Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its “Madison Sustainable Equity Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. All equity classes experienced good results in the third quarter. During the quarter, equity markets ended on a high note, with the S&P 500 achieving a 5.89% increase, bringing the full-year performance to 22.08%. The Value outperformed growth and the market broadened outside the mega-cap tech stocks during the quarter. Against this backdrop, Madison Sustainable Equity Fund (Class Y) outperformed the S&P 500 in the quarter. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Madison Sustainable Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is an American multinational company that designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories. The one-month return of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was -3.32%, and its shares gained 19.61% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 18, 2024, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock closed at $228.02 per share with a market capitalization of $3.447 trillion.
Madison Sustainable Equity Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Alphabet Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Qualcomm Incorporated, Microsoft Corporation, and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) were the largest detractors. Apple has been volatile in the last quarter but ended on strength. Early in the quarter, Apple benefited from the introduction of their AI strategy, Apple Intelligence. They followed in September with the new iPhone 16, which also created some excitement. We are underweight to Apple, which has resulted in a headwind for performance.”
A busy sidewalk filled with people using Apple devices like iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in 9th position on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 158 hedge fund portfolios held Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of the third quarter which was 184 in the previous quarter. In the September quarter Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) delivered $94.9 billion in revenues, up 6% from a year ago. While we acknowledge the potential of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) 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.