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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Brad Gerstner is Bullish on This Tech Stock Right Now

We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy According to Brad Gerstner. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against the other tech stocks.

Gerstner is Bullish on Tech in 2024

On December 1, 2023, Brad Gerstner, the CEO of Altimeter Capital, appeared in an interview on CNBC where he explained that tech stocks are expected to outperform non-tech stocks in 2024. Over the past 10 years, tech earnings have compounded at almost 16% and non-tech earnings have compounded at 6%. 2023 was a rebound year for the tech industry after a downturn in 2022 due to rising interest rates. Big Tech companies and their operational efficiencies have poised them for strong growth. While inflation and interest rates will determine what goes down, companies that have invested in augmented intelligence will experience secular growth. Gerstner thinks that the spread between 16% and 6% will be a recurring trend in 2024.

Gerstner Thinks Now is the Right Time to  Invest in Tech

On June 11, Brad Gerstner made another appearance on CNBC and addressed the speculation surrounding the software industry. Gerstner suggested that despite headwinds, the software industry is still valuable as companies and startups are still making deals. Gerstner believes there are three main reasons for the downward trajectory of the software industry. He thinks that CEOs and CTOs are cautious when it comes to making investments in software. Executives want a clearer picture of the AI boom before making risky investments. Moreover, interest rates are higher than expectations, due to delayed rate cuts and compressing multiples. Lastly, general uncertainty about the future has been detrimental to the growth of the software industry. Gerstner pointed out that since the software industry is trading at 20% below its ten-year average, this may be the best time to allocate stakes in software companies. You can also take a look at the best Robinhood stocks under $20.

Gerstner thinks data and databases are extremely vital to AI applications. He thinks that companies using data to power AI are far ahead of companies simply automating services. Big Tech companies have data at the forefront of all their artificial intelligence applications. You can also read our piece on the stocks hedge funds are crazy about right now.

Brad Gerstner is bullish on tech, and particularly software and AI. In Q1 2024, he initiated 6 new positions and also raised his stakes in 2 stocks, ending the quarter with a portfolio of $6.5 billion in 13F securities. With that, let’s discuss his top tech stock picks.

Our Methodology 

We scanned Altimeter Capital’s Q1 portfolio and picked growth stocks from the fund’s top 13F holdings. Additionally, we’ve also added overall hedge fund sentiment, as of Q1 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).

Note: All pricing data is as of June 28.

A development team working together to create the next version of Windows.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Altimeter Capital’s Stake Value: $694,133,306

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 293

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is among Brad Gerstner’s top 5 stock picks. The stock accounts for nearly 11% of Altimeter Capital’s 13F portfolio. The company’s overall growth in the quarter was driven by the demand for Microsoft Cloud, which logged $35 billion in revenue, up by 23% year-over-year. Microsoft Azure remained a top pick among customers. Over 65% of the Fortune 500 companies and more than 30,000 organizations use Azure OpenAI Service and more than 30,000 organizations use Copilot Studio to customize Copilot for their organization’s needs. The number of organizations using Copilot grew by 175% quarter-over-quarter.

Microsoft introduced Phi-3 in April, the company’s family of small language models measuring 3.8 billion parameters, that perform better than large models. It is available in the Microsoft Azure AI Model Catalog and on Hugging Face. Phi-3 models will also be available as an NVIDIA NIM Microservice that is capable of being deployed anywhere. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) plans to launch additional models to the Phi-3 like Phi-3-small, measuring 7 billion parameters, and Phi-3-medium, measuring 14 billion parameters.

Azure Arc, a hybrid multi-cloud management tool, now has over 33,000 customers, increasing twofold year-over-year. The company saw an 80% increase for its $100 million Azure deals year-over-year. $10 million deals, on the other hand, doubled in the same time frame. Its next-gen analytics platform, Fabric, has over 11,000 paid customers.

At the end of the first quarter of 2024, 293 hedge funds held stakes in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) with total positions amounting to $88.16 billion. Mar Vista Investment Partners is also bullish on the stock because of its strong position in the digital landscape. Here are comments from Mar Vista Investment Partners’ Q1 2024 investor letter:

“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) continues to occupy a strong position, poised to capture market share as businesses navigate the transition to a digital-first landscape and embrace generative AI-driven solutions. The company’s commanding presence in the enterprise arena, combined with its comprehensive product portfolio encompassing Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), establishes it as a crucial provider of IT solutions for companies of all sizes. Microsoft is effectively executing its strategy in a sizable market by offering a roadmap for digital transformation and adoption of AI-driven solutions, such as ChatGPT, while enhancing productivity and reducing costs. Consequently, we anticipate that Microsoft’s solutions should exhibit resilience even in a more challenging macroeconomic environment, supporting low double-digit growth in intrinsic value within our investment horizon.”

Overall MSFT ranks 5th on our list of the best tech stocks to buy according to Brad Gerstner. You can visit 10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy According to Brad Gerstner to see the other tech stocks that are on hedge funds’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These 10 Stocks in June.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

AI, Tariffs, Nuclear Power: One Undervalued Stock Connects ALL the Dots (Before It Explodes!)

Artificial intelligence is the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime. The time to invest in groundbreaking AI is now, and this stock is a steal!

AI is eating the world—and the machines behind it are ravenous.

Each ChatGPT query, each model update, each robotic breakthrough consumes massive amounts of energy. In fact, AI is already pushing global power grids to the brink.

