NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 12:59 ET
- Artisan Value Fund said it sold The Cigna Group and bought Elevance Health in Q3, citing Washington talk of PBM reform risk.
- The fund kept ASML Holding as a top holding as it reaffirmed confidence in the chip-tool maker’s long-term position.
- Investor Class shares returned 0.83% in Q3, lagging the Russell 1000 Value Index’s 5.33% gain.
Artisan Partners’ Artisan Value Fund said in its third-quarter 2025 investor letter that it sold The Cigna Group and bought Elevance Health, citing rising policy risk around pharmacy benefit managers. The fund also reiterated conviction in ASML Holding, keeping the chip-equipment maker among its top positions.
The portfolio shifts land as investors look for signs that the market’s leadership can broaden beyond AI-linked winners. They also underscore how quickly regulatory scrutiny can reshape the outlook for big healthcare intermediaries.
Cigna’s pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, business sits near the center of that debate. PBMs design and administer drug plans for employers and insurers, negotiating prices and rebates with drugmakers.
In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the fund’s Investor Class shares returned 0.83%, underperforming the Russell 1000 Value Index’s 5.33% rise, the letter said.
The managers said value stocks lagged technology-heavy growth, leaving a wide valuation gap between the Russell 1000 Value and Growth indexes by the end of the quarter.
Portfolio managers Thomas A. Reynolds IV, Daniel L. Kane and Craig Inman said Cigna’s heavier exposure to PBMs made it more vulnerable to a policy shift. “There are rumblings in Washington about PBM reform,” they wrote. iMonkey Files
They said Elevance’s business mix is more weighted to health insurance, including Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, while also offering pharmacy benefits and other products. Elevance and Cigna compete with peers such as UnitedHealth Group across commercial and government-backed coverage.
PBMs are run by insurers and drug-benefit specialists, including CVS Health’s Caremark and Cigna’s Express Scripts, and they earn fees tied to managing formularies and securing discounts. The fund said Cigna’s PBM operation generates more than half of operating profit.
At the time of the initial purchase, the managers said Elevance traded below 10 times what they described as depressed 2025 earnings, versus a 10-year average multiple of 16. They said they expect plan pricing to adjust higher as costs rise, supporting an earnings recovery and a higher valuation.
The same quarterly disclosure highlighted the fund’s continued bet on ASML, a Yahoo Finance report said.
ASML dominates extreme ultraviolet lithography, a key step used to etch the smallest features on advanced semiconductors. The managers said ASML’s backlog and net cash position gave them confidence it can navigate geopolitical frictions that have placed chip technology under intensifying scrutiny.
ASML made up about 3.1% of the portfolio at Sept. 30, alongside holdings such as Wells Fargo, Lam Research and PayPal, with the top 10 positions totaling 31.1% of assets, the commentary showed.
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