Wedgewood Partners, an investment management company, released its third-quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the third quarter, Wedgewood Composite’s net return was 5.8% compared to the Standard & Poor’s 5.9%, the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 3.2%, and the Russell 1000 Value Index’s 9.4% return for the same period. Year to date, the composite returned 22.4% compared to the 22.1%, 24.6%, and 16.7% returns for the indexes, respectively. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Wedgewood Partners highlighted stocks like Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) offers products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring. The one-month return of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) was 7.36%, and its shares gained 12.47% of their value over the last 52 weeks.  On October 23, 2024, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) stock closed at $70.61 per share with a market capitalization of $42.535 billion.

Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

"Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) detracted from performance as growth in the Company's flagship transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) franchise slowed. Recent growth rates in Edwards’ TAVR segment have not been as steady as compared to the Company's past growth rates, particularly when TAVR was first emerging. Although the TAVR market is maturing, it is still far from saturated, with upcoming clinical trial results serving as important drivers towards accelerating this core franchise into the larger populations of asymptomatic structural heart disease. We are comfortable owning businesses that report growth that is not perfectly linear in the short-term, as long as the business maintains its competitive advantage and has good prospects for future double-digit earnings growth. We added to positions after the recent sell-off in shares as Edwards' forward earnings multiples fell to historical and relatively low levels because we think it is too pessimistic given its solid competitive positioning and pure-play focus on minimally invasive structural heart conditions."

A skilled surgeon surrounded by a team of medical professionals performing a Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement.

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 47 hedge fund portfolios held Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) at the end of the second quarter which was 47 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) 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.