Wasatch Global Investors, an investment management firm, published its “Wasatch Small Cap Growth Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. During the fourth quarter, the benchmark Russell 2000® Growth Index rose 0.01% while the Russell 2000 Index increased 2.14%. Underperforming its benchmark, the Wasatch Small Cap Growth Fund— Investor Class slipped -1.42%. For the one-year period ended December 31, 2021, the Fund’s Investor Class gained 8.32% compared to the 2.83% increase in the Russell 2000 Growth Index and the 14.82% rise in the Russell 2000 Index. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.
Wasatch Small Cap Growth Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) and discussed its stance on the firm. Freshpet, Inc. is a Secaucus, New Jersey-based pet food company with a $4.2 billion market capitalization. FRPT delivered a 3.10% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -29.52%. The stock closed at $98.22 per share on March 07, 2022.
Here is what Wasatch Small Cap Growth Fund has to say about Freshpet, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“The greatest detractor from Fund performance for the fourth quarter was Freshpet, Inc. (FRPT). The company is the undisputed leader in refrigerated pet food, which we consider a “growth staple.” People seem willing to prioritize the health of their pets under almost any circumstances. Having said that, the stock was down because the company lowered projections for sales and earnings due to rising costs and shortages of labor and materials. Supply-chain challenges have also disrupted Freshpet’s ability to expand manufacturing capacity and get food into stores. Marketing activities have been curtailed because the company is having trouble meeting existing demand. We take some comfort in the fact that Freshpet’s difficulties are supply-related rather than demandrelated. Over time, we believe that supply-chain challenges will be resolved and that Freshpet will resume its growth trajectory. In terms of competition, there are some smaller players that are trying to challenge Freshpet’s dominant brand name and footprint in stores. But we think those smaller players are even more vulnerable to today’s supplychain challenges. In fact, the current difficult environment may actually strengthen Freshpet’s competitive position and help make the company even more dominant over time. Additionally, we think Freshpet’s pricing power and margins will improve substantially as the company becomes larger.”
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Our calculations show that Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. FRPT was in 26 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 24 funds in the previous quarter. Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) delivered a -3.98% return in the past 3 months.
In November 2021, we published an article that includes FRPT in the 10 Best Pet Stocks To Buy Now. You can find more than 100 investor 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.
