Here’s Why Madison Large Cap Fund Chose to Exit Nike (NKE)
Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter for the “Madison Large Cap Fund”. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the S&P 500 returned 2.65%, resulting in a full-year return of 17.9% for 2025. Over the last three years, the Index has achieved annual growth of over 21%. Following the recent trends, market leadership was defined by High Beta and Momentum factors, with narrow participation. However, in the fourth quarter, the market saw slight improvements in previously lagging sectors like Healthcare, Financials, and Consumer Discretionary. Still, mega-cap technology companies remained the primary drivers of the S&P 500's overall return, indicating high stock concentration. Against this backdrop, the Madison Large Cap Fund (Class I) appreciated 3.43% compared to the S&P 500 Index’s 2.65% return. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Madison Large Cap Fund highlighted stocks like NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is a multinational company that designs, develops, and sells athletic and casual footwear, apparel, and equipment. On February 24, 2026, NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) stock closed at $64.09 per share. One-month return of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was -2.76%, and its shares lost 21.04% over the past 52 weeks. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) has a market capitalization of $94.878 billion.
Madison Large Cap Fund stated the following regarding NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:
"During the quarter, we sold Fiserv and NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). We discussed our rationale for exiting Fiserv in the portfolio performance section. The second investment we sold was Nike, a sports focused apparel company. While we have been encouraged by new CEO Elliot Hill’s “Win Now” recovery plan and the return of revenue growth, the stock had rebounded towards our estimate of intrinsic value, and therefore, we elected to sell the shares."
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 82 hedge fund portfolios held NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 89 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) 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 thebest short-term AI stock.
Content Original Link:
" target="_blank">
