Natera (NTRA) Soared After a 43% Increase In Revenue

Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Global Equity Fund” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The expectation of rate reduction later this year and slowing inflation boosted global markets in Q1. In the first quarter, the fund’s Investor Class ARTHX returned 12.67 %, Advisor Class APDHX posted a return of 12.67%, and Institutional Class APHHX returned 12.72%, compared to an 8.20% return for the MSCI All Country World Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Artisan Global Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA), in the first quarter 2024 investor letter. Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) develops and commercializes molecular testing services. Natera, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:NTRA) one-month return was 4.49%, and its shares gained 127.08% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 2, 2024, Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) stock closed at $110.70 per share with a market capitalization of $13.594 billion.

Artisan Global Equity Fund stated the following regarding Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in its Q1 2024 investor letter:

"Holdings in health care emerged as standout performers this quarter. Genetic testing company Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) jumped after it reported a 43% increase in revenue, handily beating consensus estimates and its own projections. In addition, Natera grew organic gross margins by 8% to 49%, excluding one-time items. Sales of Signatera, Natera’s line of blood tests that can detect extremely small amounts of post-treatment residual cancer, grew by 73% during the quarter. Signatera is quickly becoming the standard of care, helping oncologists detect cancer relapses earlier in the treatment cycle and potentially saving critical time. We see several other potential catalysts for Signatera in 2024 and think it represents a $15 billion market opportunity for the company."

A laboratory environment with technicians in lab coats conducting molecular testing services.

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 58 hedge fund portfolios held Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) at the end of the first quarter which was 50 in the previous quarter. Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) announced strong first quarter, revenues, up 52% from Q1 of last year and up 18% sequentially from Q4 2023, fueled by record volume growth and rising ASPs. While we acknowledge the potential of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) 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.

We discussed Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in another article and shared Alger Weatherbie Specialized Growth Fund's views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.