Top 5 Stocks to Buy According to John Orrico’s Water Island Capital

2. IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO)

Water Island Capital Stake Value: $133,995,000
Percentage of Water Island Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 7.71%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64

IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO) serves customers in the business, financial, and government sectors by providing information, analytics, and solutions. On January 21, IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO) posted earnings for the third quarter of $0.85 per share, beating market estimates by $0.01. In addition, revenue for the quarter was $1.18 billion, up by 6.3% from the previous year’s third-quarter revenue.

On January 24, BMO Capital analyst Jeffrey Silber trimmed his price target on IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO) to $118 from $142 and reiterated a “Market Perform” rating on the shares. Silber stated that his reduced target price reflected the projected acquisition value of S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI).

The number of hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey having stakes in IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO) grew to 64 in Q3, from 61 in the preceding quarter. These stakes hold a consolidated value of $6.72 billion, up from $5.95 billion.

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Artisan Partners mentioned IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE:INFO). Here is what the fund said:

“We ended our campaign in IHS Markit. IHS Markit is a global provider of information services to the financial services, automotive and energy sectors. Since beginning our investment campaign in 2009, we have been attracted to the company’s position relative to the meaningful secular tailwind driving demand for data and analytics to help guide business decisions. The company announced in Q4 it is merging with S&P Global, one of the largest credit ratings agencies globally and a provider of benchmarks, data and analytics to the global capital and commodities markets. We believe the combination provides a good level of cost and revenue synergies which will help drive profit growth, and S&P Global has a solid track record of acquiring and integrating new businesses. However, we exited our position as the combined entity will be well beyond our mid-cap market cap mandate.”