The BuySide Digest

aka The BSD

What is the BSD?

Whatever you call them, you know their names, and more importantly, you know that when they open their mouths, the market listens. Whether they are quoted in print, make a television or podcast appearance, put out a new white paper, or file an SEC doc, we’ll be sure to track, analyze, and synthesize the most important takeaways.

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Media appearances of BSDs

Media appearances of prominent investors and their main themes.

Hedge Fund Letter Summaries

Quick summaries of the hardest hitting letters of the quarter scrubbed by our analyst team.

Elevator Pitches

Pitches on the names our favorite funds are buying. Filter out the noise and get the quick elevator pitch on why they are long with links to their writeup.

The BSD Archive

Read the old Ds

Happy Friday! In this week's letters, - Baumann Capital on AI, meeting the company CEO and Aerospace - Auxier Asset Management on defense spending, private equity, and AI - Aoris International Fund on opportunities related to AI - Elevator pitches for JDG LN, HTHT, and FTDR Quarter in progress: 747 fund letters of 2026 Q1 are live on our database! We just launched the BSD 13Fs Investor Page, your new central hub to: ? Search BSD Gurus by name, portfolio value, or ticker ? Track 13F filings from 100+ top hedge funds and BSDs ? Compare turnover rates, holdings, and portfolio shifts ⏱️ Spot new positions and high-conviction moves instantly From David Einhorn to Warren Buffett, their most important filings are now all in one place — simplified, visual, and always up-to-date.
Enjoy fishing for ideas!
 

Q1 2026 INVESTOR LETTER SUMMARIES

  • Another nugget on AI: All of a sudden, terminal value risks matter again. Finally. I look forward to markets increasingly appreciating the AI durability of our businesses. Maybe one day, their likelihood of long-term survival will earn a premium multiple over riskier businesses. Hang tight, everyone. We should be well underway with our boring infrastructure names.
  • A frequent question is: how do I get companies to talk to me? It is time to address it. Arguably, I lack the size of Fidelity, and IR teams may occasionally question the relevance of my fund building a position around their stock. That is, at least, until some IR teams read my letters, notice that I have done a little work, and start asking for readership numbers.
  • Aerospace is a great place to compound. The aerospace opportunity sits somewhere else: in companies that manufacture jet engines, components, and systems, and then service everything forever. These businesses are mission-critical, deeply embedded, technically demanding, slow to change, and protected by barriers that will not be overcome by VCs, no matter how enthusiastic the colours in their pitch decks may be.
 

Auxier Asset Management Auxier Asset Management hedge fund letter

  • Defense spending is on the rise. Geopolitical uncertainties over the last several years have led to steadily increasing defense budgets, particularly in the United States, where spending rose from $715 billion in 2020 to just under $850 billion in 2025.
  • Risk is also growing in private equity and private capital. Private equity and private credit markets have expanded rapidly over the last decade and are now among the fastest-growing alternative asset classes. S&P Global estimated that private market assets under management totaled $15 trillion in 2024, up from $10.89 trillion in 2022.
  • AI disruption fears have hit software companies hard. The Software as a Service industry was one of the hardest-hit areas of the market during the first quarter, as investors became increasingly uncertain about AI’s potential to disrupt and commoditize the industry while compressing profit margins.
 

Aoris International Fund

  • Depth is defence. In this context, AI is a source of opportunity. AI can add significant value to companies whose software and solutions are based on proprietary data and deep industry expertise. By contrast, businesses based on publicly available data or generic content are at risk.
  • Great value creates happy customers who are not actively looking for cheaper alternatives. Businesses that have a history of aggressive price increases place themselves at a significant disadvantage when it comes to technological change. They often have unhappy customers who are desperate for an alternative.
  • The advent of AI will damage and displace some existing software, data, and services businesses. The most vulnerable companies are those that are already competitively weak, have been slow to adapt to new technology and the changing needs of their customers, offer narrow and thin products, and provide poor value to their customers. We believe Microsoft, SAP, Experian, RELX, and Accenture all have strong competitive foundations today.
 

ELEVATOR PITCHES BY FUNDS

 

Judges Scientific (by Plural Investing)

  • Judges Scientific is another great business that is recovering from a temporary slowdown. The company is a serial acquirer of niche scientific instrument businesses in the UK and has delivered 20% returns on incremental capital and similar shareholder returns for two decades.
  • The stock trades at an optically high 25x EV/FCF as a result, but we believe that translates to just 13x underlying earnings power. We think Judges will continue making acquisitions at 20% returns, which when combined with an earnings rebound leads to an IRR well above 20%.
  • We believe the rebound is now beginning and that Judges continues to have a long runway ahead of it.
 

H World (by Stewart Investors)

  • H World is the second largest hotel chain in China. The company has emerged as a dominant force in China's hotel industry, with a strong brand portfolio and deep operational expertise.
  • These investments have helped it become a cost leader in the sector, while its membership programme has emerged as a key driver of organic traffic and customer retention. We believe H World has a long runway of growth as it taps into China's rising domestic travel demand, urbanisation and upgraded consumer preferences.
  • H World's significantly larger economies of scale – and its pricing premium over the hotels in similar locations – should drive outsize drop off in the long run.
 

