Oakmark Funds, advised by Harris Associates, released its “Oakmark Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund returned 2.04% in the fourth quarter, compared to a 2.41% return for the S&P 500 Index. The fund has returned 12.82% since its inception compared to the index return of 10.67% over the same period. The largest contributors to the fund for the quarter were financials and communication services while health care and materials detracted. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
Oakmark Fund highlighted stocks like Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in its Q4 2024 investor letter. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a financial services company that provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. The one-month return of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was 3.53%, and its shares gained 52.54% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 14, 2025, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) stock closed at $71.19 per share with a market capitalization of $237.026 billion.
Oakmark Fund stated the following regarding Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was the top contributor during the quarter. The U.S.-headquartered diversified bank’s stock price rose after reporting what we see as solid third-quarter earnings where the company’s efficiency ratio continued to improve as expenses were well controlled. The fee income segment also performed well, growing 12%. In addition, Wells Fargo had the opportunity to repurchase $3.5 billion in shares during the period, bringing the full-year repurchase to roughly $16 billion. In November, the stock price continued its upward trend following the U.S. presidential election as investors are optimistic that the financials sector will benefit from looser regulations and lower corporate taxes, thus stimulating a better environment for dealmaking. We continue to believe that Wells Fargo is a competitively advantaged bank that can use its superior business mix and return potential to unlock further value.”
A team of bankers in suits, discussing the success of the company’s banking products.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 72 hedge fund portfolios held Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) at the end of the third quarter which was 83 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) 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 Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) and shared Billionaire Israel Englander’s top stock picks heading into 2025. 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.