Madison Investmentsinvestment advisor, released an investor letter for the first quarter of 2026 for the “Madison Large Cap fund”. A copy of the book is available for download here. The Madison Large Cap Fund (Class I) fell 2.7% in the quarter, outperforming the S&P 500’s return of -4.33%. The fund focuses on long-term capital appreciation. The quarter saw a shift in the stock market beyond mega-cap tech stocks into virtual economy stocks, fueled by fears of AI disruption. In addition, the rise in commodity prices due to the conflict in the Middle East has controlled inflation concerns, beneficial sectors such as Energy, Materials, Utilities, Staples, and Real Estate, which the Fund does not invest in, contributing to its limited performance. Please review the Fund’s top five holdings for details on their key options for 2026.
In its investor letter for the first quarter of 2026, Madison Large Cap Fund highlighted Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM). Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is a cloud computing company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology that connects companies and customers. On June 12, 2026, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) closed at $165.89 per share. One-month returns for Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was -7.57%, and its shares lost 37.13% in the last 52 weeks. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) has a market capitalization of $135.86 billion.
Madison Large Cap Fund says the following about Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“During the quarter, we initiated positions on Meta Platforms as well A Salesforce, Inc. company. (NYSE:CRM). Salesforce is a leading provider of customer relationship management and related software with a strong position among large enterprises. The business generates tremendous cash flow, and over the past few years, it has appropriately changed its capital allocation policies to reflect its mature nature. For example, shortly after we began our investment, Salesforce announced an accelerated share repurchase program of $25 billion, which we expect will increase the value of each share. While AI presents a potential threat, we believe Salesforce can leverage its platform, distribution, and deep customer relationships to drive sales with its suite of AI products. The market has punished its shares for the risk of AI disruption and the stock trades at a low-to-mid-teens P/E ratio, which is unreasonably low in our view. “
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is not on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Entering 2026. According to our database, 101 hedge fund portfolios hold Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 115 in the previous quarter. In the first fiscal quarter of 2027, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) generated revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13% year over year on average and 12% in constant currency. While we acknowledge the power of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer great potential and carry little downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely overlooked AI stock that will benefit greatly from the Trump-era costs and sea trend, check out our free report best short term AI stock.
