Heartland Advisors, an investment management firm, published its “Heartland Value Fund” second-quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ever-popular NASDAQ Composite was hit hard, dropping -30% year to date, while the S&P 500 Index fell by -20%. Many unprofitable companies, once valued in the billions, have plummeted -50%, -75%, or more, from their recent highs. Small value stocks were not spared but held up better, with the Russell 2000 Value Index off -17.3% and the Heartland Small Cap Value Strategy down -14.2% year to date. Go over the fund’s top 5 positions to have a glimpse of its finest picks for 2022.
In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Heartland Value Fund mentioned SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1973, SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) is a Brampton, Canada-based multinational food and mineral company with a $907.0 million market capitalization. SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) delivered a 21.29% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -19.33%. The stock closed at $8.43 per share on July 26, 2022.
Here is what Heartland Value Fund has to say about SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) is a plant-based food and beverage company with its primary product being plant-based milks of various types (almond, oat, soy, etc.). Heartland believes STKL is a highly attractive franchise due to its strong secular growth, excellent management team, and its upcoming, near-term deployment of significant capacity additions that have yet to be reflected in the company’s economics. Normally, investors would have to pay dearly for these characteristics, but due to the aforementioned inflation concerns along with industry-wide supply chain issues, we were able to purchase shares at metrics that fit our criteria. We viewed these issues as transitory. Q1 started to affirm this investment case and provided increased visibility to the firm’s long-term growth prospects. Despite a material runup in the stock price, we continue our favorable view as STKL trades at a meaningful discount to lower-growth food and beverage peers, which have much lesser-competitive positions and barriers to entry.”
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Our calculations show that SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) was in 24 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 22 funds in the previous quarter. SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) delivered a 60.27% return in the past 3 months.
In November 2021, we published an article that includes SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ:STKL) in 5 Cheap Stocks to Buy According to Louis Navellier’s Hedge Fund. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q1 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
