Merion Road Capital Management, an investment advisor, released its second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, Merion Road Small Cap Fund returned 0.6% compared to (3.3%) for the Russell 2000 Index. The long-only portfolio of Merion Road rose +1.5% during the quarter compared to a 4.4% 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.
Merion Road Capital Management highlighted stocks like Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) manufactures and sells industrial protective clothing and accessories. The one-month return of Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) was 0.70%, and its shares gained 51.87% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 17, 2024, Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) stock closed at $23.16 per share with a market capitalization of $171.288 million.
Merion Road Capital Management stated the following regarding Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Fortunately, there were several exciting opportunities that came across my radar during the quarter. One of which was Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE). LAKE makes protective clothing for personal and industrial uses. Whenever there is a health scare, revenues get a boost and the price spikes off of the potential for windfall earnings; as you may have guessed, they were a Covid darling with the stock moving up 400%+ at one point. Conceptually, they are known to be a trading security and not a real holding for long-term investors.
This all changed over the past year. The company replaced its entire C-suite and redirected its strategic focus to its nascent fire services division, which provides protective gear to fire departments. The firefighter turnout gear industry is $1.8bn globally and is led by market leader MSA Safety. The industry is estimated to grow 5% over the next several years and benefits from being non-discretionary in nature as it serves the safety needs of public workers. After MSA there are a host of smaller companies that provide a ripe field for acquisitions…” (Click here to read the full text)
A woman working on a sewing machine, producing a lab coat.
Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 6 hedge fund portfolios held Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) at the end of the first quarter which was 6 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) generated net sales of $36.3 million compared to $28.7 million in the previous years. While we acknowledge the potential of Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAKE) 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 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.
