Amazon (AMZN) Landed in ClearBridge Investment’s Detractors List

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Large Cap Growth ESG Strategy” second quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Dividend Strategy outperformed its S&P 500 Index benchmark during the second quarter. On an absolute basis, the Strategy had gains in one of the 11 sectors in which it was invested for the quarter: the health care sector. The IT, financials and materials sectors, meanwhile, were the main detractors. Go over the fund’s top 5 positions to have a glimpse of its finest picks for 2022.

In its Q2 2022 investor letter, ClearBridge Large Cap Growth ESG Strategy mentioned Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1994, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is a Seattle, Washington-based multinational technology company with a $1.4 trillion market capitalization. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) delivered a -14.48% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -15.54%. The stock closed at $142.57 per share on August 04, 2022.

Here is what ClearBridge Large Cap Growth ESG Strategy has to say about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was a primary detractor due to a disappointing outlook for profitability in its retail business. Following a surge of e-commerce demand in 2020 and 2021, the company has now overbuilt fulfillment infrastructure as e-commerce demand has moderated. While we believe current profitability levels are suboptimal, Amazon.com is working rapidly to rectify overcapacity issues and we believe the retail business has a robust long-term profitability outlook. We also believe Amazon is well-positioned to emerge stronger from this difficult operating environment of higher costs. There is a visible path to margin expansion driven by a positive mix shift as the more profitable businesses of third-party sellers, cloud, and advertising become the largest contributors.”

Our calculations show that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) ranks 1st on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was in 271 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 279 funds in the previous quarter. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) delivered a 22.48% return in the past 3 months.

In July 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q2 page.

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