Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen U.S. Small Company Growth Strategy” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund delivered -8.55% gross and -8.67% net of fees compared to a -2.92% return for the Russell 2000 Growth Index and a -1.41% return for the S&P SmallCap 600 Growth Index. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Polen U.S. Small Company Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) distributes and installs protective films and coatings. The one-month return of XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) was 23.40%, and its shares lost 49.41% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 31, 2024, XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) stock closed at $40.87 per share with a market capitalization of $1.129 billion.
Polen U.S. Small Company Growth Strategy stated the following regarding XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“We exited our position in XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) during the quarter. A leading provider of automotive paint protection and window film solutions, XPEL specializes in manufacturing and distributing high-quality products that protect vehicles from damage caused by environmental and other factors. Over the last several quarters, the company has reported mixed results due to various issues. As we put the company under review and performed additional research, we determined that we misjudged the competitive intensity of the industry and the emergence of substitutes. Due to the changing competitive conditions, we decided to exit the position and redeploy capital to alternative ideas.”
An experienced mechanic installing a headlight protection kit on a car in a garage.
XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 18 hedge fund portfolios held XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) at the end of the first quarter which was 17 in the previous quarter. The first quarter revenue of XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) increased 5% to 90 million. While we acknowledge the potential of XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) 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 XPEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:XPEL) and shared Ave Maria Growth Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.
