Harding Loevner, an asset management company, released its “Global Equity Strategy” fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. For most of the past 15 years, US equities not only outperformed but created a perception of inevitability around their outperformance. This phenomenon, termed “US exceptionalism,” highlighted exceptional earnings growth, valuations, and a concentration of returns, particularly around AI investments. With market leadership concentrated, the US index is vulnerable to limited outcomes. In contrast, the portfolio consists of a broader range of business models and growth opportunities at attractive valuations. While AI may disrupt industries, core principles of competitive advantage and long-term profitability still apply. In the fourth quarter, the Global Equity composite rose 2.0% gross of fees, underperforming the MSCI ACWI Index’s 3.4% gain. For the year, the composite advanced 13.2%, trailing the index’s 22.9% gain. In addition, please check the Strategy’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Harding Loevner Global Equity Strategy highlighted stocks like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, offers various platforms and services, including online search and advertising, cloud solutions, and artificial intelligence, and is a significant contributor to the fund’s performance during 2025. On April 6, 2026, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock closed at $297.66 per share. One-month return of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was -3.02%, and its shares gained 103.07% over the past 52 weeks. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has a market capitalization of $3.6 trillion.
Harding Loevner Global Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Adobe are examples of two incumbents with lucrative businesses coping with the potentially dangerous situation outlined in Christensen’s book. While markets were skeptical of their ability to ward off threats from new AI businesses, both made key progress during the year in protecting their competitive advantages.
In Alphabet’s case, the concern was that ChatGPT and similar tools would disrupt its core Google search business. However, the company responded to this threat by quickly integrating its Gemini large language model into Google Search (and other products), enabling users to receive AI-generated answers directly within search results. Recent traffic data shows Gemini gaining market share against ChatGPT, likely because of Alphabet’s strategy to improve on the Google experience by making generative AI a convenient backend feature rather than a separate function. Alphabet’s stock, under pressure early in the year, ultimately became our strongest contributor for 2025.
Alphabet was the top relative contributor in 2025, even as other Communication Services stocks languished in the final months. The company’s dominant position in search has remained resilient, and profitability has improved.”
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) ranks 7th on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 203 hedge fund portfolios held Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 186 in the previous quarter. In 2025, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) achieved its first-ever $400 billion annual revenue. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and shared the list of best stocks to buy according to billionaire Ken Griffin. 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.
