Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen Global Growth Strategy” fourth-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Over the past two years, global equities (2023-2024) showed a historic +45% cumulative return as per the MSCI ACWI Index (the “Index”), emphasizing market unpredictability and the futility of macroeconomic projections. The Strategy returned 2.58% gross (2.27% net) in the quarter compared to the MSCI ACW Index’s -0.99% return. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Polen Global Growth Strategy emphasized stocks such as Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB). Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) operates a platform that connects hosts and guests. The one-month return of Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) was -21.15%, and its shares lost 24.38% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 18, 2025, Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) stock closed at $124.56 per share with a market capitalization of $77.394 billion.
Polen Global Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
We trimmed our positions in Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) and Alphabet during the quarter. We believe Airbnb is an excellent platform business requiring near no capital to grow, with both sides of the network-hosts and guests-incentivized to grow it themselves. Given some signs of a weakening consumer across the economy and businesses we follow, we think there are potential risks of a slowdown in Airbnb’s business. We decided to trim the position modestly but still feel it’s a fantastic business with tailwinds and a long runway, so we will be watching closely for opportunities to add at more attractive risk-rewards.
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Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 54 hedge fund portfolios held Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 54 in the third quarter. Airbnb, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ABNB) fourth quarter revenue increased 12% year-over-year to $2.5 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) 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 Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) and shared the list of oversold blue-chip stocks to buy according to hedge funds. 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.