In this article, we will take a look at the top 10 biggest companies and hedge funds bullish on Ethereum. You can skip our comprehensive analysis of these companies, and go directly to the 5 Biggest Companies and Hedge Funds Bullish on Ethereum.
Crypto stocks have plummeted in value over the past week amid inflation worries, social media speculation, and Chinese restrictions on financial institutions that facilitate cryptocurrency transactions. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, has dropped more than 26% in the last seven days, leading to a chain reaction that has affected other stocks that mine blockchain as well. However, amid all the chaos and volatility surrounding crypto in the recent past, Ethereum, the second most popular cryptocurrency in the world, has performed surprisingly well.
Big companies like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) have turned bullish on Ethereum after noticing the steps it is taking to become environmentally stable. Ethereum is in the process of reducing reliance on energy intensive mining. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) owner Elon Musk earlier this month suspended Bitcoin payments at his firm citing environmental concerns. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), a carbon neutral firm, earlier announced that Ethereum app builders using Google can integrate data from outside sources.
The fintech universe, led by giants like Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), is bullish on Ethereum as well. Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) owns more than $400 million in crypto-related assets and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) recently allowed millions of users on its platform to checkout with cryptocurrency. Together, these two firms are shaping the future of blockchain in finance. Most of the clients these companies deal with are young cohorts that want exposure to crypto investments.
There is hedge fund interest in Ethereum as well. On April 16, Brevan Howard, a $14 billion hedge fund, announced that it would start buying cryptocurrencies. New York-based Renaissance Technologies, a $166 billion hedge fund, has also said it is exploring something similar. Fortress Investment Group and Ark Investment Management have made elaborate bets on digital assets in recent months as well. Balaji Srinivasan, an angel investor and entrepreneur renowned for technological insights, in a recent interview, detailed the potential upsides to Ethereum compared to other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies.
Some of these include the migration of Ethereum from proof-of-work systems to proof-of-stake, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of coin mining and also improving security by improving mining accessibility that will make regulatory action against it more difficult. The scaling options for Ethereum also look more promising than other coins. However, investors should be wary that Ethereum also has more programs running on top of it than other cryptocurrencies that are having a negative overall effect on the network. Like other revolutionary tech, it is still evolving.
Crypto has made a huge splash in the finance world already under heavy strain from the rise of fintech and cashless societies in recent years. The entire hedge fund industry is feeling the reverberations of the changing financial landscape. Its reputation has been tarnished in the last decade, during which its hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. On the other hand, Insider Monkey’s research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points since March 2017. Between March 2017 and February 26th 2021 our monthly newsletter’s stock picks returned 197.2%, vs. 72.4% for the SPY. Our stock picks outperformed the market by more than 124 percentage points (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that significantly underperformed the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 13% through November 16th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our homepage to receive our stories in your inbox.
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With this context in mind, here is our list of the top 10 companies bullish on Ethereum.
Top Companies Bullish on Ethereum
10. MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) is a New York-based life insurance company. It is placed tenth on our list of top 10 companies bullish on Ethereum. In June 2019, Singapore-based Lumen Lab, owned by MetLife, announced that it would be using Ethereum cryptocurrency to debut a new contract platform known as Lifechain to settle insurance claims. Zia Zaman, the CIO of MetLife Asia and CEO of LumenLab at the time, said that the future of distributed ledger technology in life insurance was dependent on public sector involvement.
MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) was founded in 1868 and is one of the largest insurance firms in the world. The company posted a quarterly revenue of over $16.7 billion in the first three months of 2021, beating market estimates by more than $680 million.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, 37 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $983 million in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), up from 36 in the preceding quarter worth $920 million.
In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Diamond Hill Capital , an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Life insurance company MetLife, Inc. underperformed due to fears around the potential impacts arising from lower interest rates, credit risks, and equity market drawdowns. Despite these concerns, we remain comfortable with our holding as we believe the fears significantly overstate the fundamental impact to the business.”
9. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 154
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a New York-based financial services company founded in 1966. It is ranked ninth on our list of top 10 companies bullish on Ethereum. In April, Raj Dhamodharan, the executive vice president of digital asset products at Mastercard, told Business Insider that Ethereum was a key infrastructure on which the company was building payment and non-payment applications to power the future of commerce. Media reports also suggest that Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) last month funded Ethereum startup studio ConsenSys.
Like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Mastercard is one of the top companies bullish on Ethereum.
