Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Global Opportunities Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US equities experienced significant gains in Q4, showcasing a strong year. The portfolio showed slight weakness in Q4 but posted a strong absolute return in 2024. In the fourth quarter, the fund’s Investor Class ARTRX returned -1.67%, Advisor Class APDRX posted a return of -1.65% and Institutional Class APHRX returned -1.62%, compared to a -0.99% return for the MSCI All Country World Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Artisan Global Opportunities Fund emphasized stocks such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a multinational software company that develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. The one-month return of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was -3.72%, and its shares lost 8.55% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 2, 2025, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock closed at $382.14 per share with a market capitalization of $2.841 trillion.
Artisan Global Opportunities Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“We ended our investment campaigns in Ingersoll Rand and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the quarter. When we initiated our investment campaign in Microsoft, it was based on our view that the company represented one of the cleanest and most compelling ways to invest in generative AI. The company has integrated AI-driven productivity tools into its Office suite (Copilot), enhancing knowledge worker productivity and supporting its premium pricing model. However, we decided to exit the position for two reasons. First, it is investing significantly in expanding its AI data center infrastructure, which is a drag on free cash flow generation. And second, given this massive capital expenditure cycle, demonstrating strong returns on these investments will be crucial; the rollout of Copilot features across the Office suite is expected to be a key driver of these returns. However, we believe the near-term impact of these features will fall short of investor expectations, raising concerns about the immediate payoff of these extensive investments.”
A development team working together to create the next version of Windows.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is in second position our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 317 hedge fund portfolios held Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 279 in the third quarter. In the fiscal second quarter of 2025, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported $69.6 billion in revenues, up 12% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) 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.
We covered Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in another article, where we shared the list of best US stocks to buy for foreign investors. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.