Pzena Hits $33.4B Record AUM With Auto Parts at #1 and 13.8% of Baxter — Inside the Deep Value Machine's Q4 2025 Filing

While the market spent 2025 chasing momentum trades and piling into AI stocks, Pzena Investment Management quietly hit an all-time high of $33.4 billion in assets under management. The firm's #1 holding? Not Nvidia. Not Meta. It's Magna International (MGA) — a $2.1 billion bet on an auto parts company. Welcome to deep value at scale.

Founded in 1996 by Richard Pzena, the firm's Q4 2025 13F filing reveals a portfolio that looks nothing like what most institutional managers are buying. No FAANG names in the top 25. Massive ownership stakes — including 13.8% of Baxter International. And a conviction-heavy portfolio of beaten-down names across healthcare, financials, and consumer retail.

TL;DR — 8 Key Takeaways

• Record AUM: $33.4B (+7.9% QoQ), an all-time high for the deep value firm
• #1 holding is auto parts: Magna International (MGA) at $2.13B (6.4% of portfolio)
• 13.8% of Baxter owned: Pzena holds 70.9M shares of Baxter International (BAX)
• 88% increase in Amdocs: Added 12.0M shares of DOX, now owning 11.3% of the company
• Dollar General comeback: DG up 17.5% QoQ to $1.42B after beating earnings ($1.28 vs $0.95 expected)
• No FAANG: Zero mega-cap tech in top 25 — pure contrarian positioning
• 5 new positions: Constellation Brands, Knight-Swift, Distribution NOW, Winnebago, TotalEnergies
• Momentum vs. value thesis: Pzena says momentum outperformed by ~17 percentage points in 2025, creating deep value opportunities

Filing Snapshot — Q4 2025

Metric	Q4 2025	Q3 2025	Change
Total AUM	$33,403.4M	$30,942.2M	+7.9%
Holdings Count	157	154	+3
#1 Position	MGA ($2,130.2M)	MGA ($1,916.8M)	+11.1%
Top 10 Concentration	39.5%	—	—
CIK	0001027796

The Contrarian Bets

Magna International (MGA) — $2.13B, 6.4%

Magna International has been Pzena's top holding for multiple quarters, and the position grew another 11.1% this quarter to $2.13 billion. In a market obsessed with EV pure-plays and autonomous driving moonshots, Pzena is betting on the company that actually builds the cars — everything from mirrors to complete vehicle assembly. Magna supplies nearly every major automaker and trades at a fraction of the multiples commanded by EV companies with a fraction of Magna's revenue.

Dollar General (DG) — $1.42B, 4.2%

Dollar General was one of the quarter's biggest winners in the Pzena portfolio, jumping 17.5% QoQ from $1.21B to $1.42B. The stock rallied after DG crushed earnings expectations — reporting $1.28 EPS vs. the $0.95 consensus estimate. This is classic Pzena: buy a company when it's struggling, wait for the turnaround, and hold through the recovery. Pzena owns 4.9% of Dollar General (10.8 million shares).

CVS Health (CVS) — $1.24B, 3.7%

CVS Health remains a core position at $1.24 billion, up 3.5% from Q3. Another classic Pzena play — a dominant franchise that's been punished by the market over healthcare cost concerns and PBM regulatory risk. The deep value thesis: CVS's retail pharmacy, insurance (Aetna), and pharmacy benefits businesses are worth substantially more than the current market price.

Baxter International (BAX) — $1.34B, 4.0%

Baxter International represents one of Pzena's highest-conviction positions. At 70.9 million shares, Pzena owns a staggering 13.8% of the entire company. The healthcare products maker has been under pressure since its Hillrom acquisition, and Pzena is betting heavily on a recovery in margins and a simplification of the business following the Kidney Care spinoff.

Massive Ownership Stakes — Activist-Level Positions

What separates Pzena from most institutional managers is the sheer size of its ownership stakes. These aren't passive index allocations — they're activist-level positions in companies Pzena believes are deeply undervalued:

Company	Ticker	Ownership %	Shares	QoQ Change
Baxter International	BAX	13.8%	70.9M	—
Skyworks Solutions	SWKS	11.7%	17.6M	+42.5%
Amdocs	DOX	11.3%	12.2M	+88.1%
Tyson Foods	TSN	5.5%	New 13G	New filing
Dollar General	DG	4.9%	10.8M	-9.1%

The Amdocs (DOX) move is particularly notable — an 88.1% increase in shares held, bringing Pzena's ownership to 11.3% of the telecom software company. Amdocs has been a steady cash-flow machine with a dominant position in telecom billing and OSS/BSS systems, exactly the kind of boring-but-profitable business Pzena loves.

Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) also saw a massive 42.5% increase in shares, even as the position's market value declined 15.3% — meaning Pzena was aggressively buying into weakness. The semiconductor company has been hit by slowing smartphone demand, but Pzena clearly sees normalized earnings well above where the market is pricing the stock.

New Positions — Q4 2025 Entries

Pzena initiated five new positions in Q4, each fitting the deep value framework:

• Constellation Brands (STZ) — $81.4M: The beer and wine company (Corona, Modelo in the U.S.) has been under pressure from shifting consumer preferences and the weight of its wine/spirits segment. Pzena is likely betting on the beer business being undervalued relative to its premium market position.
• Knight-Swift (KNX): The largest truckload carrier in North America. Trucking has been in a freight recession, and Pzena is positioning for the cycle to turn.
• Winnebago (WGO): RV demand has been soft post-pandemic, but the industry is cyclical — and Pzena buys cyclicals when they're cheap.
• TotalEnergies (TTE): A French oil and gas major with an integrated business model and strong dividend. Energy has been out of favor, which is when value investors show up.
• Distribution NOW (DNOW): An industrial distribution company serving the energy sector.

Top Increases — Where Pzena Added Most Aggressively

Ticker	Company	Shares Added	Weight Q3→Q4
NOK	Nokia	+91.9M	1.3% → 1.8%
BMY	Bristol-Myers Squibb	+17.9M	2.2% → 2.9%
CTSH	Cognizant	+17.6M	3.8% → 4.3%
DOX	Amdocs	+12.0M	1.7% → 2.9%
PPG	PPG Industries	+7.1M	1.6% → 2.2%

The Nokia addition of 91.9 million shares is enormous — the telecom equipment maker has been left behind by the market's focus on AI infrastructure, but Pzena sees value in Nokia's 5G network equipment business and improving margins under CEO Pekka Lundmark.

The Momentum vs. Value Thesis

Pzena's Q4 2025 commentary, titled "Finding Value in a Momentum-Driven Market," makes the firm's positioning crystal clear. According to Pzena's analysis, momentum stocks outperformed value by approximately 17 percentage points in the U.S. market during 2025.

Rather than chasing momentum, Pzena sees this divergence as creating a larger opportunity set for value investors. The wider the gap between momentum winners and value laggards, the more potential upside exists in the names Pzena is buying. This is the essence of Pzena's 29-year track record — buy what's hated, own it in size, and wait for mean reversion.

The record $33.4 billion AUM suggests investors are increasingly allocating to this approach — even in a market that has rewarded the opposite strategy. As Pzena would argue, that's exactly when deep value tends to work best.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Pzena's #1 holding an auto parts company?

Magna International fits Pzena's deep value framework perfectly — it's a dominant supplier to nearly every major automaker, generates substantial free cash flow, and trades at a significant discount to intrinsic value. While the market is focused on EV pure-plays, Magna's diversified manufacturing base means it benefits regardless of which powertrain technology wins.

What does it mean that Pzena owns 13.8% of Baxter?

Owning 13.8% of Baxter International (70.9 million shares) makes Pzena one of the company's largest shareholders. At this ownership level, Pzena likely has direct engagement with management and significant influence over corporate strategy — particularly the ongoing Kidney Care separation and margin improvement initiatives.

Why did Pzena increase Amdocs by 88%?

Amdocs (DOX) is a telecom software company with dominant market share in billing and operations systems. The 88% increase signals extremely high conviction — Pzena now owns 11.3% of the company. Amdocs generates consistent free cash flow with high recurring revenue, trading at a value multiple despite its monopoly-like position in telecom infrastructure software.

Is $33.4B a lot for a value fund?

Yes — $33.4 billion makes Pzena one of the largest dedicated deep value managers in the world. Reaching an all-time high AUM while value investing has underperformed momentum by 17 percentage points shows strong investor conviction in Pzena's long-term approach. It also means Pzena's ownership stakes in mid-cap names become increasingly significant.

What are the risks to Pzena's portfolio?

The biggest risk is continued momentum dominance — if growth/momentum stocks keep outperforming, Pzena's value-heavy portfolio will lag benchmarks. Specific risks include auto industry cyclicality (MGA, LEA), healthcare regulatory changes (BAX, CVS, HUM), and semiconductor demand weakness (SWKS). However, Pzena's thesis relies on mean reversion over multi-year periods, not quarter-to-quarter performance.