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 Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN). Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) is a technology-driven engineering company focusing on defense, intelligence, and infrastructure markets. On March 16, 2026, Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) stock closed at $52.60 per share. One-month return of Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) was -14.35%, and its shares lost 12.45% over the past 52 weeks. Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) has a market capitalization of $5.629 billion.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Among our detractors were Stevanato Group, Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) and Guidewire. Parsons is a technology-driven engineering firm serving the defense, intelligence and infrastructure markets, with strengths in cybersecurity, missile defense and infrastructure protection. Shares fell in Q4 after losing out on winning a $12.5 billion Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control modernization contract, interrupting a recovery from earlier cost-cutting pressures tied to the Department of Government Efficiency initiatives. Despite not being selected as the prime integrator, we remain invested, as Parsons’ long-standing relationship with the FAA positions it to capture meaningful portions of the program. We also believe Parsons is well positioned to win multiple large-scale awards across federal, state and global institutions.”
Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 30 hedge fund portfolios held Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 31 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) 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 Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) and shared a bullish thesis 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.
