Tiger Global Management LLC has opened a USD12.8m position in shares of the potato and frozen-goods maker Eagle, Idaho-based Lamb Weston, reversing its focus on innovative, high-growth tech names.
Lamb Weston is one of the world’s largest producers of frozen potato products. It was owned by ConAgra until it was bounced off and listed in 2016, and it is now worth nearly USD12bn.
Despite a stated commitment to “Potatovation”, which Lamb Weston defines as a “team ideology” that encompasses product development and operations, the company may appear to be an unusual investment for a major hedge fund dominated by fancy tech bets, according to the FT experts.
The latest 13F regulatory file number 028-10100 filed on August 15, 2022, clearly shows a 179,784 shares acquisition from Tiger Global.
Shares of Lamb Weston were down about 1% on August 16, 2022, trading at USD82.83, Business Insider wrote. The stock has risen about 23% over the past six months.
In April 2022, statement, Lamb Weston’s president and chief executive officer, Thomas P. Werner, mentioned that for fiscal 2022, Lamb Weston is guiding that sales growth will be above its long-term target of low- to mid-single digits. But fourth-quarter sales volumes are expected to be tempered by production and logistics disruptions, inflation, and the impact of COVID-19 variants on restaurant traffic.
“Like others, we’re managing through freight challenges, including both cost increases and shipping delays. The freight challenges are impacting our top line as it limits our ability to service full demand. This is caused by a lack of containers for international and domestic shipments and truck driver shortages. This, combined with higher fuel cost, has also increased our cost to deliver products. We’re continuing to navigate through these and other operating challenges and remain on track to deliver our financial commitments for the year,” Lamb Weston’s CEO added.
Despite the challenges, Lamb Weston performed well during the third quarter ended February 27, 2022. Net income rose to USD107m, equal to USD0.73 per share on the common stock, from USD66m, equal to USD0.45 per share, the year before. Quarterly sales rose to USD955m from USD896m in the fiscal year 2021.
