Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Contrarian Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. During the quarter, the significant market influences were the U.S. election results, inflation, and the direction of interest rates. Against this backdrop, the fund returned 1.70% (net) during the quarter outperforming the 0.62% returns of the Russell 2500 Index and -0.26% returns of the secondary benchmark the Russell 2500 Value Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Meridian Contrarian Fund emphasized stocks such as Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL). Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) engages in the design construction and launch of constellations of satellites that provides high cadence geospatial data. The one-month return Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) was 0.18%, and its shares gained 152.31% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 20, 2025, Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) stock closed at $5.45 per share, with a market capitalization of $1.629 billion.
Meridian Contrarian Fund stated the following regarding Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) is a data and analytics company powered by its constellation of 200+ satellites that capture daily images of the entire Earth. This provides the company with a unique dataset which they combine with custom imaging capabilities to build applications for commercial and government customers. We invested in 2022 when significant investments the company made for future growth impacted near-term earnings. During the quarter, Planet Labs’ stock outperformed due to rising market recognition that their cost-effective and efficient imagery solutions were well-positioned to increase penetration in the U.S. defense sector. Optimism was further buoyed by the prospect of the incoming administration pursuing cost-cutting and efficiency initiatives. We increased our position during the quarter, confident in Planet Lab’s capacity for sustained growth.”
A satellite in orbit against a blue sky, displaying the power of the company’s space-based systems.
Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 19 hedge fund portfolios held Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 8 in the third quarter. Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) generated a record $61.3 in revenue in the fiscal third quarter of 2025, representing 11% year-on-year growth. While we acknowledge the potential of Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) 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 Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) and shared the list of defense stocks skyrocketing so far in 2025. Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) contributed to Conestoga Capital Advisors’ performance in Q4 2024. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.