Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its first-quarter 2026 investor letter for the “Madison Large Cap Fund”. A copy of the letter is available to download here. The Madison Large Cap Fund (Class I) declined 2.7% in the quarter, outperforming the S&P 500’s -4.33% return. The fund focuses on long-term capital appreciation. The quarter saw a shift in the equity market beyond the mega-cap technology stocks into physical economy stocks, influenced by fears of AI disruption. Additionally, rising commodity prices due to the Middle East conflict reignited inflation concerns, benefiting sectors such as Energy, Materials, Utilities, Staples, and Real Estate, which the Fund does not invest in, impacting its relative performance. Please review the Fund’s top five holdings to gain insights into their key selections for 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Madison Large Cap Fund highlighted Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY). Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) is a leading enterprise software company that provides cloud applications for human resources and financial management. On June 12, 2026, Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) closed at $130.80 per share. One-month return of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) was 1.49%, and its shares lost 46.75% over the past 52 weeks. Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) has a market capitalization of $32.30 billion.
Madison Large Cap Fund stated the following regarding Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“The bottom five detractors for the quarter were Gartner, Danaher, Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY), Accenture, and Agilent Technologies. Shares of Workday and Accenture also continue to be severely punished as both are deemed to have “AI risk”. Results at Workday continue to be resilient, which isn’t a surprise considering its high customer retention rates and large pipeline of prospects set to become paying customers. However, results currently aren’t good enough to disprove the AI disruption concerns.”
Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 63 hedge fund portfolios held Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 70 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) reported total revenue of $2.54 billion, an increase of 13% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) 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.