5 Best American Stocks To Buy in 2022

2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 158

Known as the parent company of Google and its subsidiaries, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Although it came up with a mixed bag for the first quarter, Google’s search advertising business, the company’s main revenue driver, gained 24% to $39.6 billion, while its Cloud unit sales increased by 44% to $5.82 billion.

On April 26, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) reported its Q1 2022 financial results, posting earnings per share of $24.62. The revenue for the quarter grew close to 23% on a year-over-year basis to $68.01 billion, ahead of market consensus by 142.21 million.

KeyBanc analyst Andy Hargreaves reiterated an Overweight rating on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares following quarterly results, leaving his price target on the stock unchanged at $3,075. Across his coverage, the analyst contends that Google Search’s resilience screens as a positive that more than offsets the incremental bear narrative around YouTube.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is a top stock pick among elite hedge funds. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 158 hedge funds were long Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) with collective stakes worth $36.62 billion. This is compared to 156 positions in the third quarter of 2021 with stakes worth $34.95 billion. Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management owned more than 2.9 million shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of last December, making it the largest stakeholder in the company.

Here is what Farrer Wealth Advisors has to say about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

Alphabet: We won’t waste much time trying to explain to our clients why Alphabet is such a phenomenal business, we believe that is quite self-evident. The better explanation is why we never bought Alphabet before. The reason was a personal bias we held based on three beliefs (which we now believe to be incorrect)

Growth in YouTube would stall as the increased ad-load would turn-off viewers (the double ad-load at the beginning of videos for example). Consumers will focus on discovery rather than search to purchase new items. For example – using Instagram/TikTok to decide what new clothes to buy instead of ‘googling’ for clothes. Other Bets: In general, we felt that capital spent on “Other Bets” has been a bit wasteful with the segment earning just around $3.1bn in revenue versus nearly $21bn in operating losses over the last five years…” (Click here to see the full text)