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 such as Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR). Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) is a leading provider of scientific instruments and analytical and diagnostic solutions. On March 16, 2026, Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) stock closed at $32.76 per share. One-month return of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) was -14.06%, and its shares lost 30.50% over the past 52 weeks. Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) has a market capitalization of $4.987 billion.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“We also added to Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR), Hexcel and Penumbra during the quarter. Bruker is a leading provider of advanced scientific instruments for analyzing biological and chemical samples across life sciences, diagnostics and materials research. We increased our position during the quarter, making it a small CropSM holding. We believe the company’s profit cycle should benefit from ongoing product innovation and recent strategic acquisitions that strengthen its long-term outlook, though they are near-term dilutive. While Bruker faced headwinds this year from softer research funding and weaker spending in the Chinese market, these pressures are expected to ease in 2026 and could ultimately become tailwinds.”
Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 35 hedge fund portfolios held Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 50 in the previous quarter. In Q4 2025, Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) reported revenue of $977.2 million which were approximately flat year over year. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) 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 Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) and shared a list of best life sciences stocks to buy according to hedge funds. 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.
