Middle Coast Investing, an investment advisor firm, released its third-quarter investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. It was a frustrating quarter for the firm. The portfolio appreciated in the quarter but lagged the main indices and closer benchmarks. The portfolio’s price to earnings for the trailing 12 months (TTM) was 19.7. Cash and equivalents accounted for 17.1% of the portfolio at the end of the quarter, with an estimated average yield of 3%. This compares to 13.4% of the portfolio and a 3.9% yield at the end of Q2. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Middle Coast Investing highlighted stocks like Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) is an architectural products and services provider for enclosing buildings, and glass and acrylic products used for preservation, protection, and enhanced viewing. The one-month return of Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) was 24.50%, and its shares gained 70.73% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 7, 2024, Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) stock closed at $78.81 per share with a market capitalization of $1.729 billion.
Middle Coast Investing stated the following regarding Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) – Apogee makes glass, framing systems, and aluminum or glass doors for buildings, especially commercial and office buildings. I like the company’s management. The CEO is a former 3M executive, and is focusing the company on constant margin and business improvement, and while that is easier to say than do, the company’s track record so far is successful – 500 basis points in gross margin improvement and 400 basis points in operating margin improvement from 2022- 2024 (and over 200 points of each so far in fiscal year 2025), and both above pre-pandemic levels.
On top of that, Apogee is a big but regional player in a fractured market, which means it has room for growth either via acquisition – and it just announced the purchase of a coatings company – or through taking market share. It’s reasonably priced if not better, and while it is a cyclical company and won’t thrive in a recession, I think we’re paying a reasonable multiple for long-term growth.”
High-rise buildings with aluminum framed windows, showing the company’s architectural systems in action.
Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 22 hedge fund portfolios held Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) at the end of the second quarter which was 21 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) 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 addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.