Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC, an investment management company, released the “Strategic Growth Strategy” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The U.S. stock market had another successful time in the third quarter of 2024, with the S&P 500® Index growing for the fourth consecutive quarter, which hasn’t happened since Q4 2021. This year’s first three quarters have seen the best performance for the S&P 500® Index since 1997. However, it was still slightly below the remarkable start of 2023. In the third quarter, the strategy returned +5.49% net-of-fees compared to +3.19% and +5.89% returns for the Russell 1000 Growth Index and the S&P 500 Index. With interest rates that are not exceptionally high by historical standards, the market seems to be starting an easing cycle, which could encourage additional increases. Kindly check the top 5 stocks of the strategy to know its best picks in 2024.
Mar Vista Strategic Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices, with a market capitalization of $45.235 billion. The one-month return of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) was 7.44%, and its shares gained 25.76% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 2, 2024, AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) stock closed at $195.56 per share.
Mar Vista Strategic Growth Strategy stated the following regarding AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) is an acquisition and growth compounder in the multi-industrial industry. Management believes the company can achieve double-digit earnings growth over a cycle by focusing on niche markets in its 42 business units. The company competes in diverse markets and has reduced cyclicality significantly across all its business units. A result of these efforts is structurally improved organic growth and a consistent, repeatable, and successful acquisition strategy. AMETEK is a low capital intensity business with a strong merger pipeline. The declining interest rate environment should bolster its acquisition efforts.
After researching AMETEK for years, we opportunistically purchased the company after the stock declined on its second quarter earnings report. Like many industrial and materials companies, AMETEK has been victimized by inventory destocking, as well as project delays at the customer level that were expected to be contained in the first half of 2024. Management now expects these transitory trends to last through year end and improve in 2025. We believe this realistic outcome was adequately discounted in our purchase price.”
A close-up of a technician’s hands making precision adjustments to a specialty industrial machine.
AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) at the end of the third quarter which was 41 in the previous quarter. AMETEK, Inc.’s (NYSE:AME) third quarter sales were $1.71 billion, up 5% from Q3 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) 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 AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) and shared the list of best industrial machinery stocks to buy. 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.