In this article, we discuss 10 most searched stocks on Insider Monkey. If you want to see more stocks in this selection, check out 5 Most Searched Stocks on Insider Monkey.
A Bloomberg report dated September 20 suggests that elite hedge funds went on a buying spree as the S&P 500 declined 5% last week in light of the August inflation numbers. Data from Goldman Sachs indicates that these funds were betting against the broader market by pouring into ETFs. Accounting for both long and short positions, the total gross trading flow of hedge funds climbed for a fifth consecutive week, which is the biggest notional boost since 2017. Morgan Stanley data indicates that funds raised their bearish calls but did not trim long positions, and JPMorgan Chase’s hedge fund data shows that funds were net buyers. Given the stronger hedge fund performance lately, JPMorgan noted that funds are becoming more constructive. The JPMorgan analyst team wrote in a note:
“If performance were to deteriorate then perhaps the risk of further selling could increase, but for now it seems some hedge funds might be able to play a bit more offense than they were able to earlier this year.”
It is prudent to look for the moves of hedge funds to understand the market direction and investor sentiment better. This is why Insider Monkey regularly tracks the quarterly movements of elite hedge funds. Since they have massive teams, comprising the best talent, creating stock portfolios and investment baskets for clients, it is interesting to track their strategies or replicate them. Some of the most searched stocks on Insider Monkey include Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
Photo by Alvaro Reyes on Unsplash
Our Methodology
As per our data, the following stocks have been most searched on Insider Monkey. We have mentioned the percentage of searches for each stock, along with the hedge fund data as of Q2 2022, analyst ratings, and the latest news surrounding the companies for the convenience of our readers.
Most Searched Stocks on Insider Monkey
10. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)
Percentage of Searches: 0.40%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is one of the most searched stocks on Insider Monkey. Apart from its portfolio of fizzy beverages, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)’s Japan division is in a new collaboration with Kirin Holdings Company, the first food and beverage company in Japan, to formulate a health drink that aims to boost immunity. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is a leader in the Japan beverage market, but it is only now beginning to penetrate the health drinks segment. The company displayed hyper-growth during the pandemic, and it shows no signs of slowing down.
On September 6, HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy raised the price target on The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) to $76 from $72 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares. The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has new revenue drivers in Latin America as it extends its once-exclusive sales and delivery system to other brands, the analyst told investors in a bullish thesis.
According to Insider Monkey’s data, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was part of 60 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 64 funds in the earlier quarter. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is the leading stakeholder of the company, with 400 million shares valued at more than $25 billion.
In addition to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is a popular stock in the hedge fund universe.
9. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG)
Percentage of Searches: 0.40%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 65
Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) is a Texas-based energy infrastructure company that operates liquefied natural gas businesses in the United States. On September 12, Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) stock climbed 2.4% after the company raised its guidance to factor in the new expected timing of cargoes, which will now be delivered in 2022 rather than 2023. The company also expects sustained higher margins on LNG throughout this year. The 2022 distributable cash flow is forecasted to be $8.1 billion-$8.6 billion, versus the last guidance of $6.9 billion-$7.4 billion. The firm boosted its share buyback program by $4 billion and extended it by three more years. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) is one of the most searched stocks on Insider Monkey.
On September 19, Stifel analyst Benjamin Nolan raised the price target on Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) to $201 from $159 and kept a Buy rating on the shares after the company lifted its 2022 guidance and said it expects over $20 billion of distributable cash flow through 2026, up from $16 billion guided earlier.
Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 65 funds were bullish on Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) at the end of Q2 2022, with collective stakes worth about $2.4 billion, compared to 62 funds in the prior quarter worth $3.20 billion. Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP is the leading position holder in the company, with 5.6 million shares valued at $746.5 million.
Here is what ClearBridge Global Infrastructure Value Strategy has to say about Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSE:LNG) in its Q3 2021 investor letter:
“Cheniere Energy is an energy infrastructure company that owns and operates U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities. Strong quarterly results and the disclosure of capital allocation policies were positively received by the markets. In addition, continued supply and demand tightness in the LNG market created a favorable commodity price environment.”
8. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)
Percentage of Searches: 0.40%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 65
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is a California-based company that engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of computer products and technologies worldwide. On September 16, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.365 per share, in line with previous. The dividend is payable on December 1, to shareholders of record on November 7. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) delivers a dividend yield of 4.99% as of September 21.
On September 8, Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Seymore lowered the price target on Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) to $35 from $38 and maintained a Hold rating on the shares. The analyst said in a research note that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) issued a weak pre-announcement at an investor conference for a second quarter in a row, and the company now expects Q3 results to be near the lower end of its guidance range.
