ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Growth Strategy” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Due to stock-specific weakness in a handful of holdings and a lack of exposure to several of the top-performing, higher-beta growth companies, the strategy underperformed its benchmark the Russell Mid Cap Growth Index in a momentum-driven market. Following Trump’s victory, small-cap, value, and cyclical shares saw a spike in price; however, growth stocks regained their lead by the end of the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is a biotechnology company focusing on developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). The one-month return of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) was -11.21%, and its shares lost 4.18% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 8, 2025, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) stock closed at $412.11 per share with a market capitalization of $106.13 billion.
ClearBridge Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“For the quarter, health care was the largest drag on relative results as larger holdings Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) and UnitedHealth Group suffered losses. Vertex, a biotechnology company known for its cystic fibrosis treatments, was hurt by a setback in clinical trials for its new therapeutic, suzetrigine, in the chronic pain setting. The company is continuing forward for this indication in the hopes that altering the future design of its trial will yield more promising results. Additionally, Vertex hopes to commercially launch the drug for acute pain in the first quarter and is still seeing growth and patent life extension in its cystic fibrosis franchise. The company also has additional pipeline assets, most notably to treat mediated kidney disease and Type 1 diabetes, which gives us confidence in the company’s ability to sustain profitable growth over the long term.”
A pharmacist delivering a specific medication to a patient in a specialty pharmacy.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 55 hedge fund portfolios held Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) at the end of the third quarter which was 59 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) 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 Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) and shared Jim Cramer’s bold predictions about the list of healthcare stocks. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) was the largest detractor from Hardman Johnston Global Equity’s performance last quarter. 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.