Aperture Discover Equity - Q4 2024 Manager Commentary
In Short
Aperture Discover Equity Fund: Commentary for Q4 2024
Quarter in review
The Fund exhibited a healthy breadth of performance across positions in the fourth quarter, with nine positions producing a double-digit percentage return, outperforming the Russell 2000 which remained flat. Our 30% exposure to the Technology sector proved particularly productive with especially strong contributors in software and cybersecurity as tech rallied late in the year. The Industrials and Consumer sectors performed largely in line with the benchmark during the fourth quarter. Conversely, Healthcare, Real Estate, Energy, and Utilities—sectors which we do not focus on and have limited exposure to—declined in Q4, further supporting our strong relative performance for the period.
Looking at the 2024 performance year, the Consumer Discretionary sector was our largest contributor, as our pivot to secular growth opportunities across restaurants, retail, and internet over the past 18 months proved particularly additive. Consumer Discretionary was amongst the weakest sectors in the Russell 2000 in 2024, but growth outperformed value by a dramatic amount, and our exposure to the sector generated considerable contribution to return. The Fund’s technology exposure was also productive, solidly outperforming from a total return perspective. For the year, Technology, Industrials, and Financials were the three best sectors in the Russell 2000. While we did have healthy exposure to Technology, our broad outperformance comprised of strong contributions across sectors once again illustrates that our concentrated portfolio focused on a dynamic set of companies can outperform regardless of sector biases.
