In our Q4 2025 review, we examine what drove strong gains in 2025—and why earnings growth, rather than speculative excess, played the central role.

We also discuss how WestEnd’s portfolio evolved over the course of 2025 as opportunities broadened beyond mega-cap Technology into areas such as industrial modernization, health care innovation, and global infrastructure. The review concludes with our outlook for earnings, policy, and portfolio positioning heading into 2026.

Equity markets continued to advance in the third quarter, led by strong performance in technology and other structural growth sectors. WestEnd Capital’s Core Strategy remained balanced—maintaining significant exposure to leading AI and data-infrastructure companies while expanding into select industrial and international opportunities. Our latest review details key portfolio developments, including new positions in AMD, Alibaba, and Baidu, as well as the broader economic trends shaping the path ahead.

Despite tariff pressures and global uncertainty, the U.S. and world economy continue to show resilience—and that strength is fueling better-than-expected corporate earnings.

WestEnd’s Core Strategy doubled the index return for the quarter (+21.8% vs. +10.9%), driven by our focused allocations in Technology, Industrials, and select European stocks. In this letter, we highlight how positioning in aerospace and defense continues to benefit from reshoring trends, rising global defense spending, and domestic investment tailwinds from the new OBBBA legislation.

After a week of on-the-ground research across Europe, WestEnd’s equity team returned with fresh conviction in three compelling companies. With macro shifts reshaping the region, we see meaningful opportunity in select European equities.

In our view, staying passive through volatile, policy-driven environments is not a risk-free choice. Rather than committing to a static buy-and-hold allocation, we believe in remaining tactically active.

The April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff announcement sent stocks into a severe volatility patch. We maintained our cash allocation but started buying selectively.