RiverPark Advisors, an investment advisory firm and sponsor of the RiverPark family of mutual funds, released its “RiverPark Large Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. During the fourth quarter, the markets continued its strong rally with the Russell 1000 Growth Index (RLG) and the S&P 500 index returning 7.1% and 2.4% respectively and RPX returning 5.11%. In 2024, the S&P 500 index and the RLG returned 25.0% and 33.4%, respectively. RPX returned 22.6%. The solid performance of the U.S. stock market in the fourth quarter of 2024 was supported by a rising investor sentiment and solid fundamentals. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, RiverPark Large Growth Fund emphasized stocks such as NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) designs, develops, and markets athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories. The one-month return of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was 10.78%, and its shares lost 22.25% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 7, 2025, NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) stock closed at $78.59 per share with a market capitalization of $116.245 billion.

RiverPark Large Growth Fund stated the following regarding NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE): NKE shares were a top detractor in the quarter following better than expected fiscal second quarter results reported in December but worse than feared third quarter guidance. The company delivered $13.4 billion of revenue (roughly $1 billion better than expectations) and $1.9 billion of EBIT (roughly $500 million ahead of street consensus) and generated better than expected earnings of $1.03 (investors were looking for $0.78). Despite better operating metrics last quarter, the company dramatically lowered expectations for the fiscal third quarter including expectations for double-digit percentage declines in revenue. NKE’s new CEO, Elliot Hill, described several key issues negatively impacting the company’s growth trajectory including 1) a multi-year move away from a focus on sports, 2) a shift away from innovative demand creating marketing, 3) too much centralization, which has led to lack of execution capabilities in local markets, and 4) too much focus on Nike Digital, which negatively impacted the brands standing in the marketplace.

Nike is, by far, the leading athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment company in the world with over $50 billion in revenue, $6.7 billion in FY2024 annual free cash flow, and $10 billion of excess cash. We believe that over the long term, the global secular growth trend towards active wear will continue to aid Nike’s top-line growth driving gross and operating margin improvements and long-term mid-teens or higher annual EPS growth. In the short term, we believe that the company will work through the above headwinds and that revenue and earnings growth will reaccelerate in the next 12 months."

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 73 hedge fund portfolios held NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 75 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) 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 NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) and shared the list of best apparel stocks to invest in. 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.