In this article, we discuss the Top 5 Stock Picks of Claar Advisors. If you want to read our detailed and comprehensive analysis of Claar Advisors’ history and its investment strategy, go directly to Top 10 Stock Picks of Claar Advisors.
5. S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)
Claar Advisors LLC’s Stake Value: $14.3 million
Percentage of Claar Advisors LLC’s 13F Portfolio: 5.62%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 84
S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) provides transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets. The capital markets comprise asset managers, investment banks, commercial banks, insurance companies, exchanges, trading firms, and issuers, while commodity markets consist of producers, traders, and intermediaries within energy, metals, petrochemicals, and agriculture.
At the close of Q2 2022, 84 hedge funds were long S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) and held stakes worth $7.23 billion in the company.
S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) is already out with its Q2 2022 results with reported revenue of $2.99 billion, an increase of 42% year-over-year. Growth was principally due to the inclusion of IHS Markit businesses, partially offset by declines in Ratings revenue.
Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) and reduced its price objective from $398.00 to $390.00. They gave an “Overweight” rating on the company’s stock on 3rd August.
Investment management company Ave Maria recently mentioned S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) in its second quarter 2022 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) is a data-driven financial services company with leading franchises in the areas of data and analytics, credit rating, commodity insights and indices. S&P Global benefits from several secular trends including the disintermediation of banks, a shift to passive investing, and an increased focus on ESG, Climate & Energy Transition.”
4. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Claar Advisors LLC’s Stake Value: $17.6 million
Percentage of Claar Advisors LLC’s 13F Portfolio: 6.9%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 252
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a leading online retailer and one of the highest-grossing e-commerce aggregators. In each of its segments, the company serves its primary customer sets, which consist of consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, and content creators.
In the second quarter of 2022, the company’s net sales increased 7% to $121.2 billion, compared with $113.1 billion in the second quarter of 2021. In Q3 2022, the company expects its sales to come between $125.0 billion- $130.0 billion, or to grow between 13% and 17% year-over-year.
MKM Partners covered Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and reduced their price objective on the company’s stock from $180.00 to $165.00 on 25th July.
CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold off 761 shares of the company’s stock on 23rd May. This was done at an average price of $2,169.22, for a total consideration of $1,650,776.42. As a result of the sale, CFO now owns 2,375 shares in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), valued at around $5,151,897.50.
Insider Monkey was able to spot 252 hedge funds that were long Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) at the end of Q2 2022. The collective stakes of these hedge funds were $30.07 billion, compared to $48.02 billion a quarter ago with 271 positions.
Alger Capital, an investment management company, mentioned Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its second quarter investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) detracted from portfolio performance in part due to poor operating profit and concerns about future margins. The company disclosed that its first quarter retail revenues increased 3% relative to Q1 2021 due to increased online shopping last year during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions fueled by direct-to-consumer fiscal stimulus payments. This growth met an estimate from a consensus of analysts at financial services firms, according to FactSet. For the first quarter, however, amazon.com reported $3.7 billion in operating profit versus $5.3 billion anticipated by a consensus estimate. This substantial miss was driven by increased fuel and international shipping expenses, increased staffing due to hiring for employees who were sick with covid-19 and fulfillment center capacity buildout that is now becoming better utilized. These factors resulted in shares of amazon.com underperforming during the second quarter.”
3. American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)
Claar Advisors LLC’s Stake Value: $18.4 million
Percentage of Claar Advisors LLC’s 13F Portfolio: 7.21%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 52
American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) is one of the largest global REITs and a leading independent owner, operator, and developer of multitenant communications real estate.
American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) has raised its 2022 outlook for attributable AFFO per share, despite recent foreign exchange rate challenges. Total property revenue of the company is expected between $10,280-$10,460 million. AFFO attributable to the common stockholders per share is expected to come between $9.62-$9.86.
KeyCorp increased its price objective on the shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) from $283.00 to $300.00. They gave an “Overweight” rating on 2nd August.
According to Insider Monkey’s Q2 data, 52 hedge funds held stakes in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT), with combined stakes of $4.37 billion. In the preceding quarter, 50 funds held stakes worth $4.1 billion.
ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its second quarter 2022 investor letter and mentioned American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT). Here is what the fund said:
“The top contributor was our sole real estate holding American Tower (NYSE:AMT), the leading independent wireless tower operator with roughly 221,000 properties globally, including about 43,000 in the U.S., 76,000 in India and 23,000 in Brazil. The company’s business model is to lease space on its towers to predominantly wireless carriers on a long-term basis, generally ranging 5–10 years in duration, with built-in price escalators. This approach results in a stable and predictable cash flow business with high incremental margins — attractive qualities especially in volatile markets like the second quarters.”
2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Claar Advisors LLC’s Stake Value: $24.7 million
Percentage of Claar Advisors LLC’s 13F Portfolio: 9.69%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 153
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is a collection of businesses — the largest of which is Google. The company reports these businesses as 2 segments: Google Services and Google Cloud.
In Q2 2022, the company saw revenues of $69.7 billion, exhibiting 13% growth year-over-year. This was mainly due to higher Google Services segment revenues and improvement in Google Cloud segment revenues.
Analysts at Bank of America covered Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and reduced their price target on the shares of the company from $132.00 to $125.00. They have given a “Buy” rating on the stock on 27th July.
The company’s SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 1,109 shares in a transaction on 1st July. This was done at an average price of $2,166.74, for a total consideration of $2,402,914.66. Post this sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,608 shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), valued at around $3,484,117.92.
Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 153 funds were long Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the second quarter of 2022, down from 160 hedge funds in the preceding quarter.
Investment management company, Arch Capital, specifically mentioned Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its second quarter 2022 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“In May we decided to buy Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (parent company of Google, YouTube, and Android). Our thesis was simple. Alphabet has billions of locked-in users around the globe with businesses like Search, Maps, and YouTube that should grow in-line or faster than worldwide GDP. With all the cash these businesses generate, management is able to reinvest in Google Cloud, Other Bets projects like Waymo, and return cash to shareholders via share repurchases. At an enterprise value-to-free cash flow (EV/FCF) of around 20 at the time of our purchase, we believe this sets up shareholders for low risk 15%+ returns over the next five years.”
1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Claar Advisors LLC’s Stake Value: $27.1 million
Percentage of Claar Advisors LLC’s 13F Portfolio: 10.64%
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 258
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a technology company. The company develops and licenses consumer and enterprise software. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is known for its Windows operating systems and Office productivity suite.
For FY23, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) expects revenue and operating income to grow by double-digits. In the first quarter of 2023, the company expects its productivity and business processes segment to deliver revenue of $15.95 billion-$16.25 billion.
On 27th July, Wedbush initiated coverage on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and reduced their price objective on the shares of the company from $340.00 to $320.00, giving an “Outperform” rating.
At the close of Q2 2022, Insider Monkey found that 258 hedge funds held stakes in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), down slightly from 259 funds in the previous quarter.
Alger Capital, an investment management company, released its second quarter investor letter and mentioned Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Here is what the fund said:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a positive dynamic change beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. during a previous earnings call, Microsoft’s CEO estimated that technology spending as a percent of GDP may increase from about 5% today to 10% in 10 years. Microsoft’s enterprise cloud product, Azure, is rapidly growing and accruing market share and its revenues increased 49% during the first three months of this year as the company’s revenue growth approached 20%. Microsoft’s share price declined despite its high unit volume growth as the broad equity market was down due to higher interest rates and slowing economic growth.”
You can also take a peek at Top 10 Video Gaming Stocks To Buy Now and 15 Largest FMCG Companies in the World
