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Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its first-quarter 2026 investor letter for the “Artisan Mid Cap Fund”. A copy of the letter is available to download here. In Q1 2026, the Artisan Mid Cap Fund reported negative absolute returns but slightly outperformed the Russell Midcap® Growth Index. The market favored lower volatility and income-oriented equities, with value outpacing growth significantly. Despite challenges for growth strategies, selective stock choices in sectors like industrials and healthcare provided strength, while consumer discretionary faced weaknesses. Mid- and small-cap indices showed resilience amid lagging large-cap growth stocks. The escalating conflict in Iran influenced market behavior, and AI-related investments continued to support capital spending and earnings. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted stocks like Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB). Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) is a semiconductor-based connectivity solutions provider for cloud and AI infrastructure. On May 8, 2026, Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) closed at $199.79 per share. One-month return of Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) was 19.78%, and its shares gained 148.87% over the past 52 weeks. Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) has a market capitalization of $34.25 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
"Notable trims during the quarter were Coherent, Wingstop and Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB). Astera Labs is a fabless provider of connectivity chips designed to address data, network and memory bandwidth bottlenecks in data centers. Its solutions are designed to improve system efficiency and enable communication across heterogeneous computing architectures, positioning the company to potentially benefit from continued AI-driven infrastructure growth. We reduced the position as our conviction moderated, primarily due to customer concentration risk and increasing investment requirements, while maintaining exposure to the company’s longer term growth opportunity."
Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 52 hedge fund portfolios held Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 57 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
In another article, we covered Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) and shared the list of best American semiconductor stocks to buy according to analysts. Artisan Mid Cap Fund initiated a position in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) in Q4 2025, citing its long-term growth opportunity. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2026 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.