10 Cheap Blue Chip Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

4. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 96

Forward P/E as of April 18: ~11.3x

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a financial services company that is engaged in providing diversified banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. Evercore ISI analyst John Pancari has reiterated the bullish stance on the company’s stock, giving a “Buy” rating on April 8. The analyst’s rating is backed by factors demonstrating that Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is well-placed for long-term growth despite the near-term challenges. The analyst is optimistic about the company’s prospects due to its unique drivers that can result in revenue growth and improved returns.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s strategic business investments, active capital deployment, and efficiency improvements can contribute to financial performance. Amidst concerns, its management remains confident in the credit outlook, aided by the resilient consumer and corporate financial health. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)’s extensive branch network and large customer base provide numerous cross-selling opportunities and a source of low-cost deposits. Furthermore, its diverse business mix, which includes healthy positions in retail banking, wealth management, and corporate banking, offers resilience against certain downturns.

Hotchkis & Wiley, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is one of the nation’s largest depositories and banks by assets. In addition to having a very high market share of deposits, they also enjoy high market share within the geographies they operate in such as western and southeastern US. In our opinion, WFC is one of the best franchises in banking with a history of very high returns on assets and equity. Performance over the quarter was strong due to potential deregulation with the onboarding of a new presidential regime and speculation that the company’s asset cap could be lifted as early as 1H25.”