Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Contrarian Fund” second quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund returned -16.52%, compared to a -16.98% return for its benchmark index the Russell 2500 Index. However, it underperformed the Russell 2500 Value Index, the fund’s secondary benchmark, which returned -15.39% in the quarter. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2022.
Meridian Funds discussed stocks like Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) in the second quarter investor letter. Based in Brookfield, Connecticut, Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) engages in the business of photomask products and services. On September 14, 2022, Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) stock closed at $15.69 per share. One-month return of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) was -35.72% and its shares gained 10.34% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) has a market capitalization of $967.907 million.
Here is what Meridian Funds specifically said about Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:
“Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) is a semiconductor capital equipment company and a leader in photomasks, a critical component in the manufacturing of semiconductors and flat panel displays. The company’s earnings declined from a peak in 2015 due in part to a long-term trend within the semiconductor industry away from ASICs to FPGAs, which, to put it simply, allowed more semiconductor functionality to be made with fewer photomasks. Earnings also were pressured by significant investments made by Photronics to build out capacity in China, which took time to ramp up to profitability. We invested in the company in the second quarter of 2021 due to our thesis that 1) increased semiconductor content in a wide variety of products would revitalize the ASIC market; 2) its China investments would pay off, partially helped by an emerging trend toward localization of semiconductor production; and 3) Photronics is a well-managed industry leader with a strong balance sheet and improving return on capital. Despite macroeconomic worries about the semiconductor industry, the company’s stock advanced on news that it had exceeded earnings forecasts for the fourth consecutive quarter, with projections for 2022 earnings per share rising to $1.90 per share, up from less than $1 at the time of our investment. We added to our position in Photronics during the quarter when the strong results were initially not recognized. We believe current secular trends should remain intact for several years, however, we are conscious of the potential for near-term macro-driven volatility.”
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Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) is not on the list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 23 hedge fund portfolios held Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) at the end of the second quarter which was 20 in the previous quarter.
We discussed Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) in another article and shared Heartland Advisors’ views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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