Andvari Associates, an investment management firm, released its second quarter 2024 investor letter, a copy of which can be downloaded here. Year to date, the portfolio appreciated 7.7% net of fees while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF rose 15.2%. There are two primary causes of Andvari’s trailing returns: (1) the firm does not hold some of the biggest and best-performing companies, such as Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon; and (2) poor performance of Mesa. Andvari invested in a diverse range of companies in terms of market cap. Andvari’s performance in the first half of the year is in line with what the market typically generates in a complete year. It can feel disappointing, though, if compared with higher performance of the large caps. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Andvari Associates highlighted stocks like Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) tobacco company working to deliver a smoke-free future. The one-month return of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) was 13.09%, and its shares gained 17.11% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 30, 2024, Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) stock closed at $114.70 per share with a market capitalization of $178.336 billion.
Andvari Associates stated the following regarding Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Andvari invested in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) a few months after initiating a position in fellow tobacco company Altria. The tobacco industry is one that has consolidated to only a handful of players. For decades, the industry has more than offset the continual decline in cigarette volumes with price increases. More recently, both Altria and Philip Morris have introduced several new product categories that deliver nicotine in much safer ways: vaping, nicotine pouches, and heat-not-burn products. Nicotine pouches in particular continue to have an extraordinary growth trajectory. In the most recent quarter, the volumes of Altria’s On! pouches and Philip Morris’ Zyn pouches continued their torrid growth rates at 30%+ and 70%+ year over year, respectively.
For Philip Morris and Altria, their margins are high, returns on equity and capital are high, and both trade at what Andvari views as cheap or very cheap multiples. Given the non-zero chance of a “nicotine renaissance” aided by less harmful products, we do not think the future for these companies is as dim as the market seems to think.”
A man exhaling smoke from a cigarette indicating the use of tobacco products.
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 42 hedge fund portfolios held Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) at the end of the first quarter which was 38 in the previous quarter. During the first half of 2024, Philip Morris International Inc.’s (NYSE:PM) volumes increased by plus 3.2%, and organic net revenues by plus 10.2%. While we acknowledge the potential of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) 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 Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) and shared the list of best FMCG stocks to buy. 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.