Here’s Why ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy Exited Accenture (ACN)

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. The investment philosophy of the strategy is to invest in leading companies that are undervalued by the market in terms of their future growth potential. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Large-cap stocks continued their strength in the quarter, driven by strong earnings growth from mega-cap companies and enthusiasm over generative AI. The ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy underperformed the Russell 1000 Growth Index by approximately 900 basis points for the year. It continued to lag behind the benchmark, trailing its 1.2% quarterly advance by about 170 basis points during the fourth quarter. The underweight exposure to mega-cap AI beneficiaries and lower-quality AI-related names contributed to the underperformance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN). Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is a professional services company that provides management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. The one-month return of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) was 1.34%, and its shares lost 23.41% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 7, 2026, Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) stock closed at $273.98 per share, with a market capitalization of $168.58 billion.

ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Meanwhile, the Strategy’s more diversified exposure to AI through ownership of Eaton, Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) and Equinix did not add significant value in 2025. Accenture, an IT consultant helping enterprise customers deploy AI technologies, was hurt by its association with application software makers and its outsourcing business was deemed at risk of being disintermediated by sophisticated large language models (LLMs). We exited our position in Accenture in the third quarter as part of our AI repositioning.”

Accenture’s (ACN) Oversold Status May Offer a Smart Entry Point for Dividend Investors

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 66 hedge fund portfolios held Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) at the end of the third quarter, which was 65 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) reported revenues of $18.7 billion, reflecting a 5% increase in in local currency. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) 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 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) and shared the list of best big data stocks to invest in. 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.