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 Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1975, Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) is a Las Vegas, Nevada-based gaming and hospitality company with a $7.4 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Keith E. Smith. Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) delivered a 3.86% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 15.86%. The stock closed at $68.10 per share on March 21, 2022.
Here is what Ariel Investments has to say about Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“We also added casino and entertainment operator, Boyd Gaming Corporation (BYD), which derives most of its revenue from high loyalty and repeat customer base. BYD also owns a minority position in online daily fantasy sportsbook FanDuel. Throughout the pandemic, the company focused on improving operations to permanently lower its expense structure. These initiatives have resulted in margin expansion, strong free cash flow, and accelerated debt repayments. While we expect margins to decline somewhat from currently elevated levels, we believe the market is underestimating the earnings power of the company.”
Our calculations show that Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) was in 34 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 37 funds in the previous quarter. Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) delivered a 7.62% return in the past 3 months.
In January 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD) 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.
