Is Daimler AG (DDAIF) A Smart Long-Term Buy?

Oakmark Funds, an investment management firm, published its “Oakmark Global Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be seen here.  A return of 3.94% was reported by the fund in the fourth quarter of 2021, extending its 12-month return to 18.80%. Since inception, the fund had an average total return of 10.28%. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Oakmark Global Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Daimler AG (NYSE: DDAIF) and discussed its stance on the firm. Daimler AG is a Stuttgart, Germany-based automotive manufacturing company with an $85.1 billion market capitalization. DDAIF delivered a 2.14% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 31.14%. The stock closed at $78.75 per share on January 27, 2022.

Here is what Oakmark Global Fund has to say about Daimler AG in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“We received shares of Daimler Truck when it was spun out of Daimler AG in early December. Daimler Truck is the world’s largest commercial truck manufacturer, holding the top position in North American and European markets. The spin-off from Daimler represents a turning point for the business that will allow it to receive more focus, pursue its own strategy and enter into value-added partnerships. We believe that management has offered a credible plan to significantly improve margins by increasing service attachment, reducing fixed costs, and generating more customer-focused and localized products and distribution networks. In our view, the dramatic turnaround at Mercedes-Benz—combined with the significant profitability of its premium-truck peers, like Volvo and Scania—indicate Daimler Truck’s attractive potential and lend support to management’s high single-digit EBIT margin and cash flow conversion targets.”

Photo by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash

Our calculations show that Daimler AG (NYSE: DDAIF) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Daimler AG (NYSE: DDAIF) delivered a -3.66% return in the past 3 months.

In November 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on DDAIF 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.