Carillon Tower Advisers, an investment management company, released its “Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Small-cap stocks had mixed results in the fourth quarter, failing to match their previous quarter's rebound. The Russell 2000® Growth Index rose 1.70%, outperforming the Russell 2000® Value Index, which fell 1.07%, ending in negative territory. Small caps had a strong year in 2024, with the Russell 2000 Growth Index rising 15.14%, nearly matching the previous year’s results and outperforming the Russell 2000 Value Index, which increased by 8.04% but saw a decline on an annual basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund emphasized stocks such as Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH). Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) is a software development company that offers software-as-a-service products. The one-month return Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) was -6.23%, and its shares lost 10.99% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 24, 2025, Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) stock closed at $15.95 per share with a market capitalization of $4.809 billion.

Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund stated the following regarding Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) is a customer relationship management and information technology helpdesk software provider in the cloud. During the quarter, investors appreciated steady revenue growth from the company as well as a continued improvement in the mix of business toward larger customers. Furthermore, management also gave an early view into 2025, which suggested steady revenue growth and a strong ramp up in both margins and free cash flow generation."

A close-up picture of a software engineer typing code on a laptop.

Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 41 hedge fund portfolios held Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 32 in the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter, Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) experienced a 22% year-over-year growth in revenue, totaling $194.6 million, which exceeded earnings expectations. While we acknowledge the potential of Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) 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 Freshworks Inc. (NASDAQ:FRSH) and shared the list of best Nasdaq stocks under $20 to buy. 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.