Diamond Hill Capital, an investment management company, released its “Small Cap Fund” third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In Q3, markets contributed to strong year-to-date gains, though not without some volatility. As shown by the Russell 2000 Index, small-cap equities increased by 9%, while the broad market Russell 3000 Index increased by slightly more than 6%. Against this backdrop, the strategy trailed the index and returned 8.43% in the quarter compared to 9.27% for the Russell 2000 Index. For more information on the fund’s top picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.

Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) is a physician-centric technology-powered healthcare management company. The one-month return of Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) was -8.73%, and its shares gained 76.61% of their value over the last 52 weeks.  On October 30, 2024, Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) stock closed at $55.61 per share with a market capitalization of $2.477 billion.

Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

"Other top Q3 contributors included Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) and FTAI Aviation. Astrana Health is a health care management company providing medical care services in the US. It announced an acquisition and several new partnerships in Q3, which we anticipate will create new growth opportunities and allow the company to scale more rapidly."

A healthcare professional wearing a health communications device discussing patient data with a colleague.

Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 12 hedge fund portfolios held Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) at the end of the second quarter which was 10 in the previous quarter. Astrana Health, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ASTH) second quarter revenue was $486.3 million, representing a 49% increase compared to Q2 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) 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 Astrana Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTH) and shared Diamond Hill Small Cap 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.