Investment management company Ave Maria recently released its “Ave Maria Growth Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund’s total return in the first quarter was 9.17% compared to the 10.56% return for the S&P 500 Index. Since its inception on May 1, 2003, the fund’s annualized return is 11.65% compared to the index’s annualized return of 10.86%. You can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2024.
Ave Maria Growth Fund highlighted stocks like XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) distributes and installs protective films and coatings. The one-month return of XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) was 14.58%, and its shares lost 48.84% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 7, 2024, XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) stock closed at $39.14 per share with a market capitalization of $1.082 billion.
Ave Maria Growth Fund stated the following regarding XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) primarily sells paint protection film (PPF), a clear plastic wrap that’s applied to the outside of a vehicle to protect it from rock chips and other road debris—like a cellphone screen protector for your car’s paint. XPEL has grown revenue approximately 100-fold over the last 15 years, but there is plenty of growth opportunity left. The PPF penetration rate on new cars is still in the single digits with most consumers unaware the product even exists. Content per car is also set to grow as customers choose to cover more of their car and new, higher priced products like XPEL’s matte PPF offer the option to dramatically change the car’s look.”
An experienced mechanic installing a headlight protection kit on a car in a garage.
XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 18 hedge fund portfolios held XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) at the end of the first quarter which was 17 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) 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 XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) and shared the list of worst-performing stocks insiders are buying in 2024. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.
