Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “Small Cap Strategy” first-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Conestoga Small Cap Composite returned 3.69% in the first quarter compared to 7.58% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. The market continued to rise in the first quarter as many major asset classes delivered positive returns. Lack of holdings in Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI) and MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), the largest names in the benchmark, was the major reason for the underperformance of the portfolio relative to the index. In addition, stock selection in the technology sector, especially within the software industry proved challenging. Please check the top 5 holdings of the fund for a better understanding of their best picks for 2024.
Conestoga Capital Advisors Small Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON), with a market capitalization of $22.039 billion, is a conducted energy devices manufacturer that operates through Software and Sensors, and TASER segments. One-month return of Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) was -3.16%, and its shares gained 49.15% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 20, 2024, Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) stock closed at $292.03 per share.
Conestoga Capital Advisors Small Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON): This manufacturer of the TASER stun gun and body cameras has been among the top contributors to the Small Cap Composite’s total return since first added to the portfolio in 2019. Its market capitalization now exceeds $20 billion. Conestoga trimmed the position over the past few years as the market capitalization rose and, in early 2024, we fully removed AXON from client portfolios.”
Axon Enterprise, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AXON) trailing 12 months revenue is $1.68 billion. Year over year quarterly revenue growth rate of the company is 34.30%, and year over year quarterly earnings growth rate is 195.10%. As stated in the recent earnings call Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) reported a revenue growth of 34% in the first quarter represents the ninth consecutive quarter of growth above 25%.
Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 31 in the previous quarter.
In another article, we discussed Axon Enterprise, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) and shared the list of stocks to buy from Jim Cramer’s portfolio. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.