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 like Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN). Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) is a technology-driven engineering company focusing on defense, intelligence, and infrastructure markets. On March 16, 2026, Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) stock closed at $52.60 per share. One-month return of Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) was -14.35%, and its shares lost 12.45% over the past 52 weeks. Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) has a market capitalization of $5.629 billion.
Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Among our detractors were Stevanato Group, Parsons Corporation (NYSE:PSN) and Guidewire. Parsons is a technology-driven engineering firm serving the defense, intelligence and infrastructure markets, with strengths in cybersecurity, missile defense and infrastructure protection. Shares fell in Q4 after losing out on winning a $12.5 billion Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control modernization contract, interrupting a recovery from earlier cost-cutting pressures tied to the Department of Government Efficiency initiatives. Despite not being selected as the prime integrator, we remain invested, as Parsons’ long-standing relationship with the FAA positions it to capture meaningful portions of the program. We also believe Parsons is well positioned to win multiple large-scale awards across federal, state and global institutions.”
