Cliff Asness’ Portfolio: Top 5 Stock Picks

2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

AQR Capital Management’ Stake Value: $1.73 billion
Percentage of AQR Capital Management’s 13F Portfolio: 2.99%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 238

On October 20, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised his price target on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to $375 from $350, and kept an Outperform rating on the shares of the company.

By the end of the second quarter of 2021, 238 hedge funds out of the 873 tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), worth roughly $62.46 billion, compared to 251 hedge funds in the previous quarter, with stakes worth approximately $58.9 billion.

As of the end of the June quarter, AQR Capital Management reported owning over 6.4 million shares in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), worth more than $1.73 billion and representing 2.99% of the fund’s total portfolio value.

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Polen Capital, an investment management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“We have written extensively about Microsoft in recent commentaries. It was our leading contributor last year and one of our largest weightings within the Portfolio. It continues to experience business momentum through several dominant, essential, and competitively advantaged businesses, like Office 365 and Azure. The markets it competes for are enormous, which gives the company the ability to compound at scale. In the past quarter alone, the company generated over $40 billion in revenue, representing a 17% growth rate. The inherent operating leverage in Microsoft’s business model continues and led to 34% earnings growth this past quarter. Despite the broad rotation we saw in the first quarter and Microsoft’s robust performance in 2020, we think its business fundamentals continue to exhibit strength, and the stock continues to reflect the fundamentals.”