10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy Now According to Joe Dimenna’s Zweig-DiMenna Partners

In this article, we discuss 10 best tech stocks to buy now according to Joe Dimenna’s Zweig-DiMenna Partners.

Founded in 1984 by current major owner Joseph DiMenna and his mentor Martin Zweig, Zweig-DiMenna International Managers (Zweig-DiMenna) is a hedge fund located in New York. In terms of investing, the hedge fund favors a long/short equity strategy and selects stocks based on fundamental analysis. In 1999, Business Week rated DiMenna “one of the best stock pickers no one has ever heard of” after his fund returned an average of 25% after fees per year for the preceding 15 years, outperforming the S&P 500 index by more than 6%. Between 2006 and 2010, Zweig-DiMenna returned about 90%. However, the hedge fund did lose 6% in 2008, which was still better than most funds. DiMenna was still down 3.5% when other funds began to recoup their losses in 2009 and remained 3% down in 2010 as well.

Zweig-DiMenna is recognized for having a gross long exposure of 95% and a gross short exposure of 40%. Over the last few years, the fund has been methodically buying failures and selling winners. Zweig-DiMenna Partners oversees more than $750.29 million in its investment portfolio, according to 13F filings from the first quarter of 2022.

Zweig-DiMenna Partners has allocated up to 17.54% of its portfolio to the IT sector. In the IT sector, some of the major companies in Joe Dimenna’s portfolio were Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

The fund manager has a significant stake in Amazon.com, Inc.. Due to its investment pricing discipline, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter eliminated Amazon.com, Inc. from the firm’s Best Ideas List on May 2. He maintained an Outperform rating and a $3,500 price target on the stock.

Microsoft Corporation is another large-cap tech stock in Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ portfolio. Microsoft Corporation currently has a $2.01 trillion market capitalization. It delivered a 6.57% return in the past 12 months as of May 12.

Joe Dimenna also owns 97,827 Apple Inc. shares. On April 28, Apple declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, up 4.5% from the previous $0.22 distribution.

Our Methodology

Let’s look at 10 best tech stocks to buy now according to Joe Dimenna’s Zweig-DiMenna Partners. The top firms in which Dimenna’s holds major investments at the conclusion of the first quarter of 2022 were chosen for this list. We stated hedge fund sentiment about the stocks, which was derived from Insider Monkey’s database of 900+ elite hedge funds in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Best Tech Stocks to Buy Now According to Joe Dimenna’s Zweig-DiMenna Partners

10. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $6,676,000

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 0.88%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a cybersecurity company that focuses on preventing data breaches. On April 18, Jefferies analyst Joseph Gallo initiated coverage of CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., boosting his price target to $275 from $265 and maintaining a Buy rating on the stock.

With 29,400 shares valued at $6.68 million, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is one of the best tech stocks to buy now according to Joe Dimenna’s Zweig-DiMenna Partners. However, the hedge fund trimmed its stake in the firm by 45% in the first quarter of 2022.

74 out of 924 hedge funds held stakes in CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. in the fourth quarter of 2021, worth $5.24 billion, compared to the same number of funds in the preceding quarter, holding stakes in CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. valued at $6.74 billion.

Like CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., Joe Dimenna’s Zweig-DiMenna Partners has significant stakes in Amazon.com, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Apple Inc..

Baron Funds, in its Q1 2022 investor letter, mentioned CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.. Here is what the fund said:

“CrowdStrike, Inc. provides cloud-delivered, next generation security solutions via its Falcon platform consisting of end-point protection, advanced persistent threat, security information, event management, and cloud workload protection. Shares rose 11% in the first quarter, on the back of impressive quarterly results with net new annual recurring revenue (ARR) accelerating for the second straight quarter to 52% year-over-year and the company’s favorable unit economics driving 30% free cash flow margins. Moreover, key new disclosures highlight how non-end-point products are seeing momentum with cloud product-generated ARR surpassing $100 million, representing 8% of net new ARR in the quarter. With more workloads migrating to or starting in the cloud, we believe CrowdStrike is well positioned to compound at high growth rates for years given its unique product platform and attractive go-to-market business model.”

9. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $7,783,000

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 1.03%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 224

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), formerly Facebook Inc., is a social media platform. Zweig-DiMenna Partners disclosed a decreased stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 56% in the first quarter of 2022. This leaves the investment value at $7.78 million and 35,000 shares.

Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney maintained an Outperform rating on Meta Platforms, Inc. and decreased his price objective to $325 from $350 on April 28. Mahaney told investors that he had identified three major concerns – ad platform deterioration owing to Apple’s privacy constraints, income issues related to Reels, and TikTok rivalry, but he is sure that Meta Platforms, Inc. will be able to address them successfully.

