Legendary Value Investor Joel Greenblatt Loves These 5 Stocks

2. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 57

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) makes and sells networking and other products. Regulatory filings reveal that Gotham Asset Management owned 262,569 shares in the company at the end of December 2021 worth $16.5 million, representing 0.53% of the portfolio. The fund has decreased its stake in the networking firm by 8% in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter data. 

Since late 2010, the fund has constantly held a stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), barring a few minor exceptions. The initial stake was purchased at an average price of around $21.2 per share. The share price has now jumped above $57.13. The fund has increased its stake in the firm in two of the last four quarters. 

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 57 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $3.4 billion in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), compared to 63 in the previous quarter worth $3.9 billion.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments has to say about Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“We reinvested a portion of the proceeds into existing holding Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), which also has highly valuable technology and an improving secular growth story with its leading position in core networking hardware, as well as in its growing software and services business. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has refocused on winning share in the large and growing hyperscale market and has been investing aggressively in R&D to support growth. We believe Cisco has found new legs after previously ceding some growth opportunities in cloud while maintaining its strong presence in the carrier and enterprise markets. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) boasts a strong balance sheet and accelerating multiyear growth while trading at a modest multiple of earnings.”