Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Small Cap Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The portfolio had a positive absolute return in Q4 but underperformed the Russell 2000 Growth Index due to security selection, particularly in the healthcare and information technology sectors. In the fourth quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTSX returned 9.18%, Advisor Class fund APDSX posted a return of 9.26%, and Institutional Class fund APHSX returned 9.28%, compared to a return of 12.75% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Artisan Small Cap Fund featured stocks like Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Based in San Diego, California, Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) is a biopharma technology company. On March 11, 2024, Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) stock closed at $41.20 per share. One-month return of Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) was 18.94%, and its shares lost 1.90% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) has a market capitalization of $5.293 billion.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“For the year, our portfolio underperformed the Russell 2000® Growth Index. Weakness was primarily within health care, and more specifically, biotechnology. Our three largest industry holdings, Argenx, Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) and Ascendis, detracted from relative results. Despite each company enjoying solid commercial sales progress in 2023, they faced R&D setbacks that led to performance weakness. In fact, the combined impact of these three names accounted for nearly 80% of the portfolio’s 2023 underperformance.
Halozyme provides a unique technology platform that allows for the conversion of biologics and small molecule drugs administered intravenously into a subcutaneous formulation. The company generates predictable and durable royalties from licensing its technology to pharmaceutical companies looking to optimize their therapies. Underperformance was partially related to Argenx, along with headwinds due to Inflation Reduction Act-related US drug price regulation and a lack of new partnership announcements. Regarding Argenx, Halozyme scored an important long-term growth opportunity in Q3 when the FDA approved Argenx’s subcutaneous version of Vyvgart, called Vyvgart Hytrulo. However, its shares declined following Vyvgart’s two failed indications in Q4 (discussed earlier). Despite this setback, we continue to expect expanding commercial opportunities for Vyvgart and Vyvgart Hytrulo, along with a solid pipeline of other new products in the coming years. Halozyme recently released updated guidance and forecasted 2023 royalty revenue of $445 million–$450 million and $1 billion in royalty revenue by 2027. While Halozyme was the top detractor in 2023, it was the top contributor in 2022, has been one of our most successful campaigns since its early 2017 purchase and remains the second-largest position in our portfolio…” (Click here to read the full text)
An image of a research technician wearing lab coat with a syringe full of biopharmaceuticals.
Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) was held by 28 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 23 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) in another article and shared the list of most undervalued biotech stocks to buy according to hedge funds. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2023 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.
