In this article, we will discuss the 5 best advertising and ad tech stocks to buy now. You can see our detailed analysis of the advertising industry and go to the 10 Best Advertising and Ad Tech Stocks To Buy Now.
5. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO) operates as an out-of-home advertising company throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated over 69,000 advertising displays in the Americas and 430,000 advertising displays in Europe.
On February 24, 2022, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO) reported earnings for Q4 2021 for which it beat on both EPS and revenues. The company’s earnings per share were valued at $0.14, beating estimates by $0.16, and it generated quarterly revenues of $742.71 million outperforming market consensus by $2.57 million. As of April 10, 2022, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO) has gained 57.43% over the past twelve months and boasts a market capitalization of $1.50 billion.
By the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 34 hedge funds held stakes worth $330.36 million in Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO). This is compared to 28 positions in the preceding quarter with stakes of $257.52 million. The hedge fund sentiment for the stock is positive.
Mason Capital Management was the top shareholder in Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO) at the end of Q4 2021. According to Insider Monkey’s data, the fund owned over 21.25 million shares of stock which amounted to a stakes value of $70.36 million covering 33.68% of Mason Capital’s Q4 2021 investment portfolio.
4. HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 58
HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) provides a cloud-based customer relationship management platform for businesses in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The platform helps bring businesses closer to clients by allowing a wide variety of functionalities for marketing and sales departments to manage data in one place. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 58 hedge funds were bullish on HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) having stakes of more than $2.47 billion in the company.
This February HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) reported fourth-quarter 2021 revenues of $369.31 million, up 46.51% year over year, and beat revenue estimates by $11.79 million. The company’s earnings per share came to $0.58, beating expert estimates by $0.05. On February 11, BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman raised his price target on HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) to $675 from $640 and maintained an Outperform rating on the shares after the company’s Q4 2021 earnings outperformed.
As of April 7, 2022, SCGE Management is the most prominent stakeholder in HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) owning over 1.3 million shares of stock. SCGE Management’s stakes in the company were valued at $904.05 million, which represents 10.25% of the fund’s Q4 2021 investment portfolio.
ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, mentioned HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) in its third-quarter 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm had to say:
“Performance among our cohort of IT and Internet companies was mixed, with enterprise software makers thriving while more consumer-oriented stocks faced headwinds. HubSpot saw greater utilization of its marketing software by small and medium size businesses. We are attracted to the recurring revenue nature of these software companies that are increasingly delivering their products on a subscription basis through the cloud. Software business models also tend to avoid many of the inflationary issues facing companies with a physical product or service.”
3. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 209
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) owns and operates Google which is the world’s most widely used search engine, and YouTube the leading online video-sharing platform. The majority of Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) revenues — over 80% — come from selling advertisement space on its various platforms. In 2021, the company generated revenues of $147 billion from Google Ads.
This February, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reported that its revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2021 amounted to $75.33 billion, up 32.39% year over year, beating revenue estimates by $3.50 billion. Approximately $61.2 billion of these revenues came from Google advertising.
On March 18, 2022, Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth raised his price target on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to $3,670 from $3,540 and maintained a Strong Buy rating on the shares. The analyst commented that the company reported strong Q4 2021 results and its ongoing investments in Artificial Intelligence will enhance user and business experiences, therefore adding value to the stock. The analyst sees the company developing a stronghold in areas including Search, mobile, Cloud, data center, e-commerce, entertainment, home automation, autonomous vehicles, and health and fitness.
Investors and analysts are bullish on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL). By the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 209 hedge funds held stakes in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) which were worth $32.34 billion. This is compared to 195 positions in the prior quarter with stakes worth $28.55 billion.
Vulcan Value Partners mentioned Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in its fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm had to say:
“In contrast, we made a different kind of mistake about a decade ago. Google, now Alphabet, performed very well for us while we owned it. The company kept outperforming our assumptions and we kept lowering them to be conservative. “Trees do not grow to the sky.” The stock kept going up and our value grew but did not keep pace with the stock. It hit our estimate of fair value and we sold it with a nice gain, patting ourselves on the back. We kept following the company and what they actually did over the next several years was roughly double the assumptions we used to value it. Therefore, our value was too conservative, and we sold it too cheaply, missing many years of compounding. Fortunately, we experienced some volatility several years ago that allowed us to purchase Alphabet (Google) again with a margin of safety.”
2. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 224
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is a key player in the social media and advertising industries. In 2020, more than 97% of Meta Platforms, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FB) global revenues came from advertising. The company’s ad revenues amounted to over $86 billion in 2020. In 2021, this shot up to annual revenues of $114.93 billion from digital advertising.
For the fiscal fourth quarter of 2021, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) reported quarterly revenues of $33.67 billion, of which $32.64 billion were generated from advertising. The company’s revenues went up by 19.95% year over year and beat revenue estimates by $230.6 million. The company reported earnings per share of $3.67.
On April 7, UBS analyst Lloyd Walmsley raised his price target on Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) to $300 from $280 and reiterated a Buy rating on the shares.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) was spotted on 224 hedge fund portfolios by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. The total stakes of these funds in the company amounted to $31.84 billion. Of these, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management was the most prominent shareholder in the company, having stakes of $3.22 billion as of April 8, 2022.
Here is what Boyar Value Group had to say about Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) in its fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter:
“Corporate executives can have many different reasons for selling shares (anticipation of tax law changes, philanthropy, diversification, and much more), but the sheer number of billionaire founders who sold shares in 2021 should raise eyebrows and might well be signaling a market top. Bloomberg’s Ben Steverman and Scott Carpenter report not only that Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly known as Facebook) sold shares in his company almost every day last year but also that the founders of Google sold ~$3.5 billion worth of stock (the first time either Sergey Brin or Larry Page has sold shares since 2017).”
1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 279
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the largest e-commerce company in the world by market capitalization. The company is leading in areas including e-commerce, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital streaming. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) sells advertising space on its platforms to small, medium, and large businesses. The company is reported to have spent $16.9 billion in worldwide advertising and promotion in 2021. Moreover, the company generated over $31 billion in annual revenues from digital advertising.
Analysts and investors are exhibiting bullishness toward Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) This March, Deutsche Bank analyst Lee Horowitz initiated coverage of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) with a Buy rating and gave the stock a $4,100 price target. Moreover, Insider Monkey identified 279 elite hedge funds that held stakes in the e-commerce giant by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. The total value of these stakes amounted to $49.16 billion, up from $42.55 billion in the prior quarter with 242 positions.
As of April 8, 2022, Fisher Asset Management is the dominating shareholder in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), owning over 4.17 million shares of the stock. The fund’s stakes in the company were valued at $7.22 billion, up 13% from the fund’s Q3 2021 stakes. The investment covers 4.04% of Ken Fisher’s hedge fund portfolio.
Davis Funds mentioned Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter:
“Within the traditional growth category, growing euphoria has led to bubble prices for many companies, most especially those with new and unproven business models such as those discussed above. In contrast, our research focuses on a select handful of proven growth stalwarts whose shares still trade at reasonable valuations. For example, because of concerns about future litigation and regulation, several dominant internet businesses, including Amazon, trade at steep discounts to many unproven and unprofitable growth darlings that, in our view, trade at euphoric prices. While we expect a continued barrage of negative headlines around the company, as well as increased regulation in the years ahead, we do not expect a significant decline in its long-term profitability.”
You can also take a look at 10 Technology Stocks that Pay Dividends and Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top 10 High Dividend Stock Picks.
