Artisan Partners has Strong Conviction on Catalent (CTLT)’s Profit Cycle Potential

Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Global Discovery Fund” second quarter investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, its Investor Class: APFDX returned -20.46%, Advisor Class: APDDX posted a return of -20.42%, and Institutional Class: APHDX returned -20.40%, compared to the benchmark return of -15.66% for the MSCI All Country World Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2022.

Artisan Partners discussed stocks like Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) in the second quarter investor letter. Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) is a developer and manufacturer of drug solutions, protein-based biologics, and cell and gene therapies. On September 23, 2022, Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) stock closed at $76.07 per share. One-month return of Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) was -23.70% and its shares lost 46.18% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) has a market capitalization of $13.685 billion.

Here is what Artisan Partners specifically said about Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT), one of the largest contract manufacturing suppliers to the pharmaceuticals industry, has played a critical role in COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics—notably, supporting Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca production efforts. Shares have been volatile this year as investors have contemplated the company’s ability to grow through the decline of COVID-19 vaccine sales. Our decision to add to our position amid the share price weakness was rewarded as the stock rebounded in Q2 after management issued better than feared 2023 guidance that contemplated significantly lower COVID sales. This outlook reflects the strength in the company’s base business, which we believe has meaningful long-term potential as biologics are increasingly used as alternatives to chemically manufactured, small-molecule compounds. The increasing complexity of these therapies and the growing proportion of small companies taking products to market themselves are driving outsourcing to companies like Catalent to reduce cost. In addition, Catalent’s investments to increase its capabilities in key emerging growth areas (cell and gene therapies, gummi vitamins) give us further confidence around its profit cycle potential. We added to our position during the quarter given our growing conviction in the company’s profit cycle potential.”

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Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT)  is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 41 hedge fund portfolios held Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT)  at the end of the second quarter which was 34 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) in another article and shared ClearBridge Investments’ views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.