Meridian Contrarian Fund Trimmed AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (AXS) After a Strong Performance

Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Contrarian Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. U.S. equities saw their weakest quarterly performance since 2022, as uncertainty about potential tariff policies affected investor sentiment and risk assets. In this environment, the fund returned -7.59% (net) during the quarter, slightly behind the -7.50% returns of the Russell 2500 Index and underperforming the -5.83% returns of the secondary benchmark, the Russell 2500 Value Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Meridian Contrarian Fund highlighted stocks such as AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS). AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) is an insurance provider that offers various specialty insurance and reinsurance products. The one-month return of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) was 4.16%, and its shares have appreciated by 39.34% over the past 52 weeks. On May 28, 2025, AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) closed at $101.47 per share, with a market capitalization of $7.981 billion.

Meridian Contrarian Fund stated the following regarding AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) is a global specialty insurer and reinsurer. We invested in 2020 following a period of earnings pressure tied to unfavorable underwriting results. We were initially attracted by a new management team’s operational turnaround efforts, including reduced exposure to catastrophe risk and a strategic focus on high-potential areas such as cyber insurance. In 2023, a newly appointed CEO accelerated the company’s repositioning, aiming to achieve top-tier performance versus peers. The stock performed well in the quarter, and we trimmed the position into strength as part of our risk management process, while maintaining a large position.”

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AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 34 hedge fund portfolios held AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) at the end of the first quarter, which was 38 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the undervalued AI stock set for massive gains.

In another article, we covered AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) and shared the list of best property & casualty insurance stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.