Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “Micro-Cap Strategy” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The second quarter of 2024 may be regarded as a time of moderation. Economic indicators largely reflected slowing growth and easing inflation. The moderation theme also drives equity markets. Large-cap stocks, as measured by the S&P 500, rose 3.9% in the second quarter, however, small-cap stocks lagged again, with the Russell 2000 Index declining -3.3% and the Russell 2000 Growth Index declining -2.9%. The Micro Cap Strategy declined -8.52% net-of-fees in the quarter compared to a -5.57% return for the Russell Microcap Growth Index. Underperformance was mostly caused by negative stock selection effects in the Telecommunications and industrial sectors, with Health Care being the most addictive. Sector allocation effects influenced relative returns. Also, low-beta companies with cheap multiples, the quarter’s biggest winners, were a drag on the portfolio. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Conestoga Capital Advisors highlighted stocks like Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) offers transportation, skilled trades, and healthcare education programs. The one-month return of Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) was -4.77%, and its shares gained 118.89% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 15, 2024, Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) stock closed at $17.38 per share with a market capitalization of $935.249 million.
Conestoga Capital Advisors stated the following regarding Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI): UTI was founded in 1965 and is a leading workforce solutions provider with two divisions UTI and Concorde Career Colleges. UTI operates 16 campuses in 9 states and offers a wide range of transportation and skilled trades technical training programs. Concorde operates across 17 campuses in 8 states, offering programs in the allied health, dental, nursing, patient care and diagnostic fields. UTI’s offerings address areas of the economy with some of the largest skill gaps. In addition, strong partnerships with Ford, BMW, Cummins, Kaiser Permanente, Scripps, and Baptist Health are differentiators when compared to other local, skill trade training programs.”
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Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 22 hedge fund portfolios held Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) at the end of the first quarter which was 16 in the previous quarter. In the third quarter of fiscal 2024 Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) reported nearly 16% growth in revenue to $177.5 million. While we acknowledge the potential of Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) 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 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.
