Bill Gates’ 2022 Portfolio: 5 Value Stock Picks

In this article, we discuss 5 value stock picks from Bill Gates’ 2022 portfolio. If you want to read our discussion on the latest developments in Gates’ Foundation, go directly to Bill Gates’ 2022 Portfolio: 10 Value Stock Picks.

5. Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 47

Bill Gates’ Stake Value: $770,936,000

Percentage of Bill Gates’ 13F Portfolio: 3.9%

Stock Price as of June 14: $150.28

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) is a St. Paul, Minnesota-based company involved in the development of water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions.

The demand for the products offered by Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) is heavily targeted toward the hospitality industry, and the industry’s recovery following the pandemic is a positive development for Ecolab. Furthermore, there is heavy use of cleaning and hygiene-related products by the travel and leisure sector, which is also staging a slow and gradual recovery. Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) stock is trading at a forward P/E multiple of 29x as of June 14, which reflects a discount of 16.92% compared to its average five-year forward P/E multiple of 35.40x. The stock is a pure-play on the environment, social governance (ESG) aspect of corporate governance as it offers a solution to fight water scarcity.

On June 2, Joshua Spector at UBS upgraded Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) stock from a Neutral to a Buy rating and increased the target price from $186 to $205. The analyst sees improvement in pricing power along with the inclusion of variable rates linked with energy prices as positive catalysts for Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) stock.

Here’s what Baron Funds said about Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Lastly, we added to our position in the leading water, hygiene and infection prevention company, Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL), as the stock sold off on concerns over rising raw material costs. We believe the sell-off is overdone as Ecolab’s strong competitive positioning and proven pricing power would enable it to offset the rising costs (though with a lag). We think that the company will continue benefiting from the secular growth trends towards sustainability, while still having a long runway for growth with only an 8% share of its estimated $147 billion addressable market.”

As of Q1 2022, Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) was held by 47 hedge funds.