In this article, we will discuss the 5 return to office stocks to buy in 2022. If you want to read about similar stocks, you can also see 10 Return-to-Office Stocks to Buy in 2022.
5. HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 58
HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) provides a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform for businesses in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company’s CRM solutions are targeted at optimizing marketing, sales, services, and content management systems. HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) is one of the best return-to-office stocks to buy in 2022 as its CRM platform is being widely used by small-cap, mid-cap, and even large-cap companies.
This February, HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) reported market-beating earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2021. According to the company’s earnings report, HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) generated revenues of $369.31 million, up 46.51% year over year, and beat revenue estimates by $11.79 million. Moreover, the company reported earnings per share of $0.58, beating expert estimates by $0.05.
On April 26, UBS analyst Taylor McGinnis initiated coverage of HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) with a Neutral rating and a $410 price target on the shares. The analyst holds a bullish outlook on the stock and sees a multitude of growth drivers including the stock’s competitive market position and above-average profitability.
At the end of Q4 2021, 58 hedge funds were bullish on HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS). These funds held collective stakes of $2.47 billion in the company. This is compared to 48 hedge funds in the preceding quarter with stakes of $2.86 billion. The hedge fund sentiment for the stock is positive. As of the end of last December, SCGE Management is the leading stakeholder for HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS), having stakes worth $904 million in the company.
ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, explained why you must invest in HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) in its third-quarter 2021 investor letter:
“Performance among our cohort of IT and Internet companies was mixed, with enterprise software makers thriving while more consumer-oriented stocks faced headwinds. HubSpot saw greater utilization of its marketing software by small and medium size businesses. We are attracted to the recurring revenue nature of these software companies that are increasingly delivering their products on a subscription basis through the cloud. Software business models also tend to avoid many of the inflationary issues facing companies with a physical product or service.”
4. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 69
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) develops and manufactures a range of hardware components, some of which are essential for powering workplace computers. The company’s Ryzen Pro processors offer increased performance, responsiveness, scalability, and security and can be used for a simple document edit or much more complex computations. On May 5, 2022, the company announced its new Ryzen 5000 C-Series processors which will be powering next-gen Chromebooks. With lockdowns lifted and companies going back to physical operations, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is expected to skyrocket as the demand for its industry-leading chips soars.
This May, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) reported earnings for the fiscal first quarter of 2022, in which it beat both EPS and revenue estimates. The company reported earnings per share of $1.13 and beat estimates by $0.20. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) generated quarterly revenues of $5.89 billion, up 70.89% year over year, beating market consensus by $313.37 million. Moreover, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) has returned 20.52% over the past twelve months as of May 6, making it one of the best return-to-office stocks to buy in 2022.
On April 25, 2022, Raymond James analyst Chris Caso upgraded Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $160 price target on the shares. Caso views the company to be well-positioned to benefit from share gains in the data center market.
Hedge funds are betting big on Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD). Insider Monkey identified 69 hedge funds long Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. The total stakes of these funds came in at $6.74 billion, up from $5.25 billion in the previous quarter with 65 positions.
Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management was the top stakeholder in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) at the end of last December. The fund’s stakes were valued at $2.87 billion, which represents 1.6% of Fisher Asset Management’s Q4 2021 investment portfolio.
Here is what Carillon Tower Advisers had to say about Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) in its fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter:
“Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) supplies semiconductor chips for central processing units (CPUs) and graphic processing units (GPUs). The firm has been gaining share against its primary competitor in the datacenter server CPU space, as this rival has been unable to match the design and manufacturing capabilities of AMD and its partners. Investors are also looking forward to the closing of the previously announced merger with a semiconductor manufacturer that is another one of the portfolio’s holdings. The merger will increase AMD’s capabilities in the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip space, and the combined company should possess the potential to win additional market share in the datacenter chip market.”
3. Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74
Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY) is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications worldwide. Its applications help businesses plan, execute, analyze, and scale to other applications and environments, to optimize operations. It is ranked among the top 3 return-to-office stocks to buy in 2022 because of its unique suite of financial management and human capital management enterprise solutions.
On February 28, 2022, Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY) reported market-beating earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2022. According to the company’s earnings report, Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY) registered an EPS of $0.78, beating expert estimates by $0.07. The company’s revenues came in at $1.38 billion, up 21.60% year over year, and beat market estimates by $11.54 million.
This March, BofA analyst Brad Sills raised his price target on Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY) to $320 from $300 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares in light of the company’s solid earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2022.
