Longleaf Partners, managed by Southeastern Asset Management, released its “Partners Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund returned 10.42% in the third quarter, compared to the S&P 500’s 5.89% return and Russell 1000 Value’s 9.43% return. In the quarter, there were very few detractors, and more than half of the portfolio holdings generated double-digit returns. The market is starting to see the value in many of the companies that the firm highlighted in the first two letters this year, which is positive. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
Longleaf Partners Fund highlighted stocks like PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) is a technology platform that enables digital payments. The one-month return of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) was 4.49%, and its shares gained 56.98% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 23, 2024, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) stock closed at $80.83 per share with a market capitalization of $82.635 billion.
Longleaf Partners Fund stated the following regarding PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) – Digital payments platform PayPal was a contributor for the quarter. The company posted solid results, with gross margin dollars growing by 8%, an improvement over the 4% increase in the previous quarter. Strong cost management also led to double-digit FCF growth, a key metric for us. The company further enhanced shareholder value by repurchasing nearly 10% of its shares on an annualized basis, leading to even stronger FCF per share growth. Much of what we envisioned at our initial investment is materializing quicker than expected, driven by the improved leadership of relatively new CEO Alex Chriss.”
A consumer in a cafe paying for goods using a mobile payment app.
PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 87 hedge fund portfolios held PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) at the end of the second quarter which was 82 in the previous quarter. PayPal increased its full-year guidance and posted impressive second-quarter results (see the details here). While we acknowledge the potential of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) 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 PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) and shared the list of fintech stocks that are riding the AI wave higher. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) was a top contributor to the performance of Wedgewood Partners 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.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.