Soumya Eswaran
3 min read
In This Article:
Meridian Funds, managed by ArrowMark Partners, released its “Meridian Contrarian Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. U.S. equities saw their weakest quarterly performance since 2022, as uncertainty about potential tariff policies affected investor sentiment and risk assets. In this environment, the fund returned -7.59% (net) during the quarter, slightly behind the -7.50% returns of the Russell 2500 Index and underperforming the -5.83% returns of the secondary benchmark, the Russell 2500 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, Meridian Contrarian Fund highlighted stocks such as Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ). Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) is a leading uranium-producing company. One-month return of Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) was 31.27%, and its shares gained 9.08% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 28, 2025, Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) stock closed at $60.41 per share with a market capitalization of $26.34 billion.
Meridian Contrarian Fund stated the following regarding Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
"Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) is a global leader in the mining, fabrication, and refinement of uranium products for nuclear power plants around the world. We view the company as a best-in-class operator with world-leading reserves and a low-cost profile. Cameco had been out of favor for many years following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, but became increasingly attractive as global uranium production declined below demand. We invested in 2020, believing uranium prices would recover and that there was upside optionality in the potentially resurgent interest in nuclear power. While the stock performed strongly in 2024, it weakened in the quarter as uranium stocks had become tied to the power-hungry AI data center trade. As such, the stock’s volatility far exceeded its fundamentals. Our position was unchanged during the quarter as we continue to base our investment on a 5- to 10-year investment thesis."
A close up of the reactor core, highlighting the complexity of the uranium power process.
Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 58 hedge fund portfolios held Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) at the end of the first quarter, which was 65 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) 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.
