Diamond Hill Capital, an investment management company, released its “Long-Short Fund” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The portfolio achieved positive returns in Q2 but trailed the Russell 1000 Index and the blended benchmark (60% Russell 1000 Index/40% Bloomberg US Treasury Bills 1-3 Month Index). The short positions didn’t perform as well as the index, giving a relative tailwind to the performance. The long positions in industrials, materials, and real estate holdings contributed to relative strength. In addition, you may look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to learn about its best picks in 2024.

Diamond Hill Long-Short Fund highlighted stocks like WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) develops and distributes maintenance products, and homecare and cleaning products. The one-month return of WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) was -0.62%, and its shares gained 27.36% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 24, 2024, WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) stock closed at $255.38 per share with a market capitalization of $3.46 billion.

Diamond Hill Long-Short Fund stated the following regarding WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

"Other top contributors included our short positions in WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) and Alarm.com. Shares of WD-40, which develops and sells homecare, cleaning and maintenance products, declined as the company’s quarterly earnings seemingly disappointed investors — whose expectations (and the stock’s corresponding valuation) have exceeded what we believed were reasonable."

A colour palette showcasing the range of aerosol and trigger sprays in an organised display.

WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 22 hedge fund portfolios held WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) at the end of the second quarter which was 24 in the previous quarter. In the fiscal third quarter WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) generated sales of $155 million, representing a 9% year-over-year increase. While we acknowledge the potential of WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) 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 WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) and shared the list of stocks executives and directors are buying. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.