Longleaf Partners Fund, a Memphis-based fund under Southeastern Asset Management, published its “Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund” second quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A portfolio quarterly return of 1.91% was recorded by the fund for the second quarter of 2021, taking year-to-date (YTD) returns to 13.88% while its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index, by comparison returned 4.29% and 17.54% over the same periods. You can view the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their top bets for 2021.
In the Q2 2021 investor letter of Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund, the fund mentioned Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT), and discussed its stance on the firm. Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. is a United States-based real estate investment trust company, that currently has a $1.8 billion market capitalization. GHC delivered a 16.63% return since the beginning of the year, extending its 12-month returns to 63.21%. The stock closed at $10.87 per share on August 05, 2021.
Here is what Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund has to say about Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. in its Q2 2021 investor letter:
“Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) (8%, 0.46%), the New York City property owner, contributed after reporting a positive quarter in April, a reinstated dividend in May and the world taking note of New York City returning to normal as the second quarter progressed. Office occupancy at the Empire State Building actually ticked up slightly quarter-over-quarter. Fears of massive vacancies and deeply depressed lease rates per square foot have not materialized. While this is good for ESRT’s existing assets, it is disappointing for its hopes to buy its own stock cheaply and/or acquire distressed assets.”
Photo by Blake Wheeler on Unsplash
Based on our calculations, Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. ESRT was in 11 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2021, compared to 13 funds in the fourth quarter of 2020. Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESRT) delivered a -7.88% return in the past 3 months.
Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds’ small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by 115 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, pet market is growing at a 7% annual rate and is expected to reach $110 billion in 2021. So, we are checking out the 5 best stocks for animal lovers. We go through lists like the 10 best battery stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our homepage.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