By the end of Q4 2021, 224 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported owning stakes in Meta Platforms, Inc., down from 248 in the previous quarter. These funds hold a combined stake value of over $31.85 billion.

In its Q4 2021 investor letter, Boyar Value Group mentioned Meta Platforms, Inc.. Here is what the fund said:

“Corporate executives can have many different reasons for selling shares (anticipation of tax law changes, philanthropy, diversification, and much more), but the sheer number of billionaire founders who sold shares in 2021 should raise eyebrows and might well be signaling a market top. Bloomberg’s Ben Steverman and Scott Carpenter report not only that Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook) sold shares in his company almost every day last year but also that the founders of Google sold ~$3.5 billion worth of stock (the first time either Sergey Brin or Larry Page has sold shares since 2017).”

8. Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $8,682,000

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 1.15%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 46

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) creates and maintains a real-time business data platform. Its products include Confluent Platform, KSQL, and Confluent Hub. On May 6, Deutsche Bank analyst Patrick Colville lowered his price target on Confluent, Inc. to $28 from $63 and maintained a Hold rating on the shares following the Q1 results. Confluent, Inc., on May 5, posted earnings for the first quarter. The company declared a loss per share was $0.19, above expectations by $0.02. Revenue over the period was $126 million, outperforming estimates by $7.51 million.

In Q4 2021, Confluent, Inc. received positive hedge fund sentiment, with 46 hedge funds monitored by Insider Monkey owning shares, up from 27 the previous quarter. These holdings are collectively worth $3.29 billion.

Securities filings reveal that Zweig-DiMenna Partners trimmed its stake in Confluent, Inc. by 23% during the first quarter of 2022. The fund presently owns 211,756 shares of Confluent, Inc., worth over $8.68 million, representing 1.15% of the portfolio.

ClearBridge Investments, in its Q2 2021 investor letter, highlighted a few stocks, and Confluent, Inc. was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“The new issue market remains an attractive source of new ideas and we participated in four IPOs in the latest period. Confluent sells and distributes a commercialized version of open source software called Kafka created by former executives at LinkedIn. The solution allows enterprise users the ability to capture data in real time as it is streaming. A prime use case is capturing real-time inventory across retail stores and distribution centers to enable omni-channel commerce. We believe it is early days in the company’s commercialization of this technology which can capture data in both on-premise and hybrid cloud environments. Global-e Online, meanwhile, removes many of the frictions around cross-border ecommerce by handling the different tax structures, languages, currencies, local logistics and fulfillment/returns for any size retailer. The company’s initial customers have been mostly mid to higher end retailers but an investment by Shopify should enable Global-e to significantly increase merchant reach.”

7. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $9,414,000

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 1.25%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is a semiconductor contract manufacturer and design corporation. By the end of Q4 2021, 72 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, valued at roughly $11 billion. In comparison, 67 hedge funds held stakes in the company in the preceding quarter, worth $9.51 billion.

On April 14, Erste Group’s Hans Engel downgraded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited from Buy to Hold. While the firm profited from its strong market position, Engel warned investors that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited’s sales and profit expectations for 2022 had been cut lower owing to a projected decline in world economic progress.

Joe Dimenna owns 90,295 shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited valued at over $9.41million, representing 1.25% of the hedge fund’s Q1 portfolio. Zweig-DiMenna Partners has trimmed its stake in the firm by 36% in the first quarter of 2022. Fisher Asset Management is the most significant stakeholder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited in Q1, with a position worth $2.73 billion.

Wedgewood Partners, in its Q1 2022 investor letter, mentioned Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited and discussed its stance on the firm. Here is what the fund said:

“Taiwan Semiconductor pulled back on geopolitical concerns and periodic market fears about the end of the “cycle” in semiconductors. First, we think the company might be one of the most – if not the most – important Companies in the world. Taiwan Semiconductor has a near-monopoly on semiconductor processing at advanced nodes, which makes it irreplaceable to customers such as Apple, AMD, NVIDIA, Mediatek, Amazon, and even Intel. Second, much less important manufacturers have more direct geopolitical risk than Taiwan Semiconductor, yet they trade at substantial premiums – both multiple and market cap. For example, Tesla is a heavy manufacturer of only about 1 million automobiles with significant production capacity located in the heart of China, yet it trades at double the market cap of Taiwan Semiconductor. Third, while it is hard to know when the current semiconductor “cycle” will slow or end, we see very few signs of it, as Taiwan Semiconductor continues to generate bookings well in excess of its current capacity – unlike any previous cycle. Taiwan Semiconductor traded to levels that are much too pessimistic given its competitive positioning and opportunity for growth driven by a more robust semiconductor cycle, driven by high-performance computing. As such, we added to our position during the quarter.”

6. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $13,197,000

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 1.75%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 73

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) is a cybersecurity company that operates globally. Morgan Stanley analyst Hamza Fodderwala maintained an Overweight rating on Palo Alto Networks, Inc. and boosted his price target to $823 from $670 on April 25.

