ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Small Cap Growth Strategy” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Equity markets made an exceptional recovery from steep declines in April with solid performances in May and June. The strategy modestly underperformed the Russell 2000 Growth Index in the quarter, as the market rally was driven by lower market capitalization, lower-quality non-earners, and a retail volume surge favoring momentum and the riskiest stocks. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Small Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH). Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) is a US-based bank holding company for Pathward, National Association that provides various banking products and services. The one-month return of Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) was -3.59%, and its shares gained 10.39% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 3, 2025, Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) stock closed at $73.66 per share, with a market capitalization of $1.677 billion.
ClearBridge Small Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) provides banking as a service, operating as one of the largest prepaid card issuance companies. The company leverages these low-cost deposits to serve a variety of niche, specialty lending products, generating very high fee income and robust returns.”
Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 18 hedge fund portfolios held Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) at the end of the second quarter, up from 16 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Pathward Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASH) 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.
In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.
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