Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Russell Midcap Value Index ended Q4 somewhat lower, down -1.75%, after posting robust gains in Q3. The index provided a 13.07% return for the year. Following the US election, mid-cap value stocks experienced a significant rally with the larger US equity market, hitting all-time highs before declining in December. In the quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTQX returned -3.70%, Advisor Class fund APDQX posted a return of -3.67%, and Institutional Class fund APHQX returned -3.67%, compared to a -1.75% return for the Russell Midcap Value Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund emphasized stocks such as Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG). Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) is a discount retailer, that provides various merchandise products. The one-month return of Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) was 8.90%, and its shares lost 48.00% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 14, 2025, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) stock closed at $79.02 per share with a market capitalization of $17.379 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Turning to a discussion of full-year performance results, our biggest detractors were aforementioned Dentsply Sirona, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) and Cable One. Dollar General operates a chain of discount retail stores in the US. A combination of execution issues, competitive pressures and an increasingly constrained lower income consumer are hurting sales growth. Additionally, margins are under pressure due to labor costs, shrink and markdowns. Some of the issues are self-inflicted. After years of focusing on store growth to drive the top line, store standards have suffered. Addressing store standards is needed to turn around flagging traffic, comps and customer satisfaction. Additionally, its strategy to grow the share of sales that come from non-consumables hasn’t achieved its objectives as these products have tended to sit on store shelves, leading to more promotions and inventory write-downs. Turning the business around will take time, but the stock price is now back to 2016 levels, and multiple valuation metrics are the cheapest in the stock’s history.”
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