4. Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 20
Bridgewater Associates’ Stake Value: $12,684,000
Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) is a Texas-based company that provides consumer products in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through three segments – Home & Outdoor, Health & Wellness, and Beauty. Ray Dalio boosted his stake in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) by 92% in Q3 2022, with 131,521 shares worth $12.6 million, representing 0.06% of the total holdings.
On October 5, Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) reported a Q3 non-GAAP EPS of $2.27 and a revenue of $521.4 million, outperforming Wall Street forecasts by $0.06 and $2.33 million, respectively. The revenue climbed 9.7% on a year-over-year basis.
DA Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser on October 6 maintained a Neutral rating on Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) but slashed the price target on the shares to $115 from $175. The analyst noted the company’s Q3 results were in line with expectations, but the management also cut its FY23 earnings guidance amid retailer inventory reductions.
Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 20 funds were bullish on Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) at the end of June 2022, up from 16 funds in the prior quarter. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management is the largest stakeholder of the company, with 415,315 shares worth $67.5 million.
Wedgewood Partners made the following comment about Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:
“Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) was a detractor in the quarter as the Company continues to deal with a variety of headwinds. The Company’s healthcare and housewares businesses were major beneficiaries during the pandemic, and both we and the Company have been expecting a normalization of demand in this business. Further, the post-pandemic normalization of demand patterns at major customers such as Walmart, Target, and Amazon have further weighed on the Company – both in terms of fundamentals and in terms of market sentiment, plus stock valuation. Finally, decades-high inflation in key consumer staples categories such as food and other necessities has diverted some spending away from the more discretionary product categories supplied by Helen of Troy. Despite all these headwinds, the Company has been able to hold on to most of the business that it gained during the Pandemic. Revenues in the most recent quarter were +26% above the same quarter two years ago, and we find the stock’s valuation to be extremely attractive at the moment, at levels last seen in the 2008- 2009 recession period, when the Company was under former (and, in our opinion, inept) management.”
