We recently published a list of 15 Stocks with Buy Ratings that Hedge Funds Love. In this article, we are going to take a look at where U.S. Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) stands against other stocks with buy ratings that hedge funds love.
The U.S. stock market has been in chaos ever since President Trump announced his intent to increase tariffs on the U.S.’s trading partners. On April 2, 2025, the President officially presented the new tariff rates, calling them reciprocal tariffs. Since the presentation, the value of the U.S. stock market has started plunging. Though these tariffs have led to bloodbaths in many exchanges across the globe, the impact is heavy in the U.S. market where it originated.
China, one of the largest trading partners of the U.S., retaliated against the new tariff by slapping a 34% levy on U.S. goods, thus igniting a global trade war. The result? A $9 trillion wipeout in U.S. equity markets, according to CNBC. Experts are calling it the worst weekly performance since the COVID-19 crash.
READ ALSO: Friday’s 10 Worst Performing Stocks.
Retail investors are scrambling for the exits to protect their investments. However, hedge funds are quietly loading up on bargains. Analysts are perceiving an opportunity in the turmoil, and institutional investors are using the downturns to pepper their portfolios with high-conviction stocks at fire-sale prices. Right now, their buy lists are flashing green. They do not back the stocks unquestioningly, however, they look at the fundamentals, pricing power, and growth trends of the stocks to estimate their ability to outlast the storm.
If there is one thing we can learn from history, it is that markets often make their most significant rebounds after their steepest declines. When discussing the significance of virtues like patience and calmness in an investor during turmoil, a billionaire investor quoted a 19th-century poem: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs… yours is the Earth and everything in it.” His point? Panic is expensive. On the other hand, opportunity can be priceless when accumulating institutional interest signals to investors where to look.
This brings us to the heart of our article today. Combining hedge fund filings, analyst upgrades, and real-time market data, we have uncovered 15 stocks with Buy ratings, which could potentially refine your portfolio. Top hedge funds are piling into these stocks, making them more appealing to investors interested in generating income.
But don’t just take our word for it. History has given us a few examples to consider before making investment decisions. For instance, the 2020 pandemic crash is a prime example of how hedge fund portfolios can be better performers than the market index. Following the crash, hedge fund-backed stocks outperformed the market indexes by 14% in 2021. It indicates that institutional conviction can be louder than the market’s noise.
Our Methodology
We put together our list of 15 stocks by primarily considering the Buy ratings of the stocks. Our list included only those stocks with a strong Buy rating, as we see it as a crucial component for investors to make informed decisions. Another factor we considered was the hedge fund sentiment toward these stocks, according to Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database. It indicated the level of institutional interest in the stock. The value of hedge funds has also been used to rank the stocks on our list, with the top stock having the highest value of hedge funds.
Additionally, we filtered our list by excluding stocks with negative earnings per share (EPS) over the past five years. We regarded those stocks with a positive EPS since it reflects consistency in profitability. All the data used in the article were taken from financial databases and analyst reports, with all information current as of April 5, 2025.
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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A loading dock filled with dry goods and frozen food being loaded onto a truck.
U.S. Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD)
No. of Hedge Funds: 67
Value of the hedge funds: $2.07 billion
Headquartered in Illinois, U.S. Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) is a national food service distributor providing fresh meats, dairy, produce, pantry staples, and non-food supplies. Their customer base is comprised of restaurants, healthcare providers, and schools. The company operates over 70 distribution centers and a chain of Chef’Store outlets. U.S. Foods Holding differentiates itself from its competitors by providing tailored culinary solutions and tech-enabled ordering platforms.
U.S. Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) has garnered a notable hedge fund interest at the end of Q4 2024, with 67 funds investing $2.07 billion. The company has surpassed its long-range plan targets by achieving revenue of $1.74 billion in 2024. The Q4 earnings results further indicated a 15th consecutive quarter of share gains with independent restaurants. Additionally, as part of its strategic initiatives, the company saved $230 million in the cost of goods and acquired IWC for $220 million. For 2025, the company expects a growth in its sales between 4% and 6% and a diluted EPS growth of 17% to 23%, thus gaining a positive outlook in the industry.
U.S. Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) is backed by a consistent 2.96% EPS growth over five years. The steady performance alongside strong institutional backing has made it one of the stocks with a Strong Buy rating from analysts.
Overall, USFD ranks 9th on our list of stocks with buy ratings that hedge funds love. While we acknowledge the potential for USFD as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than USFD but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Hedge Fund Resource Center