ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge SMid Cap Strategy” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Smid cap growth stock rose in the fourth quarter driven by a post-election surge and the market’s shift back to growth leadership in December. The ClearBridge SMID Growth Strategy beat its Russell 2500 Growth Index benchmark in the fourth quarter due to robust stock selection in health care and materials sectors, which outperformed detractors in consumer discretionary holdings. To get an idea of the fund’s best choices for 2024, check out its top 5 positions.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, ClearBridge SMid Cap Strategy emphasized stocks such as ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX). ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) offers chemistry solutions, artificial lift systems, and engineered equipment and technologies to oil and gas companies. The one-month return ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) was -0.30%, and its shares lost 13.95% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 20, 2025, ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) stock closed at $29.60 per share with a market capitalization of $5.648 billion.
ClearBridge SMid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We exited our position in ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX), within the energy sector, which provides chemistry solutions and engineered equipment and technologies to oil and gas companies. With the company set to be acquired by Schlumberger — the world’s largest oil services company — in the fourth quarter, and not anticipating a better offer for the company, we exited the position in advance of the deal closing to redeploy assets into other compelling opportunities.”
A person wearing protective gear and a respirator, inspecting a corroded pipe in a refinery.
ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 48 hedge fund portfolios held ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 40 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) 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 ChampionX Corporation (NASDAQ:CHX) and shared the list of high growth low PE stocks to buy. 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.