Artisan Partners Mid Cap Fund Exits Lululemon Athletica (LULU) Due to Valuation Discipline
Artisan Partners, an investment management company, recently released its first quarter 2024 investor letter for the Artisan Mid Cap Fund. The fund saw impressive returns in the first quarter, with the Investor Class fund returning 10.41%, the Advisor Class fund posting a return of 10.40%, and the Institutional Class fund returning 10.44%. This outperformed the Russell Midcap Growth Index, which had a return of 9.50%.
The success of the Artisan Mid Cap Fund in the first quarter was attributed to balanced security selection across various sectors such as health care, industrials, consumer staples, consumer discretionary, and communication services. This led the portfolio to outperform the index during the quarter.
One of the featured stocks in the first quarter investor letter was Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU). The company, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, designs and distributes athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories. Despite a one-month return of -25.52% and a 5.96% loss in share value over the last 52 weeks, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) has a market capitalization of $43.639 billion.
In the investor letter, Artisan Mid Cap Fund mentioned that they ended their investment campaign in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) during the quarter. The company’s upgraded management team has delivered impressive results in recent years, strengthening operational functions and driving more traffic to its brick-and-mortar and online channels. Based on their valuation discipline, Artisan Partners decided to exit the position after a successful multiyear investment campaign.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) is not among the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds, with 52 hedge fund portfolios holding the stock at the end of the fourth quarter. This is down from 61 in the previous quarter.
For more insights on Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) and other investor letters from hedge funds, readers are encouraged to visit Insider Monkey’s website.