We recently compiled a list of the 10 Most Promising Mid-Cap Stocks According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) stands against the other promising mid-cap stocks.
The S&P 500 May Hit 6,000 in 2024
September closed on a high note, opening a wealth of opportunities for investors. On October 1, Jay Woods, Freedom Capital Markets Chief Global Strategist, appeared in an interview on Yahoo Finance to discuss his predictions for the market.
Woods shares his anticipation for the elections and that the market will take its due course once the elections are over. He believes the technology sector is poised to strengthen as the market rotates from sector to sector. Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft are currently 15%, 5%, and 8% off their highs and a strong tailwind may be in store for us.
September was stronger than expected and 19 out of 21 times the market hit a high during the month in the past, the market has gone way higher in the following months, or the fourth quarter. Woods reiterated that the setup for a strong comeback is there, especially with elections, and that rotational trade will continue.
Speaking of employment data, Woods suggests that the market has particularly been overreacting to data points and that anything jittery will adversely impact investor confidence. He predicts the unemployment rate to sit at 4.2% and hints that a percentage higher than this will lead to more discussions on bigger rate cuts. He advises that investors need to start blocking out some of these headlines and focus on how stocks have performed in the third quarter of 2024.
The Job Market is Extremely Crucial
On September 30, Matt Stucky, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management’s chief portfolio manager for equities, appeared in an interview on Yahoo Finance to discuss his market thesis.
According to Stucky, the job market is extremely crucial and investors must focus on that. Since the beginning of 2024, employment data has been consistently declining to the point it may hint at a weakening economy.
On the flip side, the third quarter stood out. The third quarter of 2024 saw the market broaden to sectors other than tech. Five out of seven sectors on the S&P 500 experienced tremendous earnings growth, compared to only two in the second quarter of the same year.
As the market broadens, he expects the market to post earnings growth between 9% to 10% this year and 14% to 15% for the next year. Stucky’s expectations are rather optimistic and believes the economy will head to a soft landing. He also expects the average investor to be more inclined to stocks that have consistent high margin growth in 2025 and ahead. For this year, however, Stucky believes that the defensive sector, especially utilities, remained the strongest.
While the financial markets may remain uncertain, investors may look for cheaper and less-risky investments. That said, let’s look at some of the most promising mid-cap stocks according to hedge funds.
Our Methodology
To find the most promising mid-cap stocks according to hedge funds, we used the Finviz stock screener. We set the market capitalization filter to range between $2 billion and $10 billion. We then examined the hedge fund sentiment of these stocks as of Q2 2024 and picked the most popular ones. The stocks are sorted in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders as of Q2 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51
Market Capitalization as of October 10, 2024: $8.19 Billion
WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) is a maintenance, repair, and operations company headquartered in Pennsylvania, United States. The company provides automotive, communications, electrical, safety, power generation, energy management, and renewables solutions.
The company is present in more than 50 countries and has over 1.5 million products that serve 150,000 plus customers. In an attempt to expand its footprint, the company forged multiple alliances during the past quarter. During Q2 2024, WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) signed an agreement to acquire entroCIM, a data center and building intelligence software company. During the same quarter, WESCO also agreed to acquire Storeroom Logix, an asset and inventory management software company.
WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) experienced significant growth in its data center segment in Q2, primarily driven by the growing demand for artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence. While other segments were slower, the company has a healthy backlog, growing at an impressive rate sequentially.
Amid global economic conditions, WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) expects the year to be slower, reducing its full-year outlook. Despite such, the company’s expanded portfolio is expected to post sequential growth.
Diamond Hill Mid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Other bottom contributors included Parker-Hannifin, WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) and Regal Rexnord. Shares of leading industrial distributor WESCO (WCC) and electric motors and power transmission components manufacturer Regal Rexnord (RRX) were pressured against a backdrop of macroeconomic concerns which are seemingly making investors hesitant to own leveraged cyclical companies like WCC and RRX. However, we believe WCC remains well-positioned to capitalize on several secular tailwinds and to leverage its significant scale advantage to take market share and improve margins.”
Overall WCC ranks 9th among the most promising mid-cap stocks according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of WCC 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 time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WCC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.