Appalaches Capital, an investment management firm, released its third-quarter 2024, investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Appalaches Core LO ended the quarter with a 3.0% gain after all fees and expenses compared to the S&P 500’s return of 5.9%, the equal-weighted S&P 500’s return of 9.6%, and the SOFR Index return of 1.4%. The fund has achieved a net return of 7.1%, year-to-date. During the quarter, the firm made several changes to the portfolio, with about two-thirds now allocated to risk assets, aligning better with a normalized allocation, and planning to invest idle cash as opportunities arise in companies with strong competitive positions. The firm aims to buy shares at a discount to their intrinsic value, but this has been more challenging over the past year. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Appalaches Capital highlighted stocks like Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) is a global automotive retailer that operates in Vehicle Operations and Financing Operations segments. The one-month return of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) was 13.09%, and its shares gained 37.46% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 29, 2024, Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) stock closed at $386.90 per share with a market capitalization of $10.31 billion.
Appalaches Capital stated the following regarding Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) reported earnings, which were expectedly weaker year-over-year, but results were still better than feared. The shares have run up quite a bit since our initial purchase, but we still own them at a price at which I believe is a significant discount to their intrinsic value.”
A customer in a store, examining a new vehicle on the showroom floor.
Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 43 hedge fund portfolios held Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) at the end of the third quarter which was 35 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) 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 Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) and shared the list of best mid cap value stocks to invest in. Madison Mid Cap Fund initiated a position in Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) during Q3 2024, seeing its significant long-term growth potential. 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.