Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “Small Cap Strategy” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The second quarter of 2024 may be regarded as a time of moderation. Economic indicators largely reflected slowing growth and easing inflation. Equity markets are also driven by the moderation theme. Large-cap stocks, as measured by the S&P 500, rose 3.9% in the second quarter, however, small-cap stocks lagged again, with the Russell 2000 Index declining -3.3% and the Russell 2000 Growth Index declining -2.9%. Conestoga Small Cap Composite fell -5.59% in the second quarter compared to -2.92% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. Stock selection was the major reason for the underperformance of the portfolio relative to the index. Please check the top 5 holdings of the fund for a better understanding of their best picks for 2024.
Conestoga Capital Advisors highlighted stocks like Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) human capital management (HCM) solutions. The one-month return of Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) was 9.94%, and its shares lost 36.88% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 15, 2024, Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) stock closed at $13.83 per share with a market capitalization of $2.465 billion.
Conestoga Capital Advisors stated the following regarding Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR): PYCR faced challenges this quarter, stemming from a now-reversed sales force restructuring and lowered guidance due to pressure on existing customer seat usage. Despite these setbacks, the demand for modern payroll and HR solutions has remained solid, driven by increasingly complex workforce requirements. PYCR maintains a competitive edge in the market, and sales are poised to rebound in coming quarters as their sales force gains productivity. With a robust pipeline of growth opportunities and the underlying business need unchanged, Paycor is well-positioned to capitalize on the evolving HR technology landscape.”
A close-up of a server running a cloud-native platform, symbolizing the power of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business area.
Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 13 hedge fund portfolios held Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) at the end of the first quarter which was 7 in the previous quarter. Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) delivered $165 million in total revenues in the quarter, an increase of 18% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) 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 Paycor HCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYCR) and shared Conestoga Capital Advisors views on the company in the previous quarter. 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.
