Columbia Acorn Fund, distributed by Columbia Management Investment Distributors, released its third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the quarter, the fund returned 9.15% while the benchmark, the Russell 2500 Growth Index, returned 6.99%. A strong market rally occurred throughout the quarter, and the Columbia Acorn Fund beat its benchmark due to positive stock selection. With recoveries for smaller caps and several cyclical stocks, the third quarter witnessed a return to animal spirits following the previous quarter’s more risk-averse environment. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings for its best picks for 2024.
Columbia Acorn Fund highlighted stocks like Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Skyline Champion Corporation renamed to Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) in August 2024. Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) engages in the manufacturing and sales of mobile homes and other manufactured housing. The one-month return of Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) was 1.57%, and its shares gained 72.96% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 8, 2024, Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) stock closed at $96.84 per share with a market capitalization of $5.559 billion.
Columbia Acorn Fund stated the following regarding Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) is a leading producer of factory-built housing. Despite an uncertain macro backdrop, the company is seeing solid demand due to elevated mortgage rates and an affordability crisis making manufactured housing a more viable alternative. The price gap between traditional site-built homes and manufactured homes has widened further in recent quarters and is unlikely to reverse, in our view. The company’s investments in a captive retailer, the direct-to-consumer channel and a financing arm have started to gain momentum. Orders have remained strong and gross margins have normalized at a higher rate and sooner than anticipated.”
A close up of the exterior of a factory-built home.
Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 28 hedge fund portfolios held Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) at the end of the second quarter which was 22 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) 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 Champion Homes, Inc. (NYSE:SKY) and shared the list of best home builder stocks to buy. 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.