Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTMX returned -7.40%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of -7.37%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned -7.35%, compared to a -7.12% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. US equities achieved solid Q4 gains, concluding a strong year. After a period of strong growth stock performance in 2023 and 2024, value stocks gained the lead in Q1 2025. In a risk-averse environment, investors shifted towards lower-volatility equities, especially in the utilities and consumer staples sectors, alongside those with higher dividend yields. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted stocks such as Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK). Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) is a footwear, apparel, and accessories company for everyday casual lifestyle and high-performance activities. The one-month return of Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) was 1.96%, and its shares lost 16.81% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 5, 2025, Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) stock closed at $118.33 per share with a market capitalization of $17.959 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Among our top detractors were West Pharmaceutical Services, Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) and Marvell Technology. Deckers owns and operates the Ugg and Hoka brands, which comprise most of the company’s sales. Shares dropped after the company released its earnings results. While demand for both brands was strong, a weaker-than-expected forward short-term outlook raised concerns. However, we believe the weakness can be largely attributed to supply shortages and management’s conservative approach. We continue to view this as an attractive profit cycle driven by a combination of its wholesale channel (market share gains within specialty running, disciplined expansion into new stores in the US and new country launches), online sales (as brand awareness builds) and product innovation (a mix of performance and lifestyle, which expands the addressable market). We have maintained our position but are evaluating tariff impacts on margins and will be monitoring demand for its Hoka brand.”
A customer browsing a retail store, finding the perfect footwear for their casual outfits.
Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 66 hedge fund portfolios held Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 61 in the third quarter. In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Deckers Outdoor Corporation’s (NYSE:DECK) revenue grew 17% year-over-year to $1.8 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) 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 covered Deckers Outdoor Corporation (NYSE:DECK) and shared the list of worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 so far in 2025. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 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.