ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Value Equity Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The strategy outperformed the Russell 1000 Value Index in the first quarter. Holdings in the IT sector led the performance in the quarter. On an absolute basis, the strategy has gained across four of the 11 sectors in which it was invested during the quarter. Overall stock selection and sector allocation contributed to returns relatively. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Value Equity Strategy highlighted stocks like Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is a general merchandise retailer. The one-month return of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) was 1.73%, and its shares gained 11.49% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 8, 2024, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) stock closed at $148.72 per share with a market capitalization of $68.803 billion.
ClearBridge Value Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Conversely, stock selection in the consumer staples sector was a relative detractor. The biggest detractor in the sector was Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), the general merchandise retailer, which faced pressure after its first-quarter earnings fell short of market expectations. In addition to higher expenses, driven by a focus on newer, higher-quality goods, the string of higher-than-anticipated inflationary readings and declining consumer confidence created a more difficult environment for discretionary spending.”
A woman purchasing groceries at a Target store, with a cart full of products.
Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 67 hedge fund portfolios held Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) at the end of the first quarter which was 58 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) delivered $24.5 billion in revenue, representing a $7 billion or a 39% increase compared to Q1 2019, a year before the pandemic started. While we acknowledge the potential of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) 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.
We discussed Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) in another article and shared the list of best consumer staples stocks to buy. 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.
