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 Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX). Headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) engages in the footwear and accessories business. The one-month return of Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) was 10.00%, and its shares lost 21.20% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On March 7, 2025, Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) stock closed at $99.84 per share with a market capitalization of $5.597 billion.

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

"Among our top detractors were Halozyme, Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) and Novanta. Crocs designs, develops, manufactures and distributes casual footwear and accessories for men, women and children. The company invented the molded plastic clog in 2002 and turned it into a multibillion-dollar (USD) global revenue producer. We believe expansion opportunities outside the US, demand from new product introductions (including from recently acquired Hey Dude) and distribution pushes within the direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels will drive greater-than-expected revenue growth. We had expected the performance of its HeyDude brand to have already bottomed, but forward guidance continues to indicate its turnaround efforts, driven by a new divisional leader, will take longer than expected. We maintained our position as we believe the market underappreciates the longer term profit cycle."

A busy retail store full of customers trying on a wide range of footwear.

Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 41 hedge fund portfolios held Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 42 in the third quarter. In 2024, Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) delivered $4.1 billion in revenues, an increase of 4% compared to prior year. While we acknowledge the potential of Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) 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 another article, we discussed Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) and shared the list of footwear apparel stocks affected by China tariffs. 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.