Wedgewood Partners, an investment management company, released its third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the third quarter, Wedgewood Composite’s net return was 5.8% compared to the Standard & Poor’s 5.9%, the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 3.2%, and the Russell 1000 Value Index’s 9.4% return for the same period. Year to date, the composite returned 22.4% compared to the 22.1%, 24.6%, and 16.7% returns for the indexes, respectively. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Wedgewood Partners highlighted stocks like Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) is an online auction and vehicle remarketing services providing company. The one-month return of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) was -1.44%, and its shares gained 19.03% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 23, 2024, Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) stock closed at $51.36 per share with a market capitalization of $49.474 billion.
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) also detracted from portfolio performance as the Company reported earnings that were weak relative to last year, mostly driven by one-time events and the cost of ramping up service levels to handle volumes after three named hurricanes that hit the U.S. during its fourth fiscal quarter of 2024. The good news for U.S. drivers is that the long-term trend of fewer accidents per miles driven continues apace; however, the bad news is that for the accidents that do happen, there is a higher likelihood that their vehicle will be totaled given how expensive it has become to repair the high-tech features of newer vehicles. Copart tows, conditions, stores and auctions the growing proportion of vehicles that are totaled after accidents, and this key trend should continue for the foreseeable future as it has in years past. The Company has a dominant profit share in the salvage auction industry, having spent decades building out its geographical footprint to over 200 salvage yards across the globe. We continue to hold Copart as a core position in portfolios.”
A busy car auction being held at a leading car dealership, buyers and sellers engaging in active bidding.
Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 50 hedge fund portfolios held Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) at the end of the second quarter which was 41 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) 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 Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) and shared Conestoga Capital Advisors’ views on the company. Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT) detracted from the performance of Madison Mid Cap Fund during Q3 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.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.