Weitz's fund re-bought Martin Marietta on its rocks and gravel theme. Its valuation gauge sits in the upper-70s, which the fund says signals strong return potential.
Weitz Investment Management's Large Cap Equity Fund added Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) and Veralto (VLTO) to its portfolio in the second quarter, returning to two names it had held before. Both were repeat holdings, which let the manager act "opportunistically and quickly at favorable prices," the fund said in its Q2 2026 investor letter.
Martin Marietta supplies aggregates, the crushed stone and sand used in road and building construction, along with heavy-side building materials. Aggregates feed highways and commercial construction. The stock closed Aug. 14 at $547.93, a market capitalization of $32.91 billion. Shares are down 9.11% over the past 52 weeks and fell 1.03% in the month through that date.
The Martin Marietta purchase extends a theme the fund has described as "rocks and gravel."
"Martin Marietta is a leading aggregates producer with terrific assets and a solid capital allocation track record. The investment is a natural extension of our longstanding "rocks and gravel" theme."
Weitz published the comment in its Q2 2026 investor letter.
Along with Martin Marietta, Weitz bought Veralto, another repeat position. AlphaScala's scoring puts Martin Marietta Materials at 46 out of 100, a Mixed label, and Veralto at 57, Moderate. AlphaScala's sector tags are Materials for Martin Marietta and Industrials for Veralto.
The fund's Institutional Class returned 7.03% in the quarter, trailing the Bloomberg U.S. 1000 Index's 15.49%. The letter attributed the gap to a rally led by AI-exposed semiconductor names and to risk-on factors such as momentum and growth running ahead of defensives. Equity markets rose through the quarter on economic resilience and easing Middle East tensions. AI-related stocks led the gains. Major positions in hyperscaler cloud providers produced mixed results. The portfolio held 30 companies, with the top 10 representing more than half of assets. Its price-to-value ratio was in the upper-70s, which the letter said indicates strong return potential. The fund's stated approach is to buy quality companies at undervalued prices, a stance it expects to deliver better returns over time.
Hedge fund ownership of Martin Marietta was unchanged in the first quarter: 65 funds held the stock, matching the prior period, according to the letter. The shares did not appear on the publisher's list of the 40 most popular hedge fund holdings heading into 2026. Insider Monkey, the letter's publisher, said it sees more upside in certain AI stocks than in Martin Marietta.
The fund bought the shares after a 9.11% one-year decline, describing the price as favorable.
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