Frontdoor (by Curreen Capital)

  • Frontdoor sells home service plans to homeowners. The company contracts with HVAC and other contractors and dispatches them when customers have problems with one of their major home appliances and systems (furnace, air conditioning, refrigerator, electrical system, etc)
  • The company serves only 2% of U.S. homes, which suggests substantial runway for organic growth in a large addressable market.
  • Frontdoor spun out of ServiceMaster in October 2018. Frontdoor serves about 2% of U.S. homes, and uses its free cash flow to grow organically, pay down debt, repurchase shares, and acquire complementary businesses.
 
 

HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES BY BSDs

 

Billionaire Philippe Laffont shares the one type of tech stock he's loading up on

  • Philippe Laffont isn't too concerned about AI jitters percolating in the market recently, but he says he's primarily focused on one specific area of the trade that offers best exposure at a better value.
  • The billionaire founder of Coatue Management, a technology focused hedge fund, recently shared his take on the AI market with CNBC. Laffont revealed that he sees the most opportunity in the semi-cap corner of the tech sector, pointing to firms that provide critical components to chip fabrication plants.
 

SoftBank’s Son Sets Bold Net Asset Value Target on Promise of ‘Super AI’

  • SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son wants to bring the tech conglomerate’s net asset value to $6.189 trillion over the next decade or so, setting a bold target built on the promise of artificial “superintelligence.”
  • Speaking at an annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday, Son acknowledged the ambition of the 1,000 trillion yen goal but said SoftBank has consistently proven its ability to create value.
 

Citadel: the hedge fund that became an energy giant

  • Although Citadel is mostly known for its huge bond market bets, skilled stock pickers and cunning arbitrage trades, its commodities business has become the hedge fund’s crown jewel over the past decade.
  • And as Haynesville’s landscape of rigs shows, it has evolved from a primarily financial actor — buying and selling derivatives contracts on oil, gas, corn, gold or soyabeans — into a player in physical commodities and America’s vast energy market.
 

 
Happy Friday! In this week's letters, - Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates on commodity markets and precious metals - Elm Ridge Management on private credit - Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors on LNG and the Fed - Elevator pitches for SAP GR, KKR, and VID LN Quarter in progress: 742 fund letters of 2026 Q1 are live on our database! We just launched the BSD 13Fs Investor Page, your new central hub to: ? Search BSD Gurus by name, portfolio value, or ticker ? Track 13F filings from 100+ top hedge funds and BSDs ? Compare turnover rates, holdings, and portfolio shifts ⏱️ Spot new positions and high-conviction moves instantly From David Einhorn to Warren Buffett, their most important filings are now all in one place — simplified, visual, and always up-to-date.
Enjoy fishing for ideas!
 

Q1 2026 INVESTOR LETTER SUMMARIES

  • Commodity markets, and energy markets especially, have always possessed a peculiar instability. Periods of acute shortage and extraordinary profitability tend to convince investors that prosperity will persist indefinitely. Periods of collapse usually persuade them of precisely the opposite. As a result, these swings can last far longer than logic would seem to permit.
  • In the immediate term, it is difficult to overstate the magnitude of the supply shock caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, even though the full physical effects have yet to be truly felt. Before the conflict, roughly 20 million barrels per day moved through the Strait. Since then, several bypass pipelines have increased throughput materially. Even after accounting for those adjustments, however, approximately 15 million barrels per day remains impacted.
  • The most consequential question facing investors today is not whether the closure of the Strait will eventually end. It will. The more important question is what the market will look like after it reopens. The prevailing assumption is that reopening restores balance - that supply returns, inventories rebuild, and the system reverts to the surplus the IEA had been forecasting before the war.
 

Elm Ridge Management

  • Our view that a reckoning was due in private credit and private equity was also based on a simple premise: success breeds excess. Private investors were rewarded with supranormal returns as they filled the gap left by regulated financial institutions after the GFC. However, the flood of new capital into the space was bound to depress those returns going forward.
  • This came after a decade of ever-lower interest rates that had supported impressive performance. As a result, investors were happy to suspend disbelief. They appeared to turn what had once been a “bug” — the inability to readily sell private holdings at their quoted value — into a “feature”: not having to confront mark-to-market volatility.
  • As asset-light models were tumbling, I, with a little help from some rum, boasted to friends that we had been “saying some sooth.” But then I became curious and learned that “soothsayer” derives from the 14th-century word “sooth,” meaning “truth” or “reality.” One might guess that predictions back then were taken as advance knowledge of the future, perhaps stemming from an in with the gods, rather than the kind of loose speculation we were spraying around.
 

Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors

  • Liquified natural gas (LNG) is also heavily impacted by events in the Middle East. Qatar is responsible for 20% of global LNG supply and at the moment 100% of this is offline due to the war. It has been reported that Iran targeted and damaged a portion of Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG complex, resulting in roughly 17% of its.
  • Oil and gas fields are not like faucets—they cannot just be turned off and on. Once they are shut in, there are engineering and geological risks that don’t guarantee their resumption at previous production levels. Restarting these fields will take weeks to months, plus another 3-4 weeks for tankers to transit through the Persian Gulf and to Asia.
  • Research from the Federal Reserve suggests that energy prices accounted for only a portion of the overall inflation increase. The Fed estimates that the oil price spike added roughly half a percentage point to overall inflation during 2022..
 

ELEVATOR PITCHES BY FUNDS

 

SAP SE (by Mayar Capital)

  • Another returning name we've owned and admired for its deep integration into corporate workflows. As the world's leading ERP provider, its "stickiness" is immense; the idea that a company would risk its entire financial backbone on a home-grown AI alternative is, in our view, a fundamental misunderstanding of how big business operates.
  • The investment thesis directly counters market fears about AI disruption, arguing that enterprises will not risk their financial backbone by replacing proven ERP systems with AI-generated alternatives.
  • The fund views current AI anxiety as creating an attractive entry point for a fundamentally sound business..
 

KKR (by 1 Main Capital)

  • KKR just closed its flagship Americas NAX4 fund at $23 billion, meaningfully reducing near-term fundraising risk. And the firm has already notched several high-profile exits this year, including the $5 billion sale of CoolIT to Ecolab — a 15x return in three years.
  • Near-term market volatility may weigh on additional exits and performance income, but KKR remains an exceptionally high-quality business poised to grow earnings at a double-digit rate for the foreseeable future. Insiders seem to agree, and despite already owning nearly a third of the company, they spent $50 million on open market purchases as the stock pulled back.
 

Videndum (by Rockwood Strategic)

  • The company is a world-leading specialist manufacturer with strong brand portfolio including Manfrotto, O'Connor, and Gitzo, serving the growing independent content creator market (49% of sales) alongside traditional broadcast and film customers.
  • The business enjoys significant competitive advantages with scale 5x larger than its nearest competitor and substantial intellectual property moat.
  • Key value creation opportunities include pricing discipline, back-office synergies, SKU rationalization, and manufacturing footprint consolidation. At current valuation of 5.9x 2026 estimated EBITDA, the stock appears attractively priced.
 
 

HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES BY BSDs

 

Michael Burry says he’s tempted to bet against SpaceX, but passes on

  • Michael Burry of “The Big Short” fame said Tuesday he has no position in SpaceX, arguing that options used to wager against the stock remain too expensive even as he questioned the company’s nearly $3 trillion market value.
  • Still, Burry questioned the scale of the company’s valuation, describing SpaceX as “fundamentally a small space company, a niche telecom, a bedeviled social media company, and a Coreweave-light” generating less than $20 billion in annual revenue.
 

SpaceX IPO Lines Up $230 Billion Windfall For Peter Thiel And Musk Backers

  • Now, as Elon Musk’s rocket and AI company goes public today at a nearly $2 trillion valuation, the fund’s stake is worth a staggering $67 billion — making that first check, and the additional $600 million Founders Fund invested over the following decade, into one of the most lucrative in venture capital history.
 

Rokos, Melqart Advance in Another Strong Month for Hedge Funds

  • Rokos Capital Management, Melqart Asset Management and Brevan Howard Asset Management were among hedge funds that gained last month as an escalation of the war in the Middle East and optimism over a peace deal whipsawed markets.
  • Chris Rokos’ eponymous hedge fund returned 3.7% in May, taking gains for the first five months of the year to 14.2%, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
 

 
Happy Friday! In this week's letters, - Vision Capital on software apocalypse and vibe coding - White Falcon Capital Management on software that would survive the AI - Zeno on Valuations, Brazil, and Argentina - Elevator pitches for GM, TDW, and AMP Quarter in progress: 736 fund letters of 2026 Q1 are live on our database! We just launched the BSD 13Fs Investor Page, your new central hub to: ? Search BSD Gurus by name, portfolio value, or ticker ? Track 13F filings from 100+ top hedge funds and BSDs ? Compare turnover rates, holdings, and portfolio shifts ⏱️ Spot new positions and high-conviction moves instantly From David Einhorn to Warren Buffett, their most important filings are now all in one place — simplified, visual, and always up-to-date.
Enjoy fishing for ideas!
 

Q1 2026 INVESTOR LETTER SUMMARIES

  • The market is pricing in a software apocalypse. We disagree. The SaaS selloff has been indiscriminate, driven by fears that AI will disrupt, displace, and ultimately replace software wholesale. The reality is far more nuanced. SaaS is heterogeneous, not homogeneous.
  • The more important distinction is between deterministic and probabilistic systems. Precision-critical software, where “close enough” is simply unacceptable, will prove far more resilient. Vibe coding can ship prototypes, but it does not ship proven enterprise infrastructure.
  • The kite is the stock price. The string is the fundamental. The wind is market sentiment. The child does not cut the string when the kite surges, and he does not yank it down either. He holds it with the quiet confidence of someone who understands that height without wind is not permanent.
 

