Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Global Fund” first-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter of 2025, investors challenged the idea of “American exceptionalism.” After record highs in January, U.S. markets fell due to tariff fears and policy uncertainty, with the Magnificent Seven dropping nearly 15% due to concerns over America’s AI leadership. Meanwhile, international equity markets outperformed the U.S. in their strongest quarterly showing in 15 years. Against this backdrop, the Ariel Global fund traded +6.31% higher in the quarter, compared to the -1.32% return of its primary benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Index, and the +4.77% return of its secondary benchmark, the MSCI ACWI 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, Ariel Global Fund highlighted stocks such as Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP). Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) develops, markets, and supports products and services for IT security. The one-month return of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) was -0.76%, and its shares gained 37.78% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 17, 2025, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) stock closed at $219.23 per share with a market capitalization of $23.758 billion.
Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Israeli-based provider of products for information technology security, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) also advanced on solid quarterly earnings results, highlighted by a significant beat in product revenues and double-digit billings growth. Consumers are adopting more pillars of Check Point’s platform and engaging in larger strategic commitments with Infinity and Quantum Force. Meanwhile, new CEO Nadav Zafrir, expanded the executive team to balance corporate and go-to-market leadership roles as well as bring more attention to customer facing functions. Check Point continues to be an astute steward of capital, pursuing organic growth and utilizing surplus cash to return capital to shareholders; and we like the company’s exposure to the fast-growing cloud security market and its industry leading profitability.”
An engineer typing on a computer, developing the latest cybersecurity application.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 44 hedge fund portfolios held Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) at the end of the first quarter, which was 40 in the previous quarter. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.’s (NASDAQ:CHKP) first quarter revenue increased 7% year-over-year to $638 million. While we acknowledge the potential of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) 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 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) and shared the list of best performing cybersecurity stocks so far in 2025. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. While we acknowledge the potential of CHKP as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
