5 Stocks Jim Cramer and Billionaire Ken Fisher Have in Common

2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 238

The technology giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is one of Jim Cramer’s most favorite stocks to hold for the long term. He is impressed with the innovation power of the tech giant.

Over the last two decades, Fisher Asset Management has been holding a position in Microsoft. The firm held 24.8 million shares of Microsoft at the end of the second quarter. Along with a steady share price growth, Microsoft’s sustainable dividend growth makes it a good stock to hold for the long term.

Alger, an investment management firm, published its “Alger Spectra Fund” second quarter 2021 investor letter. The firm highlighted a few stocks including Microsoft in the investor letter. Here is what Alger stated:

“Microsoft Corp. was among the top contributors to performance. Microsoft is a Positive Dynamic Change beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. Microsoft’s enterprise cloud product, Azure, is rapidly growing and accruing market share. Recently, Microsoft reported that Azure grew 50% during the past quarter.

This high-unit volume growth is a primary driver of the company’s higher share price, but Microsoft’s strong operating execution has enabled notable margin expansion that has also helped to increase forward earnings estimates. We believe Microsoft’s subscription-based software offerings and cloud computing services have a durable growth profile because they enhance customers’ growth initiatives and help them to diminish costs. Additionally, investors appreciate Microsoft’s strong free cash flow generation and its return of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Microsoft’s chief executive officer, furthermore, reiterated his comment from a few months back, when he said he expects technology spending as a percent of GDP to jump from about 5% today to 10% in a few years and that Microsoft is well-positioned to capture market share.”