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 Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN). Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) is a power and utility company that operates through Regulated Services Group and Hydro Group segments. The one-month return of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) was 2.85%, and its shares lost 1.20% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 17, 2025, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) stock closed at $5.78 per share with a market capitalization of $4.45 billion.
Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“We purchased renewable energy and utility services provider, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN). We believe newly hired CEO, Rod West, will improve operations faster than Wall Street’s expectations. We see a high likelihood that the Missouri State Bill 4 (SB 4) legislation passes, which includes several modifications and provisions related to utilities in the state. This is a positive catalyst for shares, as it’s expected to facilitate more timely recovery of capital spent by utilities.”
An engineer in a control room monitoring a massive system, demonstrating the capabilities of rate-regulated utilities.
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 23 hedge fund portfolios held Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) at the end of the first quarter, which was 21 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) 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 Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) and shared the list of next generation dividend aristocrat stocks. 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 AQN 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.