White Falcon Capital Management White Falcon Capital Management hedge fund letter

  • At its core, software is simply a business process written into code. The real work begins after the product is built. A software company must convince a customer to trust it with an essential function. Once that trust is established, the customer must implement the system, tailor it to its specific needs, and train employees to use it effectively.
  • Enterprise leaders tend to be inherently risk averse. A Chief Technology Officer’s mandate is first and foremost to ensure operational continuity. If existing software already works “well enough,” the upside of replacing it is small compared to the downside of breaking something mission critical.
  • Because of these factors, the industry has trended toward a “winner takes most” structure, despite the existence of a plethora of competing products. Salesforce wins in CRM. Intuit wins in accounting and tax. Oracle and SAP dominate ERP systems, and so on. We do not believe that “more software,” whether from vibe coding or increased developer productivity, will meaningfully change this dynamic.
 

Zeno

  • Valuations across the continent had reached very low levels. Currencies had depreciated significantly, and the region had been lost in the fog of the AI frenzy, Liberation Day, geopolitical tensions, and local politics. There had also been clear capitulation by local investors after years of poor stock market performance and very high interest rates.
  • It was against this backdrop that a select group of high-quality Brazilian companies, which we have known and invested in for many years, started to draw our attention. We also began spending more time on Argentina, where the reforms implemented by the newly elected government reminded us of what happened in Brazil in the early 1990s. Back then, Brazil transitioned from hyperinflation to a more normal economic environment while also liberalizing its economy.
  • If Argentina succeeds in following a similar path, the process could create a very attractive setup for the country’s best companies and operators to thrive.
 

ELEVATOR PITCHES BY FUNDS

 

General Motors (by Ashva Capital)

  • We like companies that repurchase shares when their stock trades below intrinsic value.
  • General Motors (GM) is a good example. While investors have often focused on cyclical concerns around autos, EV uncertainty, and broader macro risks, GM has continued to generate substantial free cash flow and has used that cash flow to aggressively reduce its share coun
  • t at what we believe are attractive valuations. When a company buys back stock below intrinsic value, remaining shareholders own a larger percentage of the business without having to invest an additional dollar. That is not financial engineering. That is disciplined capital allocation.
 

Tidewater (by Moerus Capital)

  • Tidewater used its offshore supply vessel industry-leading balance sheet to make three acquisitions of assets from distressed and/or motivated sellers at deep discounts to replacement costs during a years-long industry depression, upgrading their fleet and footprint while generating synergies in the process.
  • Tidewater has also been a leading performer during its multi-year holding period, despite oil having some years that were good (2022, 2026), some bad (2019-2020), and some in between.
  • Tidewater's strengthened competitive position and improved asset base position it well to benefit from increased offshore drilling activity as energy security becomes a higher priority globally.
 

Ameriprise Financial (by Gator Capital)

  • Ameriprise Financial combines an independent advisory and brokerage platform with a captive asset manager and insurance/annuity operations.
  • The company serves over 2 million individual, business, and institutional clients and, at year-end, had $1.7 trillion in assets on its platform.
  • It is currently undervalued versus peers despite having one of the most compelling best-in-class growth stories in the wealth management space and a demonstrated commitment to returning capital to shareholders.
  • Ameriprise has a history of strong free cash flow generation and has regularly returned over 80% of operating earnings to shareholders.
 
 

HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES BY BSDs

 

The Buffett Rule Investors Can Apply To The Next Wave Of Mega‑IPOs

  • Retail investors are bracing for a wave of blockbuster IPOs — from SpaceX to OpenAI to Anthropic — with private‑market valuations stretching toward a trillion dollars. But Warren Buffett would tell them the same thing he’s said for decades: the moment of peak excitement is usually the worst time to buy.
  • Buffett’s point wasn’t that every IPO is a bad investment. His concern was that IPOs tend to arrive when enthusiasm is at its highest and valuation discipline at its lowest — a dynamic that feels especially relevant today.
 

Ken Griffin's talent machine is getting bigger

  • Ken Griffin's companies are making their biggest bet yet on entry-level talent, as Citadel interns kick off their program with an offsite in Palm Beach on Monday.
  • They're among the more than 350 interns at the company and its sister firm, market maker Citadel Securities, and comprise the biggest global class to date.
 

Workspace to raise rents as it seeks to fend off Boaz Weinstein

  • Flexible office landlord Workspace will refurbish its buildings and raise rents as part of a plan to boost profits and fend off an activist campaign from Boaz Weinstein.
  • The FTSE 250 company wants to achieve £125mn of trading profit before interest in the medium term, it said on Wednesday, a move that its chief executive said would rely on it being able to charge higher prices for its offices.
 

