Bell Asset Management, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 “Bell Global Equities Fund” investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. A depreciating Australian Dollar boosted returns for local investors, concluding another successful year for equity investors. The MSCI World ex-Australia Index rose 2.6% over December, while the Bell Global Equities Fund (Platform Class) returned 2.8%, outpacing the Index by 0.2%. Annually, absolute returns were strong, with the Fund (Platform Class) appreciating by 21.7%, though it lagged the MSCI World ex-Australia Index, which increased by 31.2%. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Bell Global Equities Fund emphasized stocks such as Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL). Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) offers drug discovery, non-clinical development, and safety testing services that operate through Research Models and Services (RMS), Discovery and Safety Assessment (DSA), and Manufacturing Solutions (Manufacturing) segments. The one-month return of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) was 0.17%, and its shares lost 37.57% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 27, 2025, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) stock closed at $164.88 per share with a market capitalization of $8.432 billion.
Bell Global Equities Fund stated the following regarding Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We also sold our position in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL), an early-stage contract research organization (CRO) serving the biopharma industry. This decision was driven by the potential for ongoing risk to earnings stemming from a soft biopharma funding environment. Additionally, uncertainty surrounding the impact of recent appointments within the Trump administration, could potentially weigh on pharma R&D spending.”
A laboratory scientist surrounded by drug-discovery equipment and resources.
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 40 in the third quarter. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1 billion for 2024, which is a 1.8% decline on an organic basis compared to the previous year. While we acknowledge the potential of Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) 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 Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) and shared the list of AI news and updates investors shouldn’t miss. 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.