Wasatch Global Investors, an asset management company, released its “Wasatch Micro Cap Growth—U.S. Strategy” first-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. During the first quarter, the micro-cap equities performed well. The strategy had a double-digit gain in the quarter, outperforming the Russell Microcap Growth Index benchmark, which rose 6.60%. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2024.
Wasatch Micro Cap Growth—U.S. Strategy highlighted stocks like Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) offers lending enablement and risk analytics solutions to credit unions, regional banks, finance companies, and captive finance companies. The one-month return of Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) was -8.72%, and its shares lost 43.97% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 17, 2024, Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) stock closed at $5.74 per share with a market capitalization of $684.007 million.
Wasatch Micro Cap Growth—U.S. Strategy stated the following regarding Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“A significant detractor from strategy performance was Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO), which provides loan analytics, risk-based pricing and automated-decision technology to auto lenders. Open Lending incurs no credit risk and offers a fee-based platform that enables lenders to assess the creditworthiness of car buyers more accurately. The company focuses on lower-income consumers, who tend to have been hurt by high interest rates and inflation. This unfortunate situation was reflected in Open Lending’s most recent revenues and earnings, which fell short of analysts’ estimates. In addition, the company announced on March 25 that Keith Jezek, the CEO, had stepped down. We think lower interest rates and declining used-car prices could soon provide a tailwind for Open Lending. Nevertheless, we’re closely monitoring the company’s progress.”
A diagram on a whiteboard being discussed by a credit analyst and engineer.
Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 11 hedge fund portfolios held Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) at the end of the first quarter which was 13 in the previous quarter. Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) generated revenue of $30.7 million in the quarter 2024 compared to $38.4 million in Q1 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) 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 Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) and shared the list of fastest growing fintech companies in 2024. 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.
