Wed May 07 15:20:00 UTC 2025: ## Mairs & Power Balanced Fund Outperforms Market Despite Tech Sector Headwinds
**NEW YORK, NY – May 8, 2025** – The Mairs & Power Balanced Fund reported a 0.04% gain in the first quarter of 2025, exceeding the performance of benchmark indexes and its peer group. While the stock market reached record highs in February, March saw a decline in equities due to tariff uncertainty, benefiting fixed-income investments. The benchmark composite indexes (60% S&P 500 Total Return Index and 40% Bloomberg U.S. Government/Credit Bond Index) fell 1.48%, and the Morningstar Moderate Allocation peer group dropped 0.34%.
The fund’s performance was impacted by underperformance in its Communications Services holdings, primarily due to its investment in Alphabet Inc. (GOOG). While Alphabet reported a 12% revenue increase to $90.2 billion in Q1 2025, concerns regarding the impact of generative AI on its search business weighed on the stock. Despite Alphabet’s position as a top holding and its popularity among hedge funds, Mairs & Power expressed a stronger belief in the potential of other AI stocks to deliver higher, faster returns. The fund’s letter highlighted this preference for alternative AI investments, suggesting that some AI stocks offer comparable potential to NVIDIA but at lower valuations. Further analysis of Alphabet’s performance and its AI strategies can be found in other articles linked to the original report.
First Piper 