 
Happy Friday! In this week's letters, - Macro Ops on a new emerging theme - Solar - Pantera Capital on AI and blockchain - Unison Asset Management on Korea, AMAZON and AI - Elevator pitches for SRE, RENT3 BZ and CDW Quarter in progress: 736 fund letters of 2026 Q1 are live on our database! We just launched the BSD 13Fs Investor Page, your new central hub to: ? Search BSD Gurus by name, portfolio value, or ticker ? Track 13F filings from 100+ top hedge funds and BSDs ? Compare turnover rates, holdings, and portfolio shifts ⏱️ Spot new positions and high-conviction moves instantly From David Einhorn to Warren Buffett, their most important filings are now all in one place — simplified, visual, and always up-to-date.
Enjoy fishing for ideas!
 

Q1 2026 INVESTOR LETTER SUMMARIES

  • The Solar Thematic reminds me of Rare Earths circa 2024. Back then, investors understood China’s stranglehold on Rare Earths but didn’t truly care until China imposed export bans in late 2024/early 2025.
  • Here’s what most investors miss about Solar: China has an even greater grip on the solar value chain than Rare Earths. Pair that with an Energy Security At AllCosts macro environment, and you have another potential Chinese supply chain squeeze.
  • The most significant bear argument is that Solar is a terrible industry and business. Why compete with China, which always wins on price? Why bother looking at PV manufacturers after they flooded the market with inventory only to crush margins? Why not just use *insert Trump Voice* “beautiful, clean, coal.”
 

Pantera Capital

  • Foundation For The Next Convergence – AI And Blockchain: The foundational ingredients are in place for AI and blockchain to converge. When thinking about innovation, it is always important to start with the supply of talent as a key indicator. From a talent perspective, there is a high degree of overlap. Blockchain, through cryptography, and AI, through statistics, share common roots in mathematics, and every engineer or mathematician has had at least some exposure to both.
  • AI And Blockchain Fuel Each Other’s Growth: In practice, we see several ways blockchain can help accelerate AI innovation and, conversely, ways AI can accelerate blockchain adoption. On the blockchain side, the key innovations that could accelerate AI include open systems, resource aggregation, and identity.
  • Bitcoin Looks Cheap Relative to AI and the Trend: When I speak to institutional investors, by far the biggest worry on their minds is: “How can I pay these valuations in AI?” Some close their eyes and participate in the private rounds taking place right now. The majority, however, cannot pull the trigger and are stressed about it. They have the nagging feeling that they may be missing something big.
 

Unison Asset Management

  • World’s biggest stock rally ignites speculative mania in Korea: South Korea’s Kospi has surged more than 200% over the past year, cementing its position as the world’s best-performing major equity market by a wide margin. The catalyst is clear: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix sit at the center of global AI infrastructure, supplying the high-bandwidth memory that hyperscalers cannot build without. Samsung alone posted a 755% increase in profit in Q1.
  • Amazon staff use AI tool for unnecessary tasks to inflate usage scores: Amazon recently rolled out an internal AI agent platform called MeshClaw, which allows employees to create agents that can initiate code deployments, triage emails, and interact with Slack on their behalf. The tool was designed to accelerate productivity.
  • The returns to frontier intelligence are extremely high: Krishna Rao, Anthropic’s CFO, makes his first public appearance in a conversation that cuts to the economics of the frontier AI race. Anthropic’s thesis is that the returns to frontier intelligence are extremely high and are not slowing down. Each new model generation unlocks a wider TAM that enterprise customers can immediately monetize.
 

ELEVATOR PITCHES BY FUNDS

 

Sempra Energy (by Voss Value Fund)

  • SRE is a utilities conglomerate that we believe has the opportunity to unlock significant value through simplification. Sempra's current public structure, dominated by two California utilities that contribute more than half of earnings, masks the rapidly compounding intrinsic value of the fastest growing and largest transmission & distribution (T&D) utility in North America: Oncor Electric in Texas.
  • SRE trades at a 17.8x NTM P/E multiple, which is in-line with lower-growth regulated peers.
  • Sempra has already entered an agreement to sell a 45% stake in Sempra Infrastructure Partners (SIP) to KKR and CPP Investment Board for $10.0 billion cash.
 

Localiza Rent a Car SA (by Zeno)

  • The largest of these is Localiza, a 7.3% position at quarter-end, the leading car rental business in Brazil with almost 700 thousand cars owned and rented for a total of 170 million days, spread across a continent, which need to be served, cleaned, and repaired at the lowest cost possible.
  • The business model is totally different and significantly more attractive than the global rental operators like Avis or Hertz.
  • Localiza has over the last fifteen years delivered a median unlevered ROIC of 15% and median ROE of 22%. Between 2012 and 2025, earnings-per-share grew north of 10% per year, while returning on average 38% of earnings back to shareholders.
 

CDW Corp. (by Argosy Investors)

  • Pool Corporation is the dominant wholesale distributor of swimming pool and related outdoor living products, with 35-40% market share and 456 branches nationwide; the next closest competitor has 8-10% share, but was recently acquired by Home Depot as part of the SRS Distribution transaction.
  • The company now sells for 15.5x forward earnings, which seems entirely too low for a high quality market leader with strong ROICs and normally mid-single digit organic growth and future consolidation optionality.
  • The company is at all-time low valuations and based on the trend could be headed lower short-term.
 
