Wasatch Global Investors, an asset management company, released its “Wasatch Micro-Cap Growth-U.S. Strategy” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Micro-cap stocks saw a decline in the second quarter of this year following a robust start to the year due to a difficult macro environment and a narrowly focused market. Against this backdrop, the strategy fell but outperformed the Russell Microcap Growth Index benchmark, which fell -5.57%. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Wasatch Micro-Cap Growth-U.S. Strategy highlighted stocks like Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) is a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems. The one-month return of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) was -0.35%, and its shares gained 38.98% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 11, 2024, Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) stock closed at $308.61 per share with a market capitalization of $3.625 billion.
Wasatch Micro-Cap Growth-U.S. Strategy stated the following regarding Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“As for our sells, we exited Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI), a global supplier of high-value, critical components and engineered systems used in process industries ranging from paper to plastics and textiles to tires. The stock performed quite well while we owned it. But today, the company is less attractively priced. As we moved on from Kadant, we invested the proceeds in other names that we believe have better return prospects.”
An aerial view of a large manufacturing facility, conveying the scale of the industrial processing.
Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 15 hedge fund portfolios held Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) at the end of the second quarter which was 13 in the previous quarter. Kadant Inc.’s (NYSE:KAI) second quarter revenue increased 12% to a record $275 million. While we acknowledge the potential of Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) 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 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.