Renaissance Investment Management, an investment management company, released its Q4 2024 “Large Cap Growth Strategy” investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US stocks delivered robust results in the fourth quarter with the S&P 500 reporting positive results for the fifth consecutive quarter. The stocks rose after Trump’s election due to optimism for corporate earnings growth, but December’s hawkish Fed comments dampened enthusiasm by lowering rate cut expectations for 2025. In the fourth quarter, the Russell 1000 Growth gained +7.1%, compared to a 2.4% return for the S&P 500. Large-cap stocks outperformed both mid and small-cap stocks, and Growth significantly outperformed Value. The returns were largely driven by a small group of mega-cap technology companies, as interest in AI-related stocks remains strong. Against this backdrop, the strategy outperformed the S&P 500 and underperformed the Russell 1000 Growth in the fourth quarter. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Renaissance Large Cap Growth Strategy emphasized stocks such as HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA). HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities. The one-month return of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) was 5.09%, and its shares gained 1.13% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 26, 2025, HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) stock closed at $337.29 per share with a market capitalization of $83.042 billion.
Renaissance Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
On the negative side, HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA) was our worst contributor in the quarter. Hospital stocks, in general, underperformed following the U.S. Presidential election, as hospitals benefited immensely from the decades-long growth in government money for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies which are set to expire after 2025. In addition, President-elect Trump previously indicated that government healthcare spending is an area where he wants to cut spending. At this point, we believe that the perceived risk to ACA subsidies is overblown, as the thought of 10 million people losing health insurance ahead of mid-term elections would not be politically practical. From a fundamental viewpoint, health care utilization remains strong, while inflationary costs remain stable, which suggests that HCA should continue to provide positive earnings leverage.
