Next Century Growth Investors, LLC, an investment Management Company, released its “Micro-Cap Strategy” first-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter of 2024, the market continued 2023 momentum. The strategy returned 6.75% (net of fees) compared to a 6.60% return for the Russell Microcap Growth Index. The strategy outperformed across most sectors but underperformed in health care.  In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Next Century Growth Investors Micro-Cap Strategy highlighted stocks like Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) is a holding company for Goosehead Financial, LLC that offers personal lines insurance agency services. The one-month return of Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) was -9.01%, and its shares lost 6.30% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 13, 2024, Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) stock closed at $57.75 per share with a market capitalization of $2.194 billion.

Next Century Growth Investors Micro-Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:

"Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) is an insurance broker primarily offering personal lines policies. The company sells policies through both corporate-owned and franchised offices. The growth strategy for GSHD is to grow written premium each year through increasing productivity from existing offices, adding new offices in unfilled territories, and maintaining best-in-class premium retention rates. Goosehead is a name we have owned in the past but sold due to the company experiencing some growing pains. We believe the company has worked through these headwinds and has a large opportunity to execute the growth strategy going forward."

An insurance broker discussing policy options with a homeowner.

Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 23 hedge fund portfolios held Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) at the end of the first quarter which was 26 in the previous quarter. Total revenues of Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) for the quarter grew to $64.5 million, an increase of 11% year over year. While we acknowledge the potential of Goosehead Insurance, Inc (NASDAQ:GSHD) 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.