Burke Wealth Management, an investment management company, released its “Focused Growth Strategy” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The market had another outstanding year in 2024, with the S&P 500 rising 25.0%. The strategy had an even better year, with net returns of 28.4%. Looking a bit closer, it is clear that, similar to 2023, 2024 had a rise that was appreciated by everyone, but the overall market returns were concentrated in a small handful of stocks. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Burke Wealth Management emphasized stocks such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) provides consumer products, advertising, and subscription services through online and physical stores that operate through North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) segments. The one-month return of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was -14.92%, and its shares gained 8.23% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 18, 2025, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock closed at $192.82 per share with a market capitalization of $2.043 trillion.
Burke Wealth Management stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN): Whereas most of the discussion around Amazon focuses on trends in its AWS business, our focus has been on the progression of margins in its retail business. Happily, both units appear to be on the upswing which drove strong fourth quarter share price performance. In AWS, Q3 sales growth was a solid 19% and the run rate of the business is now $110B. Equally encouraging is that margins were 38%, marking the third consecutive quarter that AWS operating margins were in the 36%-38% range after spending the last two years in the 28% range. This margin gain is being driven by demand for higher value applications as well a benefit from extended life usage across its data center architecture. On the retail front, the margin story remained in full force with North American margins reaching 5.9% in the third quarter and International margins delivering positive results (+3.6%) for the third straight quarter after 10 straight quarters in negative territory. CEO Andy Jassey has pointed out that Amazon’s efforts to reconfigure its distribution network from a centralized to a regional network has yielded productivity gains and that he sees no reason why retail margins in North America can’t meet or exceed previous record levels. We think a consistent run towards the high-single-digit range is likely. International retail sustaining profitability would be an added bonus and this great white whale finally seems within our grasp as Amazon reaches critical mass across numerous large international markets.”
A customer entering an internet retail store, illustrating the convenience of online shopping.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in first position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 339 hedge fund portfolios held Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 286 in the third quarter. In Q4 2024, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) achieved global revenue of $187.8 billion, representing an 11% year-over-year growth excluding the impact of foreign exchange. While we acknowledge the potential of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) 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 Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and shared the list of stocks that members of congress own. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.