We recently published a list of the 10 Best Stock Picks of Billionaire Leon Cooperman in 2024. Since WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) ranks 9th on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Billionaire Leon Cooperman predicted in April that the US is headed for a financial crisis. Cooperman said that the Federal Reserve kept interest rates near zero, but raised them dramatically in a period of 12 months. The Omega Family Office chairman and CEO expects “one or two” rate cuts this year. He emphasized that the market remains overvalued.
In February last year, the billionaire said that the market was headed for a recession, and noted that the S&P 500 high of about 4,800 recorded in 2022 could “stand for some time.” In July 2022, while talking to Bloomberg, Cooperman said that he was “shocked” that interest rates were so low.
“I am of the view that equities are the best house in the financial asset in the neighborhood, but I don’t like the neighborhood, for a lot of reasons.”
Cooperman in the Bloomberg interview in 2022 had categorically said that sooner or later the strong dollar, prices of oil and the Fed would “lead us into a recession.” He went on to add that recession would be a “2023 event” and predicted that the market would bottom somewhere near 35% to 45% below its peak of 4800.
The billionaire had said that he would be “very surprised” if we were to see another bull market anytime soon, given his view that we’ve had one of the biggest bull runs driven by FAANG, SPACs and speculation. The AI revolution that started in 2023 was indeed a shocker for Cooperman as his recession predictions were proven wrong.
For this article we scanned billionaire Leon Cooperman’s Q1 portfolio and picked 10 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors. 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors
WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 53
Storage solutions company WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) ranks ninth in our list of the best stocks to buy now according to billionaire Leon Cooperman. Omega Advisors owns a $138,918,750 stake in WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) as of the end of the first quarter of 2024. Over the past one year WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) has lost about 8% in value. WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) is the leading company in the storage industry as it provides portable and turnkey modular building units and storage space. According to some estimates the company owns a whopping 50% market share in core modular units industry. The company’s average rent for per unit rose at a CAGR of 16% from 2019 through 2023, while fleet utilization fell 10% during this period, something rare in the industry. Analysts think the company can offset the effects of a higher for longer interest rate scenario (low construction activity, low demand of storage solutions) since its average lease duration of units is three years.
Recently, WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) posted Q1 results. Adjusted EPS in the period came in at $0.29, missing estimates by $0.03. Revenue in the quarter jumped 3.8% year over year to $587 million, surpassing estimates by $6.09 million. From 2021 through 2023 the company’s revenue has grown by on average 18.9% per annum. The company was able to see an increase in key metrics like net profits, and all relevant cash flow metrics during this period. The stock’s forward P/E is 19.66, compared with the industry median of 18.42. Average analyst price target on the stock is $50.80, which presents a 34% upside potential from the current levels. Wall Street expects the company earnings to grow 39% next year.
Of the 933 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 53 hedge funds reported owning stakes in WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC).
Silver Beech Capital mentioned WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) in its Q1 2024 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:
“We recently initiated a new position in WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC). WillScot is the leading North American provider of portable and turnkey modular building units and storage space. WillScot’s 156k modular units and 212k portable storage units are leased to a diverse 80k+ customer base across industrial, infrastructure, education, government, and natural resources users. WillScot’s modular products are depicted in Figure 2 below.
WillScot’s products are mission-critical and possess minimal technological or obsolescence risk. On a large construction site, project managers work in modular units where they update and store site-specific documents (work orders, safety reports, etc.). WillScot also offers customers an extensive array of value-added products and services (“VAPS”). These VAPS include unit furnishings, air conditioning, solar panels, restrooms, tech hardware, and many other add-ons. WillScot’s extensive offerings help fulfill a structural shift in customer demand for flexible modular and reduced waste/lower carbon footprint solutions…” (Click here to read the full text)
Overall, WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) ranks 9th on Insider Monkey’s list titled 10 Best Stock Picks of Billionaire Leon Cooperman in 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WSC) but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
