In this piece, we will take a look at the 13 best major stocks to buy right now. If you want to skip our coverage of the latest stock market news and some recent trends, then you can take a look at the 5 Best Major Stocks to Buy Right Now.
The start of 2024 for the stock market is more of the same. The first month of the year saw investors turn their attention to the Federal Reserve as usual in order to set expectations for the remainder of 2024. The Fed, if you're unaware, has been rapidly raising interest rates to combat inflation. Now that inflation has started to drop, Wall Street is eager to know when rates will start to drop, and on this front, ironically, the economy is proving to be the biggest hurdle in forcing the Fed's hand.
Higher interest rates increase the cost of doing business and restrict consumer access to capital. This means that firms have a tougher time posting both revenue and earnings growth, and when their figures don't grow, neither does the economy. However, since the American economy continues to outshine peers, the Fed has more leeway to keep rates higher and deflate Wall Street's balloon that had become accustomed to easy money after the 2008 Great Recession and the more recent coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, even as rates are high, the stock market is still continuing to impress. In fact, bears have been left rather red faced as major indexes such as the NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500 have continued to soar despite the depressing effects that high interest rates have on stock valuation. In fact, despite the tepid interest rate environment, it's the S&P 500 that has once again proven that no matter how shrewd analysts are, they can still miss out on major trends.
This is because the flagship Wall Street stock index which contains the crown jewels of the American stock market set a new all time record in February 2024 when it soared above 5,000 points for the first time in its history. Quite a sharp turnaround from the tail end of 2022 had seen speculation far and wide that a recession was incoming and that everyone should batten down their hatches.
Just like 2023 saw the NASDAQ 100 soar to new highs on the back of major stocks such as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). 2024's record setting index levels are also influenced by such companies. The start of the year ushered in all important earnings season that saw major stocks the likes of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) take the lead on the artificial intelligence front. A.I. was the biggest theme on the stock market last year, and the mega stock earnings calls saw their management share strategies about costs, future plans, and other data that investors parsed over with eagle eyes to see whether the hype in A.I. is really worth investing in.
And as we've seen through major stock performance in 2024, seems like investors are impressed. Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and NVIDIA's shares are up by 7.64%, 35%, 13%, and 49.7%, year to date, respectively. This shows that even though small cap stocks that are often touted for their ability to deliver double digit and higher percentage returns, major stocks the likes of some of the magnificent seven that we've talked about above can also stun everyone given the market and economic contexts align in their favor.
Before we head on to the best major stocks to buy, another big news for these stocks this year has come from Meta. Meta has traditionally been a high growth technology company whose income statement for years was a classic example of a venture capital model that saw negative profits but revenue growth. Yet in 2024 Meta declared a 50 cent dividend for the first time in its history to mark its entry into the list of stable big guns that can regularly pay out their profits to investors as a reward for patience and belief.
So, as major stocks continue to shine, which ones are hedge funds interested in? We took a look and some notable picks are Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Our Methodology
To make our list of the best major stocks to buy, we made a list of the common top constituents of the S&P 500 index and the NASDAQ 100 index and ranked them by the number of hedge funds that had bought the shares as of Q4 2023 end. Out of these, the top stocks were chosen as the best major stocks to buy.
For these best major stocks, we used hedge fund sentiment. Hedge funds’ top 10 consensus stock picks outperformed the S&P 500 Index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). That’s why we pay very close attention to this often-ignored indicator.
13. Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 75
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) is a technology company that enables its customers, such as small businesses, to manage their daily financial operations. Despite a slowing financial environment, not only has it beaten analyst EPS estimates in all four of its latest quarters but the shares are also rated Strong Buy on average.
During December 2023, 86 out of the 933 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had held a stake in the firm. Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)'s biggest hedge fund investor is Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management as it holds a $1.9 billion stake.
12. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 82
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is the well known electric vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Texas. The firm is seeing a lot of controversy in 2024 that has seen its chief Elon Musk call for its reincorporation outside Delaware after a court blocked his lucrative share award package.
By the end of last year's fourth quarter, 81 out of the 933 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had bought and owned Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)'s shares. Phillippe Laffont's Coatue Management owned the biggest stake which was worth $1 billion.
11. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 83
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a technology company that enables guests and hospitality establishments to work with each other. With the global travel industry finally having recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, its shares have rewarded investors through a 200%+ growth.
As of Q4 2023 end, 81 out of the 933 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey were the firm's investors. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)'s largest stakeholder in our database is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke, and John Campbell's Arrowstreet Capital as it owns $1.7 billion worth of shares.
Just like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a top major stock to buy.
10. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 89
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is a global brand name in the media and entertainment industry. The shares are rated Buy on average, and analysts have set an average share price target of $575.64.
For their fourth quarter of 2023 shareholdings, 102 out of the 933 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey were Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)'s shareholders. Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management owned the largest stake, which came through 4.1 million shares and was worth $2 billion.
9. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 91
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is an important semiconductor company known for its connectivity products such as smartphone modems. It is also one of the most underrated plays when it comes to artificial intelligence, as was evident in a recent note by JPMorgan that outlined strong opportunities for Broadcom's custom chips for A.I. data centers.
After digging through 910 hedge fund Q3 2023 shareholdings, Insider Monkey found 87 Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) shareholders. Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management was the largest stakeholder due to its $2.3 billion investment.
8. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 92
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is another important semiconductor company, and that operates in the market for memory products. 2024 is seeing an interesting landscape develop for its products, as rumors suggest that Taiwan's TSMC and Korea's SK hynix are teaming up to develop advanced memory chips.
As of December 2023 end, 90 out of the 933 hedge funds covered by Insider Monkey's research had held a stake in the firm. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)'s biggest hedge fund investor is Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group courtesy of its $604 million stake.
7. Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 105
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) is one of the biggest productivity software companies in the world. Keeping the pedal to the metal on the A.I. front, Adobe announced in February 2024 that its generative A.I. app Firefly will now be available to users of the Apple Vision Pro.
As of Q4 2023 end, 112 out of the 933 hedge funds covered by Insider Monkey's research had bought and owned the firm's shares. Ken Fisher's Fisher Asset Management was naturally Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)'s investor since it owned $2.7 billion worth of shares.
6. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Q4 2023 Hedge Fund Shareholders: 131
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the most valuable technology companies in the world. However, its market capitalization was rendered second place to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in 2024 as the hype surrounding A.I. saw investors continue to pile into the Redmond-based giant's shares.
For their Q4 2023 shareholdings 134 out of the 933 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey's database had bought Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s shares. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway remained the firm's biggest shareholder due to its $174 billion investment.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) are some major stocks finding favor among hedge funds.
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Disclosure: None.13 Best Major Stocks to Buy Right Now is originally published on Insider Monkey.
