Cullen Capital Management, LLC, operating under the name Schafer Cullen Capital Management, Inc. (SCCM), has released its “SCCM Enhanced Equity Income Fund” first-quarter investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The first quarter showed mixed results for US stocks, with the S&P 500 declining 4.3% and the Russell 1000 Value rising by 2.1%. The composite outperformed both of its benchmarks in the first quarter, and returned 5.8% (net) compared to a -3.1% return by the CBOE Buy/Write Index (BXM) and a 0.8% return by the SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (JNK). The gains were driven by strong outperformance in seven sectors, mainly in Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication Services, during a reversal of the stratified equity market gains of the past two years. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, SCCM Enhanced Equity Income Fund highlighted stocks such as Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM). Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) tobacco company working to deliver a smoke-free future. The one-month return of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) was -1.73%, and its shares have appreciated by 75.04% over the past 52 weeks. On July 1, 2025, Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) stock closed at $177.53 per share, with a market capitalization of $276.329 billion.
SCCM Enhanced Equity Income Fund stated the following regarding Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Our position in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) was called away in the quarter. Shares of Philip Morris posted outsized returns over the past year, with a total return of 34% in 2024 and approximately 25% thus far in 2025. While we continue to view the underlying fundamentals of the company favorably, the P/E has increased to 21x earnings, at the higher end of its historical P/E multiple range.”
A man exhaling smoke from a cigarette indicating the use of tobacco products.
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 104 hedge fund portfolios held Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) at the end of the first quarter, which was 102 in the previous quarter. Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) delivered double-digit organic net revenue growth of plus 10.2% in Q1 2025, reaching $9.3 billion in total. While we acknowledge the potential of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) 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.
