Why Couldn’t Traeger (COOK) Grow Its Topline?

 Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Small Cap Fund” second quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTSX returned -21.52%, Advisor Class fund APDSX posted a return of -21.48%, and Institutional Class fund APHSX returned -21.47%, compared to a return of -19.25% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2022.

In the second quarter 2022 investor letter, Artisan Partners discussed stocks like Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK). Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) is a provider of outdoor cooking systems. On September 28, 2022, Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) stock closed at $2.9600 per share. One-month return of Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) was 12.12% and its shares lost 85.90% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) has a market capitalization of $349.982 million.

Here is what Artisan Partners specifically said about Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) is the inventor and category leader of the wood pellet grill, an outdoor cooking system that has disrupted the mature grill market and is taking share from propane and charcoal. The advantages of pellet grills over traditional grills include taste, versatility (grill, smoke, bake, braise) and ease of use (semiautomated). Our profit cycle thesis has been based on the company growing consumer awareness and capturing share from the traditional gas and charcoal grill markets. As the company’s installed base grows over time, it also has an opportunity to sell higher margin consumables (sauces, pellets, rubs, etc.). Lastly, expansion into international markets (only 3% of the company’s revenue mix today) and new product introductions are additional profit cycle tailwinds. Unfortunately, the deteriorating macroeconomic backdrop (weakening consumer, rising input costs) is adversely impacting Traeger’s ability to grow the top line and putting pressure on the company’s costs. Thus, we ended our GardenSM campaign during Q2.”

Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 10 hedge fund portfolios held Traeger, Inc. (NYSE:COOK) at the end of the second quarter which was 11 in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.