Burke Wealth Management, an investment management company, released its “Focused Growth Strategy” first-quarter 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Fund returned -10.6% in Q1 2026, significantly lagging the S&P 500’s -4.3% returns. The letter noted the quarter as the worst for equities since 2022, with strong corporate earnings being overshadowed by the Iran War and a spike in oil prices. The effects of the AI revolution increased concerns in the investment community. Despite these uncertainties, the firm believes that the strength of the companies in the portfolio positions it to navigate short-term uncertainties and capitalize on long-term opportunities presented by the AI revolution. In addition, you can check the Portfolio’s top five holdings to see its best picks for 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Burke Wealth Management highlighted stocks like ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW). ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is a cloud-based software company that provides a platform for automating and managing digital workflows. On June 23, 2026, ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) closed at $95.94 per share. One-month return of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) was -6.05%, and its shares lost 52.28% over the past 52 weeks. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) has a market capitalization of $98.94 billion.
Burke Wealth Management stated the following regarding ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW): As a sector, enterprise software stocks peaked at the end of 2024, had a terrible 2025 and an even worse start to 2026. There has been very little distinction between single solution product companies and platform companies that orchestrate workflows across an entire enterprise. Valuations are at 10-year lows, and the prevailing viewpoint is that AI is going to obviate the need for legacy enterprise software subscriptions either by replacing existing software with vibe-coded solutions or by destroying the per seat business model that these companies were built on by eliminating the seats (human employees). Every time Anthropic releases a new set of tools, it seems like enterprise software stocks fall 5%. We have tried to manage through this environment by consolidating around what we view to be best of breed platform companies across different segments of the enterprise software stack (the raw data layer (SNOW), cyber security (CRWD), and multi-cloud platform solutions (NOW, CRM). Unfortunately, our efforts to discriminate between business models and high grade our holdings have not worked as the broader market is doing no such thing at the present time. The fact that each of the enterprise software companies in our portfolio have beaten earnings estimates consistently over the past year and are forecasting revenue acceleration in 2026 has not mattered either. In fact, this has only served to increase our level of frustration with the stock action. Service Now and Crowdstrike grew operating profit over 25% in 20025 while Snowflake more than doubled its operating profit from a somewhat depressed base….” (Click here to read the full text)
ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) ranks 25 on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 108 hedge fund portfolios held ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 118 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2026, ServiceNow, Inc.’s (NYSE:NOW) subscription revenues increased 19% year-over-year to $3.67 billion. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) and shared the list of set-it-and-forget-it stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2026 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.
