Weitz Investment Management, an investment management firm, released its “Multi-Cap Equity Fund” third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund reported a strong third quarter on both an absolute and relative basis. The fund’s Institutional Class returned +10.45% in the quarter compared to +6.23% for the Russell 3000. The Federal Reserve implemented its first interest rate cut of this cycle during the quarter. Investors responded by pausing the sharp increase in large-cap technology stocks (and alleged AI winners in particular) and shifting funds to smaller and midsized businesses that were thought to be more interest-rate-sensitive. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Weitz Multi-Cap Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q3 2024 investor letter. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, offers various platforms and services operating through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The one-month return of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was -1.05%, and its shares gained 20.66% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 22, 2024, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock closed at $166.57 per share with a market capitalization of $2.027 trillion.
Weitz Multi-Cap Equity Fund stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was among those impacted by the modest rotation away from mega cap technology companies this quarter, making it our top detractor. Furthermore, a federal judge ruled in August that the company had abused the monopoly position of its Google search engine. Many potential legal remedies exist, but it may be a year (or more) before the court renders a decision (and longer still for a potential appeal). We cannot predict the ultimate outcomes of this case but remain convicted in the quality of Alphabet’s collection of businesses and their ability to navigate this process.”
A user’s hands typing a search query into a Google Search box, emphasizing the company’s search capabilities.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is in 7th position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 160 hedge fund portfolios held Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of the third quarter which was 165 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and shared the list of AI news and ratings investors should not miss. 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.