Aristotle Capital Boston, LLC, an investment advisor, released its “Small Cap Equity Strategy” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The volatility that was seen in 2024 persisted into the fourth quarter. From style perspective, value companies underperformed their growth counterparts during the quarter, with the Russell 2000 Value Index returning -1.06% while the Russell 2000 Growth Index returned 1.70%. In the fourth quarter, the strategy delivered a return of -0.46% net of fees (-0.31% gross of fees) underperforming the Russell 2000 Index’s 0.33% total return. Security selection drove the underperformance of the strategy in the quarter. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
Aristotle Small Cap Equity Strategy highlighted stocks like Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) offers industrial software for asset performance and management monitoring. The one-month return of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was 0.32%, and its shares gained 23.92% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 17, 2025, Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) stock closed at $251.52 per share with a market capitalization of $15.909 billion.
Aristotle Small Cap Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN), is an industrial software company that provides software solutions that optimize asset performance and operational efficiency for industries such as energy, chemicals, and manufacturing. The company was sold as the stock price appreciated after Emerson Electric proposed to buy the 42.6% of Aspen’s outstanding shares it currently does not own, causing the reward/risk ratio to compress.”
An industrial plant spewing smoke from multiple chimneys, symbolizing Enterprise Asset Performance Management.
Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 31 hedge fund portfolios held Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) at the end of the third quarter which was 24 in the previous quarter. In the fiscal first quarter of 2025, total bookings and revenue were $151 million and $216 million, respectively, compared to $212 million and $249 million a year-ago. While we acknowledge the potential of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) 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 Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) and shared the list of trending AI stocks on latest news and analyst ratings. 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.