We recently published a list of the 10 Best of Breed Stocks to Buy For The Third Quarter of 2024 According to Bank of America. Since Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) ranks 6th on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Analysts at BofA Securities recently published a list of “best of breed” stocks for the third quarter of 2024, which they believe are the top choices for investors on the back of their high quality, liquidity, earnings growth and margin upside when compared with peers. BofA’s “best of breed” basket of stocks has reportedly outperformed the MSCI All Country World Index (NASDAQ:ACWI) by 584 basis points, and returned a whopping 470% since its inception in April 2010.
Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett thinks these best of breed companies have strong balance sheets, cash flow and high EPS growth as well as competent management. Hartnett believes these companies generate the “best relative returns” in the long term and can protect investors against short-term volatility.
For this article we scanned BofA’s best of breed basket of stocks and picked 10 companies 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).
A software engineer intently typing code into a laptop with multiple screens in an office.
Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 45
Palantir is one of the notable AI stocks in BofA’s best of breed stocks list.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a latest note that Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) is one of the stocks that can benefit from the “AI party” that is just getting started. Ives counted Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) among the stocks that will ride the AI wave thanks to their “massive installed bases” in both the enterprise and consumer spaces.
Last month, Wedbush’s Dan Ives said the latest selloff around Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) was a “golden” buying opportunity. Ives has an Outperform rating and a $35 price target on Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR). Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) is trading at a high P/E multiple of 170, which has alarmed many. However, Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) bulls believe Palantir Technologies Inc’s (NYSE:PLTR) consistent contract wins from the government and AI-related growth catalysts justify this multiple. Analysts are bullish on Palantir Technologies Inc’s (NYSE:PLTR) AI platform (AIP), which helps companies and governments in decision making based on AI technologies. In the first quarter alone, Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) saw a 16% YoY increase in government contracts. US government revenue jumped 12% year over year.
Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) has increased its U.S. commercial sector growth outlook to 45% from an initial estimate of 40%. Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) is expected to report sales growth of 20% next year according to Wall Street estimates. The stock is trading at 54X its 2025 EPS estimate of $0.39, which is justified based on the strong growth trajectory.
Carillon Scout Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“The top contributor to return for the quarter was Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR). Sentiment improved on Palantir after it reported stronger than expected commercial customer revenue and free cash flow. U.S. commercial growth was especially encouraging, as U.S. commercial revenue was up by a large percentage year over year for the fourth quarter and U.S. commercial customer count grew nearly as much. We expect Palantir to become one of the premier artificial intelligence (AI) software providers, built on its Foundry and AIP platforms.”
Overall, Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) ranks 6th on Insider Monkey’s list titled 10 Best of Breed Stocks to Buy For The Third Quarter of 2024 According to Bank of America. While we acknowledge the potential of Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR), 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 Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) 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.
