Aristotle Capital Management, an independent/employee-owned investment management organization, published its “Aristotle Capital Management Value Equity Fund” first quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. For the first quarter of 2022, Aristotle Capital’s Value Equity Composite posted a total return of -7.19% gross of fees (-7.26% net of fees), underperforming the -0.74% return of the Russell 1000 Value Index and the -4.60% return of the S&P 500 Index. Try to spend some time looking at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.
In its Q1 2022 investor letter, Aristotle Capital Management Value Equity mentioned East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1998, East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) is a Pasadena, California-based publicly owned company with a $9.8 billion market capitalization. East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) delivered a -12.20% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -5.99%. The stock closed at $69.08 per share on May 24, 2022.
Here is what Aristotle Capital Management Value Equity has to say about East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:
“We purchased East West Bancorp in the third quarter of 2017; however, our history with the business stretches back further having twice previously invested. Companies we consider to be high-quality like East West tend to remain high quality, and we have long admired the business for its uniqueness among the otherwise homogenous U.S. banking industry. Its dominant market share built over generations in Asian communities – and difficult-to-replicate experience due to culture, geography and business practices – create distinct competitive advantages in our view. During our most recent holding period, the bank achieved sustained loan growth, a catalyst we identified, through its continued leadership position as the financial “bridge” for customers doing business in the U.S. and China. Moreover, East West also realized market share gains in its headquarters state of California. With these catalysts nearing completion, we decided to exit our investment to fund the purchase of Oshkosh. As always, we will continue to study East West and, in the future, may once again find an opportunity to be investors.”
Our calculations show that East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) was in 36 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2022, compared to 30 funds in the previous quarter. East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) delivered a -21.38% return in the past 3 months.
In May 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) in 10 Best Bank Stocks for Dividends. 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.
