The curated database of hedge funds that publish investor letters. Research by geography, strategy, and schools of thought.
| # | Fund | Strategy | Style | Geography | AUM | Latest Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barometer Capital Management's Q2 2026 letter describes a quarter defined by elevated volatility, geopolitical uncertainty from the Iran conflict, Federal Reserve leadership transition concerns, and rising inflation. The manager's trend-following strategy faced challenges in the choppy, non-trending environment, requiring defensive positioning at various points. Despite headwinds, semiconductors emerged as clear leaders driven by AI infrastructure demand, with substantial new positions added in SiTime and Lam Research alongside continued NVIDIA holdings. Financials broke out and assumed market leadership, prompting the manager to build exposure from the ground up across Canadian, U.S., and European banks. Industrials contributed strongly on data center power demand, aerospace strength, and resource cycle capital spending. Precious metals detracted significantly as gold corrected after an extended run, leading to exits of multiple gold producers. Energy exposure was reduced as crude weakened. International equities, particularly Taiwan and South Korea, showed real strength tied to semiconductor and memory exposure. The manager maintains positioning aligned with semiconductor, financial, and industrial leadership while preserving flexibility to capitalize on emerging trends, viewing current risks as reasons for discipline rather than pessimism.
Barometer Capital Management employs a trend-following strategy designed to identify and follow durable market trends across multiple pools, currently favoring semiconductors, financials, and industrials driven by AI infrastructure build-out, resilient banking fundamentals, and multi-year capital investment cycles in power generation and aerospace.
The manager moves into the second half of the year mindful of risks but constructive on opportunities ahead. They are staying patient, keeping positioning aligned with the strongest names and clearest areas of leadership in semiconductors, financials, and industrials, and preserving flexibility to lean in as a more durable trend takes hold. The leadership in these sectors appears well supported by durable, multi-year drivers including AI infrastructure build-out, bank quality and strength, and capital investment in power generation, grid, and aerospace. In precious metals, gold's pullback into long-term technical support has left its longer-term uptrend intact and the manager remains attentive to when the complex resumes its trend. Risks remain including inflation creeping higher, Federal Reserve leadership transition, and tenuous Middle East peace, but these are viewed as reasons for discipline rather than pessimism. With exposures aligned to the strongest names and ample flexibility to adjust, the manager believes they are well positioned to lean in as a clearer trend emerges and looks ahead with measured optimism.
As of Aug 5, 2026
David Burrows serves as Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, leading the firm's top-down market and sector risk strategies since beginning his career in Private Client Management in 1986, consistently putting clients' needs at the forefront. The leadership team includes Geoffrey Spidle as President, Peter McCarthy as Managing Partner, Diana Avigdor as VP and Portfolio Manager (CFA), and Jim Schetakis as Senior Portfolio Manager. The firm is 100% employee-owned and independent, serving approximately 300-400 high-net-worth families with a client mix of 40% private clients, 40% Investment Advisors, and 20% institutional investors. Barometer's lineage dates to 1991 as First Associates Investments Inc., adopted the current name in 2006, and merged with Roundtable Capital Partners Inc. in 2020.
Barometer employs 'The Disciplined Leadership Approach™' as their proprietary investment philosophy, combining active, style-agnostic market and sector trend analysis with rigorous quantitative security selection. The firm is unique for its commitment to producing consistent absolute returns rather than relative performance, emphasizing disciplined selling strategies with clearly defined exit prices and stop-loss alerts. The approach involves daily assessment of market risks and tactical management of asset class and sector weightings based on changing market conditions, allowing the firm to remain style-agnostic across value, growth, and sector strategies without bias.
Lead Portfolio Manager
Moderate Conviction Bullish
Market Conviction
The manager names and discusses approximately 20 individual equity positions with specific thesis explanations for each. They describe 'substantial' increases in semiconductor and financial exposure, building positions 'from the ground up' in financials, and making deliberate sector allocation decisions. Specific catalysts and drivers are identified for holdings like Caterpillar, GE Vernova, Lam Research, and Citigroup. However, the letter also emphasizes flexibility, patience, and the challenges of the non-trending environment, with multiple positions exited or trimmed. The combination of named, sized positions with clear theses but also significant hedging language and tactical adjustments places this in the moderate-to-high conviction range.
