Columbia Acorn Fund, distributed by Columbia Management Investment Distributors, released its third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the quarter, the fund returned 9.15% while the benchmark, the Russell 2500 Growth Index, returned 6.99%. A strong market rally occurred throughout the quarter, and the Columbia Acorn Fund beat its benchmark due to positive stock selection. With recoveries for smaller caps and several cyclical stocks, the third quarter witnessed a return to animal spirits following the previous quarter’s more risk-averse environment. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings for its best picks for 2024.
Columbia Acorn Fund highlighted stocks like Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) is a medical technology company. The one-month return of Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) was 28.20%, and its shares lost 81.87% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 8, 2024, Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) stock closed at $0.7670 per share with a market capitalization of $40.3 million.
Columbia Acorn Fund stated the following regarding Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) is a medical technology company with an innovative dialysis machine (Tablo) that is disrupting the traditional in-clinic dialysis market. Underperformance of the stock was driven by another earnings miss and an even more significant cut to full-year guidance, with revenue continuing to disappoint due to elongated capital cycles and execution issues. We have maintained only a small position in the stock due to Outset’s low market cap, price volatility and higher-risk business model; following the latest misstep, we lacked conviction in the company’s near-term outlook and decided to exit the position.”
Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 20 hedge fund portfolios held Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) at the end of the second quarter which was 12 in the previous quarter. Outset Medical, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:OM) third quarter revenue of $28.7 million, surpassed its guidance range. While we acknowledge the potential of Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OM) 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.