Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” third quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the third quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTMX returned 2.35%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of 2.38%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned 2.40%, compared to a 6.54% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. Negative security selection within health care, information technology, and industrials led to the fund’s underperformance in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW), in the third quarter 2024 investor letter. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) offers products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring. The one-month return of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) was 2.03%, and its shares lost 1.16% of their value over the last 52 weeks.  On October 15, 2024, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) stock closed at $68.90 per share with a market capitalization of $41.505 billion.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

"We ended our investment campaigns in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW), Jabil and Trex during the quarter. Edwards Lifesciences is the leader in minimally invasive structural heart disease therapies. While we remain optimistic about the company’s new product pipeline of devices to treat mitral and tricuspid valve disorders, we were disappointed to see a meaningful slowdown in the company’s core transcatheter aortic valve replacement franchise (TAVR). At 64% of revenues, TAVR’s slow growth—which seems to be a function of capacity constraints in its customer base—makes it difficult for Edwards to meet our growth expectations, and we decided to exit our position."

A skilled surgeon surrounded by a team of medical professionals performing a Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement.

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 47 hedge fund portfolios held Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) at the end of the second quarter which was 47 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) 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 cheapest AI stock.