Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Small Cap Fund” fourth quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US stocks concluded a strong year with strong gains in Q4. In Q4, the portfolio's performance was flat and narrowly trailed the Russell 2000® Growth Index. In 2024, the portfolio produced a robust absolute return that was in line with the Russell 2000® Growth Index but outperformed the Russell 2000 Index. In the quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTSX returned 0.61%, Advisor Class fund APDSX posted a return of 0.66%, and Institutional Class fund APHSX returned 0.67%, compared to a return of 1.70% for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2024.

In its fourth quarter 2024 investor letter, Artisan Small Cap Fund emphasized stocks such as Inter Parfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR). Headquartered in New York, New York, Inter Parfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) engages in the manufacturing and distribution of a range of fragrances and fragrance-related products. The one-month return of Interparfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) was -6.03%, and its shares lost 8.39% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 10, 2025, Interparfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) stock closed at $127.15 per share with a market capitalization of $4.083 billion.

Artisan Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Interparfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

"We ended our investment campaigns in Argenx, Tyler Technologies and Interparfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR). Interparfums is a top player in the prestige fragrance industry. It manufactures, markets and distributes fragrance products through its vast portfolio of licensing agreements with mass market and luxury fashion brands. The company is the only listed pure-play in prestige fragrance, a category gaining traction and experiencing faster growth in recent years. Fragrance penetration stands at 20%–25% in the US and3%inChinaversusmorematureregionsin Europethat are close to 50%, highlighting the long-term opportunities in those countries as consumers continue to discover and connect with the category. Our view was the company is well positioned to grow revenue at attractive rates, supported by category growth and market share gains. Unfortunately, our profit cycle thesis has not taken hold, and after an extended period in the GardenSM of the portfolio, we decided to move on in favor of higher conviction ideas."

A shelf of luxurious perfumes in an upmarket department store surrounded by satisfied customers.

Interparfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 18 hedge fund portfolios held Interparfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 13 in the third quarter. Interparfums, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:IPAR) consolidated net sales grew 10% in both the final quarter and the full year to $362 million and $1.452 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of Interparfums, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAR) 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.

In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2024 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.