Investment advisory firm Ithaka Group released the “Ithaka US Growth Strategy” third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The market continued to rise, which began in late October 2023, and gained across multiple asset classes. However, the portfolio underperformed in this up-market, increasing 0.4% (gross of fees) compared to the R1000G, which increased by 3.2%. Stock selection drove the portfolio to underperform in the quarter, with a negligible tailwind from sector allocation. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Ithaka US Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a payment technology company with a market capitalization of $470.905 billion. The one-month return of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) was 3.66%, and its shares gained 35.96% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 30, 2024, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) stock closed at $513.69 per share.
Ithaka US Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is one of two leading companies (along with Visa, which we also own) that helps match information and funds between banks that have relationships with card-carrying consumers and banks that have relationships with merchants, thus ensuring payment transactions are reliable and secure. Since the company’s founding in 1966, Mastercard has benefi ted from the growth in personal consumption expenditure, the strong secular shift from cash and checks to credit and debit cards, and a highly profi table business model that generates high incremental operating margins and hence ample and growing free cash fl ow per share. During the third quarter Mastercard’s stock outperformed as an in-line earnings announcement and strong global credit growth helped pull the stock out of a six-month consolidation.”
A customer making a purchase with a debit card at a store.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is in 10th position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 142 hedge fund portfolios held Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) at the end of the second quarter which was 148 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) 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 Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) and shared the list of best S&P 500 stocks to buy according to Hedge Funds. 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.