| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 11.1% | 0.5% | 2.4% |
| 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|
| 2.4% | 15.4% |
The Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund returned 0.67% in Q4 2025 and 3.17% for the full year, underperforming the Bloomberg U.S. 3000 Index's 17.21% annual return. The fund's AI Winners including Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms averaged 16% of assets and delivered solid returns, with Alphabet leading performance after its Gemini AI release exceeded expectations. However, deep value stocks averaging 16% of assets had disproportionately negative impact, while life sciences investments representing 18% of assets experienced a lost year due to research budget pressures and healthcare scrutiny. The managers sold CarMax due to challenging fundamentals and competitive pressures but maintained Liberty Broadband despite headwinds, citing Charter's durable cash flows and improving free cash flow outlook as network upgrade spending peaks. The fund ended with 93% net long exposure, reflecting selective positioning in high-quality businesses while maintaining patience for value opportunities to materialize.
The fund maintains a concentrated portfolio of high-quality, durably growing businesses while taking contrarian value positions, despite underperformance in 2025 due to challenging conditions for deep value stocks and life sciences investments.
The managers look forward to an improved cash flow posture for Liberty Broadband in 2026, await a more robust auto market for SiriusXM, and expect more operating details from Global Payments following the Worldpay acquisition closure.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 29 2026 | 2025 Q4 | AMZN, AON, BRK-A, CHTR, DHR, EEFT, GOOGL, GPN, IEX, KMX, LBRDA, LH, MA, META, MSFT, ROP, SIRI, TECH, TMO, V | AI, Biotechnology, contrarian, healthcare, Long/Short, technology, value |
GOOGL KMX CHTR PRM BRK.B |
The fund owned several companies deemed AI Winners including Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms, averaging roughly 16% of Fund assets in 2025. Google's latest… |
| Oct 28 2025 | 2025 Q3 | - | Artificial Intelligence, Hyperscalers, infrastructure, Quality, Value Investing | - | The fund modestly outperformed in a volatile quarter as quality holdings like Alphabet and Perimeter Solutions led returns, while Liberty Broadband detracted. Management noted that… |
| Jul 27 2025 | 2025 Q2 | BRK/A, CSGP, KMX | asymmetric returns, Capital discipline, dislocation, flexibility, opportunity | KMX | The commentary emphasizes capitalizing on idiosyncratic opportunities created by corporate actions, market dislocations, and investor overreactions. Management stresses downside protection through conservative balance sheets while… |
| Mar 31 2025 | 2025 Q1 | - | - | - | - |
| Jan 29 2025 | 2024 Q4 | ODFL, TECH | - | - | - |
| Sep 30 2024 | 2024 Q3 | GOOG, LBRDA, LM0B GR, PRM | - | - | - |
| Jul 28 2024 | 2024 Q2 | AON, CSGP, GPN, IEX, LYV, ODFL, SIRI | - | - | - |
| Apr 15 2024 | 2024 Q1 | CHTR, GS, LBRDA, META | - | - | - |
| Jan 27 2024 | 2023 Q4 | - | - | - | - |
| Aug 11 2023 | 2023 Q3 | CCRD, LBRDA, META, QRTEB | - | - | - |
| Jul 20 2023 | 2023 Q2 | AMZN, MSFT | - | - | - |
| Mar 31 2023 | 2023 Q1 | FIS, LSXMA, META, SCHW | - | - | - |
| Oct 26 2022 | 2022 Q3 | CSGP, KMX, LBTYK, META | - | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
AIAI has become a dominant theme across major equity indices, with Nvidia leading the S&P 500, ASML dominating MSCI EAFE, and TSMC leading emerging markets. The fund benefited from AI-related dynamics, particularly through Samsung's memory products experiencing substantial price increases due to DRAM shortages driven by AI demand. |
Semiconductors Memory DRAM Technology Nvidia |
TechnologyHoldings span social media, online search, cloud computing and e-commerce including select Magnificent 7 positions. They also own semiconductor companies at reasonable valuations, including picks and shovels businesses like Applied Materials with strong competitive positions and long track records of value creation. |
Technology Semiconductors Cloud Social Media E-commerce | |
ValueBlue Tower focuses on value investing with international diversification. The manager notes that the valuation spread between cheap and expensive stocks is one of the greatest in market history, creating a favorable environment for their value-oriented approach. |
Value International Cheap Expensive Valuation | |
| 2025 Q3 |
AIAI has become a dominant theme across major equity indices, with Nvidia leading the S&P 500, ASML dominating MSCI EAFE, and TSMC leading emerging markets. The fund benefited from AI-related dynamics, particularly through Samsung's memory products experiencing substantial price increases due to DRAM shortages driven by AI demand. |
