We recently published a list of 12 Best Industrial Distribution Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) stands against other best industrial distribution stocks to buy according to hedge funds.
2025: A Year of Tariffs and Uncertainty
A pressing concern looming over the United States currently is the potential impact of tariffs which have affected distributors as they encountered increased costs for imported goods.
While President Trump has already announced tariffs for Canada, Mexico, and China, CNBC reported that several short- to medium-term effects of this move include a slowdown in global economic growth slowing down, especially in nations with large manufacturing sectors, as well as higher prices for American consumers and higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates, and eventually a stronger USD. Among some of the sectors expected to be hit are industrials and manufacturing other than automotive, makers of chips and semiconductor equipment, consumer goods, Chinese e-retailers, and green energy.
Simultaneously, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the country. According to the New York Times, the effect of these tariffs would flow through to the users of metal goods. Items that are expected to get expensive include construction, housing, and appliances as well as cars, canned food, beer, and fizzy drinks. Amidst concerns regarding how these tariffs would deter development and rebuilding and negate the President’s agenda of making national housing affordable, the National Association of Home Builders has requested to exempt building materials from the tariffs.
Our Methodology:
In order to compile a list of the 12 best industrial distribution stocks to buy according to hedge funds, we used a stock screener to screen relevant stocks with the highest market caps. Moving on, we shortlisted the top 12 stocks from our list which had the highest number of hedge fund holders. The 12 best industrial distribution stocks to buy according to hedge funds have been arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund holders as of Q3 2024.
At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Aerial view of a swimming pool with outdoor furniture surrounding it.
Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 32
Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) is a wholesale distributor of swimming pool equipment, parts and supplies, and related outdoor living products. The company operates approximately 440 sales centers in North America, Europe, and Australia and distributes over 200,000 products from more than 2,200 vendors to 125,000 wholesale customers.
Pool Corporation has the privilege of being one of the leaders in the highly fragmented swimming pool industry and serves as the largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products worldwide. The leader has demonstrated a solid history of market share expansion and organic growth. It is worth mentioning that POOL has driven compound average annual shareholders’ return of more than 29% since its IPO in October 1995.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway took stakes in Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) in the third quarter, adding a 404,000-share stake, worth $152 million to its portfolio.
Overall, POOL ranks 8th on our list of best industrial distribution stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of POOL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than POOL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
