Here’s Why Polen Capital Sold its ETSY Stake

Polen Capital, an investment management firm, published its “Polen U.S. Small Company Growth” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. For the fourth quarter, the Polen U.S. Small Company Growth Composite Portfolio (the “Portfolio”) returned 1.59% gross and 1.34% net of fees, outperforming the 0.01% return for the Russell 2000 Growth Index (the “Index”). The Portfolio also produced solid results over the full year, on both an absolute basis and relative to the Index return of 2.83%. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Polen U.S. Small Company Growth Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 2005, Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) is a Brooklyn, New York-based e-commerce company with a $15.4 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Josh Silverman. Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) delivered a -44.63% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -45.18%. The stock closed at $121.23 per share on March 11, 2022.

Here is what Polen U.S. Small Company Growth Fund has to say about Etsy, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“We sold our position in Etsy as part of a series of trades to provide funds for the Portfolio’s new position in Warby Parker, while also allowing us to add to our positions in Olo and Duck Creek. Etsy had outgrown our small-capitalization mandate, and its above-average position size based on recent appreciation made it a good choice as a source of funds for other opportunities. That said, Etsy continues to be a top holding in the Polen U.S. SMID Company Growth strategy.”

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Our calculations show that Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) was in 47 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 47 funds in the previous quarter. Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) delivered a -46.19% return in the past 3 months.

In May 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) 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.