Semiconductors Memory DRAM Technology Nvidia |
QualityThe portfolio has shifted toward higher quality businesses with better profitability, lower leverage, and less volatile earnings. Quality stocks underperformed significantly in 2025, creating attractive entry points for value investors. The manager maintains price discipline while seeking quality companies trading at discounts to intrinsic value. |
Quality Profitability Leverage Earnings | |
ValueThe portfolio trades at significant discounts to the broad market, with P/E ratios 40-42% below the S&P 500. The manager believes many steady-growing companies are overlooked by markets focused on AI winners, creating opportunities in businesses with lower assumed margins and productivity that could benefit from AI adoption. |
Discount Multiples Undervalued Overlooked Opportunity | |
| 2025 Q2 |
Opportunity |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 29, 2026 | Fund Letters | Wally Weitz | KMX | CarMax Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Automotive Retail | Neutral | New York Stock Exchange | Competition, Execution, Margins, retail, Used cars | Login |
| Jan 29, 2026 | Fund Letters | Wally Weitz | CHTR | Charter Communications Inc. | Communication Services | Cable & Satellite | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | broadband, buybacks, CapEx cycle, Connectivity, Free Cash Flow | Login |
| Jan 29, 2026 | Fund Letters | Wally Weitz | PRM | Perimeter Solutions SA | Industrials | Specialty Chemicals | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | government contracts, infrastructure, Pricing, Volatility-Reduction, Wildfire | Login |
| Jan 29, 2026 | Fund Letters | Wally Weitz | BRK.B | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. | Financials | Multi-Sector Holdings | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | capital allocation, conglomerate, Defensiveness, Insurance, Succession | Login |
| Jul 27, 2025 | Fund Letters | Wally Weitz | KMX | CarMax, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Automotive Retail | Bear | New York Stock Exchange | affordability, Credit, Margins, Rates, Usedcars | Login |
| Jan 29, 2026 | Fund Letters | Wally Weitz | GOOGL | Alphabet Inc. | Communication Services | Interactive Media & Services | Bull | NASDAQ | advertising, AI, cloud, scale, Search | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| AMZN | We added to our holdings in Amazon.com Inc. |
| AON | increased exposure to insurance brokers (Aon and Willis Towers Watson) |
| BRK-A | Brookfield Corp., a leading investor and manager of real assets globally announcing the acquisition of the remaining 26% of Oaktree Capital in conjunction with an affiliate (Brookfield Asset Management). In addition, the company (i) announced that certain subsidiaries entered an $80 billion strategic partnership with the U.S. government to build a new fleet of nuclear factories and (ii) indicated that it intends to recapitalize its Center Parcs hospitality platform for nearly $6 billion, surfacing value on both fronts. |
| CHTR | Charter Communications sank as competitive intensity in the broadband market continued unabated, and we decided to move on from the investment for now. |
| DHR | After lagging through the first three quarters of 2025, Danaher's stock rebounded during Q4 as bioprocessing, life science, and diagnostics demand continued to recover from a cyclical trough. On the 3Q25 call, management established conservative 2026 growth expectations. Revenue is expected to continue to lag long-term trends at 3-6% but improve throughout the year. |
| EEFT | In 2025 we realized ~60% of these gains (mostly long-term) and rolled the remainder into its acquirer, Euronet Worldwide (EEFT). There is a bear market for legacy payments stalwarts like EEFT, but it is profitable and cash generative, trades for a single digit valuation and has several potential growth tailwinds including the benefits from the CCRD purchase that may reward investors over time. |
| GOOGL | I'm willing to go bankrupt rather than lose this race. Larry Page, co-founder of Google |
| GPN | Global Payments shares fell as the company announced the acquisition of payment processing company Worldpay. Due to reduced conviction in the investment thesis, we sold our position earlier in the year. |
| IEX | IDEX's stock had a welcome bounce as the company's organic growth and order book inflected higher in line with our thesis. |
