Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “Mid-Cap Strategy” first-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. It was a solid quarter as many asset classes moved higher. The S&P Index, which tracks the performance of large-cap stocks, reached an all-time high on March 28th, and the Russell 2000 Index, which tracks the performance of small-cap stocks, appreciated to within 10% of their peak levels. The Mid Cap Composite rose 5.44% net of fees in the first quarter, compared to a 9.50% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. Stock selection was the leading performance detractor in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Conestoga Capital Advisors Mid-Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT), with a market capitalization of $46.547 billion, is a global provider of cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions. One-month return of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was -4.84%, and its shares gained 9.29% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 23, 2024, Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) stock closed at $60.93 per share.
Conestoga Capital Advisors Mid-Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT): FTNT is the worldwide market share leader in network security firewalls (by units). During the quarter, FTNT reported a significant beat in billings, showing early gains from the strategic pivot to non-firewall solutions (SASE, SecOps) announced late last year. This follows two consecutive disappointing quarters, and the stock has nearly recovered to 2023 highs. While FTNT is still digesting a pull forward of product-led growth, the recovery appears to be on the right track and should drive higher than expected margins in 2024.”
A close-up of a user authenticating into a secure network using a two-factor authentication process.
In the first quarter Fortinet, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FTNT) operating margin increased to a record of 28.5% and total revenue increased 7% to 1.35 billion. Fortinet, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FTNT) trailing 12-month revenue is 5.4 billion.
Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 44 hedge fund portfolios held Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) at the end of the first quarter which was 42 in the previous quarter.
In another article, we discussed Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) and shared the list of best artificial intelligence stocks to buy according to Wall Street analysts. Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was a bottom contributor of Conestoga Capital Advisors in the previous quarter. 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.
