Columbia Acorn Fund, distributed by Columbia Management Investment Distributors, released its second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the fund can be downloaded here. In the quarter, the fund returned -6.01%, while the benchmark, the Russell 2500 Growth Index, returned -4.22%. The second quarter brought a significant change in market sentiment. The underperformance of the holdings in the quarter was primarily driven by a disappointing earnings season. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings for its best picks for 2024.
Columbia Acorn Fund highlighted stocks like Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) provides cancer screening and diagnostic test products. The one-month return of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) was 3.58%, and its shares lost 25.54% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 10, 2024, Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) stock closed at $58.38 per share with a market capitalization of $10.787 billion.
Columbia Acorn Fund stated the following regarding Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) is a leading provider of non-invasive cancer screening and therapy selection tests, including the leading colon cancer detection product, Cologuard. The stock underperformed during the quarter following a mixed earnings report on top of fears about competition. While the competition concerns could linger, our valuation work suggests the market is undervaluing the future value creation of the company and overstating competitive risks, as we believe Exact Sciences has superior products and a distribution moat. Overall, the company is still in the early innings of penetrating a large market, which carries the potential for double-digit revenue growth and expanding margins over the foreseeable future.”
A research team in a laboratory discussing the results of a lab screening test for biomarkers.
Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) at the end of the second quarter which was 48 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter, Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) delivered $699 million in revenue, up 12% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) 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 Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) and shared Baron Discovery Fund’s views on the company. 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.
