Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “SMid Cap Strategy” fourth-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The strategy outperformed the Russell 2500 Growth Index in the fourth quarter with a total return of 13.26% net-of-fess versus the benchmark return of 12.59%. The market had significant volatility throughout the quarter, as the Index experienced a decline of approximately -8% from the start of the period until October 27th. However, by year’s conclusion, stocks had rallied by over 22%. Both during the downturn and the recovery, the SMid Cap strategy was able to outperform despite the significant fluctuations in benchmark returns. For the full year 2023, the Smid Cap Composite’s return of 26.61% outperformed the benchmark’s gain of 18.93%. Strong stock selection and positive sector allocation effects were cited as the main causes of the excess returns. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Conestoga Capital Advisors SMid Cap Strategy featured stocks such as Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Dothan, Alabama, Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) is a civil infrastructure company that engages in the construction and maintenance of roadways. On February 16, 2024, Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) stock closed at $47.13 per share. One-month return of Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) was 10.74%, and its shares gained 61.13% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion.
Conestoga Capital Advisors SMid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD): ROAD was a leader for the third straight quarter as the company continued to execute well in a strong demand environment. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is creating significant demand for maintenance and capacity increase related road projects, which sit in ROAD’s sweet spot in the Southeast United States. ROAD’s backlog has grown for 12 consecutive quarters as the strong demand offsets any seasonal weakness. In addition, moderating input costs and converting backlog that was priced with inflation escalators has led to strong margin improvement.”
An aerial view of a bridge under construction with workers continuing their work despite the early morning light.
Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) was held by 16 hedge fund portfolios, up from 14 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD) in another article and shared Conestoga Capital Advisors’ views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 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.
