River Road Asset Management, an investment management company released its “River Road Mid Cap Value Fund” Q4 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, AMG River Road Small Cap Value Fund (Class N) returned 2.97% compared to -1.75% returns for the Russell MidCap Value Index. For the year 2024, the fund returned 13.56%, compared to Index return of 13.07%. Stocks rallied in November after a Republican victory but declined sharply following hawkish Fed comments. Shorter duration stocks, including small caps and value, lost most of their post-election gains by the end of December. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, River Road Mid Cap Value Fund emphasized stocks such as The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE). The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) is a real estate development, asset management, and operating company. The one-month return of The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) was -0.98%, and its shares lost 19.06% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 1, 2025, The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) stock closed at $46.55 per share with a market capitalization of $2.715 billion.
River Road Mid Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Another poor performer was The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE), the largest private landowner in Florida with 171,000 acres in Northwest Florida with legal rights to develop over 170,000 residential units in Florida’s Bay County and Walton County (the sixth-fastest growing county in the U.S.). JOE operates independently of Wall Street, with no sell-side coverage due to its unique business model of slow and steady land development that defies precise modeling. The company’s long-term growth strategy capitalizes on retiring Baby Boomers migrating to Florida, driving both revenue and profit growth at attractive rates. The company’s strategy involves converting highly valuable land (recorded at 1936 prices on the balance sheet) into recurring cash flows through various commercial real estate developments including hotels, apartments, retail, and entertainment assets.
While JOE’s recent performance showed a decline due to decreased real estate volumes, the company demonstrated resilience through its diversified revenue streams. The growing commercial leasing and hospitality segments now generate the majority of both revenue and EBITDA, helping maintain overall stability despite real estate market fluctuations. However, market sentiment was further impacted by Chairman Bruce Berkowitz’s departure from the Board and changes in his significant ownership position, contributing to the stock’s temporary weakness. We maintained the position.”
Aerial view of a newly-developed residential community with homesites and golf courses.
The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 28 hedge fund portfolios held The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 18 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) 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.
We covered The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE) in another article, where we shared Praetorian Capital’s views on the company. 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.