In this article, we discuss Cliff Asness and his top 5 stock picks. If you want to read about some more stocks in the Asness portfolio, go directly to Cliff Asness Stock Portfolio: 10 Top Stock Picks.
5. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 175
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) provides graphics, computing and networking solutions. Latest data shows that AQR Capital Management owned 1.3 million shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) at the end of the third quarter of 2023 worth $597 million, representing 1.23% of the portfolio.
On November 13, investment advisory Bank of America maintained a Buy rating on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock with a price target of $650, noting the new products of the firm boost AI exposure and counter competition.
Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Chicago-based investment firm Citadel Investment Group is a leading shareholder in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) with 20 million shares worth more than $8.8 billion.
In its Q3 2023 investor letter, Baron Funds, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“At the portfolio level, the positive fundamental trends we noticed in the second quarter continued into the third quarter as well – many of our companies are reporting stability or slight improvement in business trends. Weighted average 2023 revenue growth expectations for the portfolio were up 3.8% during the third quarter or up 0.8% if we exclude NVIDIA. We wrote at length about NVIDIA earlier this year, but it is worth mentioning that the company has continued to exceed its own projections and the Street’s most optimistic expectations. After raising its revenue and EPS guidance for 2023 by 40% and 69%, respectively, following its last quarter, NVIDIA increased it further by 26% and 35%, respectively, after reporting the most recent one. Consensus expectations now call for revenues to grow 94% this year, while earnings per share are expected to increase by 192%. You may have seen these kinds of growth rates before, but we doubt you saw them from a company generating $50 billion in revenues. The skeptics who continue to question and doubt the accelerating demand for Generative artificial intelligence forgot to tell NVIDIA about it. But we digress…back to the portfolio…profit expectations have risen even faster than revenues and were up 11% during the third quarter (or up 7.8% ex-NVIDIA) with margin expectations up 149bps (107bps ex-NVIDIA). So, broadly speaking, our companies are seeing improvement in overall business trends, which flow through to their bottom lines, driving higher margins. We are also starting to see the benefits of leaner cost structures and more disciplined capital allocation compared to two or three years ago when capital was both cheaper and more readily available.”
