ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge SMID Cap Growth Strategy” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Strategy underperformed its Russell 2500 Growth Index benchmark in the quarter. Although there were strong contributions from a few companies across different sectors, the underperformance relative to the benchmark was minimal during the second quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

ClearBridge SMID Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) offers software and payment processing solutions. The one-month return of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) was 3.47%, and its shares gained 55.28% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 26, 2024, Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) stock closed at $85.98 per share with a market capitalization of $7.617 billion.

ClearBridge SMID Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

"Stock selection in the financials sector provided a positive offset. Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR), a software and payment processing solutions company, also saw positive returns during the period, with management increasing the top end of their full-year guidance for end-to-end payments volume."

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Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 33 hedge fund portfolios held Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) at the end of the second quarter which was 38 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) 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 Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) and shared Carillon Scout Mid Cap Fund's views on the company. 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.