Fred Alger Management, an investment management company, released its “Alger Spectra Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In 2024’s second quarter, U.S. stocks were positive, with the S&P 500 rising 4.28%. The Materials and Industrials sectors underperformed compared to the S&P 500 Index, while the Information Technology and Communication Services sectors outperformed. There was a notable return gap in the second quarter, where large-cap growth stocks saw meaningful gains, while smaller-cap and particularly value stocks lagged. Against this backdrop, the fund outperformed the Russell 3000 Growth Index in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Alger Spectra Fund highlighted stocks like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a multinational software company that develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. The one-month return of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was 2.76%, and its shares gained 23.00% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 3, 2024, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock closed at $409.44 per share with a market capitalization of $3.043 trillion.
Alger Spectra Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. The company operates through three segments: Productivity and Business Processes (Office, LinkedIn, and Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud (Server Products and Cloud Services, Azure, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (Windows, Devices, Gaming, and Search). During the quarter, shares contributed to performance after the company reported strong fiscal third quarter results, underscoring its leadership position in the cloud and highlighted its role as a primary facilitator and beneficiary of AI adoption. Company revenue growth, operating margin, and earnings growth surpassed consensus expectations. The utility scale Azure cloud business grew 31% in constant currency of which 7% was AI related versus 3% two quarters ago. Further, management noted most of the AI revenue continues to stem from inference rather than training indicating high quality AI applications by Microsoft’s clients. Management also indicated that the significant cost-cutting programs in corporate America are done, suggesting that the cost optimization headwinds previously impacting Azure’s growth are over. Separately, management provided color on their new AI-productivity tool, Copilot, noting that approximately 60% of Fortune 500 companies are already using Copilot, and that the quarter witnessed a 50% increase in Copilot assistance integration within Teams. We continue to believe that Microsoft has the potential to hold a leading position in AI, given its innovative approach and demonstrated high unit volume growth opportunity.”
A development team working together to create the next version of Windows.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is in second position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 279 hedge fund portfolios held Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of the second quarter which was 293 in the previous quarter. In the quarter, Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) revenue was $64.7 billion, up 15% in reported currency and 16% in constant currency and earnings per share was $2.95, representing a 10% increase in reported currency and an 11% increase in constant currency. While we acknowledge the potential of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) 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 Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and shared the list of best augmented reality stocks to buy. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was a significant contributor to the performance of Mar Vista Investment Partners during Q2 2024. 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.
