Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Hedged Equity Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The direction of interest rates, inflation, and the outcome of the US election all had a significant impact on the markets throughout the quarter. In the quarter, the fund appreciated 0.07% (net), trailing its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index, which returned 2.41%, and its secondary benchmark, the CBOE S&P 500 Buy/Write Index’s 5.79% return. 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, Meridian Hedged Equity Fund emphasized stocks such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) provides consumer products, advertising, and subscription services through online and physical stores that operate through North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) segments. The one-month return of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was -14.13%, and its shares gained 11.35% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 11, 2025, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock closed at $196.59 per share with a market capitalization of $2.083 trillion.
Meridian Hedged Equity Fund stated the following regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a global leader in e-commerce and cloud computing, uniquely positioned to benefit from the secular growth in digital commerce and enterprise cloud adoption. Our investment in Amazon reflects its ability to compound growth through its dominant retail platform, AWS cloud infrastructure, and emerging high-margin businesses like advertising and logistics services. The company delivered strong third-quarter results, exceeding expectations for both revenue and operating income despite mixed macro signals. Amazon’s investments in operational efficiency, particularly in inventory management and automation, have driven meaningful margin expansion. AWS maintained its leadership position in cloud infrastructure, securing significant new customer wins and showing healthy demand for new workloads. Looking forward, we see multiple drivers of value creation through retail margin expansion, continued cloud growth, and the scaling of high-margin businesses.”
A customer entering an internet retail store, illustrating the convenience of online shopping.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in first position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 339 hedge fund portfolios held Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 286 in the third quarter. In Q4 2024, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) achieved global revenue of $187.8 billion, representing an 11% year-over-year growth excluding the impact of foreign exchange. While we acknowledge the potential of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) 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 Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and shared the list of most profitable large cap stocks to buy. 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.