Costco (COST): A Stand-Out Performer of ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy
ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. U.S. stocks increased during a difficult quarter for diversified portfolios due to the market leadership remaining centered around a few mega-cap firms that were thought to be the major winners in the expanding AI industry. The benchmark Russell 3000 Index returned 3.22% in the quarter. The strategy underperformed the benchmark in the second quarter and had gains in four of 10 sectors in which it was invested, on an absolute basis. Overall stock selection detracted the most, mainly stock selection in the IT, consumer discretionary, health care, industrials, and real estate sectors. Please check the top 5 holdings of the strategy, to know its best pick in 2024.
ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy highlighted stocks like Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) engages in the operation of membership warehouses. The one-month return of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) was -1.49%, and its shares gained 54.18% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 12, 2024, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) stock closed at $842.90 per share with a market capitalization of $373.687 billion.
ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy stated the following regarding Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
"Consumer staples holdings were also standouts in the quarter, such as Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), which continues to execute well and delivered better than expected earnings, helped by strong traffic driving better expense leverage. Customers also looked to be shifting toward more discretionary purchases."
A customer in a warehouse aisles, browsing the wide range of branded and private-label products.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 65 hedge fund portfolios held Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) at the end of the first quarter which was 57 in the previous quarter. The net sales of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) during the fiscal third quarter of 2024 were $57.39 billion, an increase of 9.1% year over year. While we acknowledge the potential of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) 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 Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) and shared the list of best consumer staples stocks to buy. 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.