Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen Global Growth Strategy” first-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund returned 11.37% net in the first quarter compared to a return of 7.31% for the MSCI ACW Index. Global equity markets were volatile in the first quarter. The market rewarded quality fundamentals in January, and fear of inflation and central bank policy reemerged in February. However, despite the banking crisis, quality fundamentals were rewarded again in March. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Polen Global Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Purchase, New York, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a payment technology company. On April 24, 2023, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) stock closed at $374.73 per share. One-month return of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) was 5.76%, and its shares gained 8.90% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) has a market capitalization of $357.209 billion.
Polen Global Growth Strategy made the following comment about Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in its Q1 2023 investor letter:
“We trimmed Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) and Visa to equal weights of the Portfolio. Mastercard and Visa operate as a duopoly in a large and growing market. Over the last 50 years, global personal consumer expenditures (PCE) has grown 7-9% annualized. We expect 4-5% long-term PCE growth going forward. Additionally, the shift from cash to credit continues unabated, with a total credit penetration of only approximately 50% globally.3 This shift provides Visa and Mastercard with another ~4-6% of growth. When combined with PCE, this gives both companies high-single-digit to low-double-digit revenue growth opportunities. This growth estimate is before accounting for growth amplifiers like the acceleration of e-commerce, the shift from offline to online, and additional services. Both companies enjoy extremely strong network effects that provide strong competitive advantages.
We have trimmed Visa and Mastercard because their combined weight grew to over 12% of the Global Growth Portfolio because of their recent performance and to fund our increase in Amazon’s position size. We added to both positions when their prices were depressed due to cross-border transactions deteriorating materially from the pandemic. Cross-border volumes came roaring back when travel corridors reopened, and although we are several quarters removed from the cross-border nadir, Visa still grew volumes >30% in 1Q23. Total cross-border volumes are now 132% of 2019 levels. At 4.5% each, both companies remain high conviction positions for Global Growth.”
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Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is in 7th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 139 hedge fund portfolios held Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 146 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in another article and best environmental dividend stocks to buy according to Al Gore. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
