Hotchkis & Wiley Funds, an investment management company, released its “Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the third quarter of 2024, the Russell Midcap Index produced a strong +9.2% return. Over the course of the quarter, the Russell Midcap Value Index beat the Russell Midcap Growth Index by +10.1% vs +6.5%. Macroeconomic factors significantly influenced market performance during the quarter. The fund returned 6.03% in the quarter, underperforming the 10.08% returns for the Russell Midcap Value Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund highlighted stocks like F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions. The one-month return of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) was 1.70%, and its shares gained 42.15% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 24, 2024, F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) stock closed at $256.20 per share with a market capitalization of $15.038 billion.
Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) sells application networking and security software, as well as data center appliances. The company’s stock price rebounded sharply in Q3 after reporting a growing pipeline and better close rates in subscription software sales. F5 has no debt, trades at an attractive valuation, and is benefiting from an improving gross margin and lower operating expenses.”
A network engineer gazing intently at computer monitors, surrounded by servers and storage systems.
F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 31 hedge fund portfolios held F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) at the end of the third quarter which was 25 in the previous quarter. F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) reported a record fiscal fourth quarter including $747 million in revenues, which is up 6% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) 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 F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) and shared the list of most undervalued cybersecurity stocks to buy according to hedge funds. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.