Adient PLC (ADNT) Slid on Lower-than-Expected Sales Guidance

Hotchkis & Wiley, an investment management company, released its “Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund returned -2.39% in the fourth quarter, underperforming the Russell Midcap Value Index’s -1.75% return. The portfolio underperformed the index over calendar year 2024. As in the previous year, value stocks lagged behind their growth counterparts for 2024. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2024, please check its top five holdings.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund emphasized stocks such as Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT). Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) is a manufacturer of seating systems and components. The one-month return of Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) was -13.09%, and its shares lost 59.87% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 28, 2025, Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) stock closed at $12.81 per share with a market capitalization of $1.08 billion.

Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT), domiciled in England (with corporate offices in Plymouth, MI; Milwaukee, WI; Burscheid, Germany; and Shanghai, China), is one of the world’s largest suppliers of seating systems and a leading components supplier for automotive interiors. The company’s shares came under pressure in the quarter following the most recent quarter’s earnings report, which pointed to lower-than-expected sales guidance. We believe Adient is an attractive company with a leading global position in automotive seating, a market segment that fairs well as the auto industry incorporates more advanced technologies. Adient’s business is highly defensible, due to long product cycles, its global just-in-time infrastructure, and well-established customer relationships.”

A carpenter assembling an automotive seating system, using components, frames and mechanisms.

Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 25 hedge fund portfolios held Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 17 in the third quarter. In the fiscal first quarter of 2025, Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) reported consolidated net sales of approximately $3.5 billion compared to $3.7 billion in the prior year’s quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) 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.

We covered Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) in another article, where we shared Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.