Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Global Fund” fourth-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In 2024, global markets surpassed expectations, driven by U.S. tech companies and AI-themed stocks. However, Eurozone challenges, uncertainty over interest rates, and a strengthening U.S. dollar impacted MSCI ACWI and EAFE Indices. Against this backdrop, the Ariel Global fund traded -3.66% lower compared to the -0.99% return of its primary benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Index, and -4.71% return of its secondary benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Value Index. The fund returned +7.14% over the trailing one-year period compared to +17.49% and +10.76% returns for the indexes. Ariel follows a non-consensus approach to identify undervalued, out-of-favor franchises that are misunderstood and mispriced. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Ariel Global Fund emphasized stocks such as JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD). Based in the People's Republic of China, JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) is a supply chain-based technology and service provider. The one-month return of JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) was -2.24%, and its shares gained 87.69% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 3, 2025, JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) stock closed at $40.24 per share with a market capitalization of $63.199 billion.

Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"China-based E-commerce company, JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) also detracted from performance over the quarter. The stock came under pressure as some investors took profits on solid earnings performance, while others became concerned with the implications tariffs could have on the Chinese economy. In our view, this share price action runs counter to the company's solid business fundamentals. The home appliance trade-in program and popular shopping event, Singles' Day, generated significant consumer spending across various product categories. Additionally, the company’s strategic decision to diversify general merchandise product offerings, expand its third-party marketplace business and monetize advertising streams continues to aid the top- and bottom-lines. Despite the near-term noise, we continue to view the company’s strategic positioning favorably and like JD.com’s long-term growth prospects."

JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 78 hedge fund portfolios held JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 75 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) 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 JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) and shared the list of retail stocks are skyrocketing so far in 2025. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.