ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Dividend Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the S&P 500 Index increased 4.3%, for a half-year gain of 15.3%. The performance for the quarter was almost entirely driven by the information technology (or “IT”) sector. The firm has optimistic views about the economy and not expecting a recession near term despite a slowdown in activity. During the second quarter, the strategy underperformed its S&P 500 Index benchmark. The strategy gained four out of 11 sectors in which it was invested in the quarter on an absolute basis. The IT sector was the main positive contributor, while the materials and financial sectors detracted. Stock selection and sector allocation detracted, relatively. Please review the strategy’s top five holdings to see its best choices for 2024.
ClearBridge Dividend Strategy highlighted stocks like Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells computing and related products and services. The one-month return of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was 1.46%, and its shares lost 3.94% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 3, 2024, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) stock closed at $31.23 per share with a market capitalization of $132.942 billion.
ClearBridge Dividend Strategy stated the following regarding Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Within IT, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was the main detractor. Intel’s shares declined as higher profitability targets were pushed further out in the decade and skepticism lingers on the company’s ability to reclaim tech leadership. Our current position is modest in the context of the overall portfolio.”
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 77 hedge fund portfolios held Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) at the end of the first quarter which was 86 in the previous quarter. The first-quarter revenue of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was $12.7 billion, an increase of 9% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) 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.
We discussed Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in another article and shared the list of the best hardware stocks according to hedge funds. In the Q1 2024 investor letter, Parnassus Value Equity Fund discussed Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and expressed optimism about the company’s growth potential. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.