On May 18, investment advisory Daiwa Capital Market upgraded Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) stock to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $402.The target price presents a 10% upside potential for the stock of the financial services firm.
Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Virginia-based investment firm Akre Capital Management is a leading shareholder in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) with 5.8 million shares worth more than $2 billion.
In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Bretton Fund , an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“While consumers resumed much of their spending by summer, what and how they used their Visas and Mastercards changed. For obvious reasons, people shifted to contactless payments—one of the Covid-era changes we think is permanent—and replaced travel purchases with online shopping and food delivery. Consumers spent more on their debit cards and less on their credit cards; Visa and Mastercard make more per transaction on the latter. They also make more on cross-border transactions that come mostly from international travel, which ground to a halt early in the pandemic. Visa’s and Mastercard’s earnings per share fell by 7% and 16%, respectively, compared to their usual mid-teens growth. We’re not too worried, and we think they’ll catch up nicely in the post-vaccine world. Visa’s stock returned 17.1% and Mastercard’s 20.2%.”
8. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a California-based technology firm that makes and sells hardware, software and telecom equipment. It was founded in 1984 and is ranked eighth on our list of top 10 companies bullish on Ethereum. Cisco was one of the first firms that jumped on the crypto bandwagon, joining the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance back in 2017 that has connected enterprises, startups, and academics with Ethereum subject matter experts. In 2019, it also released a report titled Blockchain that discussed crypto adoption on a global scale.
On May 13, investment advisory MKM Partners gave Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) stock a Buy rating with a price target of $61. The target implied a 16% upside potential for Cisco stock. The share price of the technology firm jumped more than 1.7% after the ratings update.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, 60 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $4.9 billion in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), up from 59 in the preceding quarter worth $3.9 billion.
7. BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 29
BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP) is a London-based oil and gas company founded in 1909. It is ranked seventh on our list of top 10 companies bullish on Ethereum. BP is the first major oil giant hedging bets on blockchain technology to facilitate oil and gas order processing. In 2018, Vakt Global, a consortium venture backed by BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP), launched a new platform to bring efficiency to energy commodities trading. The venture aims to eventually lead the migration of all forms of energy transaction data to the blockchain, improving data quality and strengthening security.
On May 18, investment bank Barclays named BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP) as one of its top picks in the European oil industry with an analyst at the firm saying that aggregate cash flow of the firm was enough to allow it to ensure competitive cash returns to shareholders and reduce debt.
Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Boston-based investment firm Arrowstreet Capital is a leading shareholder in BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP) with 20 million shares worth more than $425 million.
6. Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50
Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) is an Ireland-based company that provides consulting and processing services. It is ranked sixth on our list of top 10 companies bullish on Ethereum and was founded in 2009. The company markets Ethereum-based blockchain solutions to businesses to make it easier to process payments. The firm has also invested in the Digital Dollar Project in partnership with the Digital Dollar Foundation to advance the exploration of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the United States.
On March 18, the Bank of America upgraded Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) stock to Buy from Neutral with a $300 price target. The price target implied a 13% upside potential for the stock and the share price of the consulting firm jumped more than 1.5% after the ratings update.
Like Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL), Accenture is one of the top companies bullish on Ethereum.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, 50 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $2.1 billion in Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN), up from 46 in the previous quarter worth $1.1 billion.
In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Polen Capital Management , an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:
“Ireland-based information technology consulting firm Accenture was a leading contributor to the Portfolio for the year. We think Accenture is a well-oiled machine, enabling its global customer base to better utilize technology. With more than 500,000 employees, Accenture serves clients in many corners of the world. Its deeply embedded client relationships are a source of competitive advantage and can create a connection point that fosters new business opportunities with existing clients. More than 70% of business is solesourced, meaning Accenture is the only bidder on a contract.
Services businesses generate high returns on capital and consistent cash flows. Accenture management thoughtfully allocates the cash produced to shareholder returns via dividends and share repurchases and a steady diet of acquisitions. With a broad range of interests in the tech world, Accenture casts a wide net for acquisition targets, which bring new technology, talent, and client relations to the firm. Targets tend to be small. In 2020, Accenture acquired more than 30 companies. In aggregate, though, these acquisitions do add up and contribute a few percentage points of growth to Accenture’s roughly $45 billion in annual revenue.”
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Disclosure: None. 10 Biggest Companies and Hedge Funds Bullish on Ethereum is originally published on Insider Monkey.
