Harding Loevner, an investment management firm, published its “Emerging Markets Equity Fund” fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A net return of -2.38% was recorded by the fund for the fourth quarter of 2021, trailing its Benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which returned -1.24% for the same period. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.
Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Equity Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) and discussed its stance on the firm. Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Hangzhou, China-based e-commerce company with a $289.9 billion market capitalization. BABA delivered a -11.45% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -56.48%. The stock closed at $105.19 per share on February 28, 2022.
Here is what Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Equity Fund has to say about Alibaba Group Holding Limited in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“The picture in China at the company level was also troubling as regulatory changes continued to create business challenges in certain industries. Continued pressure on drug pricing from centralized government purchasing was compounded by new regulations raising the efficacy bar for the approval of new oncology therapies. This led to a sell-off in outsourced drug development companies, whose stellar growth could slow.
Information Technology (IT) stocks finished the year strongly, boosted by semiconductors, whose pricing remains positive due to continued supply-side discipline in the face of robust demand across key applications. The Communication Services sector was about flat, but with good returns from telecommunications stocks, which are traditionally preferred in periods of elevated uncertainty. Regulatory threats and rising financial risk in China pressured Health Care and Real Estate. The market’s preference for value was a particular headwind for Health Care stocks, which have reached pricey valuations reflecting lofty growth expectations. Consumer Discretionary was dragged down by continued weakness in Chinese e-commerce stocks, particularly Alibaba, which reported significant deceleration in its core commerce business in the third quarter.”
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Our calculations show that Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) ranks 20th on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. BABA was in 96 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 115 funds in the previous quarter. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) delivered a -20.07% return in the past 3 months.
In February 2022, we published an article that includes BABA in the 10 Technology Stocks Hedge Funds Are Talking About. 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.
