Here’s Why Artisan Partners Disposed its The Boston Beer Co. (SAM) Stake

Artisan Partners, a high value-added investment management firm, published its ‘Artisan Mid Cap Fund’ third quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A return of 3.06% was recorded by its Investor Class: ARTMX, 3.11% by its Advisor Class: APDMX, and 3.12% by its Institutional Class: APHMX, in the third quarter of 2021, all outpacing the Russell Midcap® Growth Index that delivered a -0.76% return, and the Russell Midcap® Index that was down by -0.93% for the same period. You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

Artisan Mid-Cap Fund, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE: SAM) and discussed its stance on the firm. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. is a Boston, Massachusetts-based beverage company with a $5.7 billion market capitalization. SAM delivered a -53.26% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -50.47%. The stock closed at $464.75 per share on November 19, 2021.

Here is what Artisan Mid-Cap Fund has to say about The Boston Beer Company, Inc.  in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“We ended our campaigns in Boston Beer Company. Boston Beer Company sells a focused portfolio of alcoholic beverage brands. In recent years, the company has emerged as one of the leaders in the hard seltzer category, which has grown over 150% in each of the past three years (2018-2020). Boston Beer’s Truly brand, the second-largest seller of hard seltzer, has benefited from this growth and was core to our investment thesis. However, the hard seltzer category’s growth has recently slowed to single digits, falling short of high investor expectations and pressuring Boston Beer’s earnings upside. Truly’s growth was core to our investment thesis, and a recovery is uncertain; thus, we ended our investment campaign.”

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Based on our calculations, The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE: SAM) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. SAM was in 42 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first half of 2021, compared to 29 funds in the previous quarter. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE: SAM) delivered a -20.98% return in the past 3 months.

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