ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Beginning in July, a significant shift away from large caps fueled a rebound and helped the Russell Midcap Index beat its peers with larger sizes. The Russell Midcap Index returned 9.21% in the quarter compared to a 6.08% gain of the large-cap Russell 1000 Index. During the quarter, the strategy underperformed its Russell Midcap Index. Detractors in the industrial and communication services sectors outweighed positive contributions from holdings in IT and healthcare. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) develops a software-based platform for advertisers to enhance the marketing and monetization of their content. The one-month return of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) was 47.08%, and its shares gained 256.28% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 8, 2024, AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) stock closed at $143.51 per share with a market capitalization of $47.968 billion.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Stock selection in the IT sector was the greatest contributor to relative performance, driven by AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP), which operates a software-based platform for advertisers to enhance the marketing and monetization of their content, particularly in mobile apps. We believe the company is one of the best examples of an AI beneficiary in the mid cap market, as it has already incorporated AI capabilities into its platform, translating into more effective take rates on clients’ mobile games and transactions. We believe mobile games represent only the tip of the iceberg of AppLovin’s potential for its AI-enabled platform and that it has a strong growth trajectory over the next few years.”
A close-up of a mobile device, showing an advertiser reaching out to a consumer via a software-based platform.
AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 54 hedge fund portfolios held AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) at the end of the second quarter which was 51 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter, AppLovin Corporation’s (NASDAQ:APP) revenue increased 44% year over year to $1.08 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) 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 AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) and shared the list of best-performing NASDAQ stocks in 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.