Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Focus Fund” third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Due to the economy’s resilience and forecasters’ expectations of a soft landing, all major U.S. indices enjoyed gains in the third quarter. In the third quarter, the fund returned +10.61%, outperforming the +9.43% return for the Russell 1000 Value Index and the +5.89% return for the S&P 500 Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Ariel Focus Fund highlighted stocks like The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) produces and markets concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. The one-month return of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was -0.77%, and its shares lost 30.69% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 12, 2024, The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) stock closed at $25.86 per share with a market capitalization of $8.24 billion.
Ariel Focus Fund stated the following regarding The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Lastly, producer and marketer of crop nutrients, The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS), fell in the period on weaker than expected potash and fertilizer pricing as well as a decline in phosphate sales volumes. Electrical equipment failures and weather-related headwinds due to Hurricane Helene also weighed on shares. Management expects pricing to improve as growers continue to be incentivized to maximize yields by applying fertilizers. MOS is focused on cost discipline, free cash flow generation and paying down debt, while continuing to return significant capital to shareholders through buybacks. Given management’s disciplined capital allocation, we continue to believe the company is well positioned.”
A rustic farm field with a tractor spreadng nitrogen-based fertilizer in the background.
The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 34 hedge fund portfolios held The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) at the end of the second quarter which was 38 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) 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 The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) and shared the list of best mid cap value stocks to invest in. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
