Is Investing in Hurco (HURC) a Speculative Bet?

Middle Coast Investing, an investment advisor firm, released its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. 2025 was a good year for the firm as well as for the broader market. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Stock markets tend to rise but often revert to their historical average. For the past three years, the S&P 500 has reported a 21.2% annualized return, which is above the mean. So, the signs of slowing growth have already been evident. The firm always focuses on investing in good companies at fair prices. In Q4 2025, the US Portfolios returned 2.7% compared to 2.3% for the S&P 500. It’s Core U.S. portfolios returned 1.9% while the Russell 2000 returned 1.9%, the S&P 600 returned 1.3% and the Nasdaq generated 2.6% for the same period. Also, its European Portfolios fell by -0.4%. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Middle Coast Investing highlighted stocks such as Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC). Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) is an industrial technology company. On January 13, 2026, Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) stock closed at $16.86 per share. One-month return of Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) was 14.31%, and its shares lost 5.70% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) has a market capitalization of $108.15 million.

Middle Coast Investing stated the following regarding Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) is a small industrial company. It makes computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines: for example, if you need to cut stone precisely, you control it digitally via these machines.

I’ve owned Hurco in the past. It’s a fairly illiquid stock. The company depends on a cyclical industrial sector improvement. I don’t have a strong opinion on if/when that happens. I do have an opinion that the company trades at half its book value, meaning if it can sell its on the books inventory of machines for close to full price, it will be worth much more as a stock. That is a speculative bet as to whether it will, but this is also a small position for us.”

Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 8 hedge fund portfolios held Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) at the end of the third quarter, up from 6 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) 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 Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Hurco Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HURC) and shared Diamond Hill Capital Small Cap Strategy’s views on the company in the previous quarter. 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.