We recently published a list of 12 Best WallStreetBets Stocks To Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Alphabet Inc. $(GOOGL)$ stands against other best WallStreetBets stocks to buy according to hedge funds.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Retail Investor Outlook 2024 highlighted a sustained transition towards younger retail investors. The research, which spans 13 economies, reflects that 30% of Gen Z start investing in early adulthood, against 9% of Gen X and 6% of Baby Boomers. By the time they enter the workforce, the research demonstrated that 86% of Gen Z have learned about personal investing as compared to 47% of Boomers, highlighting a generational transformation in financial habits.

Current Retail Investor Trends

WEF’s survey mentions that retail investors continue to view cryptocurrency as more understandable and easier as compared to traditional investments such as ETFs, MFs, stocks, and bonds. As per the research, 29% tend to avoid stocks because of a lack of understanding, while only 24% mention the same regarding crypto. Interestingly, among the investors aged under 44 holding cryptocurrencies, over half allocated at least a third of their portfolio to it.

Furthermore, WEF’s research mentioned that financial priorities have been pivoting towards short-term needs. In 2024, 51% of investors focused on emergency savings, reflecting an increase from 41% in 2022, while those who emphasized having sufficient to retire declined from 48% to 42%. As per Dean Frankle, Managing Director and Partner, BCG, individual participation in capital markets can result in long-term financial well-being.

READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.

Retail Investors Continue to Pump Billions

Bloomberg reported that individual investors are becoming relentless when it comes to investing money in the volatile US markets. The firm, while quoting JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Emma Wu, mentioned that considering the continuous dip-buying strategy throughout the crash, there are estimates that retail traders’ portfolios remain far from breakeven. However, individual investors’ strategy of “buy-the-dip” amidst trade fears has been doing better as compared to the broader market.

Interestingly, retail investors invested US$11 billion in equities since April 2, when Trump’s administration revealed reciprocal levies, reported Bloomberg, while citing data through Wednesday’s close (April 9, 2025). Bloomberg also highlighted that individual investors continue to dip their toes into stocks, while well-established institutional investors are rotating into international markets and less risky assets, including Treasuries.

Our Methodology

To list the 12 Best WallStreetBets Stocks To Buy According to Hedge Funds, we sifted through the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit and chose the trending ones. Next, we shortlisted the ones that are popular among hedge funds. Finally, the stocks are ranked in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiments, as of Q4 2024.

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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

A user's hands typing a search query into a Google Search box, emphasizing the company's search capabilities.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 234

Truist Securities has maintained its “Buy” rating on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock. The analyst from the firm noted that while worries related to the evolution of AI in search functions and other challenges have impacted its stock, the current market valuation seems to have already accounted for the factors. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s expected performance can be aided by strong user engagement on the company’s Search and YouTube platforms, together with steady growth in the Cloud segment. The company’s investments in AI infrastructure and research place it well to capitalize on the growing importance of AI throughout industries.

AI Integration throughout Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s product suite (such as Google Workspace, Android, YouTube) can result in new features and services, fueling user engagement and developing new revenue streams. Also, with companies adopting AI and ML solutions, Google Cloud Platform is expected to witness accelerated growth. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s investments in quantum computing and several other cutting-edge technologies can result in significant breakthroughs. Qualivian Investment Partners, an investment partnership focused on long-only public equities, published its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL): Q2 2024 revenues and EPS beat expectations, with total revenues growing 14%, Search ad revenues growing 14%, YouTube ads growing 13%, and Google Cloud revenues growing 29%. Revenue growth in the quarter constituted a continued sequential improvement from earlier quarters in the year, suggesting a continued rebound in Alphabet’s core business except for YouTube ad revenues, which missed expectations and showed deceleration in the growth rate as compared to Q1 when it grew 21%. Operating margins improved by 310 bps vs. the same quarter last year.

Management continued to highlight developments with their generative AI program, which is seen as a foundational platform with opportunities across their businesses but particularly in search and cloud. However, this comes with material capex investment well ahead of the expected economic benefits from Gen AI, and the level of spending is leading investors to worry about the ROI on that spend for Alphabet, as well as the other hyperscalers (Microsoft and Amazon). We continue to have confidence in Alphabet’s ability to generate strong revenue, earnings, and cash flow growth well above the S&P 500’s in the years to come and view it as a core holding for the long term.”

Overall, GOOGL ranks 1st on our list of best WallStreetBets stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOGL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than GOOGL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.