In this article, we will take a look at the top 5 augmented reality (AR) stocks among hedge funds. To see more such companies, go directly to Top 16 Augmented Reality (AR) Stocks Among Hedge Funds.
5. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 135
Apple revealed Vision Pro earlier this year and analysts are hopeful that the company’s mixed reality headset would be one of the top AR/VR devices in the world.
Choice Equities Capital Management made the following comment about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Dramatic valuation differences across market cap sizes continue. This has been the case for some time now. Perhaps I have spent too much time discussing these dichotomies, as generally, I feel like if we pick the right stocks and manage market exposures thoughtfully, our equities- oriented portfolio will prosper across various market cycles. However, when markets become as lopsided as they have lately, I feel additional discussion on the market environment is worthwhile, if only to help highlight the opportunities that are available and the likely path forward. I expect future discussions to soon be focused again on our moderately concentrated portfolio. But for now, let’s take one last in-depth look at how far reaching these valuation dichotomies have again become.(Please note: charts that accompany the following can be found in the Appendix.)
Take Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for example. It is the largest stock by market cap, and fairly considered one of the best companies in the world. The company has been extraordinarily successful and improved standards of living everywhere in the process with their ubiquitous products. Along the way, shareholders have been richly rewarded, with shares increasing nearly fourteen-fold over the last ten years while generating an annualized total shareholder return of 31%, including dividends.
On the back of another big quarter for large cap tech, it is now the first stock to surpass the $3T market cap threshold. This makes its weighting in the ~$37T market cap of the S&P 500, ~8%. It also means this one stock’s market cap is larger than that of the entire ~$2.98T market cap of the Russell 2000 index, the first time in history a single stock has outweighed the Russell 2000 – aside from two brief days in September 2020 when Apple’s market cap then accomplished the same…” (Click here to read the full text)
4. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 175
Nvidia powers some of the top AR and VR devices in the world. The company’s NVIDIA CloudXR™ Suite, combined with NVIDIA RTX™ GPUs and NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS), enables mixed reality applications to to stream high-fidelity extended reality (XR) to Android and iOS devices.
Harding Loevner Global Equity Strategy made the following comment about NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been the biggest beneficiary this year in terms of its stock run and projected revenue gains. More companies- including, perhaps, some not yet in existence-will certainly join the ranks over time.
In the meantime, NVIDIA has emerged as the unrivaled global leader in providing the technologies at the center of the Al arms race. NVIDIA’s competitive advantage is the result of investments that began two decades ago, when it recognized an early opportunity to repurpose its video-game graphics chips for the heavy-load computing done in scientific research. This led management to expand the GPU business. It also spent years and significant resources developing a free software platform that’s exclusive to its chips called CUDA that allows developers to easily program its GPUs for a variety of computationally intensive applications. Researchers then began using both NVIDIA’s chips and CUDA to train the human-brain-inspired neural networks that power Al models.
Now, due to an explosion of demand related to generative Al and LLMs from across its customer base, NVIDIA projects that data-center revenue for its fiscal second quarter ending in July will surge to US$11 billion. Not only is that more than double last quarter’s total, but the forecast also shattered the average analyst estimate that called for about US$7 billion. Taking advantage of the stock’s meteoric rise, we reduced our holding (it has risen tenfold since we first purchased in 2018)…” (Click here to read the full text)
3. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 225
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the most notable augmented reality stocks to buy now. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) made a huge pivot to metaverse, VR and AR a few years ago. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has huge plans in this domain. Among these plans include smart glasses, Quest headsets and smart watches. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the overall shift towards VR and AR technologies.
As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 225 hedge funds out of the 910 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported owning stakes in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META). The most significant stakeholder of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC which owns a $2.5 billion stake in the company.
Artisan Global Value Fund made the following comment about Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:
“Our best performing stocks this quarter were Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet and Heidelberg Materials. Meta was the largest contributor to performance. Its shares have almost fully recovered from last year’s declines, rising 35% during the quarter and 138% YTD. During the quarter, the company reported earnings that showed a return to growth and healthy user engagement metrics. Most importantly, profitability appears to have stabilized and is poised to improve as significant cost reduction actions implemented over the past six months begin to have an impact. Separate from fundamental performance, there is excitement over AI’s potential to help the company’s business. While Meta’s technology prowess and massively scaled media platform certainly position the company to take advantage of AI, we believe it’s far too early to estimate any discrete tangible benefits. Overall, we view AI as one of several drivers that will contribute to Meta’s continued growth.”
2. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 278
Amazon’s AWS platforms offers several features that help AR and VR developers build advanced applications. The company has also launched an AR platform for imagining interior design.
Diamond Hill Large Cap Strategy made the following comment about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:
“Among our top contributors were insurance company American International Group (AIG), auto retailer CarMax and global online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Amazon’s management team has been working to improve retail profitability, and Q1 results showed progress. In the case of Amazon’s web services (AWS), the market has shifted its focus from where growth will bottom in the near term to how AI can help accelerate the adoption of public cloud services in the future. We believe Amazon’s competitive advantages will continue to grow and that the business has the potential to grow faster than the overall economy in the coming years.”
1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 300
Microsoft HoloLens is one of the top AR/VR headsets in the world. Microsoft is expected to keep advancing its AR offerings and combine them with its AI technologies.
ClearBridge Value Equity Strategy made the following comment about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q2 2023 investor letter:
“We initiated a small position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the quarter, which may seem surprising given our concerns about index concentration. However, we seized the opportunity on a compelling entry point below our business value estimate, due to an anticipated acceleration of demand for Microsoft’s Azure cloud business and incremental revenues from integration of Microsoft’s AI Copilot program into its office platform. We believe this could support double-digit growth, while simultaneously solidifying Microsoft’s competitive position as an AI winner. Even as a small position, we believe Microsoft provides a large portfolio construction benefit given low correlation to the rest of the portfolio.”
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