Hedge funds are raising their stake in Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY). At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 74 hedge funds held long positions in Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY) worth $7.17 billion. This is compared to 72 positions in the previous quarter with stakes of $6.38 billion.
Lone Pine Capital was the most bullish hedge fund on Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY) at the end of last December owning over 5.8 million shares of the stock. The fund’s stakes came in at $1.58 billion, which covers 6.5% of its 13F portfolio.
ClearBridge Investments mentioned Workday, Inc. (NYSE:WDAY) in its recently published “Sustainability Leaders Strategy” fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter:
“We believe the weakness created an opportunity for us to add to an exceptionally high-quality payments franchise with an attractive growth and free cash flow profile and little credit or interest rate exposure. It also supported our efforts to maintain diversified IT exposure in a narrowing market; additions to our software-as-aservice (SaaS) holding Workday during the quarter also bolstered this diversification, in which we seek to balance exposure to more widely owned mega cap names…”
2. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 110
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) provides customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company’s CRM platform is widely used by businesses to drive growth, and as companies reopen their doors to more talent and shift operations on-premise, the demand for its platform is bound to soar, making it the runner-up return-to-office stock to buy in 2022.
This March, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) released an earnings report which detailed its earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2022. The company generated revenues of $7.33 billion, up 25.94% year over year, and beat revenue estimates by $84.15 million. Moreover, the company reported earnings per share of $0.84, beating EPS estimates by $0.09.
On March 2, 2022, BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman raised his price target on Salesforce, Inc. to $260 from $240 and reiterated an Outperform rating on the shares after its the company’s fourth-quarter earnings beat market consensus.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was spotted on 110 investment portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. The total stakes of these hedge funds came in at $11.45 billion. Of these, Fisher Asset Management was the most prominent shareholder in the company owning over 14.5 million shares of stock as of December 31, 2021. The investment covers 2.07% of Ken Fisher’s hedge fund portfolio.
Oakmark Funds explained what makes Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) a “great investment choice” in its first-quarter 2022 investor letter. Here is what experts at Oakmark Funds said:
“Over the past 20 years, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) has become a dominant global player in sales, customer service, commerce and marketing software. CRM earns 80% gross margins, grows 20% organically and virtually all of its revenue is recurring. It’s a great business that we’ve admired from afar for a long time. More recently, the organization has made some changes at the top that prompted us to take a closer look at the stock. New CEO Bret Taylor and CFO Amy Weaver are bringing a culture of financial discipline. We believe this renewed focus on profitability, combined with Salesforce’s strong underlying business characteristics, will yield strong results. The current valuation of 5x next year’s revenues represents a significant discount compared to publicly traded comparables and private market values in the software space. We view this discount as an opportunity to invest in a great business at a good value.
1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a tech-giant boasting a suite of enterprise products including the Microsoft 365 for Enterprise, which encourages productivity by offering a range of apps, enterprise services, and cloud-based products. Its Windows operating system is the most widely used operating system in the world. Demand for Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) products has remained strong and robust and is expected to stay the same for years to come, making it the number 1 return-to-office stock to buy in 2022.
On April 26, 2022, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported earnings for the fiscal third quarter of 2022 in which it beat both EPS and revenue estimates. The company reported earnings per share of $2.22, and beat estimates by $0.02. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) generated quarterly revenues of $49.36 billion, up 18.35% year over year, and beat revenue estimates by $311.18 million. Shortly after, Citi analyst Tyler Radke raised his price target on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to $364 from $355 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares.
Hedge funds are betting big on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). At the close of the fourth quarter of 2021, 262 hedge funds were long Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) with stakes worth $75.66 billion. This is compared to 250 hedge funds in the preceding quarter with stakes of $65.87 billion. The hedge fund sentiment for the stock is positive.
As of the end of last December, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management is the top stakeholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) having stakes worth $9.02 billion in the tech giant.
Here is what Motiwala Capital had to say about investing in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter:
“Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) re-enters our portfolio after a long gap. MSFT sells enterprise and consumer software products as well as hardware products such as the Xbox video game console and Surface laptops. All business segments experienced double-digit revenue growth and earnings per share have compounded in the mid-double digits over the last 5 years. We believe MSFT continues this momentum in the years ahead.”
You can also look at 10 Best Data Center Stocks To Buy Now and 10 Best Data Stocks to Buy Now.
