Harding Loevner, an asset management company, released its “Global Small Companies Equity Strategy” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund declined by 4.8% gross of fee in the second quarter compared to a 1.4% decline in the MSCI All Country World Small Cap Index. Global small caps declined in the quarter, while its large-cap counterparts continue to benefit from excitement over artificial intelligence. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Harding Loevner Global Small Companies Equity Strategy highlighted stocks like Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) manufactures and distributes electrical, mechanical, safety, and infrastructure products and solutions. The one-month return of Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) was -1.56%, and its shares lost 40.84% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 2, 2024, Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) stock closed at $83.51 per share with a market capitalization of $2.995 billion.
Harding Loevner Global Small Companies Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“The portfolio’s Industrials stocks also performed poorly compared to index peers. Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR), a US-based provider of electrical conduit, reported disappointing sales growth and lowered its annual guidance due to weak demand from telecommunications customers.”
A technician on a ladder inspecting the electrical components of an industrial building.
Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) at the end of the second quarter which was 45 in the previous quarter. Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) reported $822 million in net sales in the fiscal third quarter of 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) 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 Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) and shared the list of the best 52-week low stocks that pay dividends. 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.