5 Stocks to Buy Before Stagflation Begins

3. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 71 

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is an integrated oil and gas firm. As energy prices rise, hedge funds have been loading up on the stock. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 71 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $5.3 billion in Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), compared to 64 in the previous quarter worth $4.6 billion. 

On March 9, Barclays analyst Jeanine Wai kept an Overweight rating on Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) stock and raised the price target to $98 from $91. The company is exploring using excess natural gas for crypto mining operations as it seeks to diversify beyond energy. 

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Harding Loevner highlighted a few stocks and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“We felt that our remaining energy holding, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), with its stronger balance sheet, was in a better position to ride out the cyclical slump in oil demand and even perhaps take advantage of it by investing counter-cyclically. While Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) does plan to increase capital expenditure, we’ve been disappointed in its regrettable failure to address ongoing emission trends, which reflects poorly on management’s foresight. As a result, we sold our Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) holdings.”