Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter for “Artisan Small Cap Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Fund seeks to invest in companies that possess franchise characteristics, with strong earnings trajectories, and are trading at a discount to the estimated private market value. Despite strong results in 2025, volatility was elevated, and sentiment shifted frequently, influenced by political developments in the US, evolving trade policy rhetoric, changing expectations for monetary policy, and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Against this backdrop, the Fund posted strong absolute returns in the fourth quarter, outperforming both the Russell 2000® Growth Index and the Russell 2000® Index. The portfolio delivered strong results in the quarter across all segments. In contrast, for the full year, the Fund generated strong results but trailed both the indexes. In Q4 2025, the market leadership shifted back to companies with durable profit cycles. Moving to 2026, the firm continues to focus on its proven technique of identifying profit cycles in franchise companies at reasonable valuations. Please review the Fund’s top five holdings to gain insights into their key selections for 2025.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Artisan Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE). Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) is a leading provider of cloud-based software for property and casualty (P&C) insurance companies. On March 16, 2026, Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) stock closed at $161.74 per share. Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) delivered a 32.26% return in the past month, and its shares lost 15.47% over the past twelve months. Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) has a market capitalization of $13.751 billion.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Among our detractors were Stevanato Group, Parsons and Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) . Guidewire is a market leader in next-generation property and casualty insurance software. The company has delivered a strong profit cycle for several years, driven by insurance carrier modernization, and this quarter was consistent with that trend. After outperforming a lagging software sector in the first three quarters, the stock lost some momentum in Q4. We trimmed the position into strength during the year, in line with our valuation discipline, and continue to hold a medium-sized CropSM position as valuation assumptions have become more reasonable.”
Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 69 hedge fund portfolios held Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) at the end of the third quarter, compared to 72 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) and shared BBH Select Series – Mid Cap Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.
