Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Small Cap Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Equity markets surged at the beginning of 2024 in anticipation of the US economy entering a “goldilocks” scenario – a soft landing combined with decreasing inflation, potentially leading to a cut in interest rates by the Fed. In the first quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTSX returned 9.43%, Advisor Class fund APDSX posted a return of 9.42%, and Institutional Class fund APHSX returned 9.48%, compared to a return of 7.58% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Artisan Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) is a restaurant company that operates under the brand name Wingstop. The one-month return of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) was -0.24%, and its shares gained 91.21% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 24, 2024, Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stock closed at $383.89 per share with a market capitalization of $11.275 billion.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Among our top performers in Q1 were Shockwave, Iovance Biotherapeutics and Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING). Wingstop is a quick-service restaurant franchisor specializing in fresh, cooked-to-order chicken products, including wings, sandwiches and side orders. The company is in the early stages of growing its store count domestically and internationally, which we believe is supported by attractive economics for franchisees and growing brand awareness. We continue to be impressed by the company’s earnings results, which are benefiting from strong same-store sales momentum driven by menu innovation, national branding efforts, integration of a second delivery provider (Uber Eats) and an ongoing value-based bundling strategy. Shares have rallied significantly since the beginning of 2023, and we have meaningfully trimmed the position based on our valuation discipline.”
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In the first quarter, Wingstop Inc (NASDAQ:WING) reported $145.8 million in revenues, up 34.1% compared to the fiscal first quarter of 2023. Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 31 hedge fund portfolios held Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) at the end of the first quarter which was 32 in the previous quarter.
In another article, we discussed Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) and shared Polen U.S. Small Company Growth Strategy’s views on the company. In the previous quarter, Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) contributed to the performance of Artisan Small Cap Fund. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 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.
