Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Select Equity Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund returned -0.4% compared to a 4.28% return for the S&P 500 Index and a -2.2% return for the Russell 1000 Value Index. Year-to-date the fund increased 10.4% compared to 15.3% and 6.6% return for the indexes. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2024.
Artisan Select Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) is a health benefits company that operates through Health Benefits, CarelonRx, Carelon Services, and Corporate & Other segments. The one-month return of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) was 7.90%, and its shares gained 16.61% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 16, 2024, Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) stock closed at $543.70 per share with a market capitalization of $126.07 billion.
Artisan Select Equity Fund stated the following regarding Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“The top contributors to performance for the quarter were Alphabet, Lam Research and Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV). Elevance shares rose 5% during the quarter. The business has been performing well and has delivered good profit growth this year, despite a flat top line. It has largely navigated the challenges related to Medicaid redeterminations, which have caused temporary volatility in membership and health care utilization levels. Its vertical integration strategy is gaining traction, with strong revenue and profit growth at its Carelon Services business. Elevance’s shares are trading at 13X earnings, which is a very attractive investment proposition for a durable business that expects long-term earnings growth of over 12%.”
A medical professional working at a computer, utilizing the company’s digital solutions to improve care quality for consumers.
Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 73 hedge fund portfolios held Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) at the end of the second quarter which was 79 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter, Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) reported GAAP diluted earnings per share of $9.85 and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $10.12, up 12% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) 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 Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) and shared Baron Health Care Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.
