Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Growth Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. On September 18th, the U.S. Federal Reserve (“Fed”) reduced interest rates by 0.5%, bringing much-needed relief to investors. This crucial action contributed to stabilizing the markets following a volatile August. During the quarter, small-cap stocks outperformed large-cap stocks, achieving gains of 9.3% and 6.1%, respectively, according to the Russell family of indices. In the quarter, the fund returned 6.78% (net) outperforming the benchmark, the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s 6.99% return. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Meridian Growth Fund highlighted stocks like Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) is a as a digital media and internet company. The one-month return of Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) was 22.06%, and its shares lost 9.33% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 27, 2024, Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) stock closed at $57.71 per share with a market capitalization of $2.467 billion.
Meridian Growth Fund stated the following regarding Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) operates a leading internet and software services company through two segments: business cloud services and digital media. The stock fell in the quarter on missed earnings and evidence of slowing business in June, reversing some of the stabilization and positive momentum reported in the prior quarter. The company cited pockets of weakness in its business-to-business tech advertising unit, and its subscription business came in below expectations, largely on shifting sales bookings that impacted the timing of sales, making comparisons difficult.
On a positive note, Ziff Davis announced the acquisition of CNET, a significant media asset in technology and consumer electronics. Ziff-Davis is well-known for its ability to acquire assets and create long-term value. Selling at an attractive valuation we believe growth could reaccelerate, especially with further accretive acquisitions, and modestly trimmed our position during the period.”
A CEO in a suit making a keynote speech in a modern tech conference.
Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 19 hedge fund portfolios held Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) at the end of the third quarter which was 20 in the previous quarter. Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) generated revenue of $353.6 million in the third quarter compared to $341 million in Q3 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) 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 Ziff Davis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZD) and shared the list of worst marketing stocks to buy. 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.