Diamond Hill Capital, an investment management company, released its “Small Cap Fund” third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In Q3, markets contributed to strong year-to-date gains, though not without some volatility. As shown by the Russell 2000 Index, small-cap equities increased by 9%, while the broad market Russell 3000 Index increased by slightly more than 6%. Against this backdrop, the strategy trailed the index and returned 8.43% in the quarter compared to 9.27% for the Russell 2000 Index. For more information on the fund’s top picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) is a bank holding company for Live Oak Banking Company that offers commercial banking products and services. The one-month return of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) was -13.36%, and its shares gained 31.18% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 30, 2024, Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) stock closed at $40.01 per share with a market capitalization of $1.802B billion.
Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“On an individual holdings basis, among our top Q3 contributors were Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB), First Advantage Corp. and United States Lime & Minerals. Shares of regional bank Live Oak rose in sympathy with the broader financials sector as investors anticipated the beginning of a rate-cut cycle. Broader rally aside, we like Live Oak for its solid balance sheet, which we believe is well-positioned relative to those of its peers as we enter a new interest-rate environment.”
An executive in a suit walking across the lobby of a modern commercial bank.
Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 9 hedge fund portfolios held Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) at the end of the second quarter which was 10 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) 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 Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) and shared Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. 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.