5 Stocks to Buy According to GuardCap Asset Management

2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

GuardCap Asset Management’s Stake Value: $765,233,000
Percentage of GuardCap Asset Management’s 13F Portfolio: 10.02%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 160

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is an American global technology giant. On May 24, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill lowered his price target on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) to $3,100 from $3,400 while maintaining his Buy rating, claiming that Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)’s expectation of lower Q2 revenue growth than its initial 20%-25% guidance is suggestive of a rapidly declining macro environment that will probably influence the entire ad industry.

At the conclusion of the first quarter of 2022, 160 out of Insider Monkey’s 900+ elite hedge funds were long Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). At the end of the fourth quarter of the previous year, 158 hedge funds reported owning interests in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).

GuardCap Asset Management owned 275,130 shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the first quarter of 2022, down 8% from the previous quarter’s stake of 295,864 shares. The stock accounted for 10.02% of the fund’s total 13F portfolio in Q1 2022.

Here is what Farrer Wealth Advisors has to say about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Alphabet: We won’t waste much time trying to explain to our clients why Alphabet is such a phenomenal business, we believe that is quite self-evident. The better explanation is why we never bought Alphabet before. The reason was a personal bias we held based on three beliefs (which we now believe to be incorrect)

Growth in YouTube would stall as the increased ad-load would turn-off viewers (the double ad-load at the beginning of videos for example). Consumers will focus on discovery rather than search to purchase new items. For example – using Instagram/TikTok to decide what new clothes to buy instead of ‘googling’ for clothes. Other Bets: In general, we felt that capital spent on “Other Bets” has been a bit wasteful with the segment earning just around $3.1bn in revenue versus nearly $21bn in operating losses over the last five years…” (Click here to see the full text)