GreensKeeper Asset Management, an investment management company, released its fourth quarter investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Value Fund finished 2024 +23.6% net of fees and expenses, which is slightly above the S&P/TSX +21.7% return, broadly in line with the DJIA +24.8% and trailing the S&P500 +35.7%. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, GreensKeeper Asset Management emphasized stocks such as The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY). The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) is a confectionery products and pantry items manufacturer and distributer. The one-month return of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) was 3.52%, and its shares lost 17.21% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On February 13, 2025, The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) stock closed at $160.81 per share with a market capitalization of $32.541 billion.

GreensKeeper Asset Management stated the following regarding The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"Another laggard for the year was The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) -12%. We purchased HSY in May after the stock came under pressure due to a historic rise in cocoa prices. Cocoa futures surged nearly 300% earlier this year as poor weather conditions and disease outbreaks in West Africa led to significantly reduced harvests. Commodity prices typically revert to the mean over time as farmers respond to high prices by increasing supply. However, increased regulations in Europe and Africa have left farmers hesitant to plant additional cocoa trees, keeping prices elevated. While the supply shock is lasting longer than we initially anticipated, we believe HSY will weather the storm better than competitors who face the same rise in input costs. Putting a stronger emphasis on products with lower cocoa inputs (e.g., Reese’s, Dot’s, Twizzlers) and raising prices are a few levers the company can pull. HSY leads the US chocolate aisle with a 36% market share and has been consistently gaining share over the past decade. With a pristine balance sheet and a strong management team, we believe HSY will maintain its leadership position as it waits for supply costs to normalize."

A close-up of hands deftly moulding a bar of chocolate.

The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 33 hedge fund portfolios held The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) at the end of the third quarter which was 39 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) 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 The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) and shared the list of stocks Jim Cramer discussed during the episode of Mad Money aired on January 24. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.