3. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Omega Advisors’ Stake Value: $160,411,000
Percentage of Omega Advisors’ 13F Portfolio: 8.50%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 156
Gain in 2021: 68.96%
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, is the second largest holding in Leon Cooperman’s third quarter portfolio. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s solid Q3 results, with above consensus EPS and revenue, as well as the 67% share gain in 2021, makes it one of Cooperman’s best stock picks from the period.
Cooperman first invested in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) back in Q3 2015, and held his stake in the tech giant over the years, before he sold out of it completely in Q2 2020, only to buy back 60,000 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares in the next quarter. As of Q3 2021, Cooperman’s Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) stake is worth $160.4 million, representing 8.50% of his total 13F securities.
On January 19, BofA analyst Justin Post raised the price target on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) to $3,470 from $3,210 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst expects deceleration in 2022 versus the 41% estimated search growth in 2021, but he thinks Google is still early in its application of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology across its ad stack.
Hedge funds in the third quarter of 2021 had a bullish sentiment on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), with 156 funds holding stakes worth approximately $35 billion in the tech giant. TCI Fund Management is the leading stakeholder of the company, owning a $7.8 billion position.
Here is what Oakmark Funds’ Bill Nygren Commentary has to say about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“For Alphabet, we add back its research spending on Waymo and “other bets” and add an asset for the value of those money-losing ventures. We also value cash separate from the business because if you valued cash at a normal P/E today, you’d be valuing it at pennies on the dollar. When we make our adjustments to Alphabet’s financials, we own its wonderful search business at less than the S&P multiple, which we consider to be a bargain.”
