LRT Capital Management, an investment management firm, published its first-quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A return of -7.37% was recorded by the LRT Economic Moat strategy for the first quarter of 2022, resulting in a 12-month return of +16.72%. In the LRT Economic Moat strategy, as of April 1st, 2022, the fund’s net exposure was approximately 99% and its estimated net beta-adjusted exposure was 62.2%. Try to spend some time taking a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.
In its Q1 2022 investor letter, LRT Capital Management mentioned Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1948, Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) is a Stamford, Connecticut-based public industrial materials company with a $4.5 billion market capitalization. Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) delivered a 4.94% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -2.67%. The stock closed at $54.36 per share on April 29, 2022.
Here is what LRT Capital Management has to say about Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:
“Hexcel manufactures carbon fiber composite materials with the primary end markets being aerospace and defense. The company’s stock price was hit heavily last year due to the decline in the aerospace market, but the stock is making an impressive comeback this year as the outlook for travel and aerospace demand improves. The near-term demand for lightweight, high-performance carbon fiber composites is still uncertain, but the longer-term trend is clearly very strong. As airplane manufacturers look to improve the fuel efficiency and performance of their planes, the primary way of doing this is to reduce weight. The 787, 777X and A350 are just the most recent examples of planes from Boeing and Airbus that utilize an increasing amount of carbon fiber materials in their construction. Just as is the case with Marriott, we do not view recent results as meaningful or indicative of a long-term trend, but rather a once in a century aberration due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Once Covid-19 recedes, we expect the demand for more fuel-efficient planes to return rather quickly, powering the demand for the company’s light weight carbon composites.”
Christian Lagerek/Shutterstock.com
Our calculations show that Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) was in 26 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 21 funds in the previous quarter. Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) delivered a 4.20% return in the past 3 months.
In March 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) in another article. 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.
