Merion Road Capital Management, an investment advisor, released its fourth-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, Merion Road Small Cap Fund had a good performance and returned 5.5% bringing 2024 returns to +17.4%. This compared to 0.3% return for the Russell 2000 Index in the quarter and an 11.4% return in 2024. The long-only portfolio of Merion Road rose 9.0% during the quarter, bringing the 2024 returns to 32.4%. This compared to S&P 500’s 2.5% and 24.9% returns for the same periods. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
Merion Road Capital Management highlighted stocks like The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM) in its Q4 2024 investor letter. The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM) manufactures and distributes portland cement that offers masonry cement, ready-mixed concrete, concrete products, and sundry building materials. The one-month return of The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM) was 1.90%, and its shares gained 48.76% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 3, 2024, The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM) stock closed at $223.16 per share with a market capitalization of $565.655 million.
Merion Road Capital Management stated the following regarding The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM): Monarch is a straight forward company – a single cement facility in Humbolt, KS and portfolio of related distribution assets. Illiquidity and a dual shareholder structure creates the opportunity to own a fantastic asset at a very reasonable price. For those who have been with me long enough, this is not unlike a former holding, Ash Grove Cement, which we owned into its announced sale at a premium of more than 100%. While I have traded around MCEM over the years, I initiated our current holding in mid[1]2023. MCEM has been going through a period of relatively heavy capital investments, highlighted by the recent funding of a solar project for $35mm. The completion of the solar assets should reduce the capital burden and lead to increased margins in the coming years.”
A construction site featuring a large concrete foundation poured by the cement manufacturing company.
The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. While we acknowledge the potential of The Monarch Cement Company (OTC:MCEM) 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 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.