Were Hedge Funds Right Betting on These Five Stocks in Q1?

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s both class A and class C stocks ranked among the most popular in our database with 154 funds holding 2.80% of the outstanding class A stock as of the end of December and 142 funds owning 2.70% of the outstanding class C shares. Both classes of stock registered a boost in popularity with the number of funds long Alphabet’s class A and class C stock surging by 25 and 23, respectively. Viking Global Management, managed by billionaire Andreas Halvorsen, holds 1.85 million shares and 1.15 million shares, respectively. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s both classes of stock move pretty close to each other and both ended the first quarter with minor declines close to 2%. Six months ago the company restructured itself under the name Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in order to allow each division to have a better grip on its own projects under different CEOs. However, six months in, things are looking not as bright as expected with experts now stating that Google’s parent company might have leadership problems at several divisions. In March, Bloomberg reported that Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s robotic unit is put up for sale, three years after it was acquired, since the parent company doesn’t foresee a possibility for the unit to generate revenue in the next several years and it couldn’t find a CEO to replace Andy Rubin, who left the company in 2014. Following the restructuring, Alphabet’s investors have a better understanding of how different divisions work and can put the company under scrutiny despite the successes registered by Google alone.

Opposite to the previous stocks in this list, shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) gained 9% in the first three months of 2015. In the last round of 13F filings, 146 funds among those we track, reported long positions in the company as of the end of 2015 having amassed 3.60% of the outstanding stock, versus 128 investors a quarter earlier. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s stock seems a bit overvalued trading at almost 90 times current earnings, but the company has opportunities to deliver more growth for years to come. Its core business looks pretty solid with the number of monthly active users surging by an annual 14% in the last reported quarter to 1.59 billion. The company is also posting exceptional results on the mobile front, with mobile MAUs growing by 21% on the year to 1.44 billion. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) also can further monetize its Instagram and Whatsapp platform and even its own Messenger app can represent a new revenue stream for the company at some point. In addition, the recent release of Oculus Rift means that Facebook’s $2.0 billion acquisition of Oculus will soon start to bear fruit.