Ensemble Capital Management, an investment management company, released its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund saw exceptionally excellent absolute and relative performance in the fourth quarter. The fund was up 16.00% in the quarter while the S&P 500 appreciated 11.69%. The fund was up 21.75% for the full year vs the S&P 500 up 26.29%. The fund’s underperformance was due to its investment in First Republic, which the fund exited in March. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Ensemble Capital Management featured stocks such as Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Purchase, New York, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a payment technology company. On January 18, 2024, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) stock closed at $430.72 per share. One-month return of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) was 1.72%, and its shares gained 17.06% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has a market capitalization of $403.919 billion.
Ensemble Capital Management stated the following regarding Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) (7.21% weight in the Fund): Payment companies are data companies. As we discussed last quarter in our write up of Mastercard, merchants can generate significant value from analyzing payment data to better understand their customers. Mastercard has long built AI-based products to enhance payment security and provide merchants with rich data analytics. In December, they rolled out Muse, a new online shopping companion that merchants who utilize certain Mastercard services can install on their own websites.
Muse seeks to replicate the instore experience of working with a salesclerk by allowing the customer to use natural language to browse products. Online shopping already works well if you know exactly what you are looking for, but Muse is striving to help customers find things to buy even when they aren’t sure what they are looking for.
Mastercard (7.21% weight in the Fund): In late October, Mastercard reported earnings that investors interpreted as pointing to a near term slowdown in payment growth. The stock fell 5.6% on the day. By the end of the next week, the stock had recovered its losses and went on to reach a new all time high on the last day of the year. But the 7.9% gain on the quarter slightly trailed the S&P 500.”
A woman using a payment terminal at the checkout of a store showing payment products and solutions.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is in 9th position our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 140 hedge fund portfolios held Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) at the end of third quarter which was 139 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in another article and shared the list of best global dividend stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 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.
