How International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

Before we spend many hours researching a company, we like to analyze what hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. We like to do so because elite investors’ consensus returns have been exceptional. The top 30 mid-cap stocks among the best performing hedge funds in our database yielded an average return of 18% during the last 12 months, outperforming the S&P 500 Index funds by double-digits. Although the elite funds occasionally have their duds, such as SunEdison and Valeant, the hedge fund picks seem to work on average. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM).

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) has experienced an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 55 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a 4% increase from the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare IBM to other stocks including Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE:UL), Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), and Unilever N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:UN) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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Hedge fund activity in International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, holds the most valuable position in International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM). Berkshire Hathaway has a $12.90 billion position in the stock, comprising 10% of its 13F portfolio. On Berkshire Hathaway’s heels is Masters Capital Management, led by Mike Masters, holding a $317.7 million call position; 6.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other professional money managers that are bullish contain Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, and Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management.