ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy Increased its Stake in Alphabet (GOOG) in Q1 (2025)

Soumya Eswaran

Tue, Apr 8, 2025, 10:29 AM 3 min read

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The majority of growth indexes entered correction territory during the quarter, due to pressure from the chaotic tariff implementation, concerns about a weakening U.S. economy, and increased inflation. Against this backdrop, the strategy outperformed the benchmark, driven by diversified stock selection and an underweight exposure to the Magnificent Seven. The S&P 500 Index declined 4.27% in the quarter and the benchmark Russell 1000 Growth Index (RLG) fell 9.97%. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its first quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy emphasized stocks such as Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, offers various platforms and services operating through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments.The one-month return of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was -10.09%, and its shares lost 5.63% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 7, 2025, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) stock closed at $149.24 per share with a market capitalization of $1.803 trillion.

ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"Our active underweight to the Magnificent Seven added more than 100 basis points to relative returns for the quarter, with underweights to EV maker Tesla and Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) being among the largest relative contributors. We added to both positions, taking advantage of what we view as short-term weakness as Alphabet missed high expectations for cloud revenue growth in its latest quarter, while Tesla worked through negative sentiment over CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration."

A user's hands typing a search query into a Google Search box, emphasizing the company's search capabilities.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is in 7th position on our list of30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 174 hedge fund portfolios held Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 160 in the previous quarter. In 2024, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)achieveda revenue growth of 14% compared to 2023, reaching $350 billion. For the fourth quarter, the revenue was $96.5 billion, reflecting a 12% increase in both reported and constant currency. While we acknowledge the potential of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) 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 thecheapest AI stock.