Bell Asset Management, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 “Bell Global Equities Fund” investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. A depreciating Australian Dollar boosted returns for local investors, concluding another successful year for equity investors. The MSCI World ex-Australia Index rose 2.6% over December, while the Bell Global Equities Fund (Platform Class) returned 2.8%, outpacing the Index by 0.2%. Annually, absolute returns were strong, with the Fund (Platform Class) appreciating by 21.7%, though it lagged the MSCI World ex-Australia Index, which increased by 31.2%. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Bell Global Equities Fund emphasized stocks such as The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL). The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) is a global manufacturer of skincare, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products. The one-month return of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) was -12.96%, and its shares lost 51.21% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 26, 2025, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) stock closed at $72.97 per share with a market capitalization of $26.248 billion.
Bell Global Equities Fund stated the following regarding The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“In terms of exits, we sold our small position in prestige beauty company, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL). This decision was based on a deterioration in several aspects of the investment case, including eroding profitability, limited visibility on important growth drivers such as China and Travel Retail, and a loss of confidence in management following a series of earnings disappointments and recent leadership changes at both the CEO and CFO levels. We took advantage of the 25%+ bounce from recent lows to exit the name and rotate the capital into other higher conviction ideas.”
A photograph of a customer testing out different products in the skincare aisle at a store.
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 49 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) 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 The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) and shared the list of most expensive stocks insiders are buying recently. 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.