Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTMX returned 5.11%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of 5.14%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned 5.14%, compared to an 8.14% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. US equities achieved solid Q4 gains, concluding a strong year. Following Donald Trump’s election win, optimism surged over deregulation and tax cuts. However, concerns about inflation from proposed tariffs and immigration policies emerged in December, introducing market volatility. Despite this, markets ended 2024 with strong gains, marking one of the best two-year performance stretches in decades. 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 Mid Cap Fund emphasized stocks such as US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD). US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) is a US-based food distribution company. The one-month return of US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) was -2.45%, and its shares gained 35.30% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 3, 2025, US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) stock closed at $70.11 per share with a market capitalization of $16.514 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“During the quarter, we initiated new GardenSM positions in US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD), Pure Storage and Robinhood. US Foods stands as the second-largest food distribution company in the US, catering to independent restaurants, national chains, health care providers and hospitality venues. Historically fragmented, the food distribution industry has consolidated into three dominant players, driven by strategic M&A, procurement efficiencies, private label expansion and technological advancements. US Foods leads the industry with best-in-class asset and inventory turnover metrics, reflecting exceptional productivity. We believe the company is well positioned to achieve continued margin growth through several self-improvement initiatives, including a new warehousing operating and management system, advanced routing, flexible scheduling, small truck service expansion, warehouse automation and enhanced vendor rebate programs. By leveraging these operational enhancements, we believe US Foods is poised to strengthen its competitive edge, drive higher profitability and reinforce its standing as a leader in the food distribution landscape.”
A loading dock filled with dry goods and frozen food being loaded onto a truck.
US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 67 hedge fund portfolios held US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 50 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) 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 US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) and shared the list of high growth food stocks to buy. 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.