At the end of the first quarter of 2022, Zweig-DiMenna Partners held 21,200 shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc., valued at $13.20 million, representing 1.75% of the 13F portfolio. Zweig-DiMenna Partners started building its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the third quarter of 2015.

By the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, Insider Monkey identified 73 hedge funds that had stakes in Palo Alto Networks, Inc.. The total value of these stakes was over $6.48 billion. Jay Genzer of Thames Capital Management was a significant stakeholder of Palo Alto Networks, Inc.. The fund owned 27,139 shares of stock worth $16.89 million.

In addition to Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Joe Dimenna’s Zweig-DiMenna Partners has significant stakes in other tech companies like Amazon.com, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Apple Inc..

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, talked about Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in its Q1 2022 investor letter. The fund said:

“The portfolio also saw solid performance from cybersecurity names Palo Alto Networks which is gaining prominence as the risk of global cyberattacks increases as part of the Russian offensive. On an individual stock basis, leading contributors to absolute returns in the first quarter included positions in Palo Alto Networks.”

5. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $14,282,000
Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 1.9%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 158

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), based in Mountain View, California, is an American global technology conglomerate holding corporation. Zweig-DiMenna Partners reduced its hold in Alphabet Inc. by 23% in the first quarter, ending the period with 5,135 shares of the company. The fund had a $14.28 million stake in the company.

Fisher Asset Management revealed a significant stake in Alphabet Inc. in Q1 2022, worth roughly $5.63 billion. Overall, 158 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in the company in Q4 2021, up from 156 in the previous quarter. The total stakes owned exceeded $36.63 billion.

Alphabet Inc. purchased Raxium, a pioneer in single panel MicroLED display technology, on May 5. After Alphabet Inc. reported a relatively mixed Q1, Wells Fargo analyst Brian Fitzgerald cut his price objective on the stock to $3,400 from $3,600 to reflect deteriorating industry values but assigned an Overweight rating to the shares on April 27.

In its Q4 2021 investor letter, Vulcan Value Partners highlighted a few stocks, and Alphabet Inc. was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“In contrast, we made a different kind of mistake about a decade ago. Google, now Alphabet Inc., performed very well for us while we owned it. The company kept outperforming our assumptions and we kept lowering them to be conservative. “Trees do not grow to the sky.” The stock kept going up and our value grew but did not keep pace with the stock. It hit our estimate of fair value and we sold it with a nice gain, patting ourselves on the back. We kept following the company and what they actually did over the next several years was roughly double the assumptions we used to value it. Therefore, our value was too conservative, and we sold it too cheaply, missing many years of compounding. Fortunately, we experienced some volatility several years ago that allowed us to purchase Alphabet Inc. (Google) again with a margin of safety.”

4. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $17,082,000
Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 2.27%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 134

Apple Inc. is a global technology firm based in the United States, specializing in consumer goods, software, and online services. In the first quarter of 2022, Zweig-DiMenna Partners held 97,827 shares of Apple Inc.. These were worth $17.08 million and accounted for 2.27% of its portfolio.

On May 2, Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett slashed his price target on Apple Inc. to $168 from $184 and maintained a Neutral rating on the shares. Crockett stated that the company’s March quarter report was encouraging but tempered by estimates of larger supply interruptions in the June quarter.

Insider Monkey’s data showed that hedge fund interest increased in Apple Inc. in Q4. 134 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in Apple Inc. in Q4, up from 120 in the previous quarter. These funds hold a consolidated stake of about $186 billion, showing considerable growth from $146 billion in the preceding quarter.

Here is what Berkshire Hathaway has to say about Apple Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Apple Inc. – our runner-up Giant as measured by its year end market value – is a different sort of holding. Here, our ownership is a mere 5.55%, up from 5.39% a year earlier. That increase sounds like small potatoes. But consider that each 0.1% of Apple’s 2021 earnings amounted to $100 million. We spent no Berkshire funds to gain our accretion. Apple’s repurchases did the job. It’s important to understand that only dividends from Apple are counted in the GAAP earnings Berkshire reports – and last year, Apple paid us $785 million of those. Yet our “share” of Apple’s earnings amounted to a staggering $5.6 billion. Much of what the company retained was used to repurchase Apple shares, an act we applaud. Tim Cook, Apple’s brilliant CEO, quite properly regards users of Apple products as his first love, but all of his other constituencies benefit from Tim’s managerial touch as well.”

3. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $17,110,000
Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 2.28%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 110

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) delivers graphics, computation, and networking technologies in the United States, Taiwan, China, and globally. On May 3, Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore initiated coverage of NVIDIA Corporation, maintaining an Equal Weight rating and a price objective of $217.

