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ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Small Cap Growth Strategy” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the third quarter, large cap and growth companies lost their dominance over smaller cap and value stocks. However, the strategy underperformed its benchmark in the third quarter. Underexposure to the benchmark's strengths (e.g., biotech, smaller cap, poorer quality, bond proxies) and challenges in consumer staples and discretionary names affected strategy performance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) is a financial holding company that operates through Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management segments. The one-month return of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) was -0.20%, and its shares gained 40.82% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 10, 2024, Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) stock closed at $132.36 per share with a market capitalization of $8.847 billion.
ClearBridge Mid Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
"We are encouraged by the high proportion of positive returns on new ideas added over the last five quarters of elevated new idea generation, with solid contributions to overall performance despite their representing a modest portion of the Strategy’s assets.
A smiling mother with her children accessing an ATM, demonstrating the company's easy banking services for customers.
Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 18 hedge fund portfolios held Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) at the end of the third quarter which was 19 in the previous quarter. Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) announced a net income of just over $170 million for the third quarter, and a record net income of slightly less than $510 million for the first three quarters of the year. While we acknowledge the potential of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) 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.