Delaware Funds by Macquarie, an investment management company, released its “Delaware Ivy Core Equity Fund” Q3 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The S&P 500® Index rose 5.9% in the third quarter, indicating continuing gains in the US large-cap equity market. Delaware Ivy Core Equity Fund Class I shares outperformed the Fund’s benchmark, the S&P 500 Index in the third quarter. Stock selection drove all of the relative outperformance compared with the Fund’s benchmark, while sector allocation was neutral to relative performance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Delaware Ivy Core Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) offers manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The one-month return of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) was -4.10%, and its shares gained 3.38% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 26, 2024, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) stock closed at $167.55 per share with a market capitalization of $136.33 billion.
Delaware Ivy Core Equity Fund stated the following regarding Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) – Though fundamentals remain solid, shares sold off on concerns of weaker global growth (the impetus for global central bank easing) and heightened expectations for semiconductor investment and artificial intelligence (AI).”
A technician in a clean room assembling a semiconductor chip using a microscope.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 74 hedge fund portfolios held Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) at the end of the third quarter which was 77 in the previous quarter. In the fiscal year 2024, Applied Materials, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMAT) net sales were $27.2 billion, up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. While we acknowledge the potential of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) 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 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) and shared the list of technology stocks that Roth MKM is cautious about. 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.