Appleseed Fund, an investment management company, released its third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund’s Institutional Class generated an absolute return of 20.46% over the 12 months that ended September 30, 2024, compared to the Morningstar Global Small/Midcap Index’s 25.97% return. Appleseed Fund was positioned for an inflationary, slow-growth environment for most of the previous years. The cautious position of the Appleseed Fund prevented investment gains even while inflation levels have been lowering, and the stock market has been raging since the end of 2022. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Appleseed Fund highlighted stocks like Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) is a lessor and servicer of commercial aircraft and aircraft engines worldwide. The one-month return of Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) was -0.04%, and its shares gained 341.22% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 31, 2024, Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) stock closed at $207.55 per share with a market capitalization of $1.371 billion.
Appleseed Fund stated the following regarding Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Appleseed Fund added four new names to the portfolio in the past six months: Estée Lauder (EL), Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC), Diana Shipping (DSX) and Gravity (GRVY). Willis Lease Finance is the largest pure-play commercial jet engine lessor in the world. With jet engine availability plaguing the commercial aircraft industry, rental rates for leases jet engines are flying upwards, as should be Willis Lease Finance’s stock price.”
A giant commercial airliner surrounded by mechanics and engineers, emphasizing the scale of the leasing and servicing company.
Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 6 hedge fund portfolios held Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) at the end of the third quarter which was 4 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) 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 Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) and shared the list of stocks to buy according to John Orrico’s Water Island Capital. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.