Mairs & Power, an investment advisor, released the “Mairs & Power Small Cap” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Non-technology equities were the market leaders in the first quarter, but mega-cap technology companies made a strong comeback in the second quarter. The market expanded again in the most recent quarter as interest-rate and economically sensitive areas like Utilities, Industrials, and small-cap stocks outperformed. Year-to-date the fund is up 8.95% slightly underperforming the 9.33% return for the S&P Small Cap 600 Total Return (TR) benchmark and the 10.90% return for its peer group, the Morningstar U.S. Fund Small Blend. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Mairs & Power Small Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) operates convenience stores under the Casey’s and Casey’s General Store names. The one-month return of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) was 7.07%, and its shares gained 52.71% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 25, 2024, Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) stock closed at $426.69 per share with a market capitalization of $15.532 billion.
Mairs & Power Small Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“The largest contributions to Fund relative performance during the period included was Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY), a convenience store operator that is gaining market share in part by leveraging data to drive market share gains and structurally higher margins in their business.”
A close-up of a hand selecting a food or beverage item from a store shelf.
Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 34 hedge fund portfolios held Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) at the end of the third quarter which was 36 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY) 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.
