ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the gap in equity leadership narrowed considerably as mega-cap growth stocks reaffirmed their dominance and obscured weakness in most of the market. The S&P 500 Index rose 4.28% while the NASDAQ Composite advanced 8.26% for the period compared to a 3.28% decline for the small-cap Russell 2000 Index. The strategy underperformed its Russell 1000 Growth Index benchmark in the quarter and delivered gains across five of the 10 sectors it invested in, on an absolute basis. The IT was the primary contributor while the consumer staples and industrials detracted from the performance. Overall stock selection and sector allocation detracted from performance, on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM), with a market capitalization of $954.187 billion, manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices. The one-month return of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) was 9.41%, and its shares gained 84.41% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 5, 2024, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) stock closed at $183.99 per share.
ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“While the Strategy continues to have a significant position in Nvidia, with the stock’s strong price appreciation during the quarter offsetting position management trims, we are underweight semiconductors versus the benchmark. That exposure worked against us in a sentiment-driven period for chipmakers tied to AI. However, we added to our semiconductor positioning during the quarter with the purchase of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM). TSM, an out-of-benchmark name, is the world’s fabrication production provider of choice. The criticality and sophistication of the company’s manufacturing footprint powers all of the leading edge fabless global semiconductor companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm, AMD and Broadcom. While AI has driven upside in data centers, PCs and handsets are at cycle lows, positioning half of the company’s business for a recovery.”
A close-up of a complex network of integrated circuits used in logic semiconductors.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is in 11th position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 135 hedge fund portfolios held Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) at the end of the first quarter which was 105 in the previous quarter. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited’s (NYSE:TSM) first quarter revenue experienced a sequential decrease of 5.3% in NT dollars or 3.8% in U.S. dollars. This decline was primarily due to the impact of smartphone seasonality on the business. While we acknowledge the potential of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) 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.
We discussed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) in another article and shared “mostly AI” stock picks of billionaire Phillipe Laffont. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.
