ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, released its first-quarter 2024 “Mid Cap Strategy” investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Large-cap AI beneficiaries led markets in the first quarter, with the Russell 1000 Index returning 10.30%. Meanwhile, midcaps saw a boost from a wider market, with the Russell Midcap Index gaining 8.60%. The Strategy underperformed its Russell Midcap Index benchmark in the first quarter. The strategy gained across nine of the 11 sectors in which it was invested, on an absolute basis. Industrials and financials sectors were the leading contributors while consumer discretionary and IT sectors detracted. Overall stock selection and sector allocation effects detracted from performance on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) offers insurance, reinsurance, and mortgage insurance products. One-month return of Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) was -1.57% and its shares gained 34.96% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 27, 2024, Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) stock closed at $101.02 per share with a market capitalization of $37.932 billion,
ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Financials were the leading contributor to relative performance during the quarter, despite our being significantly underweight relative to the benchmark. Much of the gains were driven by our insurance holdings Hartford Financial Services and Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL), which have benefited from a harder insurance market and increased pricing power. The increase has come with a commensurate increase in earnings and its multiple, reflecting investor appreciation of businesses we have thought undervalued for quite some time. We believe the trajectory of these insurance companies is a strong one and that continued pricing power should help propel their stock prices higher in the face of interest rate cuts and market volatility.”
A close-up image of an insurance policy with hands standing firmly on top, conveying security.
Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) at the end of the first quarter which was 40 in the previous quarter. Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) reported $736 million in underwriting income in the first quarter and a 5.2% increase in book value per share. While we acknowledge the potential of Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) 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.
We discussed Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) in another article and shared the list of best halal stocks to buy (debt free). In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.
