Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its “SMid Cap Strategy” fourth-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The strategy outperformed the Russell 2500 Growth Index in the fourth quarter with a total return of 13.26% net-of-fess versus the benchmark return of 12.59%. The market had significant volatility throughout the quarter, as the Index experienced a decline of approximately -8% from the start of the period until October 27th. However, by year’s conclusion, stocks had rallied by over 22%. Both during the downturn and the recovery, the SMid Cap strategy was able to outperform despite the significant fluctuations in benchmark returns. For the full year 2023, the Smid Cap Composite’s return of 26.61% outperformed the benchmark’s gain of 18.93%. Strong stock selection and positive sector allocation effects were cited as the main causes of the excess returns. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Conestoga Capital Advisors SMid Cap Strategy featured stocks such as West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) is a manufacturer of healthcare products and injectable drug packaging. On February 16, 2024, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) stock closed at $362.05 per share. One-month return of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) was 5.63%, and its shares gained 15.41% of their value over the last 52 weeks. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has a market capitalization of $26.788 billion.
Conestoga Capital Advisors SMid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)): WST, a market leader in containment and delivery solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, posted a strong 2023 but gave back some gains during the fourth quarter. During their third quarter call, WST reduced full-year revenue guidance as restocking in its Pharmaceutical and Generics end markets have slowed below expectations. Despite the reduction, ex-COVID revenues continue to grow double-digits and WST reiterated their expectation for 7-9% organic growth in 2024 with 100 basis points of margin expansion, in line with their long-term model.”
A researcher in a lab preparing a GnRH antagonist peptide injection.
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) was held by 42 hedge fund portfolios, same as 42 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in another article and shared the list of most valuable medical device companies in the US. 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.
