Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Small Cap Value Strategy” first-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter of 2024, US indexes continued to exceed expectations. This rally was fueled by excitement surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), robust corporate earnings growth, declining inflation, and expectations for interest rate cuts. In this backdrop, Ariel Small Cap Value Tax-Exempt Composite rose +3.97% gross of fees (+3.71% net of fees) and outperformed the +2.90% return of the Russell 2000 Value Index but fell short of the +5.18% gain of the growthier Russell 2000 Index. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2024.
Ariel Small Cap Value Strategy highlighted stocks like NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) designs, produces, distributes installs, and services electrical connection and protection products. NVent Electric plc’s (NYSE:NVT) one-month return was -3.30%, and its shares gained 66.51% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 5, 2024, NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) stock closed at $79.36 per share with a market capitalization of $13.175 billion.
Ariel Small Cap Value Strategy stated the following regarding NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Additionally, shares of global leader in electrical protection and connection solutions, NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) jumped following strong quarterly earnings results, highlighted by healthy organic revenue growth, margin expansion and robust free cash flow generation. Management also provided a solid full year outlook for 2024, as NVT continues to execute on its global strategy, which is focused on high-growth verticals, new products and innovation. We expect NVT to continue to benefit from secular trends towards increased electrification and data center development, as well as from internal operational improvements.”
A workman standing next to a newly constructed wall, showcasing the company’s electrical enclosures.
NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 61 hedge fund portfolios held NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) at the end of the first quarter which was 48 in the previous quarter. NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) reported $875 million in sales for the quarter, an 18% increase relative to last year. While we acknowledge the potential of NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) 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 NVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT) and shared Upslope Capital Management’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.
