Heartland Advisors, an investment management company, released its “Heartland Value Plus Fund” fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the market’s gains continued to widen, as small value stocks outpaced the Magnificent 7, and the artificial intelligence (AI) trade pulled back in November amid concerns about overinvestment and a reassessment of who will benefit from this disruptive technology. The firm is finding opportunities in firms that were overlooked but appear to be on track for high earnings growth in 2026. The value plus strategy fell 0.10% in the quarter compared to the Russell 2000® Value Index’s 3.26% gain. Stock selection in Information Technology and Real Estate was favorable to its performance, but the stock effect was negative in Health Care, Industrials, and Energy sectors. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Heartland Value Plus Fund highlighted stocks such as WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC). WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) offers business-to-business distribution, logistics services, and supply chain solutions. The one-month return of WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) was 5.87%, and its shares gained 44.88% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 12, 2026, WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) stock closed at $273.58 per share, with a market capitalization of $13.313 billion.
Heartland Value Plus Fund stated the following regarding WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Another overlooked stock with the notable upside potential in 2026 is WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC), a logistics and supply chain solutions company in which we initiated a new position during the quarter.
Shares of WESCO, which connects suppliers and customers around the world for electrical, industrial, utility, and communications products, had been underperforming the Industrial sector in 2024 and the first half of 2025. That was largely due to double-digit declines in its Utility and Broadband Solutions segment as well as the ongoing slowdown in its Electrical & Electronic Solutions segment. EBITDA margins declined during this period, but they appear to be set to expand going forward as we expect WCC to return to mid-single-digit growth rates within both segments. We also expect WESCO’s EBITDA margins to improve from an expected 6.6% in FY 2025, thanks in part to cost savings from prior investments in automation.
With improving growth prospects and a healthy potential to expand EBITDA margins, WCC could offer double-digit EPS growth for several years to come. Yet the stock trades at less than 1 times FY 2027 sales and around 10 times EBITDA.”
WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 49 hedge fund portfolios held WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) at the end of the third quarter, compared to 54 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) 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 WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
In another article, we covered WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) and shared the list of best stocks to buy according to billionaire Seth Klarman. 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.
