Brown Advisors, an investment management company, released its “Brown Advisors Global Leaders Strategy” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the letter the firm discusses its performance, four new investments made in 2024, lessons from one exit, and insights from its annual offsite. The strategy targets double-digit annualized returns over five years, aiming for 10%+ to double investors’ money every seven years. In 2024, the UCITS C-share USD returned 14.7% net of fees, while the MSCI ACWI benchmark returned 17.5%. Since inception, the Global Leaders UCITS C-share USD has delivered an annualized 11.4% net after fees, surpassing firm’s target, compared to the MSCI ACWI’s 8.9%. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Brown Advisors Global Leaders Strategy 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 -14.64%, and its shares lost 50.89% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 27, 2025, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) stock closed at $72.62 per share with a market capitalization of $26.248 billion.
Brown Advisors Global Leaders Strategy stated the following regarding The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Our exit of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) has been a topic at both our coaching sessions and our annual offsite during 2024. There are numerous lessons but here’s one from Jordet’s book: “performing under pressure is not about feeling good; it is about doing what is right and smart regardless of how one feels, and particularly when one feels bad.” 12 We undertook our first penalty shootout (drawdown review) in May 2023 and misdiagnosed Estee’s issues as temporary demand in nature, so we bought more. Whenever we buy on a drawdown review, we define quantifiable metrics (kill triggers) specific to each investment, to flag if our thesis is off track. These “kill triggers” are typically assigned with a 12-month time horizon in mind. When we subsequently needed to take a second spot-kick after our kill triggers were activated, we exited due to evidence of more permanent supply-side loss of share to rivals in multiple markets. It didn’t feel good, but Estee’s share price fell materially more after our exit. You must trust the process.”
A close-up of a makeup artist carefully applying Makeup Products to an clients face.
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.