Silver Beech Capital, a value-oriented investment management firm, released its second quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Year-to-date, the fund returned 14.1% compared to 14.5% for the S&P 500 Index and 4.4% for the Russell 2000 Index. The fund generated strong absolute and relative returns. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Silver Beech Capital highlighted stocks like First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) in the second quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) is a bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking services. On July 14, 2023, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) stock closed at $1,317.77 per share. One-month return of First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) was 2.71%, and its shares gained 93.23% of their value over the last 52 weeks. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) has a market capitalization of $19.036 billion.
Silver Beech Capital made the following comment about First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) in its second quarter 2023 investor letter:
“We introduced First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) in our first quarter 2023 letter. As noted, we invested in First Citizens after they acquired Silicon Valley Bank. The investment was based on our thesis that the acquisition conservatively accreted over $8 billion to First Citizens’ common equity whereas the market was pricing in substantially less.
Prior to First Citizens’ earnings release, we continued to build conviction in our analysis and sized the position to the largest in the Fund. In its May 10 earnings release, in line with our analysis, First Citizens posted ~$9.1 billion of accretion from its acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank, and the market responded accordingly. We fully exited our position after the earnings release as the market incorporated the full accretion. Our investment in First Citizens generated a ~23% return over a 5-week holding period.
As we discussed in our first quarter 2023 letter, we have tracked First Citizens for several years and believe the bank is led by world-class management. The bank remains on our investment watchlist, and we remain confident the company will continue to create value for shareholders, especially in light of likely future banking sector consolidation that will benefit First Citizens’ opportunistic acquisition strategy and capital strength. We exited our position in First Citizens in favor of more attractive risk-adjusted opportunities.”
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First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 48 hedge fund portfolios held First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) at the end of first quarter which was 35 in the previous quarter.
We discussed First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) in another article and shared millionaire Chuck Royce’s investment portfolio, his net worth and the overall performance of the stocks. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.
