TimesSquare Capital Management, an equity investment management company, released its “U.S. Mid Cap Growth Strategy” second-quarter investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The equity markets performed well in the second quarter, as long as one held only a small number of the biggest, fastest-growing U.S. stocks. Given the Magnificent Seven’s superior performance, differences in growth and value among large caps were downplayed. There wasn’t much style diversity between mid-caps, small caps, or outside the U.S. In the second quarter, the strategy returned -2.94% (gross) and -3.14% (net) while the Russell Midcap Growth Index returned -3.21%. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
TimesSquare Capital U.S. Mid Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) provides payment technology and software solutions for card, check, and digital-based payments. The one-month return of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was 0.51%, and its shares lost 13.01% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 11, 2024, Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) stock closed at $109.33 per share with a market capitalization of $27.818 billion.
TimesSquare Capital U.S. Mid Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“In the Financials sector we tend to avoid banks that face credit deterioration or rising deposit costs, preferring either asset managers or specialized insurance companies. At the start of the year, we reinitiated a position in the payment processor Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN). We viewed positively the installation of a new CEO who was its CFO and is well regarded by us. Global renewed its focus on merchant acquisition and card issuance, and its valuation became more attractive. However, we misjudged the lingering effects of a weaker macroeconomic environment on some of Global’s lower margin operations, which delayed the expected business pivot to merchant activities. With a lack of clarity about where the bottom might be, and its shares trading below where we projected a potential downside, we exited the position that was down -26% while held during the quarter.”
A payment terminal in action with customers apart of the experience.
Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 66 hedge fund portfolios held Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) at the end of the second quarter which was 52 in the previous quarter. Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) reported adjusted net revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, up 6% from the prior year’s quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) 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 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) and shared the list of best fintech stocks to buy in 2024. In Q2 2024, Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) detracted from the performance of Weitz Investment Management Partners III Opportunity Fund. 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.