecard for The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) and maintained our Above Average Rating. Home Depot’s corporate responsibilities focus on three pillars: focusing on its people, operating sustainably, and strengthening its communities. Home Depot continues to focus on its people by investing billions of dollars in wages, training, and benefit enhancement. The company’s environmental targets include the reduction of direct (Scope 1) and indirect (Scope 2) emissions by 42% by 2030, as well as a 25% decrease in emissions related to the “use of products sold” (Scope 3 emissions). Both targets are from a 2020 base year.

Separately, The Home Depot Foundation announced that it will invest $6 million in skilled trades training to address the 400,000 job openings across the construction industry. This grant launches a new program that will provide free, skilled trades training and scholarships for veterans and military families.”

4. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 62  

Number of Times Stock Appeared in Top Picks of Financial Media: 4   

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is a beverage company that manufactures, markets, and sells various non-alcoholic beverages worldwide. On March 7, investment advisory Argus maintained a Buy rating on The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) stock and raised the price target to $70 from $67. 

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Omaha, Nebraska-based firm Berkshire Hathaway is a leading shareholder in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) with 400 million shares worth more than $23 billion. 

In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Hayden Capital, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“It’s not just emerging markets either, where one could argue a “scarcity premium” given fewer quality public companies. Even in the US, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) trades at ~30x P/E despite having the same earnings as 10 years ago.

Both of these companies actually have lower revenues than 10 – 15 years ago too, indicating that their profit growth is mostly from margin expansion. This can only last for so long before there’s no more excess expenses left to cut.

I find it ironic that all these companies trade as “bond-equivalents” in the minds of investors – even commanding lower yields than US treasuries, the safest security in the world. But it’s clear that their businesses are not nearly as safe. Coca-Cola is facing disruption risk from consumers shifting to new, heathier beverage brands.

But these companies are ~35% more expensive than US Treasuries, despite the heightened risk. On a risk-adjusted basis, one could argue the implied premium is even higher.”

Perhaps the explanation is simply the price volatility difference between these stocks and treasuries over the last two years. For example, 10-year Treasury bonds are down ~-20% since the beginning of 2022. By comparison, KO and PG are remarkably down only -4 – 6% over that time frame.”

3. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) 

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 173     

Number of Times Stock Appeared in Top Picks of Financial Media: 5

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) provides graphics, computing and networking solutions. On March 7, investment advisory Mizuho maintained a Buy rating on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock and raised the price target to $1,000 from $850.

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Florida-based investment firm Citadel Investment Group is a leading shareholder in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) with 15.4 million shares worth more than $7.6 billion.  

In its Q4 2023 investor letter, Fred Alger Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a leading supplier of graphics processing units (GPUs) for a variety of end markets, such as gaming, PCs, data centers, virtual reality and high-performance computing. The company is leading in most secular growth categories in computing, and especially artificial intelligence and super- computing parallel processing techniques for solving complex computational problems. Simply put, Nvidia’s computational power is a critical enabler of Al and therefore critical to Al adoption, in our view. During the period, shares contributed to performance as Nvidia reported solid fiscal third quarter results well above analyst expectations, driven by strong demand from data centers. Growing Al data center workloads are driving demand for the increased interconnections and fully accelerated software stacks, thereby enabling leading application performance and fast result times.”

2. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 131 

Number of Times Stock Appeared in Top Picks of Financial Media: 6

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a consumer electronics firm. On March 5, investment advisory Wedbush maintained an Outperform rating on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock with a price target of $250. 

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, 131 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $205 billion in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), compared to 134 in the previous quarter worth $179 billion.

In its Q4 2023 investor letter, Horizon Kinetics LLC highlighted a few stocks and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“The full point is that if BYD has turned its attention from its domestic market to direct global competition, then other Chinese companies can do the same. The next most visible example of Chinese commercially applied technological prowess relates to the 2nd highest-weight company in the S&P 500, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

In September 2023, Huawei Technologies introduced its Mate 60 Pro smartphone. It uses its own, internally developed 5G enabled chip that is apparently competitive with the Apple A17 chip. For practical purposes it has the functionality of the iPhone 15 Pro. This came as a great surprise – perhaps even shock – to the U.S. technology community, because four years ago the U.S. placed strict sanctions on China’s access to state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing technology…” (Click here to read the full text)

1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 302

Number of Times Stock Appeared in Top Picks of Financial Media: 7

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a Washington-based technology company. On March 6, investment advisory Jefferies maintained a Buy rating on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock with a price target of $500. 

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Texas-based investment firm Fisher Asset Management is a leading shareholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)  with 25 million shares worth more than $9.5 billion.

In its Q4 2023 investor letter, Fred Alger Management, an investment management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. Microsoft’s CEO expects technology spending as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to jump from about 5% now to 10% in 10 years and that Microsoft will continue to capture market share within the technology sector. The company operates through three segments: Productivity and Business Processes (Office. LinkedIn, and Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud (Server Products and Cloud Services, Azure, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (Windows, Devices. Gaming, and Search). During the quarter, the company reported strong fiscal first quarter results, where revenues and earnings beat analyst estimates, driven in large part to growing Al demand. Regarding Intelligent Cloud segment, management noted Azure optimizations were similar to the previous quarter, but new Al and traditional workloads are helping drive greater consumption growth, which resulted in their first reacceleration since March 2022. We believe the strong Azure performance suggests diminishing cost optimization headwinds and growing strength in Al service consumption.”

Should you invest $1,000 in Apple right now?

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