Oakmark Funds, advised by Harris Associates, released its “Oakmark Select Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund returned -1.15% in the first quarter compared to a -4.27% return for the S&P 500 Index. The fund returned 11.73% since its inception compared to the index’s return of 9.57% over the same period. The largest contributing sectors were industrials and financials, while consumer discretionary and communication services detracted. 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, Oakmark Select Fund highlighted stocks such as Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE). Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) offers market infrastructure, data services, and technology solutions for financial institutions, corporations, and government entities. The one-month return of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) was -8.78%, and its shares gained 21.19% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 16, 2025, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) stock closed at $158.44 per share with a market capitalization of $91.023 billion.

Oakmark Select Fund stated the following regarding Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) was the top contributor during the quarter. The U.S.-headquartered financial exchange and data company’s stock price rose as it reported solid fourth-quarter 2024 results led by 16% growth in its energy futures business. After a couple years of using cash flow to pay down debt from its two major mortgage acquisitions Ellie Mae and Black Knight, management resumed share repurchase in the first quarter of 2025. We believe share repurchases are an attractive capital al location opportunity for ICE today. We continue to view ICE as a well-managed, high-quality business with a bright future ahead."

A trader on the floor of a stock exchange, his face illuminated by the financial tickers.

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 91 hedge fund portfolios held Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 84 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) 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.

We covered Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) in another article, where we shared GreensKeeper Asset Management's views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.