Artisan Mid Cap Fund Sold Lululemon Athletica (LULU) for Valuation Discipline

Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The final quarter of 2023 saw a continuous fluctuation between recessionary fears and soft-landing optimism. In the fourth quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTMX returned 8.86%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of 8.93%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned 8.96%, compared to a 14.55% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. The portfolio generated a positive absolute return in Q4 but underperformed the Russell Midcap Growth Index due to poor security selection, particularly in health care and information technology. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund featured stocks like Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) in the fourth quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) designs and distributes athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories. On March 7, 2024, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) stock closed at $457.28 per share. One-month return of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) was -3.32%, and its shares gained 51.52% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) has a market capitalization of $57.705 billion.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:

“Notable trims in the quarter included Veeva, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) and Ryan Specialty Holdings. Lululemon is a designer and retailer of yoga-inspired apparel. An upgraded management team has delivered impressive results in recent years, strengthening all operational functions—supply chain, product design, e-commerce, digital marketing—and driving higher traffic in both brick-and-mortar and online stores. Recent financial results suggest the profit cycle remains nicely in motion as the company beat estimates across both brick-and-mortar and digital sales along with margins. After a strong rally in Q4, we trimmed the position due to our valuation discipline.”

A group of people in the fitness studio doing a yoga or pilates class.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) was held by 52 hedge fund portfolios, down from 61 in the previous quarter, according to our database.

We discussed Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) in another article and shared the list of best Canadian stocks to buy for 2024. 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.