| KMX | CarMax is the largest used car retailer in the U.S. and has the third largest vehicle wholesale business in the U.S. alongside a large captive finance business. CarMax has underperformed both our and their own expectations over the past two quarters. We believe that the factors causing the weak results are part-macro, part-competitive, and part-operational. The used car industry is still feeling the effects of COVID. Very depressed used car supply, low but improving new car inventories, higher new and used car prices and higher rates have combined to create a perfect storm that has been a headwind to CarMax and industry-wide volumes. These largely cyclical macro factors along with the resurgence of Carvana have led to a more competitive used car market. Although the market is competitive, we believe that CarMax's customer experience, brand, scale, vertical integration, and omnichannel approach are competitive advantages. These advantages should enable them to remain a leader and to take market share in a highly fragmented market over time. As a reminder approximately 95% of the used car market is made up of players not named CarMax or Carvana. We believe that CarMax can compete and win against the franchise dealers and the smaller independent dealers as they typically have. We also believe that CarMax has all the assets to compete effectively with Carvana. We are encouraged by the operational changes the company is making to increase volumes, lower costs, and expand profitability. We anticipate that these changes, along with a normalizing used car market, will lead to a recovery in earnings. Although results may remain bumpy in the short-term, we believe CarMax is a very good business, with favorable long-term prospects. The company has a deep bench of talent, a solid balance sheet, produces significant free cash flow, and is currently buying back shares at a significant discount to our estimate of intrinsic value. |
| LBRDA | Charter Communications (down 24.1%) was again hammered, and similarly Liberty Broadband (a Charter tracking stock) was down 23.8%. With them together accounting for around 7.6% of the Fund, these positions cost us dearly. And with both now down almost 50% over the year, it is not just a quarterly phenomenon. |
| LH | Shares of leading diagnostic lab Labcorp declined amid investor concern surrounding lower-than-expected guidance, driven by delays in acquisition closings and weakness in its development pipeline, leading to a restructuring of that business. However, we maintain our conviction in the company's competitive advantages in the diagnostic space, as the company's scale allows it to be a low-cost provider with better-than-average margins. |
| MA | The enduring appeal of card payments is their universality. Consumers trust that Visa and Mastercard will be accepted globally. After more than 20 years of litigation, Visa and Mastercard agreed to yet another settlement that gives merchants greater flexibility |
| META | Meta was cited as a larger position that contributed little despite what I thought was positive operating progress, representing opportunity cost in the portfolio. |
| MSFT | OpenAI's well-documented 'circular' funding with its business partners (NVIDIA, Microsoft, among others) is additional cause for concern. |
| ROP | After a decade-long partnership with Roper Technologies, we have made a strategic decision to exit our position. Roper has an exceptional track record of compounding capital. However, our decision to sell is a reflection of our commitment to maintaining a portfolio of high conviction, high growth businesses. |
| SIRI | SiriusXM shares stalled as we await a more robust auto market and the end of the current satellite investment cycle. |
| TECH | Bio-Techne is a leader in the life sciences research market with a broad portfolio of products that are used to enable discoveries of new drugs, therapeutics, and diagnostics. These products include over 6,000 proteins, 400,000 antibody types, and 2,400 diagnostic assays. Around 80% of the business is recurring revenues. We are encouraged by the new CEO's strategy to leverage the core business and expand the company's leadership position in protein research. Consternation surrounding the health of customer research spending gave us the opportunity to buy the stock at a discount to our estimate of intrinsic value. |
| TMO | Thermo Fisher Scientific was up on improved sentiment toward the health care sector. |
| V | We added to our holdings in Visa Inc. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Buys Data | |||||
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Sells Data | ||||||
| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
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| No industry data available | |||
