Investment management company First Pacific Advisors recently released its “FPA Queens Road Small Cap Value Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the fund returned 2.38% compared to a -1.06 % return for the Russell 2000 Value Index. For the full year, the fund returned 10.76% compared to an 8.05% return for the index. The firm’s focus is on long-term performance, aiming to outperform the Russell 2000 Value Index with less risk throughout the entire market cycle. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, FPA Queens Road Small Cap Value Fund emphasized stocks such as CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI). CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) is a diversified industrial company that operates through Contractor Solutions, Engineered Building Solutions, and Specialized Reliability Solutions segments. The one-month return of CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) was -7.15%, and its shares gained 28.57% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 4, 2025, CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) stock closed at $301.81 per share with a market capitalization of $5.065 billion.
FPA Queens Road Small Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) sells HVAC and plumbing parts and accessories, mostly for professional tradespeople. CSW is one of those sneaky great businesses – margins are near 30% for what looks like a basic industrial with low tech products. But CSW has scale and scope advantages across its product range, the products they sell are high value but low cost, and they benefit from a dynamic where the tradesperson chooses the product they are most familiar with but the end customer is the one who pays. CSW was a big beneficiary of Covid era inflation and stimulus. Despite fears of a slowdown, earnings in 2024 have been exceptional. On July 31, the company announced high single digit organic growth and aggressive margin gains for its core Contractor Solutions business. We have trimmed the position along the way as CSW’s stock price outpaced the company’s strong fundamentals.”

Close-up of a specialized engineer team examining architectural railings.
CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 30 hedge fund portfolios held CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 23 in the previous quarter. CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) reported revenue of $194 million in the fiscal third quarter of 2025, a $19 million or 11% increase when compared to the prior year period. While we acknowledge the potential of CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) 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 CSW Industrials, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSWI) and shared FPA Queens Road Small Cap Value Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.