Optimist Fund, an investment management company, released its fourth quarter investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. 2024 proved to be another impressive year for the fund, with a return of around 67%. Since the fund's inception, it has achieved approximately 15% annualized returns, net of fees, and the firm is nearing its 3-year anniversary. The firm believes that the portfolio has significant upside over the next 5 years. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.

Optimist Fund highlighted stocks like Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) in the fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) designs and manufactures in-ground residential swimming pools. The one-month return of Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) was 10.81%, and its shares gained 165.63% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 4, 2024, Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) stock closed at $7.23 per share with a market capitalization of $835.391 million.

Optimist Fund stated the following regarding Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) – 2024 marked the bottoming out of the new pool installation market, a sentiment reinforced during Latham's Q3 earnings call, where management expressed confidence that 2024 would represent the low point for new installations. From this point forward, we anticipate growth tailwinds as the industry emerges from its deep recession and returns to a more normalized environment. This recovery sets the stage for what we believe will be five years of substantial earnings and free cash flow growth."

A luxurious pool area surrounded by lush vegetation, highlighting the customer experience of the company's products.

Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 16 hedge fund portfolios held Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) at the end of the third quarter which was 13 in the previous quarter. Net sales of Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) for the third quarter were $150.5 million compared to $160.8 million prior year, down 6.4%. While we acknowledge the potential of Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) 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 Latham Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWIM) and shared Optimist Fund's views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.