Heartland Advisors, an investment management firm, published its “Heartland Value Fund” fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be seen here. The fund continues to focus its relentless research on identifying and owning companies that are poised to succeed against a variety of backdrops or those that are priced at significant discounts to peers regardless of the sector. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.
Heartland Value Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Perrigo Company plc (NASDAQ: PRGO) and discussed its stance on the firm. Perrigo Company plc is a Dublin, Ireland-based pharmaceutical company with a $5.0 billion market capitalization. PRGO delivered a -2.54% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -11.22%. The stock closed at $37.91 per share on January 27, 2022.
Here is what Heartland Value Fund has to say about Perrigo Company plc in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“Shares of many Health Care companies were down as the continuing threat of COVID-19 dampened demand for elective medical procedures and health care providers struggled to maintain adequate staffing in the face of burnout and resistance to vaccine mandates. The Fund’s holdings performed in line on a relative basis but detracted from absolute results.
Instead of trading on every new wrinkle in the ongoing pandemic, we’ve taken the long view by focusing on owning businesses that we believe are well positioned to drive consistent growth when the shadow of COVID-19 fades.
Perrigo Company PLC (PRGO), a pharmaceutical business and leading maker of private-label over-the-counter products, is one such opportunity. While the company is lumped in with more volatile pharma companies, we view it as a consumer-packaged goods business that offers a one-of-a-kind product platform characterized by a stable, growing, and valuable cash flow stream.
A new management team with a strong track record was hired in late 2018 to rectify stumbles made by previous leadership. We’ve been pleased with the strides taken and believe recent supply chain issues and reduced demand for its cold and cough products are directly related to COVID-19 and are, therefore, temporary. With shares trading at close to stated book value and 13X next year’s estimated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), the team views Perrigo as a compelling opportunity for the quarters to come.”
Our calculations show that Perrigo Company plc (NASDAQ: PRGO) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. PRGO was in 23 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 30 funds in the previous quarter. Perrigo Company plc (NASDAQ: PRGO) delivered a -16.04% return in the past 3 months.
You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
