ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Growth Strategy” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Due to stock-specific weakness in a handful of holdings and a lack of exposure to several of the top-performing, higher-beta growth companies, the strategy underperformed its benchmark the Russell Mid Cap Growth Index in a momentum-driven market. Following Trump’s victory, small-cap, value, and cyclical shares saw a spike in price; however, growth stocks regained their lead by the end of the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is a diversified healthcare company that operates through UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx segments. The one-month return of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was 1.70%, and its shares lost 2.81% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 8, 2025, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stock closed at $524.52 per share with a market capitalization of $482.707 billion.
ClearBridge Growth Strategy stated the following regarding UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“For the quarter, health care was the largest drag on relative results as larger holdings Vertex Pharmaceuticals and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) suffered losses. UnitedHealth declined due to a combination of negative investor sentiment and the increasing risk of regulatory scrutiny of its health insurance business following the surprising public reaction to the tragic murder of the company’s benefits group CEO in early December. We believe the company, a decades-long holding in the portfolio, is part of the solution to improving the outcomes and lowering the costs of the U.S. health care system, and that its business model will prove resilient.”
A senior healthcare professional giving advice to a patient in a clinic.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is in 18th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 112 hedge fund portfolios held UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) at the end of the third quarter which was 114 in the previous quarter. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s (NYSE:UNH) Q3 revenues reached $101 billion, marking a 9% year-over-year increase with strong growth at both Optum and UnitedHealthcare segments. While we acknowledge the potential of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) 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 UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) and shared Jim Cramer’s bold predictions about the list of healthcare stocks. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.