Alluvium Asset Management, an asset management company, released its “Conventum – Alluvium Global Fund” third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The equity market continued its rally in the third quarter. The Fund was up 4.3%, 8.7% and 4.6% in EUR, USD and AUD terms, in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Conventum – Alluvium Global Fund highlighted stocks like Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a payment technology company. The one-month return of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) was 0.97%, and its shares gained 28.75% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 3, 2024, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) stock closed at $526.18 per share with a market capitalization of $482.944 billion.
Conventum – Alluvium Global Fund stated the following regarding Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We have discussed over the last couple of years our evolving investment process to become increasingly focussed on quality. In June 2022 we undertook the first step of that process – making changes to our quantitative screen. Specifically, we loosened the requirements with regard to traditionally measured “cheapness” (how the business is priced relative to its past earnings) and tightened the “quality” criteria (the returns the business has generated relative to capital employed in the past). Both Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) and Visa have remained in the screen since those changes were introduced. Our initial, somewhat rudimentary analysis, concluded that these businesses were just way too expensive for us. However, we revisited this more recently and we now concede that we failed to appreciate the value associated with such high quality businesses.
Visa (originally known as BankAmericard credit card program) was founded in 1958 by Bank of America (BofA). It was the first card to offer consumers revolving credit. Mastercard (originally known as Interbank, then Mastercharge), was founded in 1966 by a group of Californian banks to compete with it. Not long after, BofA gave up control of the BankAmericard credit card program, and became the second credit card program offered by a cooperative of banks. The way these businesses evolved ensures alignment of interests, with their success dependent on banks all cooperating and agreeing to underwrite transactions. Visa and Mastercard simply developed, implemented and maintained data matching systems to facilitate the network. Fast forward to today, and Visa and Mastercard are the two largest credit card payment processors, with widespread acceptance, robust infrastructure, and extremely strong brand recognition. They have become essential intermediaries in the global payment ecosystem, benefiting from their extensive merchant and bank partnerships as well as consumer trust. Together they dominate payments processing globally (outside of China)…” (Click here to read the full text)
A customer making a purchase with a debit card at a store.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is in 10th position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 131 hedge fund portfolios held Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) at the end of the third quarter which was 142 in the previous quarter. Mastercard Incorporated’s (NYSE:MA) net revenue increased by 14% in the third quarter, indicating continued growth in its payment network and value-added services and solutions. While we acknowledge the potential of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) 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 Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) and shared the list of Wells Fargo’s top technology stocks that can beat the flagship S&P index over the next 12 months. 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.