ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Small Cap Growth Strategy” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the third quarter, large cap and growth companies lost their dominance over smaller cap and value stocks. However, the strategy underperformed its benchmark in the third quarter. Underexposure to the benchmark’s strengths (e.g., biotech, smaller cap, poorer quality, bond proxies) and challenges in consumer staples and discretionary names affected strategy performance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) is an omnichannel retailer that offers an assortment of apparel, personal care products, and accessories. The one-month return of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) was -1.19%, and its shares gained 65.54% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 10, 2024, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) stock closed at $138.26 per share with a market capitalization of $7.056 billion.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We are encouraged by the high proportion of positive returns on new ideas added over the last five quarters of elevated new idea generation, with solid contributions to overall performance despite their representing a modest portion of the Strategy’s assets.
We continued to deliver strong new idea generation, adding four new investments in the quarter: OneStream (through participating in its IPO), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF), Wintrust Financial, and FTAI Aviation.
Abercrombie & Fitch is a global retailer with two primary brands, A&F and Hollister, providing apparel and accessories targeting millennials and Gen Z, respectively. Following multiple years of mis-execution, the company has repositioned its brands for durable growth, rationalized its store footprint, and is growing profitably with a nimble, fast-follower fashion strategy.”
A close-up of a customer trying on a piece of apparel in the retailer’s spacious dressing room, emphasizing the company’s focus on personal care and experience.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 51 hedge fund portfolios held Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) at the end of the third quarter which was 48 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) 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 Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) and shared the list of best Jim Cramer stocks to buy according to analysts. Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund stated in the Q3 2024 investor letter that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) underperformed due to elevated investor expectations. 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.