Wedgewood Partners, an investment management company, released its second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, Wedgewood Composite’s net return was 3.7% compared to the Standard & Poor’s 4.3%, the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 8.3%, and the Russell 1000 Value Index’s -2.2% return for the same period. Year to date the composite returned 15.7% compared to the 15.3%, 20.7%, and 6.6% returns for the indexes, respectively. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Wedgewood Partners highlighted stocks like Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) is a swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products distributor. The one-month return of Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) was -0.29%, and its shares lost 7.94% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 16, 2024, Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) stock closed at $336.90 per share with a market capitalization of $12.913 billion.
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) preannounced second quarter sales that declined -7% due to lower-than-expected activity during the important summer selling season. After a few years of elevated sales driven by Covid-19 dynamics, PoolCorp has gone through a multi-quarter digestion period. The Company continues to maintain market share and excellent returns despite the difficult industry backdrop. PoolCorp differentiates itself by carrying a large array of industry specific products compared to mass-market retailers that carry more standardized products or smaller industry competitors that have less availability or narrower selections. When financial conditions for consumers eventually ease, we expect PoolCorp will be able to leverage its leadership position, growing above the long-term normalized industry trend, with mid-to-high single digit revenue growth plus double-digit earnings growth from the increased penetration of private-label and supply chain efficiencies.”
A technician in safety gear inspecting a pool automated system.
Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 40 hedge fund portfolios held Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) at the end of the first quarter which was 42 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) reported $1.1 billion in net sales, down 7% year over year. While we acknowledge the potential of Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) 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 Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) and shared Artisan Mid Cap Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In the Q1 2024 investor letter, Wedgewood Partners noted that the Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) stock price remained unchanged during the quarter due to mild weather conditions. 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.
