Top 5 Most Popular Stocks Among Financial Advisors Last Week

#4 Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has greatly outperformed the broader market in 2015, and numerous financial services hubs believe that the stock will achieve the same success in 2016. Facebook’s audience size influences its ability to charge advertises, and the tech giant has been very successful in increasing its user base over the past several years. In fact, the platform’s monthly active users at the end of September totaled 1.55 billion, which marked an increase of 14% year-on-year. Nevertheless, some investors are worried about higher spending in the next fiscal year, but Facebook’s fast-increasing revenue from video ads and Instagram ads will most likely offset potential higher levels of spending. Earlier this week, Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the birth of his daughter Max, along with his decision to pledge almost all his Facebook stock to charity over the course of his life. Meanwhile, the stock is up 36% for the year, while analysts’ price targets give the stock an upside of at least 13%. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital holds a stake of 10.70 million shares in Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) as of September 30.

#3 Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Another frequently-searched stock among financial advisors last week was Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD). In July of 2014, the research-based biopharmaceutical company received a letter from the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance asking information and documentation in connection with the company’s Hepatitis C drug Sovaldi and the pricing of this drug. Earlier this week, the Committee released the finding from the 18-month investigation into the pricing of Sovaldi and its more expensive successor Harvoni, suggesting that Gilead hunted profits at patient expense. The market did not react overly negative to the freshly-released report, as some analysts believe that this report “has more bark than bite” given that the committee did not present a legislative solution. The shares of Gilead have advanced 9% this year and are trading at an eye-catching trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 9.56 (the ratio for the S&P 500 Index equals to 23.18). D.E. Shaw & Co. L.P., founded by David E. Shaw in 1988, owns 6.15 million shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) as of the end of the third quarter.