ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. U.S. stocks increased during a difficult quarter for diversified portfolios due to the market leadership remaining centered around a few mega-cap firms that were thought to be the major winners in the expanding AI industry. The benchmark Russell 3000 Index returned 3.22% in the quarter. The strategy underperformed the benchmark in the second quarter and had gains in four of 10 sectors in which it was invested, on an absolute basis. Overall stock selection detracted the most, mainly stock selection in the IT, consumer discretionary, health care, industrials, and real estate sectors. Please check the top 5 holdings of the strategy, to know its best pick in 2024.
ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy highlighted stocks like Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) manufactures and sells consumer products. The one-month return of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) was 3.65%, and its shares gained 28.30% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 12, 2024, Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) stock closed at $98.07 per share with a market capitalization of $80.461 billion.
ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy stated the following regarding Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), added to the portfolio in 2023, started outperforming materially toward the tail end of last year as growth, margin and market share momentum began to turn favorably, and that momentum has continued year to date as the stock has nicely outperformed the large cap staples group. The fundamental upside has been driven by a combination of healthy organic growth (with positive volumes), good gross margin progression, and strong re-investment spending supporting market share gains and future growth.”
A well-stocked stationery store, depicting a range of consumer products for sale.
Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 50 hedge fund portfolios held Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) at the end of the first quarter which was 54 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) 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 Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) and shared the list of best consumer staples stocks to buy. 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.
