Generation Investment Management, an investment management firm, released its “Global Equity Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of letter can be downloaded here. The strategy’s recent net performance was behind market averages. Since the fund’s inception, the strategy has underperformed for about 8% of the time on a rolling five-year basis. Several factors have contributed to the current underperformance, including not owning Nvidia, which explains about a third of the relative underperformance year-to-date. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Generation Investment Management Global Equity Strategy 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 5.09%, and its shares gained 37.30% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 30, 2024, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock closed at $430.30 per share with a market capitalization of $3.198 trillion.
Generation Investment Management Global Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Generative AI’s hunger for power has increased disproportionately with its intelligence. According to one estimate, OpenAI’s GPT-4 required 50 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity to train, much more than the 1.3 GWh needed for GPT-3.3 And then AI requires even more power when it is put to use (so called ‘inference’). Some of the latest trends worry us. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) appears to be slipping in its ESG goals, with its greenhouse gas emissions rising again last year, as it invests in becoming a big player in AI. It is struggling in particular to curb its Scope 3 emissions in the capital goods category – nowhere more so than in the activity associated with the construction of data centres: both the embedded carbon in construction materials like steel and cement, as well as the emissions from the manufacturing of hardware components such as semiconductors, servers and racks. Google’s emissions have risen by close to 50% in the past five years.
We feel it is worth dwelling on Microsoft for a few moments, since we suspect you will be hearing a lot more about the relationship between AI and sustainability in the coming months. The bottom line is that we continue to see Microsoft as a sustainability leader. In the case of Scope 2 emissions, the company covers 100% of its electricity use with purchases of renewable energy. Crucially, though, the majority of this green energy is directly sourced via power purchase agreements, which bring new renewable capacity to the grid. Microsoft is also committed to operating 24/7 on renewable power by 2030, a policy that will help bring energy storage onto the grid as well…” (Click here to read the full text)
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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 billionaire Ken Fisher’s favorite AI stocks for the rest of 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.