5 Stocks to Buy Now According to Joshua Pearl’s Hickory Lane Capital Management

2. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Hickory Lane Capital Management’s Stake Value: $7,878,000
Percentage of Hickory Lane Capital Management’s 13F Portfolio: 4.19%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 110

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) sells customer relationship management (CRM) software to organizations. Based on lower peer multiples, KeyBanc analyst Michael Turits reduced his price objective on Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) from $281 to $223 on April 25 but maintained an Overweight rating.

Top hedge funds are paying attention to Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM). Our data shows 110 hedge funds were long Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. The consolidated stakes of these funds amounted to $11.46 billion. Of these, the majority stakes were of Akre Capital Management, making it the most prominent shareholder of Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM). The fund’s stakes in Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) were valued at $711.56 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In the fourth quarter, Hickory Lane Capital Management elevated its position in Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2% to 31,000 shares, accounting for 4.19% of the overall portfolio.

In its first quarter 2022 investor letter Oakmark Funds, an investment management firm mentioned Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM). Here is what the fund 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.