ICON plc (ICLR) Fell due to Persistent Volatility in the Clinical Development Market

Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Small Cap Fund” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter of 2025, the fund was up 10.38%% (Institutional Shares) compared to the Russell 2000 Growth Index’s (the Index) 11.97% return. Year to date, the Fund is up 0.36% compared to the index’s (0.48)% return. Small-cap stocks recovered well during the quarter and performed in line with the overall market but have significantly trailed larger-cap stocks this year. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Small Cap Fund highlighted stocks such as ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR). Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is a clinical research organization.  The one-month return of ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) was 5.97%, and its shares lost 49.17% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 8, 2025, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) stock closed at $158.44 per share with a market capitalization of $12.322 billion.

Baron Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is a leading contract research organization serving the global biopharmaceutical industry. Shares declined after another soft quarter, marked by persistent volatility in the clinical development market. Bookings lagged as clients deferred decisions, tightened R&D budgets, and canceled or delayed projects, prompting management to lower 2025 guidance and remove two next-generation COVID-19 vaccine studies with uncertain timelines. Despite industry-wide headwinds, long-term demand for outsourced drug development services remains strong. We expect global pharmaceutical R&D spending to continue growing and believe scaled providers like ICON are well positioned to expand and gain share over time. The shares trade at half their prior multiple offering great value.”

ICON Public Limited Company (ICLR): Among Small-Cap Healthcare Stocks Hedge Funds is Buying

A laboratory setting with a team of scientists working on a clinical trial.

ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 44 hedge fund portfolios held ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) at the end of the first quarter, which was 46 in the previous quarter. ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) reported revenue of $2.017 billion in Q2 2025, representing a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) 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 ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) and shared Oakmark Equity and Income Fund’s views on the company. 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.