Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. At its September meeting, the Federal Reserve lowered the Federal Funds rate by 50 basis points due to weaker employment growth and moderate inflation. Equity markets welcomed the news, raising optimism for a soft landing in the U.S. economy. On September 26th, the S&P 500 Index achieved a record high, the Russell 2000 Index also moved higher over the quarter but remains roughly 10% below its all-time high. The Conestoga Small Cap Composite surged 10.09% (net) in the third quarter outperforming the Russell 2000 Growth Index’s 8.41% return. The Conestoga SMid Cap Composite returned 12.94% (net) versus the Russell 2500 Growth Index’s 6.99% return. The Conestoga Micro Cap Composite advanced 7.60% (net) but trailed the Russell Microcap Growth Index’s return of 8.57%. Finally, the Conestoga Mid Cap Composite returned 8.36% (net) outperforming the Russell Midcap Growth Index’s 6.54%. Please check the top 5 holdings of the fund for a better understanding of their best picks for 2024.

Conestoga Capital Advisors highlighted stocks like Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) designs and develops software, and technology enabled products and solutions. The one-month return of Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) was 0.68%, and its shares gained 14.73% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 22, 2024, Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) stock closed at $552.10 per share with a market capitalization of $59.185 billion.

Conestoga Capital Advisors stated the following regarding Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

"Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) operates a collection of market-leading vertical software franchises and industrial technology businesses. The company reported an uncharacteristic miss in revenue, the first in nearly three years. Its smart meter business, Neptune, faced operational issues during the quarter (since corrected), leading to delayed revenue. Looking ahead, the highly acquisitive company is seeing an attractive pipeline of M&A targets that should see more reasonable valuations in the coming months, a key source of earnings growth."

A software engineer hunched over a laptop writing code, embodying the companies technical expertise.

Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 38 hedge fund portfolios held Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) at the end of the second quarter which was 43 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Roper Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROP) 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.