Weitz Investment Management, an investment management firm, released its “Large Cap Equity Fund” first-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund’s Institutional Class returned +7.79% compared to a +10.30% return for the Russell 1000 Index. The Fund’s Institutional Class has returned +31.94% for the year compared to a +29.87% return for the benchmark. The fund’s impressive strong performance is further enhanced by the market rally in the first quarter. The fund’s returns have increased by 50% from the October 2022 lows. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2024.
Weitz Investment Large Cap Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the first quarter 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 5.31%, and its shares gained 42.64% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 24, 2024, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock closed at $177.40 per share with a market capitalization of $2.182 trillion.
Weitz Investment Large Cap Equity Fund stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Mega-cap titans Meta Platforms, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Amazon generated outsized gains and were the Fund’s top relative contributors for the past 12 months. Following our valuation discipline, we continued to methodically rotate from more fully priced stocks to those trading at healthier discounts to our value estimates. We trimmed more tech-adjacent winners during the quarter, including Alphabet
Alphabet has been the most notable trim over the past two quarters. In effect, we removed the heavy overweight layer of the position size, which had been in the 6% to 8% range for most of the last five years. Part of the decision simply reflected valuation prudence after an exceptional period where the stock price ran well ahead of our estimate of business value growth. Some of it was a reality check that Google’s core search business may be less clearly unassailable than it appeared to be five to seven years ago. Our team also has adopted a healthy “prove it” approach to management/culture, capital allocation and future returns on a robust investment cycle. While Alphabet may no longer warrant standout overweight status, the stock remains one of the Fund’s largest holdings.”
A user’s hands typing a search query into a Google Search box, emphasizing the company’s search capabilities.
Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) trailing 12-month revenue is 318.15 billion and its year over year quarterly growth rate is 15.40%. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is in 7th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 165 hedge fund portfolios held Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of the first quarter which was 166 in the previous quarter.
In another article, we discussed Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and shared Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.
