IQVIA (IQV) Fell Despite Strong Fundamentals

Soumya Eswaran

Mon, May 18, 2026 at 10:03 AM EDT 3 min read

Broyhill Asset Management, an investment advisor, released its first-quarter 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Broyhill Equity Composite declined 6.0% in the first quarter, net of all fees and expenses, lagging the MSCI All Country World Index, which declined 3.1%. After a strong start to the year, global stocks fell sharply following the strikes on Iran. The firm’s defensive strategy, with nearly half the portfolio invested in noncyclical sectors, failed to provide the historical protection in the quarter. The portfolio underperformed in the quarter because of its high exposure to non-cyclical industries, lack of energy investments, and over half of its investments are made outside the United States. In addition, please check the Portfolio’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.

In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Broyhill Asset Management highlighted IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV). IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) is a US-based provider of clinical research services, commercial insights, and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. On May 15, 2026, IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) closed at $169.12 per share. One-month return of IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) was -4.32%, and its shares gained 17.82% over the past 52 weeks. IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) has a market capitalization of $28.23 billion.

Broyhill Asset Management stated the following regarding IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:

"IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) was our largest detractor despite fundamentals being far better than price action suggested. The stock has sold off because investors have convinced themselves that AI will compress economics faster than it drives demand. At the current price, we are more than willing to take the other side of that trade. Large pharma is structurally reliant on IQVIA's clinical trial architecture and proprietary data assets, and we think it is highly unlikely that Claude can automate away the FDA approval process. While the burden of proof remains on the company, we believe we are being paid well to wait at the stock’s current valuation…” (Click here to read the full text)

IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 69 hedge fund portfolios held IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 61 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) 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.