Heartland Advisors, an investment management company, released its “Heartland Value Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund was down 5.63% in the first quarter compared to a 7.74% fall for the Russell 2000 Value Index. The fund outperformed the benchmark over the past 1, 3, and 5 years. Stock selection accounted for almost all of the first-quarter outperformance, specifically strong in Energy, Financials, Technology, Real Estate, and Consumer Discretionary. 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, Heartland Value Fund emphasized stocks such as New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD). Based in Toronto, Canada, New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) is an intermediate gold mining company. The one-month return of New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) was 7.49%, and its shares gained 108.72% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 14, 2025, New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) stock closed at $3.59 per share with a market capitalization of $2.841 billion.

Heartland Value Fund stated the following regarding New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"For some time we have been supportive of holding hard asset producers such as well financed, profitable miners and their allied providers. A standout performer has been a Canadian producer, New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD), owner of the Rainy River gold mine and New Afton copper/gold mines.

The stock has more than doubled this past year, buoyed by increased production, higher grades and reserves, plus lower costs providing a substantial increase in free cash flow. With all-in sustaining costs (AISC) less than $1,400 per ounce, NGD is positioned to prosper. However, now priced in excess net asset value, NAV, we have taken advantage of increased interest and higher prices by trimming holdings. The proceeds were utilized to increase our holdings in two other miners which our research indicates are priced at 50% discounts to their NAV’s."

Aerial view of an open mine with large cranes and excavators working on the surface.

New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 26 hedge fund portfolios held New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 23 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) 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 New Gold Inc. (NYSEMKT:NGD) in another article, where we shared the list of best Canadian gold stocks to buy. 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.