Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Fund” fourth-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Global markets in 2023 outperformed expectations, led by large-cap tech stocks known as the “magnificent seven.” Improving inflation data and dovish comments from the Fed drove a strong finish to the year. Ariel Fund rose +13.41% in the fourth quarter, in line with the +13.35% of the Russell 2500 Index, but short of the +13.76% of the Russell 2500 Value Index. Over the past year, Ariel Fund increased by +15.81%, slightly below the +15.98% of the Russell 2500 Value Index and behind the +17.42% gain of the Russell 2500 Index. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2023.
Ariel Fund featured stocks like Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) in its Q4 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) provides reservoir description and enhancement services and products to the energy industry. On March 8, 2024, Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) stock closed at $15.94 per share. One-month return of Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) was 6.62%, and its shares lost 25.37% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) has a market capitalization of $743.831 million.
Ariel Fund stated the following regarding Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“There were a few notable performance detractors in the quarter. Shares of oil services company, Core Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:CLB), declined in the period on mixed earnings results. Despite contract delays and lower-than-expected activity in the U.S., CLB maintained solid profitability, delivering operating margin expansion. Although the ongoing geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as associated European and U.S. sanctions, continue to disrupt the business and create near-term uncertainty, CLB is seeing progress in both onshore and offshore activity across its global operations. We have conviction in the management team’s long history of delivering strong operating results, robust free cash flow and returning capital to shareholders.”
A drilling rig manned by engineers and oil field workers preparing to explore a new petroleum reservoir.
Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) was held by 14 hedge fund portfolios, up from 13 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) in another article and shared Alger Weatherbie Specialized Growth Fund’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.