Why Whirlpool Corporation (WHR) May Not Rebound After Coronavirus

Diamond Hill Capital recently released its Q1 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download below. The Diamond Hill Small Cap Fund posted a return of -36.17% for the quarter, underperforming its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index which returned -30.61% in the same quarter. You should check out Diamond Hill Capital’s top 5 stock picks for investors to buy right now, which could be the biggest winners of the stock market crash. There weren’t a lot of funds who could deliver these kinds of returns without shorting the market or using aggressive put options.

In the said letter, Diamond Hill Capital highlighted a few stocks and Whirlpool Corp (NYSE:WHR) is one of them. Whirlpool is a manufacturer and marketer of home appliances. Year-to-date, Whirlpool Corp (NYSE:WHR) stock lost 3.5% and on June 5th it had a closing price of $136.85. Here is what Diamond Hill Capital said:

“Shares of consumer appliance manufacturer Whirlpool Corp. declined as fears of a looming recession mounted and investors became concerned with future demand trends for the company’s products.”

In Q4 2019, the number of bullish hedge fund positions on Whirlpool Corp (NYSE:WHR) stock decreased by about 10% from the previous quarter (see the chart here), so a number of other hedge fund managers seem to agree with WHR’s downside potential. Our calculations showed that Whirlpool Corp (NYSE:WHR) isn’t ranked among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.

We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, we believe electric vehicles and energy storage are set to become giant markets, and we want to take advantage of the declining lithium prices amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So we are checking out investment opportunities like these. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. You can subscribe to our free enewsletter below to receive our stories in your inbox:

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