Aristotle Capital Management, LLC, an investment management company, released its “Value Equity Strategy” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The U.S. equity market started the year with a modest decline, with the S&P 500 Index declining 4.27% during the quarter. Conversely, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index rose 2.78% during the same period. The composite returned 0.78% gross of fees (0.73% net of fees) in the first quarter underperforming the 2.14% return of the Russell 1000 Value Index and outperforming -4.27% return of the S&P 500 Index. 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, Aristotle Value Equity Strategy emphasized stocks such as Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY). Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) is a technology company that designs, manufactures, and distributes electronic equipment, instruments, devices, game consoles, and software for consumers, professionals and industrial markets. One-month return of Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) was -4.40%, and its shares gained 41.26% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 14, 2025, Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) stock closed at $23.44 per share with a market capitalization of $141.064 billion.
Aristotle Value Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY), the global leader in video games, image sensors, music and movies, was the top contributor for the period. The company delivered strong quarterly results, driven primarily by its gaming and music businesses, and announced a new executive leadership structure. In gaming, Sony reported a record-high 129 million monthly active users, a 20% year-over year increase in PlayStation Plus revenue and an expanding user base, as 40% of new PS5 console buyers were new to the platform. The Music segment also continued to benefit from global streaming tailwinds, delivering double-digit profit growth. In a significant leadership transition, Sony announced that, effective April 1, 2025, Hiroki Totoki, currently COO and CFO, would succeed Kenichiro Yoshida as CEO. Our original investment in Sony was grounded in the strategic transformation led by Yoshida-san, where Totoki-san was an instrumental partner in driving Sony’s pivot away from commoditized businesses while spearheading investments in content IP and semiconductors. Looking ahead, we continue to see opportunity for Sony to capitalize on its unique position as both a content creator and platform owner. The company’s ability to integrate gaming, music, anime and film and leverage IP across platforms (e.g., Crunchyroll and its recent partnership with Kadokawa) should position it well for long-term value creation.”
A team of content creators using the latest devices and software to produce high-quality animation and motion pictures.
Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 25 hedge fund portfolios held Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 21 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) 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 cheapest AI stock.
We covered Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) in another article, where we shared the list of best stocks to buy according to billionaire Mario Gabelli. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.