Hedge Funds Were Right About MicroStrategy Incorporated (MSTR) and 4 Other Tech Stocks

2. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders in Q1 2022: 136    

Number of Hedge Fund Holders in Q4 2021: 144 

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a technology firm with core interests in transaction processing services. On June 9, the company announced that it was bringing the payments network it owned to digital services such as non-fungible tokens and web3.0. The firm is partnering with NFT companies like X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox, and Mintable for the purpose. The announcement could act as a growth catalyst for the NFT industry since the Mastercard network comprises close to 3 billion cards. 

On May 17, Goldman Sachs analyst Will Nance initiated coverage of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $460, noting that the outlook on the payments sector was turning constructive after a choppy start to the year. 

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Virginia-based investment firm Akre Capital Management is a leading shareholder in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) with 5.8 million shares worth more than $2 billion. 

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, Polen Capital, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“We added to both Visa and Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) during the final quarters of 2021, based on the belief that both businesses were trading at attractive prices and poised to deliver, double-digit returns over the next three to five years. Cross-border transactions–a highly profitable business segment for both companies–represent roughly 10% of Visa and Mastercard’s volumes and 25% of their gross revenues, so lockdowns have severely impacted this segment due to stifled travel. While it was impossible to know when people would begin traveling again, we accepted this reality with the belief that travel would eventually return. Both companies have commented that as soon as a country or geography reopens, cross-border volumes reignite, amplifying each business’s growth and profitability. We think these near- term headwinds have created an attractive long-term investment opportunity.”