Highlights From Most Popular Stocks Among Financial Advisors

The Fed is widely expected to raise the key interest on Wednesday and traders await this decision, which should remove the uncertainty on the stock market and set its future course. Even though the Fed is most likely to increase the rates gradually, it will still affect some companies that have been relying on cheap money. Nevertheless, when it comes to financial advisors, they are mostly focusing on companies that have strong fundamentals and are most likely to continue to deliver solid performance in a higher interest rate environment. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at some of the most searched stocks among financial advisors last week. The stocks are based on the data compiled by TrackStar, the official newsletter of Intuition, which is a division of InvestingChannel.

We are going to take a look at the stocks that registered a significant jump in TrackStar’s list and represent new entrants to the top 20 list. In addition, we are going to assess the relevant smart money sentiment towards these stocks. At Insider Monkey, we track around 730 of the best-skilled hedge funds and other investors as part of our small-cap strategy, which has returned 102% in the last three years (see more details here). Analyzing 13F filings of the investors from our database allows us to see, which stocks they collectively are bullish on.

Similar to the last couple of weeks, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) remained the most searched stock among financial advisors. Last week it was announced that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) plans to abandon its Apple TV live Internet-based television service. The stock did not react to the news, since Apple’s performance is mostly correlated to its iPhone sales and analysts expect iPhone sales to continue to deliver strong results next year. As stated earlier, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the top stocks among the funds we follow, with 133 investors holding shares of the company, including billionaires Carl Icahn, David Einhorn and Ken Fisher, among others.

On the other hand, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)‘s stock jumped in the ranking to the 13th spot from 54th a week earlier. The bank most likely got into the spotlights amid the Fed’s decision to raise the key interest rate, which will benefit the banking sector through helping them increase revenues. Another major bank that climbed several positions in the ranking is Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), which closed last week on the 17th spot, versus 84th the previous week. Among the investors we follow, both JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) are popular stocks. Citigroup was the fifth most popular stock among the funds we track at the end of September, with 121 funds reporting long positions in the company that were equal to 6.90% of the company’s outstanding stock. In JPMorgan, a total of 100 funds from our database reported stakes, amassing 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Next in line is ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), which ranked as the 17th most-searched stock. Last week, the company announced its Operating Plan and Capital Budget for the next year. The company plans to spend $7.7 billion next year, down by 55% compared to 2014 and 25% lower than the expected spending this year. The reductions come on the back of lower spending on major projects and efficiency improvements, the company said in a statement. Moreover, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) expects to gain around $2.3 billion from non-core asset disposal and a production growth in the range of 1% to 3%. According to our data, a total of 44 funds held shares of ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) at the end of September, versus 43 a quarter earlier. However, the aggregate value of these funds’ holdings slumped to $1.23 billion from $1.50 billion and amassed 2.10% of the company’s outstanding stock.

General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)‘s stock jumped to the 18th spot from 65th in the ranking of the most searched stock. The company said last week that it would kick off the production its new Buick SUV. The new car will be produced in China, which draw some mild criticism towards the company. In other news, GM agreed to pay around $594 million to settle claims related to its faulty ignition switches. During the third quarter, General Motors took a hit from smart money investors, with the number of funds bullish on the stock dropping to 88 from 104. Nevertheless, the funds from our database amassed 10.80% of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)’s outstanding stock at the end of September. On the other hand, Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) by 22% on the quarter to 50 million shares. David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital also raised its exposure to the stock by 12% to 16.30 million shares.

Below you can see the full list of 20 most searched stocks among financial advisors last week.

Disclosure: none