Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Hedged Equity Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. News of declining inflation and the potential for lower interest rates in 2024 fueled optimism in the final months of the year. Equities saw a broad rally, with small caps surging over 14% and large caps adding to yearly gains, resulting in a 12% return for the quarter. In the quarter, the fund appreciated 8.96% (net), trailing its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index, which returned 11.69%. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2023.
Meridian Hedged Equity Fund featured stocks like Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in New York, New York, Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) engages in live entertainment and media services. On April 2, 2024, Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) stock closed at $48.25 per share. One-month return of Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) was 0.27%, and its shares gained 86.72% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) has a market capitalization of $1.695 billion.
Meridian Hedged Equity Fund stated the following regarding Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) owns the Las Vegas Sphere venue, MSG Networks regional sports network, and a stake in Madison Square Garden Entertainment. The Sphere is a state-of-the-art venue that has the potential to be a transformative asset with strong profit margins. The stock has underperformed the market due to growing concerns about the company’s high fixed costs and leverage profile. The Sphere venue has annual operating expenses of $400 million, requiring very high event utilization and consistent ticket sales to break even. We continue to believe the Sphere provides a truly unique consumer experience that taps into strong demand for live events and immersive entertainment. If the venue can scale event volume and attendance over time while rationalizing costs, Sphere could leverage its distinct differentiation to drive strong cash flow generation. During the quarter, we maintained our long exposure to the company.”
Stagehands setting up the equipment for a live entertainment event.
Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. We discussed Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) in another article and shared the list of stocks billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller and insiders are piling into. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
