Heartland Advisors, an investment management company, released its “Heartland Value Plus Fund” fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the market’s gains continued to widen, as small value stocks outpaced the Magnificent 7, and the artificial intelligence (AI) trade pulled back in November amid concerns about overinvestment and a reassessment of who will benefit from this disruptive technology. The firm is finding opportunities in firms that were overlooked but appear to be on track for high earnings growth in 2026. The value plus strategy fell 0.10% in the quarter compared to the Russell 2000® Value Index’s 3.26% gain. Stock selection in Information Technology and Real Estate was favorable to its performance, but, stock effect was negative in Health Care, Industrials, and Energy sectors. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Heartland Value Plus Fund highlighted stocks such as Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR). Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) is a leading outdoor advertising company in the United States and a major contributor to the strategy’s performance this quarter. Lamar Advertising Company’s (NASDAQ:LAMR) one-month return was 0.90%, and its shares gained 8.53% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 12, 2026, Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) stock closed at $129.60 per share with a market capitalization of $13.126 billion.
Heartland Value Plus Fund stated the following regarding Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“We have also been seeing positive signs in areas of the market that touch consumers. One of the top contributors to our Strategy’s performance in the quarter, for instance, was Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR), the nation’s leading out-of-home advertising company. LAMR, which operates as a real estate investment trust, had been underperforming for much of the year. It recently provided a solid Q3 report and very favorable outlook causing the stock to rally.
When it comes to stock selection, we like to see improving fundamentals confirmed by actions of management through active share buybacks, insider buying, and growing dividends. These are all signs of management’s confidence in the future profits and cash flows of their respective companies. A majority of the companies in our portfolio are active in at least two of these three focus areas. LAMR is one of these companies, as the company has been active on its buyback program and increased its dividend this year.
LAMR’s pacings have been strong, which should lead to positive earnings growth in 2026. Even better, 2026 brings with it the mid-term election cycle, which should boost political advertising spending on Lamar’s properties. Still, the stock trades at a reasonable valuation of around 15 times 2026 Enterprise Value/EBITDA.”
Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 36 hedge fund portfolios held Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) at the end of the third quarter, up from 34 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) 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 Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) and shared the list of stocks Jim Cramer discussed. 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.
