Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Global Discovery Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund’s Investor Class APFDX returned -3.67%, Advisor Class APDDX posted a return of -3.65%, and Institutional Class APHDX returned -3.62%, compared to a -1.71% return for the MSCI All Country World Small Mid Index. Investor sentiment as 2025 approached was positive. In 2024, US equities once more surpassed their global counterparts, raising expectations that the incoming Republican administration would bolster the idea of US exceptionalism. However, the first quarter surprised everyone. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Artisan Global Discovery Fund highlighted stocks such as US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD). US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) is a US-based food distribution company. The one-month return of US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) was 0.04%, and its shares gained 47.94% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 12, 2025, US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) stock closed at $76.66 per share, with a market capitalization of $17.735 billion.
Artisan Global Discovery Fund stated the following regarding US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Notable adds in the quarter included CCC Intelligent Solutions and US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD). US Foods stands as the second-largest food distribution company in the US, catering to independent restaurants, national chains, health care providers and hospitality venues. Historically fragmented, the food distribution industry has consolidated into three dominant players, driven by strategic M&A, procurement efficiencies, private label expansion and technological advancements. US Foods leads the industry with best-in-class asset and inventory turnover metrics, reflecting exceptional productivity. We believe the company is well positioned to achieve continued margin growth through several self improvement initiatives, including a new warehousing operating and management system, advanced routing, flexible scheduling, small truck service expansion, warehouse automation and enhanced vendor rebate programs. By following through on these operational enhancements, we believe US Foods is poised to strengthen its competitive edge, drive higher profitability and reinforce its standing as an industry leader. During Q1, the company reported thesis affirming earnings results, including 14% earnings growth, and we added to the position.”
A loading dock filled with dry goods and frozen food being loaded onto a truck.
US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 57 hedge fund portfolios held US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) at the end of the first quarter, which was 67 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the undervalued AI stock set for massive gains.
In another article, we covered US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) and shared the list of stocks with buy ratings that hedge funds back immensely. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. While we acknowledge the potential of USFD as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
