Analysts are Recommending These 5 Stocks for 2022

2. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 72    

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) provides banking and financial products. The stock is trading at less than 14 times the expected earnings for 2022, despite registering a rally of 41% this year, and analysts recommend buying it ahead of an expected rise in interest rates. UBS analyst Erika Najarian has identified the stock as the top large-cap bank pick for the coming months and sees the company as a potential cyclical and secular winner in 2022. The analyst touted the clean balance sheet and excess capital as growth drivers for the firm as well. 

Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), recently told news platform Bloomberg that supply chain issues would extend into the new year and would be a “slow fix” as inventories improved. 

At the end of the third quarter of 2021, 72 hedge funds in the database of Insider Monkey held stakes worth $46.4 billion in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), compared to 87 in the previous quarter worth $46.5 billion.

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Higher long-term interest rates supported financials such as Bank of America, which has shown both defensive and offensive characteristics in the past year. We believe it continues to be the least risky large bank from a credit standpoint, with conservative underwriting and controlled risk taking, a leading consumer deposit franchise, scale and technology. It is also a leader in its commitments to sustainability, or as it terms it, responsible growth. Disclosure and reporting at all levels form a large part of this commitment, including gender diversity and equality, environmental commitments and support of communities in which it operates. In the first quarter Bank of America announced it is setting a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its supply chain and operations, and notably also in its financing activities, before 2050.”