Investment management company Artisan Partners Artisan Partners released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” in the first quarter of 2025. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund's investor fund ARTMX returned -7.40%, the consultant APDMX returned -7.37%, the institutional APHMX returned -7.35%, and the Russell MidCap Growth Index returned -7.12%. U.S. stocks received steady fourth-quarter earnings, ending a strong year. Value stocks took the lead in the first quarter of 2025 after strong growth in 2023 and 2024. In a risk aversion environment, investors move to low-volatility stocks, especially in utilities and consumer staple foods, as well as areas with higher dividends. Also, check the fund’s top five holdings to see its best options for 2025.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted stocks such as Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) in its first-quarter 2025 investor letter. Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is a biopharmaceutical company. Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) has a one-month return of 21.84%, and its shares account for 27.42% of its value over the past 52 weeks. On May 5, 2025, Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) stock closed at US$170.74 per share, with a market value of US$1030.8 billion.

Artisan Mid Cap Fund pointed out the following about Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“Among our first quarter contributors, there is Spotify, On pharma a/s (NASDAQ:ASND) and Autozone. Ascendis shares gained strength this quarter thanks to the launch of its latest drug, Yorvipath. The drug treats hypothyroidism - a rare endocrine disorder with limited effective treatment. Our view is that this will be an important profit cycle driver given the considerable addressing market and the unmet needs in current care. Yorvipath was approved and launched in December, and the company's latest earnings results indicate that the launch is in an expected state. Although it is still early, initial prescription data support our perception of sales that may exceed market expectations. Meanwhile, Ascendis has a third promising drug, Transcon CNP (Treatment of Acondroplasia), which was submitted for FDA approval in the first quarter and may be launched in 2026. ”

Close-up of the syringe is manually manipulated while delivering the transwell CNP into the tumor.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is not among the 30 most popular stocks in hedge funds. According to our database, at the end of the fourth quarter, 45 hedge fund portfolios held Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND), compared with 43 in the third quarter. Although we acknowledge the potential of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) as an investment, our belief is that AI stocks have greater hopes to deliver higher returns in a shorter time and return in a shorter time. If you are looking for AI stocks that are as promising as NVIDIA but have less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report Cheapest AI stocks.