According to the second quarter database of Insider Monkey, 65 hedge funds were bullish on Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), with collective stakes worth $2.5 billion, compared to 76 funds in the earlier quarter worth $3.15 billion. David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management is the largest stakeholder of the company, with 14.7 million shares worth $552.5 million. Generation Investment boosted its stake in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) by 14% in the June quarter.
Here is what Baron Funds specifically said about Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“Then, there is the case of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). A blue-chip tech champion with a market capitalization of over $500 billion in early 2000, the stock was trading at a P/E multiple of 42. It was a fast-growing company whose stock price and multiple declined more or less in line with its peers. However, unlike Google, Intel’s net income has grown from $7.3 billion in 1999 to $19.9 billion in 2021, a compounded annual growth rate of just 4.7%. Its growth from the dot com era has not proven to be durable, and Intel has yet to trade at the price it attained in 1999.”
7. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Percentage of Searches: 0.40%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72
Elon Musk’s Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is one of the most searched stocks on Insider Monkey. On September 21, Michael Burry, the celebrated investor of The Big Short fame and founder of Scion Asset Management, reviewed Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) yet again. This happened after Tesla’s megapack battery was involved in a fire accident that led to closing a part of a prominent California highway for a few hours. Burry’s fund sold its Tesla stake in Q3 2021, and he said he would short Tesla if he still owned the stock. He has previously placed short bets of more than half a billion dollars against Tesla.
On September 20, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas noted that Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is up against its biggest ever competition from domestic Chinese EV companies. However, he added that Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) will get rid of its “peak China” dependency over the next year on the back of higher capacity in the U.S. and Europe, which will allow far superior levels of vertical integration. The rest of this decade will see a swift industrialization of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s NAFTA and EU supply chains, which will naturally dilute China’s role in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s story, said the analyst. He maintained an Overweight rating and a $383 price target on the stock.
Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 72 hedge funds were bullish on Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) at the end of June 2022, compared to 80 funds in the last quarter. Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management is a prominent Tesla stakeholder, with 1.4 million shares worth over $1 billion.
Here is what Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC had to say about Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:
“To put the demand growth for clean energy materials into perspective, let’s look at Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). At its Battery Day last year, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) projected three terawatt hours of lithium-ion battery capacity needed in 2030 for the EVs and storage they expect to produce. To reach this target, Tesla alone would gobble up approximately 75% of the world’s current nickel production and four times the world’s current lithium production. These numbers are astounding enough, but when one considers that EVs currently represent just 15% of global nickel demand and about 45% of lithium demand and that Tesla will likely be producing only a small proportion of the world’s EVs in 2030, the implications are staggering. Clean energy materials companies will make a lot more money in the decades to come than they ever have both because they will be selling a lot more metric tons of material and because there are certain to be shortages where supply can’t keep up with the rapidly growing demand.”
6. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Percentage of Searches: 0.40%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 84
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), the American semiconductor giant, is another stock on the radar of investors who often frequent the Insider Monkey website. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock gained over 3% on September 21, as its CEO Jensen Huang announced that he sees a “large space” for Nvidia products in the Chinese semiconductor market. He further said that the US government’s limitations on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s activities should not have a meaningful impact on performance. The company also announced multiple new products at its yearly conference, such as a high-end RTX and GeForce GPUs.
On September 20, Oppenheimer analyst Rick Schafer maintained his Outperform rating and $250 price target on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) after the keynote address by CEO Jensen Huang. The company’s GeForce 40-series seems ready for a strong launch, and he thinks that gaming is de-risked, even though the mixed corporate data presents possible risk to its data center division, the analyst told investors. He added that NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s present headwinds are temporary, and he believes that its growth thesis in artificial intelligence is on the right track.
Elite hedge funds pulled out of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in the second quarter of 2022. The number of long NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) positions declined to 84 at the end of June 2022 from 102 in the prior quarter. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management is the biggest position holder in the company, with 7.6 million shares worth $1.15 billion.
Like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the most searched stocks on the Insider Monkey platform.
Here is what Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund has to say about NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“At the company-specific level, there was a broad correction across the entire portfolio. While four of our holdings contributed to performance, the contribution to absolute returns was less than 100bps combined, as unfortunately none of them were large enough to move the needle. We had 16 investments detracting over 100bps each with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), our second largest detractor, costing the Fund 254bps.
NVIDIA’s stock was hit even harder, down 44.4%, impacted by concerns over the health of the consumer, dramatic declines in crypto, and COVID-related lockdowns in China. Despite the sell-off and the increased near-term volatility in its gaming business, NVIDIA’s revenues grew 46% year-over-year with 48% operating margins, driven by continued strength in its data center business as companies across industries adopt AI and ML…” (Click here to see the full text)
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Disclosure: None. 10 Most Searched Stocks on Insider Monkey is originally published on Insider Monkey.
