ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US equities continued the journey as the growing number of “winners” concentrated in the market due to the excitement surrounding new weight loss medications and artificial intelligence, while the overall market was being affected by weakening economic indicators. The Russell 1000 Value Index underperformed its growth counterpart in the quarter, returning -2.17% to the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 8.34% return. The strategy lagged behind its Russell 1000 Value Index benchmark during the quarter and had negative contributions from nine of the 11 sectors it was invested, on an absolute basis. Overall stock selection detracted from the performance, relatively. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy highlighted stocks like McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) offers healthcare services through U.S. Pharmaceutical, Prescription Technology Solutions (RxTS), Medical-Surgical Solutions, and International segments. The one-month return of McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) was -0.60%, and its shares gained 41.71% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 5, 2024, McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) stock closed at $587.76 per share with a market capitalization of $76.239 billion.
ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy stated the following regarding McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK), a drug distributor, raised its EPS guidance to reflect mid-double-digits growth for the coming fiscal year. The company is benefiting from a stable competitive environment, as well as large share gains such as its recent partnership with UnitedHealth’s OptumCare business. McKesson is also a beneficiary of the growth of GLP-1 medications for diabetes and obesity, with revenues from GLP-1s making up a sizable portion of recent growth in its U.S. pharmaceutical segment (albeit at relatively low profitability). We continue to see the company as a durable compounder, with limited sensitivity to the broader macro economy, and which we believe warrants a higher valuation.”
A successful pharmacist in front of shelves of drugs in a community-based oncology pharmacy.
McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 72 hedge fund portfolios held McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) at the end of the first quarter which was 69 in the previous quarter. McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) reported $76.4 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024, an 11% increase from the previous year. While we acknowledge the potential of McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) 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 McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) in another article and shared the list of best Jim Cramer stocks to buy. ClearBridge Investments’ Global Growth Strategy added McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) to its portfolio in the previous quarter. 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.
