Here's What Makes Arista Networks (ANET) an Investment Bet?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. The investment philosophy of the strategy is to invest in leading companies that are undervalued by the market in terms of their future growth potential. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Large-cap stocks continued their strength in the quarter, driven by strong earnings growth from mega-cap companies and enthusiasm over generative AI. The ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy underperformed the Russell 1000 Growth Index by approximately 900 basis points for the year. It continued to lag behind the benchmark, trailing its 1.2% quarterly advance by about 170 basis points during the fourth quarter. The underweight exposure to mega-cap AI beneficiaries and lower-quality AI-related names contributed to the underperformance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET). Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) is a technology company that engages in the development and distribution of data-driven, client-to-cloud networking solutions. The one-month return of Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) was -3.21%, and its shares gained 12.61% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On January 7, 2026, Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) stock closed at $130.08 per share, with a market capitalization of $163.808 billion.

ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

"We initiated a position in Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET), a provider of high-speed switches and networking equipment critical to enabling the operation of cloud platforms and data centers. Arista is well represented among the hyperscalers and benefits from that capex cycle. In the enterprise business, Arista currently has low share but is poised to continue gaining as companies update their campus networking infrastructure."

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 92 hedge fund portfolios held Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) at the end of the third quarter, which was 81 in the previous quarter. In the third quarter of 2025, Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) reported revenue of $2.3 billion, up 27.5% year-over-year, exceeding expectations. While we acknowledge the potential of Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) 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 Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) and shared TCW Concentrated Large Cap Growth Fund's views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 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.