Ariel Investments, an investment management company, has released its Ariel Small Cap Value Strategy 1Q24 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter of 2024, US indexes continued to outperform expectations. The rally was supported by excitement around artificial intelligence (AI), robust corporate earnings growth, lower inflation, and hopes of interest rate cuts. Against this backdrop, the Ariel Small Cap Value Tax-Free Composite rose +3.97% before fees (+3.71% after fees), outperforming the Russell 2000 Value Index’s +2.90% return but falling short of the higher-growth Russell 2000 Index’s +5.18% gain. Additionally, you can check out the fund’s top five holdings to learn about our best picks for 2024.
Ariel Small Cap Value Strategy covered stocks such as Lazard Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in its Q1 2024 investor letter. Lazard Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) is a financial advisory and asset management company. Lazard Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) has a one-month return of 1.05% and the company’s shares have risen 28.46% over the past 52 weeks. On June 5, 2024, Lazard Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) shares closed at $39.36 per share, with a market capitalization of $3.55 billion.
In its Q1 2024 investor letter, Ariel Small Cap Value Strategy said the following about Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ):
“Financial Advisory and Asset Management, Lazard Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) also rose during the period following strong revenue and earnings results, including momentum in the advisory business, improving fundraising markets, and signs of progress on previously stated cost-reduction initiatives. In the near term, management reiterated cautiously optimistic long-term guidance for its mergers and acquisitions division given the improving macroeconomic outlook, although LAZ expects geopolitical uncertainty to remain a headwind. Notably, the company aims to double overall firmwide revenue through double-digit annual revenue growth by 2030. At current levels, we believe LAZ represents a healthy discount to our private market value estimate.
Close-up of a graph on a touch screen showing the latest investment trends.
Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) is not included in our list of the 31 most popular stocks among hedge funds. According to our database, 23 hedge funds had Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) in their portfolios at the end of the first quarter, up from 12 in the previous quarter. Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) posted record first quarter adjusted net revenues of $747 million, up 42% year over year. The increase was primarily driven by the company’s financial advisory business. While we see potential in Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) as an investment, we remain convinced that AI stocks can deliver higher returns and in a shorter time frame. If you’re looking for AI stocks that are as promising as NVIDIA but trade for less than 5x its revenues, check out our report. Cheapest AI Stocks.
In a separate article, we covered Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) as one of Morgan Stanley’s top stock picks for 2024. Additionally, you can check out our Hedge Fund Investor Letters Q1 2024 page for investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
Read next: Michael Burry is selling these shares. and A new dawn dawns for US stocks.
Disclosures: None. This article was originally published on Insider Monkey.
