Should You Consider Adding Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) to Your Portfolio?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Equities continued their upward journey in the third quarter with the S&P 500 Index surging 8.1% and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rising 11.2% to record highs. Investor optimism was driven by favorable tariff results, the One Big Beautiful Bill in July, expected interest rate cuts, and strong corporate earnings, particularly in technology and the Magnificent Seven. The benchmark Russell 1000 Growth Index rose 10.5% for the quarter. The strategy delivered solid absolute performance in the quarter but underperformed the benchmark. Underexposure to perceived AI winners and holding several names deemed by investors to be AI losers led to the underperformance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG). Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) owns and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. The one-month return of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) was -1.35%, and its shares lost 26.88% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 3, 2025, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) stock closed at $41.76 per share, with a market capitalization of $55.995 billion.

ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Another area where we see promise is in early cyclical companies that could be beneficiaries of an improving economic environment. We repurchased Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), which is coming off a period of relatively weaker sales we view as more macro than execution related.”

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 68 hedge fund portfolios held Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) at the end of the second quarter, which was 78 in the previous quarter. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.’s (NYSE:CMG) sales for the second quarter of 2025 grew 3% to reach $3.1 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL, INC. (NYSE:CMG) 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.