Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy” fourth-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. SMID cap stocks initially rose by more than 10% following November’s U.S. Presidential election, in another volatile quarter. However, they relinquished nearly all of those gains in December, as the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled that interest rate cuts would occur more slowly than anticipated, with reductions expected to start in 2025. Against this backdrop, the fund returned 3.0% gross, and 2.7% net of fees compared to the Russell 2500 Growth Index return of 2.4%. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH), in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) offers management and technology services to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations. The one-month return of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) was -2.27%, and its shares lost 9.49% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 30, 2024, Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) stock closed at $128.93 per share with a market capitalization of $16.474 billion.
Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“The most significant detractors from relative performance in the quarter were Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH), TopBuild, and Hamilton Lane. Booz Allen Hamilton faced pressure during the period, not due to fundamental business weakness but rather concerns surrounding the Trump administration’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Led by Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, DOGE has been mandated to curtail government spending, including payments to government contractors like Booz Allen Hamilton, which derives nearly 100% of its revenues from the U.S. government. While we view these concerns as more noise than reality, we are monitoring developments closely and will react accordingly.”
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Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 32 hedge fund portfolios held Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) at the end of the third quarter which was 47 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) 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 Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH) and shared Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.