Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Small Cap Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In Q2, data indicated strong US economic activity and a robust labor market, while inflation gradually moved closer to the Fed’s 2% target. In the second quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTSX returned -4.45%, Advisor Class fund APDSX posted a return of -4.40%, and Institutional Class fund APHSX returned -4.38%, compared to a return of -2.92% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. From a sector standpoint, the underperformance was due to negative security selection, while the impact of allocation was slightly positive. 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 Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) in its Q2 2024 investor letter. Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) is a commercial-stage biotechnology company with a market capitalization of $2.588 billion. The one-month return of Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) was 14.76%, and its shares gained 27.41% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 26, 2024, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) stock closed at $9.25 per share.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Among our top detractors for the quarter were Lattice Semiconductor and Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA). Iovance Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on innovating, developing and delivering novel polyclonal tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapies for cancer patients. The stock rallied significantly in Q1 after announcing that the FDA approved AMTAGVI™ (lifileucel) for advanced melanoma. Now that the scientific risk is behind the company, investor focus has shifted to the company’s commercial execution, and shares experienced weakness after the company reported earnings results. It announced the enrollment of more than 100 patients for therapy; however, this was not enough to alleviate investor concerns about patient attrition. In our view, there is no issue with the efficacy of its life-saving treatment. Headwinds have been caused by challenges in ramping production, which is understandable in the early days. We view these concerns as overblown and remain invested.”
A medical staff in white coats monitoring the progress of cancer immunotherapy trials.
Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 34 hedge fund portfolios held Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) at the end of the first quarter which was 34 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) 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 Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) and shared the list of most shorted stocks that are loved by analysts. In the Q1 2024 Investor Letter, Artisan Small Cap Fund reported that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) experienced a rally during the quarter following the announcement of FDA approval for AMTAGVI. 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.
