Accelerated Demand Lifted Oracle Corporation (ORCL) in Q2

Ariel Investments, an investment management company, released its “Ariel Focus Fund” second-quarter investor letter.  A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The second quarter of 2025 saw a period of extremes. Despite an initial market sell-off caused by the “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, the stock market recovered, supported by renewed interest in AI-related stocks, strong economic data, and solid corporate earnings. In the environment, the fund returned +4.75%, outperforming the Russell 1000 Value Index’s +3.79% gain but lagging behind the S&P 500 Index’s +10.94% return. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its second quarter 2025 investor letter, Ariel Focus Fund highlighted stocks such as Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL). Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments. The one-month return of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) was 18.55%, and its shares gained 75.11% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On July 18, 2025, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) stock closed at $245.45 per share, with a market capitalization of $689.43 billion.

Ariel Focus Fund stated the following regarding Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

"Shares of global leader in enterprise software, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), accelerated following a significant top- and bottom-line beat and impressive full year 2026 outlook driven by accelerating demand for its cloud and AI capabilities. This supports our view that ORCL’s positioning as the leading provider of database software and cloud-based infrastructure is entrenched, making it a key beneficiary of global demand for generative AI development."

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 97 hedge fund portfolios held Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 105 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) 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 the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) and shared the list of stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 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.