| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 12.7% | - | 67.1% |
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67.1% | 9.4% | 13.1% | 10.5% |
The Aegis Value Fund delivered exceptional returns of 67.07% in 2025, substantially outperforming its small-cap value benchmark and the S&P 500. The Fund's success was driven primarily by its 23.4% allocation to precious metals mining companies, which contributed 35.01 percentage points of returns as gold surged 64.6% amid dollar weakness and global fiscal concerns. Key contributors included Equinox Gold, Orezone, and Catalyst Metals. The Fund's energy positions also performed well despite oil's 19.9% decline, with Canadian SAGD producers benefiting from improved market sentiment and M&A activity. Looking forward, the manager remains constructive on precious metals and hard assets as hedges against currency debasement, while positioning for data center electricity demand growth. The portfolio trades at historically wide discounts to the S&P 500 on a price-to-book basis. Risks include elevated market valuations and potential volatility in commodity cycles, though the manager believes current positioning offers attractive risk-adjusted return opportunities.
The Aegis Value Fund focuses on undervalued small-cap companies, particularly in precious metals mining and energy sectors, positioned to benefit from dollar debasement and hard asset appreciation while trading at significant discounts to broader markets.
The manager remains constructive on the likelihood of future dollar and fiat currency debasement and is confident in the value of precious metals and other hard-assets as a mitigant. They expect commodity up-cycles can last for extended periods but acknowledge debasement processes are not smooth and precious metals can be volatile. The manager is optimistic on the energy sector as hard-asset investments that should offer debasement protection similar to precious metals mining investments, noting oil assets may be good prospects given the historic low oil-to-gold ratio.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17 2026 | 2025 Q4 | ARREF, ARX.TO, ASTL.TO, ATH.TO, BOCH, CVE.TO, CYL.AX, EFX.TO, EQX.TO, HNRG, IFP.TO, IPCO.TO, KMR.L, MEG.TO, NGS, ORE.TO, PD.TO, VET.TO | commodities, Dollar, energy, gold, Mining, Precious Metals, small cap, value |
EQX CN ORE CN CYL AU CVE CN ASTL CN |
Gold rocketed up 64.6% in 2025 as global sentiment soured on the dollar amid government fiscal profligacy and untenable debt levels. Investors shifted towards precious… |
| Jan 1 1970 | 2025 Q2 | - | Balance Sheets, Mean reversion, small caps, undervaluation, value | - | The letter emphasizes deep value investing amid broad market neglect of smaller, asset-rich companies. Management argues that pessimism has pushed valuations well below intrinsic value,… |
| Mar 31 2025 | 2025 Q1 | - | - | - | - |
| Jan 27 2025 | 2024 Q4 | AE, HNRG, IFP CN, MAI CN, NGS, ORE CN, PD CN, SEPL LN | - | - | - |
| Jul 14 2024 | 2024 Q2 | ARG CN, BOCH LN, DLAPQ, IFP CN, MTRX, ORE CN, PRU CN | - | - | - |
| May 1 2024 | 2023 Q4 | ASTL CN, BOCH LN, CG CN, EQX, MAI CN, NGS, ORE CN, STLC CN, USAP | - | - | - |
| Jul 28 2025 | 2023 Q2 | 318 GR, IPCO SS, NGS | - | - | - |
| Jan 20 2023 | 2022 Q4 | IAG, IFP CN, IPCO CN | Capital discipline, free cash flow, Oil Gas, supply constraints, Thermal Coal |
HNRG IPCO CN IFP CN |
The letter highlights a powerful rotation into energy equities amid supply constraints, underinvestment, and geopolitical disruptions following the Russia-Ukraine war. Years of capital starvation and… |
| Jul 25 2022 | 2022 Q2 | HNRG, IFP CN, IPCO CN | Capital discipline, free cash flow, Oil Prices, OPEC Supply, Shale Production |
IPCO CN IFP CN IAG |
The letter emphasizes a contrarian opportunity in fossil fuel equities driven by years of underinvestment, capital discipline, and structurally tight supply conditions. Energy companies have… |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
Data CentersEMCOR Group was initiated as a new position, viewed as a critical contractor enabling multi-year investment cycles across data centers, semiconductor fabrication, electrification, and broader infrastructure modernization. Its decentralized, cash-generative model, recurring service base, and exposure to structural growth drivers create a profile viewed as more durable than a typical cyclical contractor framework. |
Infrastructure Electrification Recurring Revenue Growth Drivers |
DollarThe U.S. dollar fell more than 9% during 2025, supporting international markets. The dollar was pressured by high starting valuation and mounting concerns about global investor concentration in U.S. assets. Narrowing interest rate differentials may drive further decline. |
Currency International Valuation | |
GoldGold reached record highs above $5,000 per ounce but silver's dramatic rally has triggered a sell signal. Historical pattern suggests both metals may enter 2-3 year correction period. Central bank demand remained strong at 863 tonnes for 2025, though China purchases slowed significantly. |
Precious Central Banks ETFs Debasement | |
Gold MinersMultiple gold mining companies delivered strong performance with several high-grade discoveries and resource expansions. Companies like Spanish Mountain Gold, Endurance Gold, and Omai Gold reported significant drill results and resource growth potential. |
