Artisan Partners, an investment management firm, has released its third quarter 2025 “Artisan Value Fund” investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The stock market rally continued in the third quarter as investors shrugged off tariffs, supported by strong corporate profits, rising investment in AI and prospects of economic support from U.S. fiscal policy and lower interest rates. Against this backdrop, the fund’s ARTLX Investor, APDLX Advisor and APHLX Institutional categories generated returns of 0.83%, 0.91% and 0.90%, respectively, in the third quarter, compared to a return of 5.33% for the Russell 1000 Value Index. Additionally, you can check out the fund’s top 5 holdings to see its top picks in 2025.
In its Q3 2025 investor letter, Artisan Value Fund highlighted stocks like Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM). Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology that brings businesses and customers closer together. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM)’s one-month return was 14.28% and its shares lost 20.75% of their value over the past 52 weeks. On December 26, 2025, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) stock closed at $266.08 per share, with a market cap of $253.308 billion.
Artisan Value Fund stated the following regarding Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) in its Q3 2025 Investor Letter:
“Even though the rally tide has lifted most boats, we still find our share of unloved and out-of-favor companies. In the third quarter, we made three new purchases: Accenture, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) and Elevance Health. Like all technological innovations, AI is expected to create both winners and losers. A number of incumbent IT services and software companies, including Accenture and Salesforce, are considered “potential AI losers” that are at risk of being disrupted by AI. Even though AI is driving change, fears that it will disrupt companies with wide moats like Accenture and Salesforce seem overblown. Salesforce is the largest provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software. Growth at these companies slowed in 2025, spooking investors, but that appears to be due to general slowing macroeconomic conditions, among other factors, rather than AI, which is expected to take years to manifest. Both companies meet our margin of safety criteria because they generate strong and consistent free cash flow, have strong balance sheets, and sell at reasonable valuations. »
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) ranks 16th on our list of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. According to our database, 119 hedge fund portfolios held Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) at the end of the third quarter, up from 121 in the previous quarter. For the third quarter of 2026, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) reported revenue of $10.26 billion, reflecting an increase of 9% year-over-year and 8% at constant currency. While we recognize the potential of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for a hugely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the reshoring trend, check out our free report on the best AI stock in the short term.
