SouthernSun Asset Management, LLC, an investment management firm, released its “SouthernSun Small Cap Strategy” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the strategy increased 9.65% on a gross basis (9.44% net) compared to a 14.03% return for the Russell 2000 Index and 15.26% for the Russell 2000 Value Index. The strategy returned 13.93% on a gross basis (13.09% net) for the trailing twelve months compared to 16.93% and 14.65% respectively for the indexes over the same period. In addition, please check the top 5 holdings of the strategy to know its best pick in 2023.
SouthernSun Small Cap Strategy featured stocks such as Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) offers a portfolio of signal transmission solutions for mission critical applications. On February 20, 2024, Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) stock closed at $80.43 per share. One-month return of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) was 8.84%, and its shares lost 7.51% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) has a market capitalization of $3.305 billion.
SouthernSun Small Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC), a global supplier of specialty networking solutions, was the bottom performer in the Small Cap strategy in the fourth quarter. In our opinion, Belden has consistently delivered solid financial results; in fact, prior to the third quarter of 2023, the company had met or exceeded guidance for thirteen quarters in a row. However, in October, management warned investors that they would miss their third quarter revenue guidance primarily because of de-stocking at some of their larger customers. We have seen this de-stocking behavior with several other companies this year. As supply chains have improved in the post-pandemic environment, distributors and end customers no longer feel compelled to hold as much safety stock. Nevertheless, Belden was able to deliver profits at the bottom end of their guidance range. In November, Phillip and Mike traveled to Germany to meet with Belden at the Smart Production System show in Nuremberg and then to see Belden’s Customer Innovation Center (CIC) in Stuttgart. We were very impressed with the Belden personnel and the meaningful interest in Belden products from global partners and customers (including Amazon Web Services and global automobile automobile manufacturers). We believe that Belden will continue to benefit from growth in industrial automation, the deployment of 5G, and other applications and environments that have become increasingly dependent on high quality, reliable networks.”
A close up view of a bank of computers and wires, showing the complex technology powering the company’s financial services.
Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) was held by 17 hedge fund portfolios, down from 18 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) in another article and shared Aristotle Small Cap Equity 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.