Artisan Partners, a high value-added investment management firm, published its “Artisan Value Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A return of 4.48% was recorded by its Investor Class: ARTLX, 4.55% by its Advisor Class: APDLX, and 4.54% was gained by its Institutional Class: APHLX for the fourth quarter of 2021, all below the Russell 1000® Value Index that delivered a 7.77% return, and the Russell 1000® Index that gained 9.78% for the same period. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.
Artisan Value Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) and discussed its stance on the firm. The Walt Disney Company is a Burbank, California-based entertainment company with a $272.2 billion market capitalization. DIS delivered a -3.46% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -20.90%. The stock closed at $149.53 per share on February 25, 2022.
Here is what Artisan Value Fund has to say about The Walt Disney Company in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“Disney is a global leader in media, has one of the best brands in the world with timeless intellectual property (IP) and a unique business model that allows it to monetize its IP through movies, TV, theme parks, toys and licensing. The company’s scale in IP, stable of powerful brands, including Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars, and global reach is unmatched, creating an enduring franchise. Disney also has a unique culture which is extremely customer centric and appealing to employees. The company is an engaging workplace too, making Disney an attractive home for top talent. The stock has recently been out of favor as COVID has negatively impacted multiple business lines: theme parks, movies, sporting events and media production. Also, growth in its Disney+ direct-to-consumer business has slowed amid a lull in new content and natural maturation after strong early subscriber growth. Disney doesn’t look cheap today due to COVID’s effect on current earnings; however, we believe a recovery in its theme parks business and an ability to monetize its IP vault sets it up to sustain earnings growth over the long run. Disney has also proven the business is financed well despite the toughest financial conditions in the company’s 100-year history. Even with the ill-timed purchase of 21st Century Fox in 2019 creating elevated leverage, the company remains well capitalized, and interest coverage is still strong.”
Our calculations show that The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS)ranks 11th on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. DIS was in 111 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 101 funds in the previous quarter. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) delivered a 0.96% return in the past 3 months.
In August 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on DIS in another article. 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.
