Middle Coast Investing, an investment advisor firm, released its fourth-quarter investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. It was a strong quarter for the strategy which outperformed the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000. However, in full year 2024, the strategy beat the Russell 2000, the most relevant benchmark, but trailed the S&P 500, the most important benchmark. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Middle Coast Investing highlighted stocks like Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO), in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) is a US-based restaurants operator. The one-month return of Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) was -9.09%, and its shares lost 37.84% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 8, 2025, Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) stock closed at $9.20 per share with a market capitalization of $576.365 million.
Middle Coast Investing stated the following regarding Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“I wrote up Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) briefly in Q3, where I had executed a pair trade with Kura Sus (KRUS), buying Portillo’s shares and selling Kura Sushi short. That trade worked on a short-term basis, and while I unsuccessfully shorted Kura again (see below), I also decided to open a Portillo’s position.
Portillo’s is a Chicago-based restaurant chain known for its hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. The restaurants are not as standardized as your typical fast-food chain, and they are bigger. Portillo’s is beloved in Chicago, and I’ve come across Portillo’s fandom by chance several times since starting to research the stock…” (Click here to read the full text)
A customer biting into a freshly prepared char-grilled burger, with crinkle-cut French fries and a chopped salad in the background.
Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 12 hedge fund portfolios held Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) at the end of the third quarter which was 16 in the previous quarter. During the Q3, Portillo’s Inc.’s (NASDAQ:PTLO) revenues were $178.3 million reflecting an increase of 6.9% compared Q3 2023. While we acknowledge the potential of Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) 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 Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) and shared the list of best restaurant stocks to buy according to analysts. Middle Coast Investing discussed on Portillo’s Inc. (NASDAQ:PTLO) in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.