Weitz Investment: “AutoZone (AZO) was a Strong Contributor to Our Q2 Results”

Weitz Investment Management, an investment management firm, published its “Hickory Fund” second quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The Hickory Fund returned -13.06% in the second quarter compared to -16.85% for the Russell Midcap Index. Year-to-date, the Fund returned -24.49% compared to -21.57% for the Russell Midcap as of June 30, 2022. Go over the fund’s top 5 positions to have a glimpse of its finest picks for 2022.

In its Q2 2022 investor letter, Weitz Investment Hickory Fund mentioned AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1979, AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) is a Memphis, Tennessee-based retail company with a $45.4 billion market capitalization. AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) delivered a 11.24% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 42.11%. The stock closed at $2,332.09 per share on August 19, 2022.

Here is what Weitz Investment Hickory Fund has to say about AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Given a nearly fully invested portfolio, we elected to trim or sell some holdings in favor of increasing our stakes in several more compelling opportunities. We continued trimming Markel on strength and sold our remaining AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) shares during the quarter. Over our roughly 18 months of ownership, AutoZone was a strong contributor to results, and we would gladly own this business again. At current prices, however, we believe its defensive characteristics are well-appreciated.”

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Our calculations show that AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) was in 38hedge fund portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 45 funds in the previous quarter. AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) delivered a 22.80% return in the past 3 months.

In April 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q2 page.

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