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Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund highlights IFF as deep-value pick
The fund returned 9.9% in Q2 2026 versus 13.4% for the Russell Midcap Value Index, citing negative stock selection even as technology rallied.
Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund, part of IFF Heartland Advisors, released its Q2 2026 investor letter highlighting International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. as a new deep-value position.
According to the letter, International Flavors and Fragrances, a specialty ingredient producer for food, beverage, personal care, and human health manufacturers, closed at $74.67 per share on July 14, 2026, for a market capitalization of $19.06 billion. The fund also cited recent performance, with IFF down 1.8% over one month and up 0.6% over the past 52 weeks.
In the quarter, the fund returned 9.90%, underperforming the Russell Midcap Value Index, which returned 13.40%. The letter attributed the gap to negative stock selection, even though technology was described as a top absolute return contributor.
The investor update said management has worked for more than two years to streamline IFFs portfolio and operations toward higher margin businesses, aiming for better pricing power and enhanced capital allocation flexibility, following what it called prior years of wayward capital allocation. It also described IFFs revenue as evenly split across three segments, with one segment, Taste, accounting for 30%.