Is it a Good Choice to Invest in Abbott Laboratories (ABT)?

Distillate Capital, an investment management firm, released its fourth quarter 2022 investor letter, a copy of the same can be downloaded here. At the end of the fourth quarter, Distillate’s U.S. FSV strategy declined 10.58% on a total return basis net of fees compared to a decline of 18.11% for the S&P 500 benchmark. Better relative performance for Distillate’s SMID QV strategy continued into 2022 with a decline of 8.64% on a total return net-of-fee basis, significantly ahead of a comparable decline of 20.49% for the Russell 2000 ETF and -14.67% for the Russell 2000 Value ETF. On the other hand, Distillate’s Intl. FSV strategy again lagged its MSCI ACWI Ex-US benchmark in 2022, while the Distillate’s U.S. FSV strategy’s free cash flow to market cap yield valuation of 7.2% compares very favorably to 5.1% for the same measure for the S&P 500. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

In its Q3 2022 investor letter, Distillate Capital mentioned Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1888, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is a Chicago, Illinois-based multinational medical devices and healthcare company with a $195.8 billion market capitalization. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) delivered a 2.31% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -12.69%. The stock closed at $110.75 per share on February 6, 2023.

Here is what Distillate Capital has to say about Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:

“The largest sector change in the rebalance was a six-percentage point increase in technology. The biggest component of this increase was the introduction of a 4% weight in Apple, which is discussed further below. Offsetting this increased tech weight was a 3-percentage point decrease in industrials and a two-percentage point decline in health care. The other two largest purchases includes Visa Inc. and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) which likewise saw their valuations improve as their estimated free cash flows held up or improved while their enterprise values declined.”

ABT

Courtesy of Abbott Labs

Our calculations show that Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was in 62 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 61 funds in the previous quarter. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) delivered a 12.73% return in the past 3 months.

In December 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2022 page.

Suggested Articles:

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.