Steady Consumer Demand Helped Coty (COTY) to Outperform in Q4

Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Hedged Equity Fund” fourth quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the fund returned 5.82% (net) compared to a 7.56% gain for the S&P 500 Index benchmark. The firm focuses on quality businesses that have considerable competitive advantages, healthy balance sheets, robust cash flow characteristics, and muted volatility traits to mitigate capital losses during market fluctuations and experience upside participation during strong bull markets. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2022.

Meridian Hedged Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) in the Q4 2022 investor letter. Headquartered in New York, New York, Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) engages in the business of beauty products. On March 28, 2023, Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) stock closed at $11.78 per share. One-month return of Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) was 4.16%, and its shares gained 30.17% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) has a market capitalization of $10.044 billion.

Meridian Hedged Equity Fund made the following comment about Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

“A leading global manufacturer and distributor of cosmetics, fragrances, and other beauty care goods, Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) advanced as steady consumer demand helped it post greater-than-expected quarterly revenues and improved gross margins. More broadly, the company is building momentum around a hi business transformation that’s in the early innings but has already seen success in e-commerce and direct-to-consumer gains, as well as a rising presence in China. It’s also sharpening its focus on its leading brands as evidenced by its December announcement that it was selling its Lacoste fragrance license back to Lacoste. Coty, which separately announced an expansion of its existing stock buyback program, said it will use the Lacoste deal proceeds to reduce its leverage.”

Ollyy/Shutterstock.com

Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 26 hedge fund portfolios held Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 30 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) in another article and shared ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

Suggested Articles:

• 20 Biggest Power Generation Companies in the World
• 15 Biggest Airplanes in the World in 2023
• 21 Largest Stock Exchanges in the World

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.