 

HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES BY BSDs

 

Druckenmiller Leads Wall Street’s Return to Argentine Stocks

  • Foreign investors led by the likes of Stanley Druckenmiller and major Wall Street banks are returning to Argentine stocks this year after some had exited ahead of 2025’s volatile midterm election cycle.
  • Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office, which bought and sold prior stakes in Argentine stocks, purchased $128 million in state-run energy giant YPF SA, according to first-quarter regulatory filings.
 

Berkshire, under new CEO Greg Abel, invests $16.8 billion in two days

  • Greg Abel appears to be putting his stamp ​on Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), opens new tab, which committed $16.8 billion over two days to buy homebuilder Taylor Morrison Home Corp (TMHC.N), opens new tab and ‌help Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab build out AI.
  • The investments may begin satisfying investors who have clamored for Abel, who succeeded Warren Buffett as chief executive in January, to do what his predecessor did not: spend more of Berkshire's cash.
 

SoftBank to build up AI data centres in France with major investment

  • Japan's SoftBank Group (9984.T), opens new tab will invest €45 billion over the next five years ​in a push to build up artificial intelligence infrastructure ‌in France, the company announced on Saturday.
  • SoftBank said the investment, described as the biggest of its kind so far in Europe, would be made ​in the northern Hauts-de-France region and deliver 3.1 GW of ​capacity.
 

Happy Friday! In this week's letters, - Hayden Capital on AI companies and speculative behavior - LVS Advisory on whether AI is in a bubble in comparison with the Dot-Com - Sigil Stable Fund on Hyperliquid and crypto - Elevator pitches for BDX, LXU and POOL Quarter in progress: 721 fund letters of 2026 Q1 are live on our database! We just launched the BSD 13Fs Investor Page, your new central hub to: ? Search BSD Gurus by name, portfolio value, or ticker ? Track 13F filings from 100+ top hedge funds and BSDs ? Compare turnover rates, holdings, and portfolio shifts ⏱️ Spot new positions and high-conviction moves instantly From David Einhorn to Warren Buffett, their most important filings are now all in one place — simplified, visual, and always up-to-date.
Enjoy fishing for ideas!
 

Q1 2026 INVESTOR LETTER SUMMARIES

  • Even a war has not been enough to stop the nearly trillion dollars in annual spending being funneled from mega-cap technology companies to the “picks and shovels” semiconductor and hardware makers around the world.
  • That said, it feels like speculative behavior is starting to creep into certain pockets of the market. Just the other day, an enthusiastic parent at my kid’s school, who works in the entertainment industry, talked, or more accurately bragged, about how memory names were up 10% that morning and asked for my thoughts on them. Sandisk’s stock price is now small talk at preschool drop-off, and that worries me.
  • At a high level, I do not subscribe to the idea that OpenAI or Anthropic will eventually replace all incumbent software or internet platforms. In fact, we are already seeing evidence against that view. ChatGPT, for example, canceled its instant checkout and commerce initiative a few months ago.
 

LVS Advisory – Event Driven LVS Advisory - Growth fund letter

  • The surge in AI stocks and increased index concentration are reminiscent of the Dot-Com Bubble of the late 1990s. Optically, there are similarities. The Nasdaq rose approximately 600% from 1995 before peaking in March 2000, driven by hot stocks such as AOL and Cisco, each of which rose by several thousand percent.
  • However, there are important differences between the Dot-Com Bubble and the current AI mania. First, the Dot-Com Bubble was fueled largely by hopes that the internet would eventually drive meaningful revenue. By contrast, AI products are already generating real revenue and delivering measurable benefits.
  • Second, the Dot-Com Bubble featured an infrastructure buildout that was largely underutilized. By 2000, a significant portion of installed internet infrastructure was unused and referred to as “dark fiber.” Today, by contrast, there is a severe shortage of AI infrastructure across the board, including semiconductors, data centers, and electricity.
 

Sigil Stable Fund

  • Q1 2026 was another action-packed quarter. We saw conflict in the Middle East re-escalate, as the United States and Israel attacked the Iranian regime, which had already been weakened by previous strikes and domestic protests. During the conflict, Hyperliquid showcased its usefulness by providing 24/7 perpetuals for oil. It became the dominant price-discovery venue for oil over the weekends, when regular exchanges were closed.
  • In our last letter, we said that crypto is maturing and that winners keep winning. That remains one part of the story. The other part is that the top 100 crypto assets still include many nonsensically overpriced assets, some of which are fraudulent or abandoned.
  • Active and professional management of crypto exposure will therefore continue to offer a lot of value to investors, especially those who are not satisfied with holding only BTC exposure and instead want exposure to the other exciting innovations that blockchain technology offers.
 

