We recently compiled a list of the 20 Best Cryptocurrency Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) stands against the other cryptocurrency stocks.
A Review of the Crypto World: Latest Updates
Crypto has emerged as a major political issue in the US with the campaigns for election going on. Head of Firmwide research Galaxy Digital Alex Thorn called August a rough and seasonally bad week for Bitcoin. He mentioned how eight out of the eleven prior Augusts witnessed the major coin trading down. However, political events have also played a role in the crypto landscape.
In Thorn’s opinion, most people view Trump’s victory as bullish for the crypto market. Trump who is now running for President brought the hopes of the crypto world higher by promising to deliver a plan to make the United States the ‘crypto capital of the planet’. Crypto became an even hotter topic as Kamala Haris simultaneously supported policies for the expansion of the industry. In the opinion of Thorn, most people view Trump’s victory as bullish for the crypto market. He predicts crypto will run quite higher if Trump ends up winning the election based on an anticipated easing of the regulations. On the other hand, he expects the victory of Harris to be more neutral even for the industry since those advising her belong to the Biden administration on crypto policy.
Looking forward to September which is a seasonally weak month for crypto too, the next months including October, November, and December are crypto’s most bullish months based on the seasonality factor. Regardless of the highly awaited Fed interest rate cuts just ahead of us, the crypto market investors still remain concerned as JPMorgan’s Head of Global and European Equity Strategy dismissed the potential of a crypto bull market. While September has been a historically worst month for US stocks, the upcoming rate cut might be an outlier in history.
In an interview with CNBC, Anthony Pompliano, Professional Capital Management CEO, talked about the recent price moves in Bitcoin. The German government offloading Bitcoin through as many exchanges and the Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox unloading coins onto the market are two important events defining this supply. Pompliano refers to Bitcoin as really illiquid with many Bitcoin holders having a long-term view of it. At the start of 2024, the Bitcoin amount that had not moved in more than a year was over 70%. Some of it started to get distributed as prices rose, as expected in a bull market. Although Pompliano expects this percentage to drop to 50% to 55% but still at least half of the Bitcoin would still be in the hands of people who have an over 10-year time horizon. Thus, the question revolves around whether these hands are strong enough to outlast the aforementioned two events. Pompliano finally states time as the only catalyst for Bitcoin rather than a pro-crypto candidate in the upcoming US elections. While the summer season is a bit slow, prices typically go back up in September and beyond.
Our Methodology:
In order to compile a list of the 20 best cryptocurrency stocks to buy according to hedge funds, we sifted through ETFs and online rankings to compile a preliminary list of 40 companies involved in the crypto space. Moving on, we shortlisted the top 20 stocks from our list which had the highest number of hedge fund holders. The 20 best cryptocurrency stocks to buy according to hedge funds have been arranged in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders they have, as of Q2 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).
A woman using a payment terminal at the checkout of a store showing payment products and solutions.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 142
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a global payment technology solutions company that serves consumers, small and medium businesses, government and public sector, large enterprises, as well as banks and credit unions. The firm has been making payments smarter and safer for more than 50 years. Mastercard’s purpose revolves around powering an inclusive digital economy that tends to benefit all.
With a global network, the firm has made crypto accessible. In 2022, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) introduced Crypto Source to enable financial institutions to bring secure crypto trading services to their customers. In May, Mastercard allowed crypto exchange users to send and receive crypto using their Mastercard Crypto Credential aliases rather than a long blockchain. This allows cross-border and domestic transfers for users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Uruguay across multiple currencies and blockchains.
Mastercard serves as a payments industry leader which has material results to offer. With double-digit net revenue and earnings growth, the firm successfully ended another quarter. Driven by the growth in the payment network and value-added services and solutions, net revenue went up by 11%. The cross-border volume growth of 17% year-over-year and healthy consumer spending supported the company’s results across all business aspects. It continues to position itself for long-term growth by differentiating its products and solutions and diversifying its revenue streams. Back in April, the firm announced an organizational structure realignment centered on three interdependent areas Core Payments, Commercial and New Payment Flows, and Services. While Core Payments works as the company’s foundation, Mastercard finds a scalable opportunity in Payment and data flows beyond consumer card payments. Simultaneously, offerings from Mastercard’s current Cyber & Intelligence, Data & Services, and Open Banking teams remain integrated under Services.
The strong business fundamentals, a diversified business model with healthy consumer spending, established demand for value-added services, and the persistent shift to digital forms of payment place Mastercard in a good market position. As of Q2 2024, the stock is held by 142 hedge funds thereby becoming one of the best cryptocurrency stocks to buy according to hedge funds. Akre Capital Management was the top shareholder with a stake worth $1.7 billion.
Overall MA ranks 3rd on our list of the best cryptocurrency stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of MA 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 MA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA ‘Has Become A Wasteland’.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
