Investment management company Maran Capital Management recently released its fourth-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Maran Partners Fund returned +6.4% net of all fees and expenses in the fourth quarter, which makes the yearly returns +16.0% net. The partnership compounded at a rate greater than 14% annually net, over the past five years, just slightly less than a “five-year double.” In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
Maran Capital Management highlighted stocks like Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR), in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) develops and manufactures outdoor equipment and lifestyle products. The one-month return of Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) was 6.56%, and its shares lost 19.64% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 29, 2024, Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) stock closed at $4.87 per share with a market capitalization of $186.82 million.
Maran Capital Management stated the following regarding Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR): My conviction—backed by ongoing research, channel checks, and numerous management, competitor, and other industry touch points—in the underlying value of Clarus’s businesses has allowed me to remain patient. In a year in which a number of the company’s former largest holders blew out of the stock (at times, in less-than-controlled manners), we added to our position. Looking forward a year or two, I think we will be rewarded.
Clarus has a fortress balance sheet (net cash of over $1/sh on a sub-$5 stock), and I believe is trading at a fraction of private market value. I believe profitability should accelerate meaningfully this year and that sell-side estimates are conservative. The stock is trading at around 6x EBITDA and less than 0.5x sales. Comps have traded or transacted at more than double (in some cases quadruple) those metrics. Given the strong balance sheet, profitability, and growth, time is on our side.”
A hiker in a forest with a backpack of outdoor equipment highlighting the company’s lifestyle products.
Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 15 hedge fund portfolios held Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) at the end of the third quarter which was 10 in the previous quarter. Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) reported third-quarter revenue of $67.1 million and adjusted EBITDA of $2.4 million, falling short of Q3 expectations. While we acknowledge the potential of Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) 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 Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) and shared Maran Capital Management’s views on the company in the previous quarter. 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.