ELEVATOR PITCHES BY FUNDS

 

Becton, Dickinson and Co. (by Hinde Group)

  • Becton Dickinson expects to achieve currency-neutral revenue growth in the low single-digit range for the current fiscal year (ending in September) and adjusted diluted EPS of between $12.52 and $12.72.
  • Moreover, Becton Dickinson highest priority use of free cash flow right now is buying back stock. The more stock Becton Dickinson buys at such value-accretive levels, the higher the intrinsic value per share will march.
  • More than 90% of BD's portfolio is currently achieving management's long-term organic revenue growth target.
 

LSB Industries (by Robotti Value Investors)

  • The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted more than just oil. Fertilizers, ammonia and other derivatives of oil and gas have also been cut off from global markets.
  • LSB produces ammonia, some of which is sold in the merchant market, with the balance upgraded into nitrogen-based fertilizers and nitric acid. A growing component of the business has been this nitric acid, a key ingredient in the production of explosives.
  • LSB also has the opportunity through its main facility in El Dorado, Arkansas, to capture most of the carbon currently released in its production process.
 

Pool Corp. (by Argosy Investors)

  • Pool Corporation is the dominant wholesale distributor of swimming pool and related outdoor living products, with 35-40% market share and 456 branches nationwide; the next closest competitor has 8-10% share, but was recently acquired by Home Depot as part of the SRS Distribution transaction.
  • The company now sells for 15.5x forward earnings, which seems entirely too low for a high quality market leader with strong ROICs and normally mid-single digit organic growth and future consolidation optionality.
  • The company is at all-time low valuations and based on the trend could be headed lower short-term.
 
 

HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES BY BSDs

 

Inside Chris Hohn’s Top Hedge Fund

  • Most hedge fund managers put earthly matters above the business of the soul. But then most hedge fund managers are not like Chris Hohn. His spirituality, he believes, augments his considerable investment skills.
  • Hohn, 59, is perhaps the closest thing Britain has to Warren Buffett, the legendary US stockpicker, write Costas Mourselas and Amelia Pollard. His Children’s Investment Fund (TCI) has become the fifth most profitable hedge fund of all time, last year bringing in more profits after fees than any other firm.
 

Lingering mysteries from Berkshire's portfolio update

  • The Wall Street Journal had reported new CEO Greg Abel would be selling many or all of the stocks formerly managed by Todd Combs, who left for a job at JPMorgan late last year.
  • It's harder to explain how the two new names, Delta Air Lines and Macy's, got into the portfolio.
  • Berkshire almost never reveals who makes buy and sell decisions for individual stocks, but the rule of thumb had been Warren Buffett handled the larger positions, and one of the two (now one) portfolio managers were responsible for the smaller positions.
 

Chris Hohn’s quest for eternal greatness

  • Billionaire Chris Hohn has intense convictions on stock picking, activist campaigns, philanthropic causes. Lately, he has added another pastime: faith.
  • Today’s Big Read takes an expansive look at the billionaire investor and his hedge fund, The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI), as Hohn has arguably become Britain’s closest proxy to Warren Buffett.
 

Happy Friday! In this week's letters, - Robotti Value Investors on Oil & Gas, LSB Industries and Home Building - Rodrigo Benedetti on AI Melt-up and value - Massif Capital on Iran war, diplomacy and possible paths forward - Elevator pitches for SLB, KYGA LN, and PAYS Quarter in progress: 676 fund letters of 2026 Q1 are live on our database! We just launched the BSD 13Fs Investor Page, your new central hub to: ? Search BSD Gurus by name, portfolio value, or ticker ? Track 13F filings from 100+ top hedge funds and BSDs ? Compare turnover rates, holdings, and portfolio shifts ⏱️ Spot new positions and high-conviction moves instantly From David Einhorn to Warren Buffett, their most important filings are now all in one place — simplified, visual, and always up-to-date.
Enjoy fishing for ideas!
 

Q1 2026 INVESTOR LETTER SUMMARIES

  • Oil & Gas: Accelerating the Structural Opportunity - Two significant developments last year set the stage for what we saw in the first quarter. First, the International Energy Agency (IEA), a long-time leading advocate of the clean-energy transition, released its annual World Energy Outlook with a new current-policy scenario showing oil demand continuing to rise well past 2030. Under this scenario, oil demand may continue rising through 2050.
  • LSB Industries: Positioned for Multiple Tailwinds - The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted more than just oil markets. Fertilizers, ammonia, and other oil and gas derivatives have also been cut off from global markets. We have been investors in LSB Industries (“LSB”) for several years. LSB produces ammonia, some of which is sold into the merchant market, while the remainder is upgraded into nitrogen-based fertilizers and nitric acid.
  • Home Building: The Market Giveth, The Market Taketh Away - As we have noted many times, Mr. Market’s manic-depressive behavior creates opportunities in both directions. Capital flows overshoot when an industry is left for dead and investors flee aggressively. When sentiment shifts, capital rushes back just as forcefully. We invest in these abandoned corners of the market and must be prepared for the discomfort that comes with the territory.
 

