Artisan Partners Mid Cap Fund Exited Five Below (FIVE) Due to Disappointing Financial Results

Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTMX returned -5.73%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of -5.67%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned -5.64%, compared to a -3.21% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. The portfolio generated negative absolute returns and underperformed the index in the second quarter. Modest negative security selection across multiple sectors, including information technology, industrials, communication services, and health care led to the underperformance and was partially offset by outperformance within consumer discretionary. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) is a US-based specialty value retailer. The one-month return of Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) was -10.41%, and its shares lost 49.23% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 16, 2024, Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) stock closed at $102.07 per share with a market capitalization of $5.621 billion.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“We ended our investment campaigns in Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE), Roblox and Pool Corp during the quarter. Five Below is a value-oriented discretionary retailer offering an evolving assortment of trend-right products oriented to kids (tweens/teens). We were encouraged by management’s “triple-double” strategy, aiming to triple Five Below’s number of stores by 2030 and double revenue by 2025, which was supported by its stores’ high returns on invested capital. Unfortunately, financial results have been disappointing over our holding period, and we decided to exit the position.”

A family happily shopping for everyday items in a specialty retail store.

Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 39 hedge fund portfolios held Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) at the end of the first quarter which was 33 in the previous quarter. Five Below, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FIVE) sales climbed by 11.8% to $811.9 million in the first quarter of 2024 from $726.2 million in Q1 2023. Q1 results were below expectations as the second half of the quarter saw a notable downturn in sales. While we acknowledge the potential of Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we discussed Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) and shared TimesSquare Capital U.S. Mid Cap Growth Strategy’s views on the company. Artisan Mid Cap Fund initiated a position in Five Below, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) in Q4 2022.  In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.

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