Soumya Eswaran
3 min read
In This Article:
River Road Asset Management, an investment management company, released its “River Road Small Cap Value Fund” Q1 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, AMG River Road Small Cap Value Fund (Class N) returned -3.94% compared to -7.74% returns for the Russell 2000 Value Index. The fund returned 1.30% for the one year ended March 31, 2025, compared to the index return of -3.12%. Stocks declined in the first quarter due to diminishing growth expectations and uncertainty surrounding trade policies, which crumbled the post-election increase in business, consumer, and investor confidence. The remaining gains were subsequently erased following “Liberation Day.” For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2025, please check its top five holdings.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, River Road Small Cap Value Fund highlighted stocks such as The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO). The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) operates and manages secure facilities, processing centers, and community-based reentry facilities. The one-month return of The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) was -13.28%, and its shares gained 71.06% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 25, 2025, The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) stock closed at $23.11 per share, with a market capitalization of $3.266 billion.
River Road Small Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
"Another positive contributor was The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO), an owner and operator of private prisons for federal, state, local, and foreign governments. GEO rallied significantly after the U.S. election victory of President Trump on the belief that GEO is poised to play a large role in the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants."
Security guards in uniforms patrolling an area, standing for the company's safe and secure facilities.
The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) is in 10th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) at the end of the first quarter, which was 39 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) 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.
