Here's How Not Owning Tesla (TSLA) Impacted Macquarie Large Cap Growth Fund's Performance

Macquarie Asset Management, an investment management company, released its “Macquarie Large Cap Growth Fund” investor letter for the third quarter of 2025. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Equity indexes again posted record gains in the third quarter of 2025, with AI-themed stocks leading the market. AI Stocks led around 75% of the market returns in the quarter.  However, the fund delivered positive returns in the quarter, but lagged behind the Russell 1000 Growth Index benchmark. The fund’s underperformance was driven by an unfavorable market environment and several missteps. For more information on the fund’s best picks in 2025, please check its top five holdings.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, Macquarie Large Cap Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, as well as energy generation and storage systems. The one-month return of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was 0.79%, and its shares gained 93.94% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On October 14, 2025, Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock closed at $429.24 per share, with a market capitalization of $1.427 trillion.

Macquarie Large Cap Growth Fund stated the following regarding Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

"At the stock level, the largest relative detractors were not owning Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and the Fund’s positions in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) and Intuit Inc. The Fund has never held Tesla as it does not meet our quality standards. It frequently emerges as either a top contributor or detractor each quarter, reflecting its volatile nature and the cycle of missed earnings and deferred expectations that has persisted for years. The company tends to miss expectations regularly, yet the market habitually buys shares based on fantastical multiyear aspirations."

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is in the 23rd position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 115 hedge fund portfolios held Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) at the end of the second quarter, up from 104 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) 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 Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and shared the list of AI stocks in focus on Wall Street. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.