Jim Cramer’s Top 5 Stock Picks for 2022

4. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72   

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) provides banking and financial products. As interest rates rise, hedge funds are turning to banking firms to ride the boom in their earnings. At the end of the third quarter of 2021, 72 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $46.4 billion in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC). 

Cramer recently urged investors to buy Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) in the present environment, saying that the company was one that “thrives off rate hikes” and the rally in the stock just before a Fed meeting on rates did not justify the potential of the bank. He added that 2022 could be the year of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC). 

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Higher long-term interest rates supported financials such as Bank of America, which has shown both defensive and offensive characteristics in the past year. We believe it continues to be the least risky large bank from a credit standpoint, with conservative underwriting and controlled risk taking, a leading consumer deposit franchise, scale and technology. It is also a leader in its commitments to sustainability, or as it terms it, responsible growth. Disclosure and reporting at all levels form a large part of this commitment, including gender diversity and equality, environmental commitments and support of communities in which it operates. In the first quarter Bank of America announced it is setting a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its supply chain and operations, and notably also in its financing activities, before 2050.”