ClearBridge Investments to Explore International Seaways (INSW)’s Long-term Value Creation Opportunity

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, published its “ClearBridge Small Cap Value Strategy” second quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the strategy outperformed the Russell 2000 Value Index benchmark. Consumer staples and utility sectors contributed positively to the fund’s performance while the financials and industrial sectors were the main performance detractors. On an absolute basis, the fund faced losses in all the 11 sectors it invested in. You can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2022.

In the letter, ClearBridge Investments discussed stocks like International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW). Headquartered in New York, New York, International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) is a tanker company that provides energy transportation. It has a market capitalization of $1.482 billion. On August 19, 2022 International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) stock closed at $29.83 per share. One-month return of International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) rose to 33.17%, and its shares gained 81.12% of their value over the last 52 weeks.

Here’s how ClearBridge Investments mentioned International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) in the Q2, 2022 investor letter:

“The Strategy also benefited from our holding in International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW), in the energy sector, which owns and operates a fleet of oceangoing vessels for the transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. The company benefited during the quarter as a result of tightness in the oil market, particularly in Europe, as low global inventories and high demand have spurred greater need for transportation between states that are net energy producers with those that are net energy consumers.

Additionally, economic sanctions placed on Russia and its companies have reduced the global number of oil and petroleum transportation ships, resulting in greater demand for International Seaways’s services and allowing it to increase its shipping rates, to the benefit of its bottom line. We continue to view the company as a strong value play, as decades of underinvestment in maritime shipping has resulted in many ships approaching a forced retirement date with no obvious replacements.

As the number of available ships declines, particularly specialized ships such as International Seaways’s energy transports, it should help to bolster the company’s pricing and negotiation power with its customers. We believe the company’s shares are currently trading at substantially below the current book value of the company’s assets, and as a result we continue to have high conviction in International Seaways as a long-term value creation opportunity.”

Oleksandr Kalinichenko / Shutterstock.com

Although ClearBridge Investments invested in International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW), it is not on the list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the first quarter, International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) was held by 19 hedge funds compared to 17 in the previous quarter.

We discussed International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) in another article and shared Greenlight Capital’s views on the company. 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.