Gold Mining Exploration Resources High-grade | |
Natural GasNorth American gas showed strength on cold weather despite bearish sentiment. Production growth concentrated in Permian Basin while other shales declined. Supply growth expected to plateau as Permian oil production slows, setting stage for higher prices as LNG demand expands. |
Shale Permian LNG Weather | |
OilOil markets disrupted by closure of Straits of Hormuz affecting 20% of global production. Prices surged from $70 to $119.50 before retreating to $90. Market may be tighter than commonly believed despite IEA projections of surplus. Oil represents cheapest major asset class globally, trading at near-record lows relative to gold. |
Crude Brent WTI Hormuz Supply | |
| 2025 Q2 |
ValueThe manager continues to find attractive value opportunities despite expensive markets, purchasing undervalued companies like Centene, GlaxoSmithKline, Carrefour and PayPal trading at low multiples with strong fundamentals. |
Undervalued Low Multiples Contrarian Opportunistic |
| 2022 Q4 |
EnergyEnergy plays a central role in the manager's analysis, both as a historical lesson from 2014-15 oil collapse and as a current constraint on AI infrastructure. Data centers have become massive electricity consumers with economics highly sensitive to power pricing and grid reliability. Rising electricity prices in data-center-heavy regions and utility challenges in expanding capacity create physical constraints that complicate AI scalability assumptions. |
Data Centers Grid Utilities Power Infrastructure |
| 2022 Q2 |
EnergyEnergy plays a central role in the manager's analysis, both as a historical lesson from 2014-15 oil collapse and as a current constraint on AI infrastructure. Data centers have become massive electricity consumers with economics highly sensitive to power pricing and grid reliability. Rising electricity prices in data-center-heavy regions and utility challenges in expanding capacity create physical constraints that complicate AI scalability assumptions. |
Data Centers Grid Utilities Power Infrastructure |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 25, 2022 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | IPCO CN | International Petroleum Corporation | Energy | Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, capital allocation, deleveraging, Free Cash Flow, oil prices, Reserves | Login |
| Jul 25, 2022 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | IFP CN | Interfor Corporation | Materials | Forest Products | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | balance sheet, cash flow, Cyclicals, EBITDA, Housing, Lumber, Replacement Cost | Login |
| Jul 25, 2022 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | IAG | IAMGOLD Corporation | Materials | Gold Mining | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Federal Reserve, Gold, inflation, Mean Reversion, monetary policy, Precious Metals | Login |
| Jul 20, 2023 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | HNRG | Hallador Energy Company | Energy | Coal & Consumable Fuels | Bull | NASDAQ | coal, deleveraging, EBITDA, Energy security, tangible book value, vertical integration | Login |
| Jul 20, 2023 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | IPCO CN | International Petroleum Corporation | Energy | Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, capital allocation, deleveraging, Free Cash Flow, oil production, Reserves | Login |
| Jul 20, 2023 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | IFP CN | Interfor Corporation | Materials | Forest Products | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Book Value, capital allocation, Cyclicality, Housing, Lumber, Replacement Cost | Login |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | EQX CN | Equinox Gold Corp. | Materials | Gold | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | deleveraging, Gold, NAV, Permitting, turnaround | Login |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | ORE CN | Orezone Gold Corporation | Materials | Gold | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | acquisition, cashflow, expansion, Gold, Jurisdiction | Login |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | CYL AU | Catalyst Metals Limited | Materials | Gold | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | consolidation, Exploration, Gold, NAV, Production | Login |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | CVE CN | Cenovus Energy Inc. | Energy | Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | energy, Free Cash Flow, merger, Oil sands, synergies | Login |
| Feb 17, 2026 | Fund Letters | Scott L. Barbee | ASTL CN | Algoma Steel Group Inc. | Materials | Steel | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Cyclicality, Eaf, Steel, tariffs, turnaround | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| ARX.TO | We hold positions in several companies with exposure to North American natural gas, including exploration & production companies Vermillion Energy (VET-CA) and ARC Resources (ARX-CA). |
