Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its “Madison Investors Fund” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund (Class Y) fell by 1.03% compared to a 4.28% return for the S&P 500 index. YTD the fund returned 8.50% compared to a 15.29% return for the index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Madison Investors Fund highlighted stocks like Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in its Q2 2024 investor letter. Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) offers application-focused solutions to life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. The one-month return of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) was -0.57%, and its shares gained 5.96% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 18, 2024, Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) stock closed at $131.97 per share with a market capitalization of $38.504 billion.
Madison Investors Fund stated the following regarding Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“At life science instrument provider Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A), revenue and profits continue to decline, largely due to weak demand from pharmaceutical customers who are digesting large investments made during the pandemic. While the near-term trajectory is uncertain, we believe Agilent’s competitive position remains as strong as ever and its products are becoming increasingly relevant across many growing end markets, including biologic therapeutics, water testing and semiconductors.”
A medical professional in a laboratory analyzing the outcomes of a molecular diagnostic test.
Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) at the end of the first quarter which was 39 in the previous quarter. In the fiscal second quarter of 2024, Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) delivered $1.573 billion in revenues, a 7.4% decline. While we acknowledge the potential of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we discussed Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) and shared the list of stocks receiving a massive vote of approval from Wall Street analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.