TimesSquare Capital Management, an equity investment management company, released its “U.S. Small Cap Growth Strategy” second-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the quarter the fund returned -1.59% (gross) and -1.83% (net), compared to a -2.92% return for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. The equity markets performed well in the second quarter, as long as one held only a handful of the biggest, fastest-growing U.S. stocks. Despite profitability turning positive this quarter following negative or neutral results in previous quarters, momentum remained the most important component in the worldwide market. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

TimesSquare Capital Management U.S. Small Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company. The one-month return of Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) was -6.46%, and its shares gained 103.16% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 17, 2024, Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) stock closed at $50.10 per share with a market capitalization of $3.417 billion.

TimesSquare Capital Management U.S. Small Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

"Our preferences among Health Care stocks are those companies providing novel therapies for unmet needs that deserve premium pricing, or specialized service providers. A new addition this quarter is Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS), a clinical-stage immune-oncology biotechnology company. Their pipeline consists of several programs targeting solid tumors with various bispecific antibodies."

A scientist looking through a microscope conducting research in an immuno-oncology lab.

Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 54 hedge fund portfolios held Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) at the end of the second quarter which was 43 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) 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 Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) and shared the list of worst cancer stocks to buy according to short sellers. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.