Here’s Why Aristotle Growth Equity Fund Sold Linde (LIN)

Soumya Eswaran

Thu, February 26, 2026 at 10:08 PM GMT+9 3 min read

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Aristotle Funds, an investment advisor, released its “Growth Equity Fund” fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. U.S. equity markets reached new all-time highs in Q4 2025, with the S&P 500 Index rising 2.66% and the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index increasing by 1.10%. Within the Russell 1000 Growth Index, healthcare, communication services, and financials were the top-performing sectors, while utilities, real estate, and materials lagged. The U.S. economy showed resilience. However, consumer confidence deteriorated toward year-end, raising concerns about future spending and the labor market. Against this backdrop, the Aristotle Growth Equity Fund (Class I-2) returned 0.95%, underperforming the Russell 1000 Growth Index’s 1.12%. Poor security selection in the information technology and consumer discretionary sectors detracted from performance, while positive contributions from healthcare and industrials improved relative performance. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Aristotle Growth Equity Fund highlighted stocks like Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN). Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is a chemical company and a leading provider of industrial gases. On February 25, 2026, Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) stock closed at $508.27 per share. One-month return of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) was 11.71%, and its shares gained 10.43% over the past 52 weeks. Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) has a market capitalization of $238.33 billion.

Aristotle Growth Equity Fund stated the following regarding Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

“We sold the position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) following a longer-than-expected trend of negative base volumes for the company due to soft industrial activity in Europe. The current high exposure to North American industrial markets does create increased risks if the U.S. economy enters a prolonged slowdown.”

Linde (LIN) Gets Price Target Increase from BMO Capital Ahead of 2026 Outlook

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 89 hedge fund portfolios held Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 76 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) 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.

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In another article, we covered Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) and shared a list of best dividend stocks with rising payouts. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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