Top 5 Stock Picks of Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners

4. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

GQG Partners’ Stake Value: $1,646,398,000

Percentage of GQG Partners’ 13F Portfolio: 4.83%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 238

Bill Gates’ Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a highly sought-after software and technology stock, with 238 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey as of June 2021 holding stakes in the company, worth more than $62 billion. One of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s leading stakeholders is GQG Partners, who holds over 6 million shares in the company, valued at $1.64 billion, representing 4.83% of the firm’s Q2 portfolio.

Martin Taylor’s Crake Asset Management is the largest stakeholder in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), with a position amounting to $57.42 billion. 

Tom Warren from The Verge revealed in a November 10 report that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is partnering with Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) to integrate Microsoft Teams into Workplace by Meta, which will allow employees to react and respond to digital meetings in real time, without the hassle of switching applications. Employees can also access their Workplace content via an app on Microsoft Teams. 

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) released its Q3 earnings on October 26. EPS for the quarter came in at $2.27, exceeding analysts’ estimates by $0.19. Revenue for the period equaled $45.32 billion, exceeding estimates by $1.33 billion. 

Here is what Alger has to say about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Microsoft Corporation was among the top contributors to performance during the third quarter. Microsoft is a Positive Dynamic Change beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. Microsoft’s enterprise cloud product, Azure, is rapidly growing and accruing market share. Microsoft reported that Azure grew 51% in the second quarter. This high unit volume growth is a primary driver of the company’s higher share price, but the company’s strong operating execution has enabled margin expansion that has also helped to increase forward earnings estimates. We believe Microsoft’s subscription-based software offerings and cloud computing services have a durable growth profile because they enhance customers’ growth initiatives and help them to diminish costs. Additionally, investors appreciate Microsoft’s strong free cash flow generation and its return of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.”