River Road Asset Management, an investment management company released its “River Road Small Cap Value Fund” Q4 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, AMG River Road Small Cap Value Fund (Class N) returned 7.35% compared to -1.06% returns for the Russell 2000® Value Index. For the year 2024, the fund returned 14.07%, significantly outperforming Index return of 8.06%. Stocks rallied in November after a Republican victory but declined sharply following hawkish Fed comments. Shorter duration stocks, including small caps and value, lost most of their post-election gains by the end of December. Small caps lagged their large counter parts for eight consecutive years. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, River Road Small Cap Value Fund emphasized stocks such as CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW). CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) operates partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities. The one-month return of CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) was 9.96%, and its shares gained 28.64% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 28, 2025, CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) stock closed at $20.41 per share with a market capitalization of $2.181 billion.
River Road Small Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Another top contributor during the quarter was private prison owner and operator CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW), which also rallied after the victory of President Trump and the Republican party. Like GEO, CXW is also poised to play a large role in President Trump’s plan of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. We expect that as with GEO, ICE will take all available CXW detention beds for the foreseeable future. Given increased bed demand from state customers, the industry may experience a degree of pricing power not historically seen. CXW’s rally lagged GEO’s because CXW does not have any contracts for electronic monitoring. However, CXW has been investing in this capability, and we believe it makes sense for the U.S. government to diversify its providers as it is likely to significantly expand the size and scope of electronic monitoring. We trimmed the position.”
A prison guard walking down a hallway filled with inmates in a correctional facility.
CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 30 hedge fund portfolios held CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 26 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) 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.
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