Here’s Why Ariel Investments Initiated a Position in Core Laboratories N.V. (CLB)

Ariel Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Ariel Fund & Ariel Appreciation Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. For the three months ending December 31, 2021, Ariel Fund and Ariel Appreciation Fund lagged their primary value benchmarks. This was largely due to some weakness among our highest conviction consumer names. Still, Ariel Appreciation Fund solidly outpaced its core benchmark during the quarter and landed between the value and core indices for the full year. Meanwhile, Ariel Fund crushed both its primary and secondary benchmarks for the year. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Ariel Investments, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1936, Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) is an Amsterdam, Netherlands-based petroleum industry company with a $1.3 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Lawrence Bruno. Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) delivered a 31.33% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 0.93%. The stock closed at $29.30 per share on March 21, 2022.

Here is what Ariel Investments has to say about Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“In Ariel Appreciation Fund, we did not eliminate any names but did initiate a position in premier oil services company, Core Laboratories N.V. (CLB). In response to recent headwinds within the COVID-19 operating environment, management announced additional cost cuts which should help the company achieve its free cash flow targets and reduce debt. Longer-term, this asset light business is poised to deliver modest growth in reservoir description. Increased activity in fracturing rock should increase output in well completions and fuel longer term growth.”

Our calculations show that Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) was in 15 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 18 funds in the previous quarter. Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) delivered a 26.46% return in the past 3 months.

In October 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE:CLB) in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

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