Wedgewood Partners, an investment management company, released its second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, Wedgewood Composite’s net return was 3.7% compared to the Standard & Poor’s 4.3%, the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 8.3%, and the Russell 1000 Value Index’s -2.2% return for the same period. Year to date the composite returned 15.7% compared to the 15.3%, 20.7%, and 6.6% returns for the indexes, respectively. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Wedgewood Partners highlighted stocks like Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) provides online travel and restaurant booking services. The one-month return of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was 0.41%, and its shares gained 36.26% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 17, 2024, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) stock closed at $3,989.64 per share with a market capitalization of $139.716 billion.
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) contributed to performance as travel spending across the U.S. and Europe remains quite healthy, whereas the Company took share in alternative accommodations, and looks set to expand margins after a few years of reinvestment. The Company has also been aggressively reducing its share count at reasonably attractive valuation multiples. Booking should be able to compound earnings at an attractive, double-digit rate for the next few years given these various initiatives.”
A fast-paced travel agent making a bookings for a family vacation package.
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is in 26th position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 97 hedge fund portfolios held Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) at the end of the first quarter which was 83 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter, Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) generated revenue of $4.4 billion, marking a 17% year-over-year increase. The adjusted EBITDA stood at approximately $900 million, representing a 53% year-over-year growth. Both revenue and adjusted EBITDA surpassed the Q1 expectations. While we acknowledge the potential of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) 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 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) and shared the list of best consumer cyclical stocks to buy. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) contributed negatively to the relative performance of Wedgewood Partners in Q1 2024. 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.
