Diamond Hill Capital, an investment management company, released its “Small Cap Fund” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Equity markets reported mixed results in the second quarter of 2024. However, the broad market Russell 3000 Index and the large-cap-focused Russell 1000 Index advanced approximately 3%, most other market segments posted negative returns. Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund slightly trailed its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index, in Q2 and returned -3.42% while the benchmark return was -3.28% during the same period. For more information on the fund’s top picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) is a bank holding company for Live Oak Banking Company that offers commercial banking products and services. The one-month return of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) was 6.62%, and its shares gained 4.46% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 7, 2024, Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) stock closed at $39.11 per share with a market capitalization of $1.761 billion.
Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Other bottom Q2 contributors included Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB), Allegiant Travel and Allient. Shares of regional bank Live Oak Bancshares were pressured as a higher-for-longer interest-rate environment impacted customers and, in turn, affected the company’s balance sheet.”
A close-up of financial documents on a desk, indicating the banking products that the company provides.
Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 10 hedge fund portfolios held Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) at the end of the first quarter which was 8 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) 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 Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:LOB) and shared Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund’s views on the company 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.
