Clearbridge Large Cap Growth Strategy Sold Its Stake in ICON Public Limited Company (ICLR)

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” second quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the growth stocks rebounded from tariff uncertainty, with technology and communication services sectors leading in the return to a risk-on environment. The S&P 500 Index returned 10.9% in the quarter, while the technology-heavy NASDAQ Composite soared 17.7%. The benchmark, the Russell 1000 Growth Index, rose 17.8% in the quarter, outperforming the Russell 1000 Value Index. Against this backdrop, the strategy underperformed its benchmark in the second quarter. IT and communication services sectors contributed to the performance while the health care sector detracted. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its second quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR). Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is a clinical research organization. The one-month return of ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) was 7.90%, and its shares lost 53.21% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 3, 2025, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) stock closed at $150.10 per share, with a market capitalization of $11.931 billion.

ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Biotech funding challenges and government funding pressure have negatively impacted companies supporting biopharmaceutical development like contract research organization (CRO) ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR). This has pushed out the timing of a CRO growth recovery, even after multiple quarters of spending rationalization among its customers. We exited ICON due to the lowering of our confidence in the timing of CRO business normalization.”

ICON Public Limited Company (ICLR): Among Small-Cap Healthcare Stocks Hedge Funds is Buying

A laboratory setting with a team of scientists working on a clinical trial.

ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 44 hedge fund portfolios held ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) at the end of the first quarter, which was 46 in the previous quarter. ICON Public Limited Company’s (NASDAQ:ICLR) first quarter revenue declined 4.3% year-over-year to $2 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the undervalued AI stock set for massive gains.

In another article, we covered ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) and shared Parnassus Mid Cap Growth Fund’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. While we acknowledge the potential of ICLR as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.