Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Value Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The robust US economy, a general disinflation trend, and increased corporate earnings pushed the US equity markets to a new all-time high in the first quarter. The fund’s Investor Class ARTLX, Advisor Class APDLX, and Institutional Class APHLX returned 8.65%, 8.71%, and 8.71% respectively, in the first quarter compared to an 8.99% return for the Russell 1000 Value Index. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the strategy to know its best picks in 2024.
Artisan Value Fund highlighted stocks like United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) is a package delivery company, with a market capitalization of $119.008 billion. One-month return of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) was -5.62%, and its shares lost 18.76% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 23, 2024, United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) stock closed at $139.10 per share.
Artisan Value Fund stated the following regarding United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) was a Q4 2023 purchase. When we initiated our position, shares were under pressure due to concerns about its new labor contract diverting volumes and driving up costs, as well as the continued normalization of volumes following COVID-related gains. The stock moved higher after we purchased it but gave up those gains in January when the company reported weaker-than-expected shipping volumes and a decline in revenue in the prior quarter. Despite the long-term growth tailwinds from the secular shift toward e-commerce, the shipping business is still cyclical, so disappointments will happen. However, we welcomed the market’s short-term focus as it provided us an opportunity to purchase UPS at an undemanding valuation of less than 11X our view of normalized earnings. UPS is a good transport operation that easily earns its cost of capital, generates significant free cash, has a wide economic moat, has a strong financial profile and pays an attractive dividend yielding 4%. With the new 5-year labor agreement completed, we believe UPS can focus on regaining lost volume and improving its cost structure.”
A warehouse filled with boxes of parcels, symbolizing the companies reliable logistics services.
United Parcel Service, Inc.’s (NYSE:UPS) trailing 12 months revenue is $89.74 billion. In the first quarter, United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) reported consolidated revenue of $21.7 billion, a 5.3% decrease compared to first quarter of 2023.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 43 hedge fund portfolios held United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) at the end of the first quarter which was 46 in the previous quarter.
In another article, we discussed United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) and shared the list of best quality dividend stocks to buy according to Reddit. 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.
