Parnassus Investments, an investment management company, released the “Parnassus Growth Equity Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the Fund (Investor Shares) returned 3.74% (net of fees) underperforming the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 8.33%. Stock selection in the Information Technology sector primarily drove the portfolio’s underperformance. Also, overweight position and stock selection in the Financials sector detracted. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Parnassus Growth Equity Fund highlighted stocks like AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and manufacturers prescription medicine. The one-month return of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) was -9.51%, and its shares gained 13.69% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 20, 2024, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) stock closed at $78.38 per share with a market capitalization of $243.487 billion.
Parnassus Growth Equity Fund stated the following regarding AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) gained after announcing robust first-quarter results and setting 2030 targets at an Investor Day that were above consensus expectations. We continue to believe that AstraZeneca’s robust pipeline and industry-leading innovation in oncology should support above-expectation revenue growth for the next several years.”
A pharmacy worker distributing prescription medicines to patientsreceiving treatment for oncology, cardiovascular, renal, metabolism and respiratory diseases.
AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 49 hedge fund portfolios held AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) at the end of the second quarter which was 46 in the previous quarter. In the first half of 2024, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) experienced an 18% increase in total revenue, fueled by robust demand. While we acknowledge the potential of AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) 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 AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) and shared the list of best growth stocks according to George Soros. 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.