Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its first-quarter 2026 investor letter for “Meridian Growth Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The US equity market started 2026 with volatility due to trade policy uncertainty and geopolitical risks. Initial optimism from domestic company confidence and the Federal Reserve easing waned following increased tariffs and military strikes against Iran. The value outperformed across the entire market-cap spectrum. Against this backdrop, the Meridian Growth Fund (the “Fund”) returned -7.90%, trailing the Russell 2500 Growth Index benchmark, which returned -3.52%. The underperformance was driven by industry allocation effects, while stock selection was a meaningful positive contributor. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Meridian Growth Fund highlighted Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY). Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) is a technology company that provides software solutions for healthcare payments. On May 21, 2026, Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) closed at $18.84 per share. One-month return of Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) was -24.55%, and its shares lost 50.34% over the past 52 weeks. Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion.
Meridian Growth Fund stated the following regarding Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) is a leading provider of healthcare payments software, offering a cloud-based platform that simplifies revenue cycle management for healthcare providers and payers. The company benefits from deep workflow integration, proprietary data assets, and an expanding AI powered automation suite that creates meaningful switching costs. Shares declined during the quarter despite delivering a strong fourth-quarter beat, with record bookings activity and expanding margins. The selloff was driven entirely by broad market fears around AI disruption of healthcare IT companies, which we believe significantly underestimates the complexity and regulatory barriers inherent in revenue cycle workflows. We view the risk/reward as compelling at current levels.”
Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 46 hedge fund portfolios held Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 47 in the previous quarter. In Q1 2026, Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) reported revenue of $314 million, representing 22% year-over-year growth. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) 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 Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) and shared Baron Discovery Fund’s insights on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2026 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.
