Tsai Capital, an investment management company, released its fourth quarter investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Tsai Capital celebrated 25 years track record in 2024. Tsai Capital Growth Equity Strategy gained 23.0% after fees, and 24.5% before fees in 2024 compared with a total return of 25.0% for the S&P 500 Index. The strategy gained 604.5% cumulatively after fees, and 886.4% before fees since its inception 25 years ago compared to 526.7% total return for the S&P 500 Index. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
Tsai Capital highlighted stocks like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is an American multinational company that designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories. The one-month return of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was -1.84%, and its shares gained 28.10% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 29, 2024, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock closed at $239.36 per share with a market capitalization of $3.599 trillion.
Tsai Capital stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We initiated our investment in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in 2016 and elevated it to a core holding in 2018, the same year the company introduced its redesigned 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. Under Tim Cook’s visionary leadership, Apple has consistently redefined innovation in hardware and software.
The September 2024 launch of the iPhone 16, with its groundbreaking AI capabilities, including enhanced image generation tools, marks another inflection point. We believe this transformative device is the foundation for an AI-driven supercycle and could entice approximately 100 million consumers to upgrade, reinforcing Apple’s leadership in the industry.
Today, Apple’s ecosystem spans over two billion active devices, supported by a rapidly-growing base of subscription services. This strategy has helped to turbocharge customer engagement and spending. In the most recent fiscal year, which ended in September 2024, Apple’s high-margin services division accounted for 39.3% of total gross profits, up from 32.8% just two years ago.
Apple’s financial footing remains exceptional, with approximately $50 billion in net cash and marketable securities. Looking ahead, we expect earnings-per-share growth to outpace revenue growth, driven by margin expansion and continued share buybacks.”
An Apple store displaying the latest in consumer electronics, from smartphones to wearables.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in 8th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 158 hedge fund portfolios held Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of the third quarter which was 184 in the previous quarter. In the September quarter Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) delivered $94.9 billion in revenues, up 6% from a year ago. While we acknowledge the potential of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) 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 Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and shared the list of AI superstar stocks according to Goldman Sachs. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.