Heartland Advisors, an investment management company, released its “Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund returned 8.24% in the quarter compared to the Russell Midcap Value Index’s 10.1% return. Stock selection was positive in six of 11 sectors. The strategy outperformed the Russell Midcap Value Index over the last three and five years mostly due to security selection. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.

Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund highlighted stocks like Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Watford, the United Kingdom, Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) develops, manufactures, markets, and sells medical devices and services. The one-month return of Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) was -9.84%, and its shares gained 22.35% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 11, 2024, Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) stock closed at $28.41 per share with a market capitalization of $12.454 billion.

Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

"Health Care. Another new holding from our quality value watchlist is Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN), a leading medical device company for advanced wound care, sports medicine, and orthopedics.

A healthcare professional putting the finishing touches on a patient's knee implant in an operating theater.

Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 9 hedge fund portfolios held Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) at the end of the second quarter which was 8 in the previous quarter. The second quarter revenue of Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) was $1.4 billion, representing a 4.6% year-over year increase. While we acknowledge the potential of Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE:SNN) 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.