Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its second-quarter 2026 investor letter for its “Artisan Small Cap Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund reported strong absolute returns and modestly outperformed the Russell 2000® Growth Index, which gained 25.7%. Global equities rebounded as resilient US growth, moderating inflation, strong earnings and continued AI investment outweighed delayed rate cuts, rising bond yields and geopolitical uncertainty. Investor Class: ARTSX, Advisor Class: APDSX, and Institutional Class: APHSX returned 26.02%, 26.05%, and 26.11%, respectively, in the second quarter, compared to a 25.71% return for the index. Market leadership favored loss-making, highly leveraged companies, creating a difficult environment for quality-focused active managers. Health care was the strongest relative contributor, while energy, materials, financials and real estate also helped. Technology, industrials and consumer discretionary detracted, partly because the fund did not own oversized index contributors. Software holdings also weakened despite strong fundamentals. The fund remains positive on small-cap opportunities, AI infrastructure and health care, but has reduced software exposure and is staying selective as valuations rise and competitive risks increase. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Artisan Small Cap Fund highlighted Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE). Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) provides a platform for property and casualty (P&C) insurers. On July 23, 2026, Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) closed at $131.38 per share. One-month return of Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) was 14.22% and its shares lost 37.88% over the past 52 weeks. Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) has a market capitalization of $10.94 billion with a 52-week trading range between $102.30 – $272.60.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:
“Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE), the market leader in software for the property and casualty insurance industry, remained a detractor despite continued fundamental improvement. Like many software companies, the stock came under pressure as investors questioned the business’s long-term growth profile and valuation multiples in an AI-driven environment. We believe Guidewire’s system-of-record position remains highly defensible and that the company is well positioned to strengthen its competitive advantage by layering AI-enabled capabilities onto its existing platform.”
Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) is not on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 52 hedge fund portfolios held Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) at the end of the first quarter which was 69 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 the list of best 52-week low technology stocks to buy according to analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2026 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.
