With the holidays upon us, it will be the end of the year before we know it, and with less than four weeks left in the year, it seems safe to say that the growth-oriented Nasdaq, which is down nearly 28% year to date, will finish 2022 deep in the red.
But this hasn't discouraged top billionaire investors from scooping up shares of some of the top Nasdaq stocks at discounted prices. These top investors know that historically, every Nasdaq bear market has been followed by a bull market and proven to be a good buying opportunity, making the present a good time to buy shares of companies with promising long-term outlooks.
Here are two top Nasdaq stocks that billionaire money managers have been buying the dip on during the current market sell-off.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Bill Miller-T. Rowe Price
NASDAQ: TROW
Key Data Points
It's hard to find an investor with a better track record than Bill Miller of Miller Value Partners. Miller previously ran the Legg Mason Value Trust, where he beat the S&P 500 for 15 years in a row between 1990 and 2005. Miller is a skilled value investor and has recently been successful with some bold calls, like being an early investor in Amazon (AMZN +3.83%) and Bitcoin (BTC 0.21%). One of Miller's newest buys during the latest quarter is an interesting one -- asset manager T. Rowe Price (TROW +1.54%).
Shares of the investment manager are down about 35% year to date, as a declining stock market has both decreased the value of T. Rowe Price's assets under management and led to some outflows for the 85-year-old firm. But T. Rowe Price stands to benefit as the market rebounds -- its assets under management will increase, and it will gain more inflows.
Miller likely recognized this and has already benefited from the market's resurgence over the past two months, as shares of T. Rowe are up about 20% from Miller's reported purchase price of $93.53. Shares still look appealing after this rally, as they trade at just 14 times earnings and yield 3.8%.
T. Rowe Price is a Dividend Aristocrat that has increased its annual dividend for 36 years and counting. It has a potentially lucrative growth opportunity in target date retirement funds, where it is one of the industry leaders, and it could see outsized upside as growth stocks rebound since it is heavily exposed to growth.
With a reasonable valuation and a time-tested dividend track record, investors could do a lot worse than follow Miller's lead into T. Rowe Price as it climbs back as the market rallies and pays investors a generous dividend in the meantime.
2. David Einhorn-Intel
NASDAQ: INTC
Key Data Points
It's hard to find a less-loved stock than Intel (INTC 2.10%) nowadays. The one-time blue chip company is down 43% year to date, and perhaps worse, investor perception is that it has fallen behind its competitors like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +3.29%) in key markets within the semiconductor space.
But a value investor like Einhorn is likely looking at Intel's depressed valuation and seeing a bargain. During the third quarter, Einhorn's Greenlight Capital bought back into Intel, which it had owned earlier this year but sold during the second quarter. Einhorn may have bought back in because he felt that the stock fell to a level where it was trading below its intrinsic value. After this year's sell-off, Intel stock is cheap, trading at just nine times earnings. Shares yield nearly 5%.
The silver lining amid the bad news is that Intel recognizes that things need to change. Management is planning cost-cutting measures that it says will save the company $8 billion to $10 billion by 2025. The company spun off Mobileye (MBLY +1.81%) in order to focus on its core business and is repositioning itself as a foundry for other chip companies. Intel is in the early stages of this turnaround plan, and while the capital-intensive process will burn cash in the near term, the company projects that by 2025, spending will moderate while the company will achieve double-digit revenue growth.
While this is a long way off, it seems Einhorn is willing to buy the stock now while things look bleak and will wait to be rewarded if and when Intel's turnaround bears fruit. While we don't know if Intel will be able to achieve this, the low valuation and large dividend yield help to lower the risk of this potentially lucrative investment.
We can all learn from billionaire money managers like Miller and Einhorn. They know that the time to buy is when fear is in the air, and they are taking advantage of the current Nasdaq market to buy shares of these blue chip stocks at discounted prices.
In Miller's case, he stands to be rewarded with his T. Rowe Price investment when the broader market turns around, while Einhorn could see significant returns in Intel over the long term if the company can execute on its turnaround plan. Both investors enjoy a decent margin of safety by investing in these beaten-down stocks at inexpensive valuations, and both will also add to their returns with significant dividends in the meantime.
