Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy” fourth-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. SMID cap stocks initially rose by more than 10% following November’s U.S. Presidential election, in another volatile quarter. However, they relinquished nearly all of those gains in December, as the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled that interest rate cuts would occur more slowly than anticipated, with reductions expected to start in 2025. Against this backdrop, the fund returned 3.0% gross, and 2.7% net of fees compared to the Russell 2500 Growth Index return of 2.4%. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) is a micro contamination control products manufacturing company. The one-month return of Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) was 1.12%, and its shares lost 14.83% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 30, 2024, Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) stock closed at $101.73 per share with a market capitalization of $15.361 billion.
Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) is a leading supplier of materials and process solutions focused primarily on the semiconductor industry. The company has developed expertise in various chemicals, gases, and filtration solutions that support the most advanced semiconductor growth manufacturing processes. The business has recently seen weaker-than-expected growth in its mature nodes business, which we expect to normalize into 2025 and 2026. Overall, we think materials, gas filtration, and handling—all Entegris core competencies—will be increasingly important in enabling semiconductor industry advances. We expect Entregris to deliver sustainable high-teens EPS growth on the back of double-digit revenue growth and margin expansion from operating leverage.”
A technician in a specialized cleanroom suit, preparing a microcontamination control pipeline.
Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 42 hedge fund portfolios held Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) at the end of the third quarter which was 37 in the previous quarter. Entegris, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ENTG) third quarter sales were $808 million, down 9% year-over-year and 1% sequentially. While we acknowledge the potential of Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) 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 Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTG) and shared Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth Fund’s views on the company. 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.