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 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) offers manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The one-month return of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) was -1.33%, and its shares gained 41.75% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 20, 2024, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) stock closed at $192.16 per share with a market capitalization of $159.456 billion.
Parnassus Growth Equity Fund stated the following regarding Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is the world’s largest supplier of wafer fabrication technologies used in semiconductor manufacturing. The company reported solid earnings for the quarter, and investors believe Applied Materials should continue to benefit from accelerated industry spend due to AI and share gains.”
A technician in a clean room assembling a semiconductor chip using a microscope.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 77 hedge fund portfolios held Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) at the end of the second quarter which was 79 in the previous quarter. In the fiscal third quarter, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) delivered $6.78 billion in revenues, up 5% year-over- year. While we acknowledge the potential of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) 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 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) and shared the list of AI news and analyst ratings that you should not miss. 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.