Starter Stock Portfolio: 5 Safe Stocks To Buy

1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 259

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which has been gaining attention throughout this year on the back of the company’s AI efforts and its partnership with OpenAI, ranks first in our list of the best stocks for beginners. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a strong candidate for a starter stock portfolio because of its huge presence in Cloud, enterprise, AI and several other business segments that are growing. Recently, AllianceBernstein said it will launch three actively managed ETFs. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), along with several other major tech names, will be an important part of these ETFs.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also the most popular stock among the elite hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey. 259 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database of 943 funds had stakes in the company.

Ariel Global Strategy made the following comment about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

“Enterprise software provider Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) also traded lower, as higher interest rates and economic concerns have created headwinds for growth-oriented technology companies. We believe this price action runs counter to Microsoft’s solid fundamentals, competitive positioning and long-term business outlook. We continue to anchor on the company driving value creation by capitalizing on a broad and deep set of opportunities, most notably within hybrid cloud infrastructure. The platform continues to demonstrate share gains and strong multi-year purchase intent as enterprises transition to cloud based platforms. At current trading levels, we believe Microsoft’s risk/reward is skewed to the upside.”

You can also take a peek at 15 Most Promising Dividend Stocks According to Analysts and 15 Most Promising Long-Term Stocks.