| ASTL.TO | The position with the most negative impact on performance was Algoma Steel, costing the Fund 2.66 percentage points. The company entered 2025 in the unfortunate position of having just incurred a substantial debt position to transition its steel making process from blast furnace steelmaking to electric arc furnace 'EAF' steelmaking. Unfortunately, the sudden imposition of significant US tariffs on Canadian steel substantially disrupted Algoma's business, causing damaging cash burn as steel prices collapsed on the Canadian side of the border amid a flood of foreign steel into Canada. Canada's government has now stepped-in, providing not only CAD $500 million of federal and provincial liquidity support loans, but also a variety of Canadian steel purchase requirements, steel import tariffs and other restrictions. |
| CVE.TO | Our biggest detractors were Pandora (PNDORA DC), Cenovus Energy (CVE CN), and Occidental warrants (OXY/WS US). |
| CYL.AX | Catalyst Metals (CYL-CA) contributed materially to Fund performance, with gains on this position responsible for an estimated 4.21 percentage points of Fund returns. Across the globe in Australia, Catalyst Metals has been successfully consolidating Western Australia's 40 km Plutonic Gold Belt, in the process transforming itself into a stable 100,000 oz per annum producer, having most recently purchased the Old Highway gold deposit from Sandfire Resources. The company has also delivered strong exploration success, with discovery of a number of new orebodies that should enable Catalyst to better feed its previously chronically underutilized Plutonic mill, unlocking substantial value. |
| EFX.TO | We hold positions in several companies with exposure to North American natural gas, including drilling and service companies like Precision Drilling (PD-CA), Natural Gas Services (NGS), and Enerflex (EFX-CA). |
| EQX.TO | EQX finished the year at a new all-time high and was the portfolio's strongest contributor in 2025, rising 179% from December 31st, 2024, to December 31st, 2025, and accounted for 11.8% of total portfolio returns. At an assumed average gold price of $4,000 per ounce, roughly 12% below spot, we estimate free cash flow of approximately $1.5 billion, implying a 13.1% yield on a debt-free balance sheet. |
| HNRG | This growth trend bolsters the investment case for our position in the independent coal-fired, electrical power producer, Hallador Energy (HNRG). |
| IFP.TO | Canadian lumber producer Interfor (IFP-CA) was one of only two positions that negatively impacted the fund performance by more than half a percentage point in 2025. The company had uncomfortable levels of debt entering 2025 and was negatively impacted by the rapid increase in US trade barriers. |
| IPCO.TO | While International Petroleum Company's (IPCO) operating income declined in line with oil prices remaining under pressure during 2025, the primary driver of value for the company is the successful development of its Canadian oil sands project, Blackrod. The owner-operator management team has executed this project well, and Blackrod is coming online later in 2026 — ahead of schedule and under budget. |
| MEG.TO | Energy (MEG takeover, CNQ), Precious metals (a basket of producers, primarily silver) and Financials (Goldman Sachs/Fairfax Financial) all provided solid contributions within the quarter. With the exception of MEG, all remain large holdings, and in some cases, we have further added to our positions. |
| NGS | During the 4th quarter we purchased Natural Gas Services Inc (NGS), an energy services company located in Texas, primarily in the Permian region. NGS rents and maintains natural gas compression units used in oil and gas transportation, production and processing facilities. NGS is a unique energy play because they are largely price and commodity agnostic as their focus is on volumes rather than being reliant on the economics of a given commodity. A large percent of their revenue is under long term contracts. Additionally, NGS is in the process of optimizing their portfolio to large horsepower (greater than 1,000HP) while reducing their exposure to small and medium horsepower, about 25% of current revenue. Importantly, NGS has access to large horsepower compressors which is a vital asset in a very tight market. A larger horsepower fleet will be better utilized and have a better margin profile. We are optimistic about volume growth, the optimization of their portfolio evolution and how this could better allow them to compete with the larger players. |
| ORE.TO | Orezone (ORE-CA) contributed materially to Fund performance, with gains on this position responsible for an estimated 3.07 percentage points of Fund returns. Orezone had been a laggard prior to 2025 as investor sentiment soured towards Burkina Faso, where the company's flagship mine is located. Despite the country risk, Orezone continues its flagship Bomboré mine expansion project in Burkina, which is reported to be on track and should begin substantially improving production and cash flow from the mine in 2026. In January 2026, Orezone announced that it will acquire the Casa Berardi mine in Quebec from Hecla, adding a second mine in a much superior, top-tier jurisdiction. |
| PD.TO | We hold positions in several companies with exposure to North American natural gas, including drilling and service companies like Precision Drilling (PD-CA), Natural Gas Services (NGS), and Enerflex (EFX-CA). |
| VET.TO | We hold positions in several companies with exposure to North American natural gas, including exploration & production companies Vermillion Energy (VET-CA) and ARC Resources (ARX-CA). |
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