Here’s What Led the Strong Performance of CarGurus (CARG)

Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Large cap growth stocks saw a 7.1% gain in the quarter, contributing to 33.4% annual gains. The strong performance was driven by optimism for Trump’s re-election, anticipated tax cuts, and a business-friendly regulatory environment. In the fourth quarter, the fund returned -0.81% (net) underperforming the benchmark, the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s 2.43% return. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Meridian Growth Fund emphasized stocks such as CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG). Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) is an online automotive marketplace. The one-month return of CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) was -3.44%, and its shares gained 57.68% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 20, 2025, CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) stock closed at $37.59 per share with a market capitalization of $3.898 billion.

Meridian Growth Fund stated the following regarding CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) is a leading online platform for automobile sales, operating both a retail marketplace and an auction-based wholesaling business. The company’s competitive pricing and broad suite of ancillary services continue to attract dealers. Strong earnings results and raised forward guidance drove the stock’s outperformance during the quarter. Despite this appreciation, we believe the valuation of its core business remains reasonable with the additional upside potential that may result from expected operational improvements from its wholesaling business. We trimmed the position during the quarter to manage risk and maintain appropriate position sizing.”

An online automotive marketplace platform with a large selection of car listings.

CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 38 hedge fund portfolios held CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 29 in the third quarter. In the third quarter of 2024, CarGurus, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:CARG) consolidated revenue was $231 million, up 5% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) 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 CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) and shared the list of best auto and truck dealership stocks to invest in. 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.