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 Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) designs and manufactures products for the aerospace, defense, and electronics industries. The one-month return of Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) was 5.99%, and its shares gained 20.93% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 7, 2024, Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) stock closed at $19.82 per share with a market capitalization of $693.884 million.
Middle Coast Investing stated the following regarding Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) had one of the better earnings reports in our portfolio but reported on the same day as a huge market sell-off, and shares still dropped. It is raising revenue guidance and producing well in its test segment. The one new question is how long the Boeing strike goes on and how much this dampens Astronics’ short-term prospects. Longer-term, we need more planes, which is good for ATRO shares. We added.”
A complex assembly line producing aircraft structures for aerospace applications.
Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 19 hedge fund portfolios held Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) at the end of the second quarter which was 21 in the previous quarter. Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) reported sales of sales of $198 million, up 14% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) 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 Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) and shared the list of best small-cap stocks to buy according to small-cap-focused hedge fund Minerva Advisors. Middle Coast Investing added Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) to its portfolio during Q2 2024. 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.