Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Global Fund” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the Ariel Global fund fell -3.12% underperforming the +2.87% return of its primary benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Index, and -0.59% return of its secondary benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Value Index. Ariel follows a non-consensus approach to identify undervalued, out-of-favor franchises that are misunderstood and mispriced. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Ariel Global Fund highlighted stocks like CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) is a US-based health solutions provider. The one-month return of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) was -4.76%, and its shares lost 14.02% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 27, 2024, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) stock closed at $57.46 per share with a market capitalization of $72.284 billion.
Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“American healthcare company, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS), also declined following disappointing earnings results and a subsequent reduction in full year guidance. The miss was primarily due to increased utilization of Medicare Advantage plans and weakness in the health services segment driven by the loss of a large client and continued pharmacy client price improvements. In response, management reiterated its focus on improving margins and enhancing its positioning in Medicare Advantage. CVS believes the program can remain an attractive business for Aetna and CVS Health over time and will construct its bid for 2025 as a multi-year repricing opportunity across plan level benefits. Meanwhile, CVS continues to return capital to shareholders through dividends and a recent accelerated share repurchase transaction.”
A row of shelves in a retail pharmacy, demonstrating the variety of drugs and over-the-counter products.
CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 60 hedge fund portfolios held CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) at the end of the second quarter which was 54 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) reported approximately $91.2 billion in revenues, reflecting a 2.6% increase from Q2 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) 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 CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) and shared Invesco Growth and Income Fund’s views on the company. Ariel Global Fund added CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) to its portfolio during Q1 2024. 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.
