Ariel Appreciation Fund: Goldman Sachs (GS) — A Top Investment Banking Franchise on Wall Street

Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Appreciation Fund” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Following the initial market decline triggered by the “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, the stock market rebounded, bolstered by heightened interest in AI stocks, positive economic data, and robust corporate earnings. Against this backdrop, the fund increased +5.81% in the second quarter, outpacing the Russell Midcap Value Index’s +5.35% returns and trailing the Russell Midcap Index’s +8.53% returns. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its second quarter 2025 investor letter, Ariel Appreciation Fund highlighted stocks such as The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS). The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) is a financial institution that offers a wide range of financial services. The one-month return of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) was 9.49%, and its shares gained 45.42% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 18, 2025, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) stock closed at $708.26 per share, with a market capitalization of $217.323 billion.

Ariel Appreciation Fund stated the following regarding The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“We also repurchased global investment bank, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), as macro uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and shifts in global trade policy drove the name back down within our midcap portfolios’ capitalization range in the quarter. In our view, GS has one of the strongest investment banking franchises on Wall Street.”

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An investment banker making a presentation to a board of directors about emerging markets.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 77 hedge fund portfolios held The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 81 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) 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 The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and shared the list of stocks that Jim Cramer recently discussed. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 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.