Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Small Cap Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The third quarter saw strength in small cap stocks, particularly in July when the return on the Russell 2000 Index was 10.2%. In the quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTSX returned 9.02%, Advisor Class fund APDSX posted a return of 9.04%, and Institutional Class fund APHSX returned 9.06%, compared to a return of 8.41% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. Outperformance of the fund in the quarter was driven by positive security selection within health care and consumer discretionary sectors. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.
Artisan Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) is a manufacturer of thermoplastic corrugated pipes and related water management products. The one-month return of Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) was -0.36%, and its shares lost 5.92% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On December 11, 2024, Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) stock closed at $129.79 per share with a market capitalization of $10.063 billion.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“Along with e.l.f. Beauty, we ended our investment campaigns in Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS), AppFolio and Sprout Social during the quarter. Advanced Drainage Systems manufactures high-performance thermoplastic corrugated pipe and related products for non-residential construction, residential construction, agriculture and infrastructure markets throughout North America. Its products cover all aspects of stormwater drainage—capturing stormwater, transporting stormwater to storage tanks and water treatment (if needed) before redistributing it back into the water table. Our thesis was the company was well positioned to capitalize on the long-term shift in the pipe industry away from concrete and toward plastic materials, which are typically greener and more durable. After a successful multiyear investment campaign, we exited our position due to our valuation discipline.”
A worker in a hardhat walking down a corridor lined with thermoplastic corrugated pipes.
Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 32 hedge fund portfolios held Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) at the end of the third quarter which was 45 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (NYSE:WMS) 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 addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.