We recently published a list of 7 Best Money Making Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other best money making stocks to buy now.
The US markets have been on a stellar run over the past couple of years, with two-year gains of 53%. This is the best performance for the broad market index since the 66% rally between 1997 and 1998.
READ ALSO: 15 Stocks ChatGPT Predicts Could Make You Wealthy in 10 Years and 12 Best S&P 500 Stocks to Invest in According to Analysts.
The stock market has benefited from waning inflation, declining interest rates, and a resilient economy that has avoided recession. While continued growth is projected for 2025, analysts also warn of the rally having gone too far, with a correction in the offing this year. Moreover, the looming threat of fierce trade wars is already taking a toll on investor sentiment.
The broad market index fell for the fourth successive day on Tuesday, February 25, slipping 0.47% amid heightened concerns about economic growth and global trade. According to CNBC, investors are turning to US bonds, with treasury yield dropping below 4.3% to touch the lowest level since December.
The US president has announced that tariffs on Canada and Mexico will begin next month, ending the month-long suspension. The new administration also recently imposed additional 10% tariffs on Chinese goods and continues to warn the European Union of similar import taxes, citing the bloc’s treatment of Washington.
Protectionist policies have sparked market concerns about which countries will be next on the American president’s list, leaving several large multinationals unsure of how to plan. Past trends show that the broad market index dropped by 5% on days when the US, under Trump’s first stint as president, announced tariffs in 2018 and 2019. The index fell by a cumulative 7% when other countries imposed retaliatory tariffs.
The recent consumer confidence survey for February has added to the negative mood, with results coming in weaker than economists’ estimates and registering the largest deterioration since August 2021. This is the third straight monthly decline, pushing the index to 98.3%, its lowest since June 2024.
Stephanie Guichard, senior economist of global indicators at The Conference Board, stated the following about the dip:
Of the five components of the Index, only consumers’ assessment of present business conditions improved, albeit slightly. Views of current labor market conditions weakened. Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a ten-month high.
Methodology
For this article, we sifted through screeners to identify stocks with a market cap of over $2 billion (mid-cap or above), whose ROE was greater than 30%, and ROI of more than 25%, as of the close of business on February 25. From there, we selected the 7 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors, based on Insider Monkey’s database of over 1,000 prominent hedge funds as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
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Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Market Cap: $1.67 trillion
ROE: 37.14%
ROI: 27.07%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the largest technology companies in the world. It owns numerous popular social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads. An estimated 3.2 billion people use at least one of Meta’s apps every day.
The stock gained 71% in 2024 and is already up 15% year-to-date in 2025 on the back of advancements in AI integration, strategic restructuring, and successful streamlining of operations. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s impressive profitability metrics and commitment to shareholder returns have further enhanced the stock’s appeal among investors.
During its Q4 2024 earnings call on January 29, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) reported revenues of $48.39 billion for the fourth quarter and $164.50 billion for the full year, representing increases of 21% and 22% from the corresponding periods last year. Net income surged 49% during Q4 to $20.8 billion, while for the full year, it stood at $62.36 billion, a remarkable increase of 59.5% year-over-year.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s capital return program included share repurchases worth $29.75 billion in 2024. The company also made dividend payments of $5.07 billion during the year, including $1.27 billion in the fourth quarter.
Wall Street analysts are bullish on the stock, with a consensus Strong Buy rating and an average share price upside potential of 6%. According to Insider Monkey’s database for Q4 2024, 262 hedge funds held a stake in the company, up from 235 at the end of the third quarter.
Overall, META ranks 1st on our list of best money making stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