Rodrigo Benedetti

  • The AI Melt-Up - I couldn’t write this letter without mentioning the historic rally in semiconductors and AI more broadly. I was a net buyer of AI-related stocks during the Iran dip, but as the market heated up, I sold my longs and even started some shorts. This has been a terrible market to manage efficiently.
  • Where Is the Value at This Point? - I won’t shy away from playing some Keynesian beauty contests around the next AI bottleneck, even if the price movements make me dizzy. I also like some quality stocks that have suffered from multiple compression. For example, Visa and Mastercard are trading near the low end of their historical valuation ranges. Stablecoins will do nothing to the networks. These stocks are not “cheap cheap,” but taking a punt here seems reasonable.
  • I also see a lot of value in companies and sectors that sold off because of Iran-related worries and have not recovered with the broader market. Namely, I see opportunity in non-AI Japan and Europe. Europe, including the UK, is especially interesting.
 

Massif Capital

  • Ten weeks into the Iran war, the global oil market is effectively running on two prices. On futures screens, Brent is hovering near $100 per barrel. That is up roughly 50% since the shooting started on February 28, but still below the April 2 spike of $128. In the physical spot market, where actual cargoes change hands, the all-in delivered cost of a prompt barrel is closer to $110–120 once war-risk insurance, longer-haul logistics, and assorted premiums are included.
  • Diplomacy is moving slowly, if at all. It is hard to tell whether the process is real or performative. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi flew to St. Petersburg on April 27 carrying a peace offer. Putin responded by handing back satellite imagery of U.S., Gulf, and Turkish military assets, the same type of imagery Russia has reportedly shared with Tehran throughout the war.
  • We see four possible paths forward, none of which is particularly appealing. The first is an eighteen-to-twenty-four-month “fig-leaf” deal that allows Iran to rebuild quietly. From a macro perspective, this would be the cleanest scenario for our portfolio. Brent would likely remain in a $90–110 corridor, the sulfuric-acid bottleneck would keep the copper cost curve steep, and the Norwegian and U.K. upstream cluster would continue compounding the position.
 

ELEVATOR PITCHES BY FUNDS

 

SLB N.V. (by First Eagle Global Fund)

  • SLB is the world's largest oilfield service company and derives approximately 80% of its revenue from international and offshore markets. The supply disruption in the Persian Gulf is driving increased interest in deepwater production as spending on shale drilling remains muted. With expertise in deepwater and offshore drilling, SLB is well-positioned to benefit from the shift, in our view.
  • Given the current geopolitical tensions and energy supply constraints, demand for SLB's specialized services should increase as energy companies seek alternative production sources.
 

Kerry Group (by Impax Global Fund)

  • Kerry Group (Sustainable Agriculture, Ireland) underperformed as near term trading conditions remained challenging and guidance was adjusted accordingly. Even so, the company continues to hold strong competitive positions in taste and nutrition, with growing opportunities in clean label and health focused ingredients. As end-markets gradually improve, Kerry may be well placed to benefit from long term structural demand.
  • The company holds strong competitive positions in taste and nutrition ingredients, with particular opportunities in clean label and health-focused products.
 

Paysign Inc (by GROW Funds)

  • The company manages the entire prepaid card lifecycle—design, issuance, and processing—generating revenue through transaction fees, cardholder fees, program management fees, and funds breakage. Paysign stock had underperformed significantly in January and February due to AI fears and pharmaceutical disruption from the Trump Administration.
  • The stock remains inexpensive at 7x EV/EBITDA while growing revenues 40% last year. We believe this trajectory can continue as management executes. With their excess cashflow, we believe PAYS could begin paying a dividend or buying back shares to return capital to shareholders.
 
 

HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK

 

MEDIA APPEARANCES BY BSDs

 

Big Tech software era is over, says top investor James Anderson

  • British tech investor James Anderson has warned the curtain is falling on two decades of extraordinary growth among the top US software and internet stocks, as massive AI investments “implode” their cash flows to the lasting benefit of chipmakers such as Nvidia.
  • The spoils of the trillion-dollar AI spending frenzy by the likes of Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft will flow disproportionately to a small number of dominant hardware suppliers such as Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and ASML, Anderson told the FT.
 

Jeremy Grantham says AI is the only thing that's prevented a recession

  • The US economy would have tumbled down a difficult path were it not for AI, Jeremy Grantham says.
  • The GMO founder and investing legend issued a cautious message on the state of the US economy and markets last week. Speaking on a recent episode of the Excess Returns podcast, Grantham said he believed the US probably would have slipped into a downturn and seen a steep market crash in 2023 , were it not for the huge investments being poured into AI.
 

Chamath warns PwC and Accenture against working with OpenAI & Anthropic

  • Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said leading consulting firms will come to regret their partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic.
  • "If you are running a consulting business and you are deploying Anthropic or OpenAI directly into your organization (I'm looking at you PwC and Accenture) you are letting the fox into the hen house," Palihapitiya wrote on X.
 

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