ClearBridge Investments: “Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (APD) Reported Decent Results”

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy” second quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the strategy underperformed its Russell 1000 Value benchmark Index. The second quarter was highly volatile due to changes in interest rates, fears of recession, and the war. The health care and real estate sectors contributed positively to the fund’s performance, whereas the financials, IT, and industrials sectors underperformed. For more information on the fund’s top picks in 2022, please check its top five holdings.

In the second quarter investor letter, ClearBridge Investments discussed the performance of its ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy portfolio. Materials sector holdings of the fund, like Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), performed well in the quarter. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a supplier of gases and chemicals for industrial uses. It has a market capitalization of $57.393 billion. The stock of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) closed at $258.76 per share on August 9, 2022. One-month return of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) was 11.57% and its 12-month return dropped to -6.88%.

Here’s how ClearBridge Investments mentioned Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) in the Q2 2022 investor letter:

“As the economic outlook began to sour, materials stocks tumbled, with commodity-focused companies bearing the brunt of the selloff after several months of strength. The Strategy’s materials holdings held up well, however, led by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), which reported decent results driven by better execution, pricing and margin improvements, particularly in Europe, as well as a shift in management comments from cautious to more positive on China. APD continues to execute on its energy transition mega projects including blue and green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and also announced several traditional long-term projects during the quarter. Hydrogen, along with liquified natural gas, has been getting renewed focus in recent months as Europe attempts to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.”

Even though Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) performed well in the strategy, it is not on the list of  30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) was held by 39 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter, which was 40 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) in another article and shared the ClearBridge Investments’ views about the company in the previous quarter. You can check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other prominent investors.

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