Here’s Why Artisan Partners Sold its Glaukos Corp. (GKOS) Stake

Artisan Partners, a high value-added investment management firm, published its ‘Artisan Small Cap Fund’ third quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A return of -1.20% was recorded by its Investor Class: ARTSX, -1.17% by its Advisor Class: APDSX, and -1.13% by its Institutional Class: APHSX for the third quarter of 2021, all above the Russell 2000® Growth Index that delivered a -5.65% return and the Russell 2000® Index that was down by -4.36% for the same period. You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

Artisan Small Cap Fund, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned Glaukos Corporation (NYSE: GKOS) and discussed its stance on the firm. Glaukos Corporation is a San Clemente, California-based ophthalmic medical technology company with a $1.8 billion market capitalization. GKOS delivered a -46.49% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -42.66%. The stock closed at $40.27 per share on December 03, 2021.

Here is what Artisan Small Cap Fund has to say about Glaukos Corporation  in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Glaukos is an ophthalmic medical technology company focused on breakthrough products and therapies to transform the treatment of glaucoma. During Q3, the company received negative reimbursement news for its iStent procedure—stents inserted into the eye during cataract surgery to relieve pressure. While we believe the more meaningful profit cycle drivers lie in the company’s product pipeline of micro-scale surgical devices, sustained pharmaceutical therapies and implantable biosensors in corneal health and retinal disease, this development impairs the company’s profit growth potential over the near to intermediate term. We decided to end our investment campaign and revisit our thesis when the pipeline products get closer to launching.”

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Based on our calculations, Glaukos Corporation (NYSE: GKOS) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. GKOS was in 23 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 19 funds in the previous quarter. Glaukos Corporation (NYSE: GKOS) delivered a -31.85% return in the past 3 months.

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