What Makes Brady Corp. (BRC) a Fundamentally Strong Company?

Heartland Advisors, an investment management company, released its “Heartland Value Plus Fund” third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The third quarter proved to be robust for small caps, signaling improved demand dynamics. The Russell 2000® Index was up 12.39% in the quarter, outperforming the S&P 500 Index, which rose 8.12%. The fund returned 8.51% in the third quarter compared to a 12.60% gain for the Russell 2000® Value Index. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, Heartland Value Plus Fund highlighted stocks such as Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC). Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) engages in the manufacturing and supply of identification solutions and workplace safety products. The one-month return of Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) was -10.15%, and its shares lost 3.35% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 10, 2025, Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) stock closed at $72.51 per share, with a market capitalization of $3.415 billion.

Heartland Value Plus Fund stated the following regarding Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

“These are companies like Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC), a leading manufacturer of ID solutions and workplace safety products. In our view, the company is allocating capital wisely: They are actively buying back stock, consistently increasing dividends, and pursuing tuck-in acquisitions that complement their core business — all while maintaining low leverage.

The company’s core business is identification solutions for commercial products, allowing clients to trace and track parts. Brady’s niche is printers and related consumables such as labels for rugged industrial markets. This has been a year of restructuring and cost cutting for Brady, which is part of the company’s self-help story. Recently, management has called out strong growth in Aerospace and Data Center end markets, with the Data Center strength focused on BRC’s wire marking business.

We believe the company will begin to reap the benefits of these efforts starting next year, and in its most recent quarterly earnings announcement, Brady reported 2026 guidance that was above expectations. Still, the stock trades at a reasonable valuation. Our current price target for BRC would represent 18x our 2026 EPS estimate.”

Brady’s (BRC) Dividend History: Simple, Steady, and Strong

Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 18 hedge fund portfolios held Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) at the end of the second quarter, compared to 21 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) 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 Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) and shared a bullish thesis on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.