In the first list of new buys by the best mutual funds to close out 2023 and kick off 2024, leading money managers placed massive bets on MSFT stock, Broadcom and a host of top tech and other companies. But one sector commanded the most demand: building.
Microsoft topped this monthly screen, raking in an estimated $17.4 billion. Microsoft holds the distinction of being the only one of the Magnificent Seven stocks to earn a spot on the IBD Long-Term Leaders list.
The best mutual funds also scooped up just under $13 billion worth of shares in AVGO stock.
Nine more stocks joined the billion-dollar club, including Lululemon Athletica, Arista Networks, Netflix and Costco Wholesale. Last month, NFLX stock was featured on the IBD Breakout Stocks Index.
Artificial intelligence leaders Adobe and Salesforce.com also earned membership.
Spearheading huge demand for the building sector, CRH cemented its spot on the list as these savvy investors shoveled roughly $1.5 billion into the provider of building materials solutions.
MSFT Stock Leads New Buys By The Best Mutual Funds
| Company | Symbol | $ Amt Invested (bil) | Comp Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | MSFT | 17.4 | 95 |
| Broadcom | AVGO | 12.9 | 93 |
| Lululemon Athletica | LULU | 7.3 | 99 |
| Arista Networks | ANET | 3.6 | 99 |
| Netflix | NFLX | 2.9 | 91 |
| Eaton | ETN | 2.6 | 91 |
| Intuit | INTU | 1.9 | 99 |
| Costco Wholesale | COST | 1.6 | 92 |
| CRH | CRH | 1.5 | 94 |
| Adobe | ADBE | 1.3 | 92 |
| Salesforce | CRM | 1.2 | 98 |
The links below highlight a portion of this month's new buys and sells by top funds.
Click here to see all the stocks on the list.
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Showing clear demand among the best mutual funds, the building sector accounted for 38 of the 200 companies on this month's list. Within the broad building sector, stocks showing institutional demand hailed from seven industry groups.
The Construction Products/Miscellaneous group led, featuring 13 firms. Among them were Tecnoglass, TopBuild, Core & Main and Owens Corning.
Trane Technologies, SmithAO and AAON joined five others in the A/C & Heating Products industry. On Wednesday, AAON was featured as an IBD 50 stock to watch because of its surging earnings growth in recent quarters.
In the homebuilders group, PulteGroup, Toll Brothers and Dream Finders Homes were among six companies making the grade.
Four industry peers joined CRH in the Cement/Concrete/Aggregates group, including Martin Marietta and Summit Materials.
CRM, PLTR Stock Remain In Demand Among Top Funds
As 2024 gets underway, demand for enterprise software stocks — driven by the AI boom — continues unabated.
In addition to CRM stock, Palantir, Workday, Datadog, Dynatrace and Shopify joined eight more companies in that industry group. A Jefferies analyst just downgraded PLTR stock, calling it "overhyped on AI."
In the related but Specialty Enterprise Software group, DoubleVerify, HubSpot, Atlassian and AppLovin made the cut, along with three others.
Click here to see who joins PLTR stock, CRM, AVGO, NFLX, MSFT and all 200 names on this list of new buys by the best mutual funds.
Follow Matthew Galgani on X (formerly Twitter) at @IBD_MGalgani.
