Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTQX returned 5.61%, Advisor Class fund APDQX posted a return of 5.65%, and Institutional Class fund APHQX returned 5.71%, compared to an 8.23% return for the Russell Midcap Value Index. Divergent sector positioning, including above-benchmark concentration in communication services and lower exposure in industrials, was a major contributing factor to the underperformance. Holdings in information technology, real estate, and consumer staples contributed to the strategy’s performance in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund highlighted stocks like Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) offers mobility ecosystem solutions worldwide. The one-month return of Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) was -4.65%, and its shares gained 21.66% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 17, 2024, Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) stock closed at $38.36 per share with a market capitalization of $5.923 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Our top Q1 contributors were Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT), nVent Electric and Corebridge Financial. Vontier is a provider of fuel dispensing and related software and services to retail and commercial gas stations. At the time of our initial purchase in Q2 2022, the stock was weak for a few reasons. First, an upgrade cycle to EMV, a new payment technology, pulled forward sales into 2021, resulting in a sharper-than-expected hit to 2022–2023 sales. Sentiment was also weak due to supply chain disruptions, concerns about fuel consumption amid higher gas prices in the early months of the Ukraine war and longer term fears regarding electric vehicle market share growth. With these issues easing as of late and the stock selling cheaply, shares have turned higher on steady results and the prospect for better earnings growth driven by market share wins in mobility technologies (e.g., cloud payments software), cost savings and capital allocation (i.e., share buybacks, M&A). In addition to its cheap valuation, we are attracted to its free cash flow generation, high returns on capital, relatively asset-light business model and strong positioning in an industry that benefits from regulatory-driven demand.”
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Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 30 hedge fund portfolios held Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) at the end of the first quarter which was 28 in the previous quarter. In the quarter Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) reported core growth of 4%, which was at the top end of the guidance range. While we acknowledge the potential of Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) 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 Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT) and shared The London Company Small Cap Strategy’s views on the company in the previous quarter. Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund’s portfolio benefitted from Vontier Corporation’s (NYSE:VNT) performance in Q4 2023. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.
