Artisan Partners, a high value-added investment management firm, published its “Artisan Value Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A return of 4.48% was recorded by its Investor Class: ARTLX, 4.55% by its Advisor Class: APDLX, and 4.54% was gained by its Institutional Class: APHLX for the fourth quarter of 2021, all below the Russell 1000® Value Index that delivered a 7.77% return, and the Russell 1000® Index that gained 9.78% for the same period. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.
Artisan Value Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (NYSE: FMS) and discussed its stance on the firm. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. is a Bad Homburg, Germany-based healthcare company with a $19.7 billion market capitalization. FMS delivered a 0.74% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -5.22%. The stock closed at $32.70 per share on February 25, 2022.
Here is what Artisan Value Fund has to say about Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:
“Our biggest detractors for the year was Fresenius Medical Care. Fresenius Medical is a vertically integrated provider of dialysis equipment and services, reaching the large and growing global population of chronic kidney disease patients. The company has experienced headwinds related to the pandemic, most notably due to the higher mortality rates found among dialysis patients. However, the company is a global market share leader in terms of both supplying dialysis equipment and treating dialysis patients, affording it a natural competitive advantage. Due to the relative stability of the business model, Fresenius carries more leverage on its balance sheet than we typically prefer, but it has steadily reduced its debt burden given strong and stable cash flows despite the ongoing industry volatility. Further, management has indicated its intention to reduce capital intensity as it deploys an in-home solution for patients. Earnings and cash flow have steadily climbed for the better part of the last decade. We anticipate the business will recover post-COVID and will benefit from the secular growth of its end markets.”
Our calculations show that Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (NYSE: FMS) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. FMS was in 11 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 4 funds in the previous quarter. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (NYSE: FMS) delivered an 8.71% return in the past 3 months.
In November 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on FMS in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
