Soumya Eswaran
3 min read
In This Article:
Carillon Tower Advisers, an investment management company, released its “Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Small-cap stocks experienced a significant drop in Q1, with the Russell 2000 Growth Index (down 11.12%) trailing the Russell 2000 Value Index (down 7.74%). In the Russell 2000 Growth Index, real estate, which increased by 1.76%, outperformed all sectors both absolutely and relatively. The only other sector delivering positive returns was consumer staples, which rose by 0.67%. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX). Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company that focuses on developing novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. The one-month return of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) was -1.09%, and its shares lost 52.68% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 23, 2025, Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) stock closed at $32.54 per share with a market capitalization of $4.198 billion.
Carillon Eagle Small Cap Growth Fund stated the following regarding Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
"Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) is a leading biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines. The company is developing VAX24/VAX-31 for the prevention of pneumococcal disease in infants and adults. Phase 2 trial results for VAX-24 in infants were announced, demonstrating non-inferiority to another drug on nearly all serotypes tested. While the results were promising enough to proceed to phase 3, they were not as robust as previous VAX-24 trials. Additionally, the resignation of a key U.S. Food and Drug Administration leader, Dr. Peter Marks, shortly before the results were unveiled, raised concerns in the vaccine industry and contributed to a significant selloff in the stock. Despite these challenges, the company remains optimistic about the future of VAX-24 in phase 3 trials."
A research scientist in a laboratory holding a vial of a biotechnology drug.
Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) at the end of the first quarter, which was 50 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) 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.
