Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Value Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. US Treasury yields saw a significant decline towards the end of 2023, which led to a massive surge in the last two months of the year for US stocks. The fund’s Investor Class ARTLX, Advisor Class APDLX, and Institutional Class APHLX returned 9.75%, 9.75%, and 9.79% respectively, in the quarter compared to a 9.50% return for the Russell 1000 Value Index. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the strategy to know its best picks in 2023.
Artisan Value Fund featured stocks like Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) is a discount retailer. On March 13, 2024, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) stock closed at $158.17 per share. One-month return of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) was 17.13%, and its shares lost 25.42% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) has a market capitalization of $34.718 billion.
Artisan Value Fund stated the following regarding Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Our biggest full-year detractors included energy holdings Schlumberger and EOG and 2023 purchases Baxter International and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG). Dollar General, a discount retail chain in the US, has dealt with a few struggles. The retailer had previously benefited from COVID stimulus checks, reflected in the bump it experienced in revenues and margins. However, the effects have worn off, and its core consumer has been hurt by inflation, stiffer economic conditions, lower tax refunds and reduced SNAP benefits. Margins are also under pressure due to labor costs, shrink and markdowns. Some of the issues are likely self-inflicted. After years of focusing on store growth to drive the top line, store standards have suffered. Addressing store standards is needed to turn around flagging traffic, comps and customer satisfaction. On the positive side, discount retail due to its trade-down feature tends to be a defensive business during economic slowdowns. Dollar General has a strong market position and faces less competition than other discounters due to its largely rural footprint. The business’s value proposition is everyday low prices, a convenient format and proximity. The company has leverage due to capital expenditures, but interest coverage of ~9X is strong. From a valuation perspective, the froth from the pandemic, when it traded in the low- to mid-twenties, is gone. So, we aren’t paying for margin upside or store growth. Those would be bonuses. If the company can continue to grow revenues, generate cash flow and buy back stock, we still see a path to success.”
A shopper browsing through a discount retailers merchandise aisle filled with a wide variety of items.
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) was held by 47 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 38 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) in another article and shared the list of best department store stocks to buy. 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.
