5 Best Defensive Stocks to Buy Now

2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 159

After showing less volatility during the pandemic year, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock price performed really well since the beginning of this year. Furthermore, the company’s broad revenue base as well as improving trends for digitalization strengthens prospects for sustainable future revenue growth potential. During the March quarter, Seth Klarman substantially raised his position in Google by 265% to 290,930 shares, representing 4.70% of the entire portfolio.

In the first quarter investor letter, Artisan Partners, a high value-added investment management firm, mentioned a few stocks including Alphabet. Here is what Artisan Partners stated:

“Large-cap tech companies have been resilient through the pandemic—Alphabet among them. A top contributor, Alphabet’s Play Store and Google Cloud are in demand as businesses accelerate online activity which, along with strong YouTube user growth, is helping stabilize temporarily weaker search ad revenue trends. Through the lens of our disciplined bottom-up research process, we view Alphabet as one of the best businesses in the world, capable of expanding revenues at a rapid rate for years to come, with a bullet proof balance sheet and an average asking price. It’s a name we’ve owned since 2012 and for which we continue to have high hopes regarding future prospects.”