Wall Street is pouring hundreds of billions into artificial intelligence—training smarter chatbots, automating industries, and building the digital future. But there’s one urgent question few are asking:

Where will all of that energy come from?

AI is the most electricity-hungry technology ever invented. Each data center powering large language models like ChatGPT consumes as much energy as a small city. And it’s about to get worse.

Even Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, issued a stark warning:

“The future of AI depends on an energy breakthrough.”

Elon Musk was even more blunt:

“AI will run out of electricity by next year.”

As the world chases faster, smarter machines, a hidden crisis is emerging behind the scenes. Power grids are strained. Electricity prices are rising. Utilities are scrambling to expand capacity.

And that’s where the real opportunity lies…

One little-known company—almost entirely overlooked by most AI investors—could be the ultimate backdoor play. It’s not a chipmaker. It’s not a cloud platform. But it might be the most important AI stock in the US owns critical energy infrastructure assets positioned to feed the coming AI energy spike.

As demand from AI data centers explodes, this company is gearing up to profit from the most valuable commodity in the digital age: electricity.

The “Toll Booth” Operator of the AI Energy Boom

  • It owns critical nuclear energy infrastructure assets, positioning it at the heart of America’s next-generation power strategy.
  • It’s one of the only global companies capable of executing large-scale, complex EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) projects across oil, gas, renewable fuels, and industrial infrastructure.
  • It plays a pivotal role in U.S. LNG exportation—a sector about to explode under President Trump’s renewed “America First” energy doctrine.

Trump has made it clear: Europe and U.S. allies must buy American LNG.

And our company sits in the toll booth—collecting fees on every drop exported.

But that’s not all…

As Trump’s proposed tariffs push American manufacturers to bring their operations back home, this company will be first in line to rebuild, retrofit, and reengineer those facilities.

AI. Energy. Tariffs. Onshoring. This One Company Ties It All Together.

While the world is distracted by flashy AI tickers, a few smart investors are quietly scooping up shares of the one company powering it all from behind the scenes.

AI needs energy. Energy needs infrastructure.

And infrastructure needs a builder with experience, scale, and execution.

This company has its finger in every pie—and Wall Street is just starting to notice.

Wall Street is noticing this company also because it is quietly riding all of these tailwinds—without the sky-high valuation.

While most energy and utility firms are buried under mountains of debt and coughing up hefty interest payments just to appease bondholders…

This company is completely debt-free.

In fact, it’s sitting on a war chest of cash—equal to nearly one-third of its entire market cap.

It also owns a huge equity stake in another red-hot AI play, giving investors indirect exposure to multiple AI growth engines without paying a premium.

And here’s what the smart money has started whispering…

The Hedge Fund Secret That’s Starting to Leak Out

This stock is so off-the-radar, so absurdly undervalued, that some of the most secretive hedge fund managers in the world have begun pitching it at closed-door investment summits.

They’re sharing it quietly, away from the cameras, to rooms full of ultra-wealthy clients.

Why? Because excluding cash and investments, this company is trading at less than 7 times earnings.

And that’s for a business tied to:

  • The AI infrastructure supercycle
  • The onshoring boom driven by Trump-era tariffs
  • A surge in U.S. LNG exports
  • And a unique footprint in nuclear energy—the future of clean, reliable power

You simply won’t find another AI and energy stock this cheap… with this much upside.

This isn’t a hype stock. It’s not riding on hope.

It’s delivering real cash flows, owns critical infrastructure, and holds stakes in other major growth stories.

This is your chance to get in before the rockets take off!

Disruption is the New Name of the Game: Let’s face it, complacency breeds stagnation.

AI is the ultimate disruptor, and it’s shaking the foundations of traditional industries.

The companies that embrace AI will thrive, while the dinosaurs clinging to outdated methods will be left in the dust.

As an investor, you want to be on the side of the winners, and AI is the winning ticket.

The Talent Pool is Overflowing: The world’s brightest minds are flocking to AI.

From computer scientists to mathematicians, the next generation of innovators is pouring its energy into this field.

This influx of talent guarantees a constant stream of groundbreaking ideas and rapid advancements.

By investing in AI, you’re essentially backing the future.

The future is powered by artificial intelligence, and the time to invest is NOW.

Don’t be a spectator in this technological revolution.

Dive into the AI gold rush and watch your portfolio soar alongside the brightest minds of our generation.

This isn’t just about making money – it’s about being part of the future.

So, buckle up and get ready for the ride of your investment life!

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A New Dawn is Coming to U.S. Stocks

I work for one of the largest independent financial publishers in the world – representing over 1 million people in 148 countries.

We’re independently funding today’s broadcast to address something on the mind of every investor in America right now…

Should I put my money in Artificial Intelligence?

Here to answer that for us… and give away his No. 1 free AI recommendation… is 50-year Wall Street titan, Marc Chaikin.

Marc’s been a trader, stockbroker, and analyst. He was the head of the options department at a major brokerage firm and is a sought-after expert for CNBC, Fox Business, Barron’s, and Yahoo! Finance…

But what Marc’s most known for is his award-winning stock-rating system. Which determines whether a stock could shoot sky-high in the next three to six months… or come crashing down.

That’s why Marc’s work appears in every Bloomberg and Reuters terminal on the planet…

And is still used by hundreds of banks, hedge funds, and brokerages to track the billions of dollars flowing in and out of stocks each day.

He’s used this system to survive nine bear markets… create three new indices for the Nasdaq… and even predict the brutal bear market of 2022, 90 days in advance.

Click to continue reading…