Giverny Capital Asset Management, LLC, an investment management company, recently published its fourth-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The portfolio continued its strong performance in the fourth quarter, but trailed the S&P 500 Index. The portfolio returned 0.78% compared to a 2.41% return for the S&P 500 Total Return Index in the quarter. The fund returned 21.09% in 2024 compared to the 25.02% return for the Index during the same period. For more information on the fund’s top picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Giverny Capital Asset Management emphasized stocks such as Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP). Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) is a clinical research-based drug and medical device development services provider. The one-month return of Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) was 2.88%, and its shares gained 10.59% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 6, 2024, Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) stock closed at $360.97 per share, with a market capitalization of $11.22 billion.
Giverny Capital Asset Management stated the following regarding Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP), purchased in 2024. We discussed Medpace in our third-quarter letter, but to repeat: it conducts clinical drug trials for early-stage biopharma companies. When young companies develop promising drug compounds, they must conduct multiple stages of clinical trials over several years to prove the efficacy of the new drug before the Food & Drug Administration will approve it for use in people. Start-up companies lack the expertise to conduct these trials, which are lengthy and expensive. Medpace was founded in 1992 by August Troendle, a former medical review officer for the US Food & Drug Administration. He owns 17% of the company. The company has distinguished itself both for the quality of its scientific work and for its ability to identify biopharma start-ups that combine promising science with sufficient financial backing to complete years of trials. Medpace has doubled its profit over the past three years. Investors have been rattled by the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health & Human Services, as he seems hostile to the pharmaceutical industry and skeptical of vaccines. The PE multiple is 27x, below the historical norm. Market Cap: $11 billion.”
A medical professional in a lab coat discussing with a colleague.
Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 41 hedge fund portfolios held Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) at the end of the third quarter which was 37 in the previous quarter. Medpace Holdings, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:MEDP) third quarter revenue was $533.3 million, up 8.3% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) 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 Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) and shared Vulcan Value Partners’ 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.