Mairs & Power, an investment advisor, released the “Mairs & Power Growth Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The market enjoyed a favorable environment in the third quarter due to modest economic growth, improving inflation trends, steady profit growth, and decreasing interest rates. The fund continued its positive quarterly returns, with 19.01% year-to-date appreciation, but trailed the 22.08% YTD returns for the S&P 500 Total Return (TR) index. Additionally, the Growth Fund beat its peer group according to the Morningstar Large Blend Category, which is up 18.92% YTD. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Mairs & Power Growth Fund highlighted stocks like The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in the Q3 2024 investor letter. The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) offers manufactures and markets food and beverage products. The one-month return of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) was -9.45%, and its shares lost 8.83% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 22, 2024, The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) stock closed at $31.81 per share with a market capitalization of $38.464 billion.
Mairs & Power Growth Fund stated the following regarding The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We added The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) to the Fund in the quarter. Kraft Heinz is a leading global food company which possesses a portfolio of iconic brands, including its eponymous ketchup brand. The company has been undergoing an operational transformation focused on driving efficiency gains in supply chain, manufacturing and distribution. These efficiency gains have fueled increased investments in technology, automation, innovation and marketing, which should ultimately drive more consistent organic revenue growth and high single digit earnings per share growth. We expect above-average long-term returns, buoyed by consistent free cash flow generation, opportunistic share repurchases and an attractive 4-5% dividend yield. A modest current valuation affords an ample margin of safety.”
A closeup of an assembly line worker inspecting a newly produced jar of condiments and sauces.
The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 38 hedge fund portfolios held The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) at the end of the third quarter which was 43 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) 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 The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) and shared the list of best beverage stocks that pay dividends. 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.