Artisan Mid Cap Fund adds Guardant Health on screening growth

Artisan Partners’ Artisan Mid Cap Fund added Guardant Health during the second quarter of 2026, citing the company’s liquid-biopsy diagnostics, cancer-screening growth and rising testing volumes.

Guardant provides blood and tissue tests as well as oncology-related data sets. In its quarterly investor letter, as reported by Yahoo Finance, Artisan said adoption of Guardant’s Shield colorectal-cancer screening test was accelerating and that the company had raised its full-year revenue guidance.

Artisan also pointed to Guardant’s expanding oncology and screening portfolio, along with potential opportunities in precision oncology, AI-enabled diagnostics and reimbursement. Those comments represent the fund’s investment rationale and are not an independent recommendation.

The fund’s investor classes returned between 17.86% and 17.93% in the quarter, compared with a 14.55% gain for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. Healthcare holdings were described as the fund’s largest contributor.

Guardant shares closed at US$161.41 on 4 September, according to the report, which put the stock’s 52-week return at 168.28%. The report said 80 hedge-fund portfolios held the shares at the end of the second quarter, up from 58 in the previous quarter.