Overview
- Ariel Investments released its Q4 2025 Focus Fund letter reporting a -0.50% quarterly return and a +20.97% gain for the year versus both major U.S. benchmarks.
- Oracle missed revenue but beat earnings after a one‑time gain from selling Ampere, while Oracle Cloud Infrastructure kept growing as management boosted spending on AI data center capacity.
- The letter flagged near‑term pressure for Oracle due to margin strain and funding needs for large AI projects, yet it cited a bigger backlog, multi‑cloud deals, and full‑stack offerings as supports for future growth.
- Barrick’s shares rose earlier on higher gold output, lower costs, and strong prices that produced record cash flow, and the company lifted buybacks and its quarterly dividend as an interim CEO began an operational review.
- Recent snapshots show Oracle down 6.85% over one month with a March 30 close near $138.80 and a ~$399B value, while Barrick fell 17.04% over one month with a March 30 close near $38.45 and a ~$65B value, as fund managers warned about market concentration and stretched valuations.