Is it a Wise Choice to Invest in Advance Auto Parts (AAP)?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Large Cap Growth Strategy” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy underperformed its Russell 1000 Growth Index benchmark during the fourth quarter. On an absolute basis, the Strategy had gains across seven of the eight sectors in which it was invested (out of 11 sectors total). The leading contributors to performance were in the IT and health care sectors, while the communication services sector was a detractor. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Growth Strategy, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1929, Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based automotive aftermarket parts provider with a $13.2 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Thomas R. Greco. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) delivered a -9.30% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 20.54%. The stock closed at $217.58per share on April 07, 2022.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments Large Cap Growth Strategy has to say about Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Several encouraging macro trends are emerging in support of two areas outside tech: consumer spending and industrial production. Unlike in past recessions and recoveries, consumer balance sheets have actually improved dramatically since the onset of the pandemic. We expect the supply chain constraints contributing to inflation and goods shortages will begin to lessen with an ambitious rebuilding of inventories. This should be a multi-year phenomenon beneficial to quality industrials with high levels of organic growth like distributors such as Advance Auto Parts.”

Our calculations show that Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) was in 36 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to Thomas R. Greco funds in the previous quarter. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) delivered a -9.96% return in the past 3 months.

In January 2022, we published an article that includes Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) in the Top 5 Dividend Increases of 2021. You can find more than 100 investor 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.