Kovitz Investment Group Partners, LLC, an investment management company, released its “Kovitz Core Equity Strategy” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the strategy returned 7.9% compared to the S&P 500’s 10.9% return. Equity markets saw notable volatility after the President’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on April 2nd. The S&P 500 dropped 11% initially but later rallied 25% in the quarter after the tariffs were postponed by 90 days on April 9th. Additionally, you can review the fund’s top 5 holdings to see its best picks for 2025.
In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Kovitz Core Equity Strategy highlighted stocks such as Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO). Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) offers life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, laboratory products, and biopharma services. The one-month return of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) was 11.08%, and its shares lost 20.59% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 5, 2025, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) stock closed at $466.42 per share, with a market capitalization of $176.126 billion.
Kovitz Core Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s (NYSE:TMO) sales and earnings growth expectations were revised lower for this year. Ongoing tariff headwinds have hindered sales in China while policies and rhetoric have dramatically reduced funds flowing to U.S. academic and government research institutions, which make up about 8% of Thermo’s annual sales. On the positive side, first quarter results showed a return to mid-single-digit growth from Thermo’s biopharma customers, which is Thermo’s largest end market and accounts for about half of annual sales. This comes after a multi-year period of inventory destocking that hampered sales growth in 2023 and 2024 before our initial purchase. A continuation of this trend would be a strong indicator for the company and its shares, and we believe that is likely what we will see as the rest of 2025 unfolds, driven by a strong pipeline of biologic drugs and increased use of Thermo’s (and other’s) single-use products to manufacture these drugs. While we don’t know if the current administration in Washington will temper its hostility to U.S. academic and government research or if trade relations with China will materially improve, the shares are currently trading at a nearly decade-low valuation multiple on earnings that are already reflecting the headwinds above to a large degree. We added to the position during the quarter and continue to believe long-term secular demand for novel drug therapies will eventually overshadow near-term politically-driven headwinds.”
A workstation in a research lab stocked with laboratory products and services.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) is in 26th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 101 hedge fund portfolios held Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) at the end of the first quarter, which was 100 in the previous quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s (NYSE:TMO) revenue in the second quarter grew 3% to $10.85 billion. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) 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 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) and shared the list of best medical stocks to buy according to analysts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.
