Should You Invest in Sweetgreen (SG)?

Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Small Cap Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Investor sentiment at the beginning of 2025 was positive. In 2024, US equities once again outperformed their global counterparts, and there was optimism that the new Republican administration would strengthen the idea of US exceptionalism. However, the first quarter did not meet those expectations. In the quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTSX returned -10.14%, Advisor Class fund APDSX posted a return of -10.10%, and Institutional Class fund APHSX returned -10.07%, compared to a return of -11.12% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. Markets experienced weakness due to rising fiscal and geopolitical uncertainties during the quarter. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Artisan Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks such as Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG). Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) operates US-based fast-food restaurants serving healthy food and beverages. The one-month return of Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) was -24.93%, and its shares lost 56.58% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 2, 2025, Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) stock closed at $13.46 per share, with a market capitalization of $1.584 billion.

Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“Three of those new GardenSM positions were FTAI Aviation, Aris Water Solutions and Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG). Sweetgreen owns and operates a chain of healthy fast-casual restaurant spaces, which serves salads, warm bowls and healthy treats. At its core, the company is a health and wellness-focused brand. It has pioneered making salads and warm bowls packed with protein, vegetables, whole grains and flavorful dressings that are nutrient-dense and wholesome. It follows its growth strategy of expanding its store footprint by increasing the number of stores in an existing market and entering new markets while maintaining attractive cash returns on the cash invested per store. The company is progressing toward its goal of 1,000 stores from ~200 today. Additionally, its proprietary “Infinite Kitchen” automation system for manufacturing food has the potential to either significantly increase store-level economics or reduce the price point of its food offering to drive incremental user demand.”

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 27 hedge fund portfolios held Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) at the end of the first quarter, which was 33 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter, Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) reported revenue of $166.3 million, compared to $157.9 million in the first quarter of 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) 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 Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) and shared the list of best restaurant stocks to buy according to hedge funds. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.