Long Cast Advisers, an investment management firm, released its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In Q4 2025, the Portfolio’s cumulative net return increased by 1%, but the cumulative portfolio for the year remained flat. Since its inception in November 2015, the portfolio has delivered a cumulative return of 271% net of fees, outperforming major indices such as the Russell 2000 Index, the iShares US MicroCap ETF, and the iShares SmallCap EAFE (ex-N. Am) ETF for small-cap equities. By year-end, the 28 SMA accounts managed by Long Cast had an AUM of $12M. The firm, with its long-term focus on small companies, has seen returns that varied relative to the broader market, as reflected in its 10-year performance history. Please review the Portfolio’s top five holdings to gain insights into their key selections for 2025.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Long Cast Advisers highlighted stocks like National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC). National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) provide analytics and insights to enhance the patient and employee experience of healthcare organizations in United States. On March 12, 2026, National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) stock closed at $16.50 per share. One-month return of National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) was 36.59%, and its shares gained 11.26% over the past 52 weeks. National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) has a market capitalization of $373.847 million.
Long Cast Advisers stated the following regarding National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) ($14.45 avg price). Among our meaningful contributors in the quarter, NRC is our newest position. With 23M shares out and a current market price of $19, the company has a $430M market capitalization and including net debt, a roughly $500M enterprise value. At that price, it trades at a 13x multiple against $40M of annualized EBITDA, using the most recent quarter’s results of $10M, which I believe to be the trough.
The company is broadly a consulting service for hospitals and healthcare administrations and is especially known for being a top-three provider of medical patient surveys and outcome assessment, a business that exists in the overlap between regulatory requirements (CAHPS), entrenched bureaucrats (hospital administrators) and medical marketing. I’ll be honest, it’s not a business I feel great about – it seems like a tax on financially burdened and poorly managed healthcare systems – but as a cousin cardiologist offered, “I hate those patient surveys, but the hospital administrators love them. I don’t know anything about investing but this sounds like a phenomenal business.” Her comment is the least meaningful part of our investment case…” (Click here to read the full text)
National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 57 hedge fund portfolios held National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 56 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) 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 National Research Corporation (NASDAQ:NRC) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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.
