Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “Small 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. Equity markets are also driven by the moderation theme. 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%. Conestoga Small Cap Composite fell -5.59% in the second quarter compared to -2.92% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. Stock selection was the major reason for the underperformance of the portfolio relative to the index. Please check the top 5 holdings of the fund for a better understanding of their best picks for 2024.
Conestoga Capital Advisors highlighted stocks like Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) designs, produces, and sells products and processes to offer integrated solutions for the biopharma and healthcare industries. The one-month return of Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) was -8.01%, and its shares lost 35.70% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 15, 2024, Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) stock closed at $19.99 per share with a market capitalization of $5.454 billion.
Conestoga Capital Advisors stated the following regarding Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN): In early May, STVN reported a disappointing quarter and reduced guidance for 2024. For the calendar year, STVN management reduced revenue guidance by about 5% and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) by about 11%. The rationale for the reduced guidance was due to destocking in vials, the delay in a new order from a large customer and continued weakness in engineering services. While the revised guidance was disappointing, it was especially frustrating to the investment community because the company had just issued guidance eight weeks prior and the company raised capital shortly thereafter.”
A scientist in a laboratory observing a drug delivery system through a microscope.
Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 15 hedge fund portfolios held Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) at the end of the first quarter which was 13 in the previous quarter. The first quarter revenue of Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) reduced 1% to €236 million. While we acknowledge the potential of Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) 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 Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN) and shared the list of best Italian stocks to invest in 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.
