ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Global Infrastructure Value Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Infrastructure rose in the second quarter but lagged behind global equities, as the strength in defensive sectors diminished towards the end of the quarter. The Strategy underperformed in the quarter relative to the S&P Global Infrastructure Index and on a U.S. dollar basis, mainly driven by the stock selection in the rails sector. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Global Infrastructure Value Strategy highlighted stocks like CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) is a company that offers rail-based freight transportation services. The one-month return of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) was 0.76%, and its shares gained 13.06% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 27, 2024, CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) stock closed at $34.53 per share with a market capitalization of $66.945 billion.
ClearBridge Global Infrastructure Value Strategy stated the following regarding CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“U.S. rail operators CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) and Norfolk Southern were the largest detractors. CSX operates the second-largest listed U.S.-centric railroad in terms of market cap operating in the East Coast. The company owns over 20,000 miles of track and operates across 23 states.
The U.S. railroad sector was weak in the quarter after rail companies talked down second-quarter results during conference season. This was on the back of a loose truck market, which has placed pressure on tariff increases for the railroads. While the pace of recovery in the U.S. freight market has been slower than our original expectations, we still expect an improvement in the operating environment in the back half of 2024 and early 2025, as excess trucking transportation capacity continues to rationalize in the softer pricing environment. We expect transportation supply and freight demand rebalancing to bode well for U.S. rails.”
A freight train moving through a rural landscape, its engine and numerous rail cars carrying the company’s cargo.
CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 65 hedge fund portfolios held CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) at the end of the second quarter which was 70 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) 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 CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) and shared the list of cheap transportation stocks to buy according to analysts along with the industry’s outlook. It was a top contributor to ClearBridge Global Infrastructure Value Strategy in the previous quarter. 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.