ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The strategy underperformed the benchmark Russell 2000 Value Index in the fourth quarter. The strategy generated gains across eight of the 11 sectors in which it was invested during the quarter, on an absolute basis. Overall sector allocation and stock selection effects detracted from the performance on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy featured stocks like PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Based in Draper, Utah, PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) is a financial technology holding company. On March 13, 2024, PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) stock closed at $32.08 per share. One-month return of PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) was -0.03%, and its shares gained 34.85% of their value over the last 52 weeks. PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) has a market capitalization of $1.402 billion.
ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy stated the following regarding PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Stock selection in the financials sector was the greatest detractor from relative performance. Several of our banking stocks, such as Bank OZK, saw their share price rise during the quarter as investors anticipated Fed rate cuts that would reduce deposit costs while retaining economic strength. However, this was not the case for some of our consumer finance companies that faced increased investor scrutiny despite economic optimism. This was particularly true of our worst-performing individual holding, Oportun, and lease-to-own financier PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG). Both companies have substantial client bases among low-income customers with lower credit scores, and both saw share price declines after releasing reports showing rising credit losses in the third quarter. As a result, we made the decision to exit Oportun, while retaining PROG, as Oportun’s lower level of liquidity, longer path to profitability and relative size of customer losses reduced our confidence in the company. However, we maintain conviction in PROG’s strong credit underwriting decisions and relatively short portfolio duration, which we believe are contributors to a more resilient and profitable business than Oportun’s.”
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PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) was held by 21 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 17 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) in another article and shared ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.
