5 EV Stocks to Buy According to Cathie Wood

3. Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 52    

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) provides design and engineering software services. Leading EV brands like Tesla use the simulation services of Autodesk in their vehicle design processes. Regulatory filings reveal that ARK owned 42,545 shares of Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) at the end of the first quarter of 2022 worth $9.1 million, representing 0.03% of the portfolio. The company has been in the ARK portfolio since the first quarter of 2018. The fund slashed its stake in the firm by 23% in early 2022 compared to filings for late 2021. 

On May 18, Mizuho analyst Matthew Broome kept a Buy rating on Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) stock and lowered the price target to $250 from $285, highlighting that overall software demand was strong despite the selloff in the broader market. 

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, 52 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $1.7 billion in Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), compared to 54 the preceding quarter worth $2.3 billion.

In its Q4 2021 investor letter, Polen Capital, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“We added to Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) on share price weakness. Near-term concerns have made the valuations of the company quite attractive in our view. Autodesk has consistently reported solid results, but management recently provided lower than expected guidance, noting supply chain issues, inflation squeezing its customer margins, global labor shortages, and complications from rolling and unpredictable COVID lockdowns globally. In aggregate, these issues mean that fewer client projects have been completed, despite high endmarket demand. Ultimately, many of these productivity pressures will likely drive the need to digitize further.

To be clear, much of the pressure on Autodesk’s share price recently was due to expectations, not a decline in the fundamentals of the business. Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) continues to grow revenues at greater than mid-teens rates while simultaneously enjoying record renewal rates. While each of the noted factors present real challenges in the near term, we think the lower share price provides long-term investors an opportunity. Given the secular trend towards digitization and the ever-increasing mission-critical nature of Autodesk’s products, we are confident in the long-term investment case. “