Next Century Growth Investors, LLC, an investment Management Company, released its “Small Cap Strategy” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The equities market in 2024 saw mixed results in the second quarter. Small-cap indices generally posted negative results, whereas large-cap indices posted favorable results. The strategy returned (3.32)% net of fees in the quarter, compared to a (2.91)% return for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
NCG Small Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) manufactures and distributes engineered materials and optoelectronic components and devices. The one-month return of Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) was 18.69%, and its shares gained 106.54% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 29, 2024, Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) stock closed at $77.72 per share with a market capitalization of $11.914 billion.
NCG Small Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) is a market leader in engineered materials, optoelectronic components, and lasers for use across various end markets, with attractive growth opportunities in areas such as the data center and electric vehicles. COHR recently hired a new CEO with a track record of enhancing business strategy to deliver consistent revenue growth and margin expansion, and we believe he has the opportunity to do the same at COHR.”
A row of precision industrial lasers in action, cutting the most intricate of shapes.
Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 47 hedge fund portfolios held Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) at the end of the second quarter which was 50 in the previous quarter. Revenues for Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) reached $1.314 billion in the June quarter, up 9.1% from the previous year and 8.7% sequentially. While we acknowledge the potential of Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) 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 Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) and shared the list of AI stocks Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller is buying and selling. Giverny Capital Asset Management, another investment management company, sold its stake in Coherent Corp. (NYSE:COHR) during Q2 2024. 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.