Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC has released its investor letter for the fourth quarter of 2025. The document details the performance of its U.S. Quality Strategy.
U.S. equities showed strong momentum in 2025, achieving double-digit gains for the second year in a row. The market recovered quickly after a dip into bear territory in April. Mega-cap stocks and AI-driven companies led the market.
The Mar Vista U.S. Quality strategy gained 0.20% net-of-fees in the fourth quarter. This compares to a 2.41% return for the Russell 1000 Index and a 2.65% return for the S&P 500 Index. Stock picks in communication services, consumer discretionary, and financials helped performance. Picks in information technology, materials, and healthcare hurt performance.
The letter states that markets in 2026 will need to balance strong fundamentals with rising economic uncertainties.
The letter highlighted Danaher Corporation. Danaher is a life science and diagnostic company based in Washington, D.C. Its stock closed at $235.56 per share on January 13, 2026. The stock had a one-month return of 5.81%. Over the last 52 weeks, its shares lost 1.01% of their value. Danaher has a market capitalization of $168.673 billion.
Regarding Danaher, the letter said: "After lagging through the first three quarters of 2025, Danaher Corporation'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. Operating leverage should drive high single digit EPS growth. The company’s strong balance sheet and capital deployment strategy should provide accretive growth for the foreseeable future."
Danaher Corporation is ranked 27th on a list of 30 popular stocks among hedge funds. 117 hedge fund portfolios held the stock at the end of the third quarter of 2025, up from 115 the previous quarter. The company's sales for the third quarter of 2025 were $6.1 billion, representing 3% core revenue growth.