Longleaf Partners, managed by Southeastern Asset Management, released its “Partners Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund returned -5.14% in the first quarter, compared to the S&P 500’s -4.27% return and Russell 1000 Value’s 2.14% return. The firm’s stock price performance was volatile, but its confidence in future returns grew as the quarter progressed. The firm invested in quality companies that it thinks are strong and resilient to difficult circumstances. The portfolio has significantly outperformed the index, demonstrating this resiliency since the market peak on February 19th. The rise of its underlying value per share outpaced the performance of the stock price during the quarter. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2025, please check its top five holdings.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Longleaf Partners Fund highlighted stocks such as CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX). CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) is an independent natural gas and midstream company. The one-month return of CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) was -3.78%, and its shares gained 30.04% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 17, 2025, CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) stock closed at $30.82 per share with a market capitalization of $4.537 billion.
Longleaf Partners Fund stated the following regarding CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“CNX Resources – Natural gas company CNX Resources was a detractor for the quarter. While CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) was one of our stronger performers in 2024, it started the year with a disappointing outcome regarding government incentives for its coal mine methane gas capture program. The incentives were below our unrisked upside case that could have helped our value by $10-20/share+. While this was a disappointing few dollars per share hit to our risked value, the silver lining is that both we and CNX were able to buy more shares at a price that, in our view, does not fully appreciate all the other good things going on at the company. CNX remains focused on what is within its control, leveraging its low-cost structure and disciplined hedging strategy to generate FCF in a variety of price environments.”
A long line of heavy-duty trucks transporting natural gas across a rural highway.
CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 41 hedge fund portfolios held CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 31 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE:CNX) 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 cheapest AI stock.