In the first quarter of 2022, Zweig-DiMenna Partners trimmed its position in NVIDIA Corporation by 57% to 62,705 shares, accounting for 2.28% of the overall portfolio. The fund first bought a stake in NVIDIA Corporation in the fourth quarter of 2012.

By the end of Q4 2021, the number of hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey holding stakes in NVIDIA Corporation grew significantly to 110 from 83 in the previous quarter. The collective stakes in Q4 were valued at $10.49 billion.

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, RiverPark Long/Short Opportunity Fund mentioned NVIDIA Corporation. Here is what the fund said:

“Nvidia is the leading designer of graphics processing chips (commonly known as GPU’s- graphics processing units), required for powerful computer processing. Over the past 20 years, the company has evolved through innovation and adaptation from a predominantly gaming- focused chip vendor to one of the largest semiconductor/software vendors in the world, dominating the core secular growth markets of gaming, data centers and professional visualization. Over the past decade, the company has grown revenue at a compound annual rate of over 20% while expanding operating margins and, through its asset light business model, producing ever increasing amounts of free cash flow. For 2021 the company generated 61% revenue growth to $27 billion, expanded its EBITDA margins to over 44% and generated over $8 billion of free cash flow. Over the past five years, the company has generated a cumulative $23 billion of FCF after cumulative capital expenditures of less than $4 billion.

We expect future growth to remain robust as NVDA chips and software are critical to many of the core technologies being adopted globally, including cloud computing, virtual reality and advanced artificial intelligence. As with NFLX, we took advantage of the over 40% recent drop in the company’s shares over the last several months to initiate a small position.”

2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $17,154,000
Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 2.28%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262

Microsoft Corporation is a tech firm. The firm creates and maintains a variety of software products, devices, and solutions. According to Insider Monkey’s Q4 data, 262 hedge funds were bullish on Microsoft Corporation, compared to 250 funds in the prior quarter. In Q4 2021, the total value of stakes owned was $75.67 billion.

Following Microsoft Corporation’s fiscal Q3 report on April 27, Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss initiated coverage of the stock, maintaining an Overweight rating and a $372 price target. With 55,638 shares valued at $17.15 million, Microsoft Corporation accounts for 2.28% of the Q1 13F portfolio of Zweig-DiMenna Partners.

In its Q4 2021 investor letter, Vulcan Value Partners highlighted a few stocks, and Microsoft Corporation was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Microsoft Corporation was a material contributor during the quarter. It is one of the highest quality companies in the world. We believe it has tremendous competitive advantages in its consumer and commercial Microsoft Office products as well as in its server and tools and Azure divisions. Over the last several years, Microsoft Corporation has been implementing a successful transition from a traditional software license and maintenance revenue model to a subscription revenue model. The company remains competitively entrenched, produces strong free cash flow, and has a strong balance sheet.”

1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ Stake Value: $24,205,000
Zweig-DiMenna Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 3.22%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 279

Amazon.com, Inc. is one of the Big Five American tech giants. IBM (NYSE:IBM) declared on May 11 that it signed a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) to deliver a wide range of its software portfolio as a SaaS offering on AWS.

In the first quarter of 2022, Zweig-DiMenna Partners held 7,425 shares of Amazon.com, Inc. valued at $24.21 million, accounting for 3.22% of its 13F portfolio. Fisher Asset Management is a notable shareholder of Amazon.com, Inc. among the hedge funds monitored by Insider Monkey, with 2.36 million shares valued more than $7.70 billion.

Amazon.com, Inc. is the most popular stock among the 924 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 279 funds had stakes in Amazon.com, Inc.. The total value of these stakes was $49.16 billion.

Here is what Farrer Wealth Advisors said about Amazon.com, Inc. in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Amazon: We had a medium-sized position in Amazon which we exited after the company released its earnings. We thought earnings on aggregate were just fine and were especially impressed to see AWS (Amazon Web Services) start to reaccelerate its growth, up nearly 40% yoy. However, looking beneath the hood a little bit, we noticed a significant slowdown in the 1P and 3P ecommerce businesses that enjoyed a nice covid-bump in previous quarters. The international business also saw negative yoy growth as the covid bump deflated and competition heat up in markets such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, and India. None of these issues individually were a huge cause for concern, but they did force us to lower our internal projections. Given this, we felt the internal rate of return (“IRR”) baked into the price post-earnings was not particularly attractive given other opportunities available, and so, we exited the position. None of this is to say that Amazon is in any trouble, and we believe current investors will do just fine over time. We remain big fans of the companies and think Prime and AWS may be some of the best businesses ever created, so we reserve the right to buy back the position at cheaper valuations (or at a higher potential IRR).”

You can also take a peek at 10 Stocks to Invest In Now According to Viraj Mehta’s Arctis Global and 10 Stock Picks of Rishi Bajaj’s Altai Capital

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This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.