Here’s Why Knife River Corporation (KNF) Outperformed in 2023
Longleaf Partners, managed by Southeastern Asset Management, released its “Small-Cap Fund” fourth-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund had a successful year, outperforming the Russell 2000 and Russell 2000 Value benchmark indices and achieving its absolute return goal of inflation plus 10%. The fund delivered 10.85% in the fourth quarter compared to a 14.03% return for the Russell 2000 Index and 15.26% for the Russell 2000 Value Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund featured stocks like Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) is an aggregates-based construction materials and contracting services provider based in Bismarck, North Dakota. On February 29, 2024, Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) stock closed at $74.09 per share. One-month return of Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) was 7.38%, and YTD its shares gained 11.95% of their value. Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) has a market capitalization of $4.192 billion.
Longleaf Partners Small-Cap Fund stated the following regarding Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
"Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) – Construction materials and contracting company Knife River was a top contributor for the year and for the quarter. We initiated the position this year after it was spun out of MDU Resources Group, a utility holding company in North Dakota. We were familiar with the business from previous work done on MDU. Knife River was the business that originally attracted us to MDU, and the spin gave us the opportunity to buy the best business as a standalone stock at a discount when utility shareholders focused on a steady dividend dumped it. The business had not been optimized for a long time under MDU but still delivered solid mid-single digit revenue growth over the prior decade. We believe CEO Brian Gray and his plan to improve cash flow represents an improvement over the previous path. Knife River reported strong results in its first two quarters, beating expectations and company guidance."
A construction site with workers wearing hard hats and safety vests, installing roofing materials.
Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) was held by 39 hedge fund portfolios, up from 29 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Knife River Corporation (NYSE:KNF) in another article and shared Mairs & Power Small Cap Fund’s views on the company. 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.
