Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. At its September meeting, the Federal Reserve lowered the Federal Funds rate by 50 basis points due to weaker employment growth and moderate inflation. Equity markets welcomed the news, raising optimism for a soft landing in the U.S. economy. On September 26th, the S&P 500 Index achieved a record high, the Russell 2000 Index also moved higher over the quarter but remains roughly 10% below its all-time high. The Conestoga Small Cap Composite surged 10.09% (net) in the third quarter outperforming the Russell 2000 Growth Index’s 8.41% return. The Conestoga SMid Cap Composite returned 12.94% (net) versus the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s 6.99% return. The Conestoga Micro Cap Composite advanced 7.60% (net) but trailed the Russell Microcap Growth Index’s return of 8.57%. Finally, the Conestoga Mid Cap Composite returned 8.36% (net) outperforming the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 6.54%. Please check the top 5 holdings of the fund for a better understanding of their best picks for 2024.
Conestoga Capital Advisors highlighted stocks like ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) develops engineering simulation software and services for product design and optimization. The one-month return of ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) was 1.96%, and its shares gained 20.28% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 22, 2024, ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) stock closed at $325.65 per share with a market capitalization of $28.457 billion.
Conestoga Capital Advisors stated the following regarding ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS): The gold standard in selling computer-aided engineering (CAE) software that allows engineers to simulate how product designs will behave in real world environments before they are manufactured. Shares underperformed during the quarter due to its pending acquisition by Synopsys (SNPS) which is not all cash, rather a combination of cash and SNPS shares.”
An engineer with a diagram of a systems analysis, illustrating the complexity of its product suite.
ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 64 hedge fund portfolios held ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) at the end of the second quarter which was 56 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) 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 ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) and shared the list of best 3D printing and additive manufacturing stocks to buy. 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.