We recently published a list of 10 Best Stocks to Buy and Hold For 5 Years. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other best stocks to buy and hold for 5 years.
Is Corporate America Celebrating the New Administration?
On November 7, Reuters reported that stocks in the United States were higher than usual after the Fed announced a 25 basis point rate cut, extending the rally fueled by the election results. The Fed decision came promptly after the job market showed signs of easing and inflation moved towards the Central Bank’s target of 2%. Most investors expect the new administration to ease taxes and regulations, all of which sparked all three of the major indexes. The S&P 500 and Dow, each logged their largest one-day percentage jumps in two years.
Now that the elections are over, investors are keen to know how will markets perform amid election results. On November 8, Bethany McLean, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, joined Catalysts on Yahoo Finance to discuss why businesses may be optimistic as the new president takes over the White House.
McLean emphasizes that investors foresee a myriad of benefits such as tax cut extensions, fewer regulations, and less aggressive antitrust oversight, all of which have sparked a surge in markets. Despite the possible benefits, she emphasizes it is difficult to predict what the administration is going to do at the moment.
McLean expects the new administration to be friendlier with companies in the technology sector, however, she remains fixated on waiting to see how the policies play out. She further adds that if any future policies made by the new administration negatively impact the stock market, she expects them to “switch course.”
On the flip side, some analysts maintain that the easing cycle has a greater bearing on the stock market than the elections, hinting that value names may be more important as of now. On November 7, Arup Datta, senior vice president at Mackenzie Global Quantitative, joined Wealth! on Yahoo Finance to share his market thesis as the 2024 elections come to a close.
Datta shares that he is extremely positive about the market but emphasizes that the win will have little impact on financial markets in the long term. Speaking of the magnificent seven, he adds focusing on quality names with positive growth and value for his investment portfolio helps him navigate the market in such conditions.
He suggests that while the magnificent seven have been the talk of the town for the past 18 to 21 months, he would like to “pivot away” from that by a little. Historically, value stocks have performed better amid an easing cycle, adds Datta.
As the new administration settles in and the Fed initiates its second cut of the cycle, the near-term market will most likely remain volatile. Speaking of the future, some names happen to promise long-term growth due to their proprietary revolutionary technologies and crucial investments.
Our Methodology
To come up with the 10 best stocks to buy and hold for 5 years, we sifted through multiple similar rankings and compiled an initial list of 20 stocks. We then ranked the top 10 based on their hedge fund sentiment at the end of Q2 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 219
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is a technology conglomerate behind Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. The company has a large user base of over 3 billion daily active users across all its platforms.
The company is expanding its position on AI raising its capital expenditure guidance for 2025. On October 31, Rohit Kulkarni, managing director and senior research analyst at Roth Capital Partners, joined Yahoo Finance to share his bullish thesis on META. Kulkarni shares that META is a “high-flying stock” and emphasizes that such stocks need high-flying numbers to support their position. Despite some concerns, he suggests that “now is the time to buy.” He adds that he expects the company to significantly improve its content targeting, engagement, and advertising return on investment.
Over the past few months, the company has leveraged its expertise in AI and augmented reality, having launched its debut AR glasses, Orion, in September. On the same day, the company released its most affordable mixed-reality headset, Meta Quest 36. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is also working relentlessly to become one of the best recommendation technology companies backed by AI.
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) has a strong business model and is positioned as one of the best stocks to buy and hold for five years. The company is pioneering ad tech using artificial intelligence, challenging for any other company to replicate.
Rowan Street Capital stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“We are pleased to report that Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), our largest position in the fund, has delivered a remarkable performance, +450% since our November 2022 note. Our investment in Meta dates back to 2018, with an average cost basis of approximately $172 per share. Today, the stock trades around $535, reflecting a 3x return over the six-year holding period, equating to a 20% annualized return.
We would like to remind you that achieving these types of returns is never a straight path. From time to time, we might experience volatility — that’s simply part of the investment journey. In fact, wealth creation and volatility go hand in hand. There’s no escaping it; it’s the “price of admission” the market demands. If you take a look at the chart below, you’ll notice the drawdowns META stock has faced over the years, with 2022 standing out as a particularly challenging period, where the stock saw a 75% drop….. ” (Click here to read the full text)
Overall, META ranks 2nd on our list of best stocks to buy and hold for 5 years. While we acknowledge the potential of META to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.