Exact Sciences (EXAS) Rose Following the Acquisition Announcement by Abbott

Fred Alger Management, an investment management company, released its “Alger Small Cap Focus Fund” fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The US equity market ended the fourth quarter on a strong note, with the S&P surging 2.7%, maintaining its steady upward momentum. Investors’ optimism was supported by better-than-expected corporate earnings, the US Federal Reserve’s further interest rate easing stance, and a resilient macroeconomic backdrop. Improving clarity on trade policy provided additional support. Meanwhile, the quarter was characterized by increasing divergence below the index level surface. The enthusiasm for AI investment is facing growing doubts due to bottlenecks, financing challenges, and uncertainty over its ability to generate returns. The firm continues to observe secular trends that present attractive investment opportunities for small-cap stocks. In Q4 2025, Class A shares of the Fund outperformed the Russell 2000 Growth Index. The Utilities and Financials sectors contributed to the relative performance of the Fund in the quarter, while the Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology sectors detracted from performance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Alger Small Cap Focus Fund highlighted stocks such as Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS). Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) provides cancer screening and diagnostic test products. On January 16, 2026, Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) stock closed at $102.43 per share. One-month return of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) was 0.60%, and its shares gained 97.97% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) has a market capitalization of $19.453 billion.

Alger Small Cap Focus Fund stated the following regarding Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) is a molecular diagnostics company focused on oncology testing, best known for its Cologuard noninvasive colorectal cancer screening franchise, alongside a broader portfolio and pipeline that includes molecular residual disease (MRD) and multi-cancer early detection (MCED) testing initiatives. Shares contributed positively during the quarter after Abbott announced a definitive all-cash agreement to acquire Exact Sciences for approximately $21 billion in equity value, reflecting a meaningful premium and driving the stock higher.”

Exact Sciences (EXAS): Among Billionaire George Soros’ Small-Cap Stocks with Huge Upside Potential

Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 52 hedge fund portfolios held Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) at the end of the third quarter, up from 50 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) 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 Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) and shared the list of companies climbed with market optimism. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.