Launch of New Drug Lifted Ascendis Pharma A
Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its 'Artisan Mid Cap Fund' first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund's Investor Class fund ARTMX returned -7.40%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of -7.37%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned -7.35%, compared to a -7.12% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. US equities achieved solid Q4 gains, concluding a strong year. After a period of strong growth stock performance in 2023 and 2024, value stocks gained the lead in Q1 2025. In a risk-averse environment, investors shifted towards lower-volatility equities, especially in the utilities and consumer staples sectors, alongside those with higher dividend yields. In addition, please check the fund's top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted stocks such as Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND). Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is a biopharmaceutical company. The one-month return of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) was 21.84%, and its shares gained 27.42% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 5, 2025, Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) stock closed at $170.74 per share with a market capitalization of $10.308 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund stated the following regarding Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
"Among our top Q1 contributors were Spotify, Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) and AutoZone. Shares of Ascendis experienced strength in the quarter due to the launch of its latest drug, Yorvipath. The drug treats hypoparathyroidism—a rare endocrine disorder with limited effective treatments. Our view is that this will be a significant profit cycle driver, given the sizable addressable market and the unmet needs in current care. Yorvipath was approved and launched in December, and the company's latest earnings results showed the launch is running well ahead of expectations. While it's still early, initial prescription data supports our bullish view of sales that could exceed market expectations by a wide margin. Meanwhile, Ascendis has a third promising drug, Transcon CNP (to treat achondroplasia), that was submitted for FDA approval in Q1 and could be launched in 2026."
Is Ascendis Pharma A/S (ASND) the Best Growth Stock to Buy According to Billionaires?
A close-up view of a hand manipulating a syringe while delivering TransCon CNP into a tumor.
Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 43 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) 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.
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