Macquarie Asset Management, an investment management company, released its “Macquarie Core Equity Fund” investor letter for the second quarter of 2025. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The US large-cap equity market surged in Q2 2025, with the S&P 500® Index rising 10.94%. The equity market’s strength was due to reduced concerns over the possibility of President Trump quickly imposing harsh tariffs. Later, the administration put a pause on the tariff implementation. In this environment, the Macquarie Core Equity Fund’s Institutional Class returned 11.94% surpassing the benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. Eighty percent of the relative performance was driven by sector selection, and individual security selection accounted for the remainder. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, the Macquarie Core Equity Fund highlighted stocks such as The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR). The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) is a US-based insurance company. The one-month return of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) was -2.79%, and its shares lost 6.65% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 18, 2025, The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) stock closed at $242.00 per share, with a market capitalization of $141.86 billion.
Macquarie Core Equity Fund stated the following regarding The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:
“The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) shares declined nearly 6% during the quarter. Like AutoZone, Progressive tends to be a defensive security balancing out more aggressive holdings within our diversified portfolio. Progressive continues to be the industry leader in direct sales of auto and home insurance with significant greenspace to grow market share in coming years.”
The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) is in 30th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 99 hedge fund portfolios held The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) at the end of the second quarter, which was 91 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) 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.