Harding Loevner, an investment management firm, published its “Global Equity Fund” first-quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The Global Equity Composite fell 12.4% gross of fees, well beyond the 5.3% decline of the MSCI All Country World Index. The portfolio’s concentration in expensive stocks, a hazard of its commitment to investing in the stocks of high-quality rapidly growing businesses, hurt relative performance in a quarter during which investors fled from richly priced companies. 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, Harding Loevner Global Equity Fund mentioned Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1903, Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based industrial automation provider with a $22.4 billion market capitalization. Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) delivered a -44.56% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -31.01%. The stock closed at $193.39 per share on June 21, 2022.
Here is what Harding Loevner Global Equity Fund has to say about Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:
“Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) is one such provider, which we purchased during the market correction this quarter. The company—still based in Milwaukee, where it developed its first product, a device to control the speed of electric motors, 120 years ago—has a particular focus on North America. Rockwell’s sales growth had stalled during the US capex recession following the recovery from the Global Financial Crisis. The company sold sensors, actuators, valves, and control software, but lacked the ability to weave all these offerings together to provide a single control point for clients wanting to automate an existing plant or build a fully automated new one. Its 2018 minority investment in PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC), a Boston-based industrial software firm with a strong capability in augmented reality and visualization tools, marked a turning point in Rockwell’s fortunes. Through this partnership, Rockwell was able to develop software that integrated data from individual business segments, stitching it together on its “FactoryTalk” platform, to give managers a real-time digital picture of their operations. The company is now a chief enabler and beneficiary of reshoring initiatives as a wave of manufacturers scarred by pandemic supply chain disruptions look to automation to help them recreate some of the cost savings that had driven their offshoring in the first place. After hardly growing for seven years, the company saw orders increase 40% in the first quarter over the same period last year and predicted organic sales growth of between 14% and 17%.”
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Our calculations show that Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) was in 31 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2022, compared to 31 funds in the previous quarter. Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) delivered a -29.14% return in the past 3 months.
In May 2022, we published an article that includes Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) in 10 Best Automation Stocks To Buy Now. 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.
