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Merion Road Capital Management, an investment advisor, released its first-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, Merion Road Small Cap Fund returned (7.8%) compared to (9.5%) return for the Russell 2000 Index. The decline was due to small-cap companies’ continuous underperformance relative to their larger counterparts. The long-only portfolio of Merion Road declined (8.2%) during the quarter compared to the S&P 500’s (4.3%) return. The decline was primarily attributable to tech-oriented holdings and economically sensitive industrials. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Merion Road Capital Management highlighted stocks such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, offers various platforms and services operating through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The one-month return of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was -13.27%, and its shares lost 6.29% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 21, 2025, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock closed at $149.86 per share with a market capitalization of $1.855 trillion.
Merion Road Capital Management stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
"The long only portfolio fell slightly over 8% during the quarter, primarily attributable to our tech-oriented holdings (GOOG, AMZN) and economically sensitive industrials (CLH, FERG). Regarding the former, there continues to be a debate as to whether or not their investments in AI will produce adequate returns. The AI race publicly began back in 2023 when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella threw the gauntlet down stating that he hopes GOOG would “come out and show that they can dance.” In response, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) ramped their capex spend from $32bn in 2023 to almost $53bn last year, with a planned $75bn this year. So far, their pre-tax return on tangible capital has barely budged at 48% (though consensus has this falling next year). With a wide range of ubiquitous products, GOOG is as well positioned as anyone to win the war. For instance, the integration of AI overviews into search has produced strong metrics and the company is broadening its application to encompass novel query formats, including images and audio.