ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Select Strategy” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The positive momentum in 2023 continued in the first quarter of 2024, the stocks surged on the expectation of a soft landing of the economy and a slowdown in rate hikes by the Fed. Against this backdrop, the S&P Index surged 10.56% and the Russell 3000 Index gained 10.02%. The strategy underperformed its Russell 3000 Index benchmark in the quarter. IT and industrial sectors were the primary contributors while the real estate sector detracted. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Select Strategy highlighted stocks like Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) is a North America-based transportation company. The one-month return of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) was 15.15%, and its shares gained 42.81% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 21, 2024, Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) stock closed at $460.61 per share with a market capitalization of $12.215 billion.
ClearBridge Select Strategy stated the following regarding Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“We added three new positions in the quarter, while exiting two others. New purchase Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA), in the industrials sector, increases our exposure to the reshoring trend that has accelerated following post-COVID supply chain bottlenecks and rising geopolitical tensions. Saia is a provider of less-than-truckload shipping and related logistics services in a transportation industry that has experienced a longer than usual freight recession. We believe this could create a constructive macro set up going forward, with localization of retail distribution a potential longer-term tailwind for this evolving opportunity. In addition, the company should be a direct beneficiary of the bankruptcy of trucking rival Yellow Corp, enabling it to pick up significant market share.”
A long line of trucks transporting goods across the open road, symbolizing the long-distance transportation services of the company.
Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 38 hedge fund portfolios held Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) at the end of the first quarter which was 31 in the previous quarter. Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) reported revenue of $754.8 million in the first quarter, an increase of 14.3% from last year’s first quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) 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 Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) and shared the list of stocks whose price targets were recently raised by analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 page for more investor letters frosm hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
