5 Best Least Shorted Stocks to Buy Now

2. Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 140

Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) is trading in the green after posting strong fourth quarter results. Adjusted EPS of Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) during the fourth quarter came in at $3.18, beating estimates by $0.10. Revenue in the quarter jumped 13% year over year to $6.5 billion, surpassing estimates by $20 million.

BofA research shows Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) has just 0.51% of short interest as a percentage of float, which makes it one of the best least shorted stocks to buy in 2024.

Ensemble Capital Management stated the following regarding Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) (7.21% weight in the Fund): Payment companies are data companies. As we discussed last quarter in our write up of Mastercard, merchants can generate significant value from analyzing payment data to better understand their customers. Mastercard has long built AI-based products to enhance payment security and provide merchants with rich data analytics. In December, they rolled out Muse, a new online shopping companion that merchants who utilize certain Mastercard services can install on their own websites.

Muse seeks to replicate the instore experience of working with a salesclerk by allowing the customer to use natural language to browse products. Online shopping already works well if you know exactly what you are looking for, but Muse is striving to help customers find things to buy even when they aren’t sure what they are looking for.

Mastercard (7.21% weight in the Fund): In late October, Mastercard reported earnings that investors interpreted as pointing to a near term slowdown in payment growth. The stock fell 5.6% on the day. By the end of the next week, the stock had recovered its losses and went on to reach a new all time high on the last day of the year. But the 7.9% gain on the quarter slightly trailed the S&P 500.”