Investment management company Hotchkis & Wiley released the “Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund”, a first-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Hotchkis & Wiley Mid -Cap Value Fund returned -5.63% in the first quarter, underperforming the -2.11% return from Russell MidCap Value Index. U.S. mid-cap stocks soared rapidly due to deregulation, lower corporate taxes and accelerated growth, presidential stock elections. However, the decline in Q1 2025 due to tariffs, high inflation and macroeconomic factors led to a decline of -3.4%, while the Russell Medium Center Value Index fell by -2.1%, while the Russell MidCap Growth Index fell by -7.1%. For more information on the best fund options in 2025, check out its top five.

Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund highlighted stocks such as Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) in its first-quarter 2025 investor letter. Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) is an engineering, procurement and construction company (EPC) company. Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) has a one-month return of 16.57%, and its shares have lost 1.31% of its value in the past 52 weeks. On May 16, 2025, Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) stock closed at $38.48 with a market value of $63.36 billion.

The Hotchkis & Wiley Mid-Cap Value Fund pointed out the following about Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) is one of the largest contractors in the United States. Fluor reported a disappointing 4q24 with weaker revenue and profit margins as the company handles unusually low utilization of its business volatility. Preliminary guidance for revenue and margins in 2025 is also below the consensus estimate driven by weakness in energy solutions, partially offset by growth in weight-weighted urban solutions. Unlike many competitors specializing in project delivery elements, Fluor's revenue comes from projects that provide complete engineering, procurement and construction services. Fluor also has important manufacturing capabilities, including joint ventures operating the world's largest manufacturing facilities. In addition, Fluor also owns a large stake in Nuscale (TK:SMR). ”

Close-up of an engineer who has gone through a large-scale construction project.

Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) is not among the 30 most popular stocks in hedge funds. According to our database, at the end of the fourth quarter, 48 hedge fund portfolios held Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), compared with 39 in the third quarter. Although we acknowledge the potential of Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) as an investment, our belief is that AI stocks have greater hope to provide higher returns and do so in a shorter time frame. If you are looking for AI stocks that are as promising as NVIDIA, but whose earnings are trading at less than 5 times the price, check out our report on undervalued AI stocks.