Growth Outlook
The manager describes a challenging quarter with elevated volatility and headline risks, but characterizes the market as resilient, absorbing shocks and reversing higher. They note encouraging signs in genuine leadership emerging in semiconductors, financials, and industrials. The forward outlook is described as 'constructive on the opportunities ahead' and 'measured optimism,' with risks viewed as reasons for discipline rather than pessimism. This reflects a mildly positive but cautious market view.
Risk Appetite
The manager moved to defensive postures at various points during the quarter as risks mounted, though they also added substantially to semiconductor and financial exposure where leadership emerged. Precious metals and energy exposures were reduced. The positioning reflects selective risk-taking in areas of strength while maintaining defensive flexibility. Overall, this represents a moderately positive but selective risk appetite, tilted toward specific leadership areas rather than broad risk-on positioning.
Capital Deployment
The manager describes substantial increases in Information Technology and Financials exposure with multiple new positions added (SiTime, Lam Research, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Banco Santander, M&T Bank, JPMorgan, CSX). However, this was offset by exits and reductions in precious metals (Alamos Gold, Kinross, Wheaton Precious Metals, Agnico Eagle) and energy (Suncor, Peyto, with trims to Tamarack Valley and Imperial Oil). The letter also describes moving to defensive postures at various points. No cash level changes are stated. This represents rotation and selective deployment rather than net aggressive capital deployment, scoring in the low-moderate positive range.
Forward Guidance
The manager is 'staying patient' and 'preserving flexibility to lean in as a more durable trend takes hold.' They describe keeping exposures aligned with strongest areas and being 'well positioned to lean in as a clearer trend emerges.' This language suggests a watching posture with readiness to deploy rather than active deployment. The tone is constructive but emphasizes patience and selectivity over immediate action, placing it in the mildly positive range.
Language Signal
The letter balances opportunity language (leadership, strength, durable drivers, constructive, encouraging signs, well positioned) with risk language (elevated volatility, challenging backdrop, tested patience, fragile footing, tenuous peace, risks remain). Positive directional language around semiconductors, financials, and industrials is offset by caution around macro uncertainty, geopolitical risks, and the difficult trading environment. The net balance leans mildly positive but is notably hedged throughout.
Perceived Risk
The manager identifies multiple specific, named risks with meaningful discussion: elevated volatility, Iran war and geopolitical uncertainty, Federal Reserve leadership transition, rising inflation, fragile Middle East peace with lingering Strait of Hormuz dislocations, choppy non-trending markets challenging their strategy, and concerns about global growth durability. These risks are discussed throughout the letter and explicitly shaped positioning decisions. However, the manager frames these as manageable and reasons for discipline rather than alarm, and notes market resilience. This represents identifiable, named risks with substantial discussion but not systemic warnings, placing it in the moderate-to-high range.
Opportunity Density
The manager identifies clear opportunities across multiple sectors and geographies: semiconductors with specific names in AI infrastructure, financials across Canadian, U.S., and European banks, industrials in aerospace and power equipment, and international equities in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. They describe 'genuine leadership' emerging and 'durable, multi-year drivers' supporting these areas. However, they also note the challenging, choppy environment and emphasize selectivity and patience. This reflects selective opportunities in defined areas rather than a broad, rich opportunity set, placing it in the moderate-to-high range.
Time Horizon
The manager repeatedly emphasizes 'multi-year' drivers and trends: 'multi-year build-out in electricity infrastructure,' 'durable, multi-year drivers,' 'multi-year turnaround' for Citigroup, and 'long lead times' providing 'strong visibility to future revenue.' They describe GE Vernova as sitting 'at the center of a multi-year build-out' and reference the 'longer-term uptrend' in gold remaining intact despite near-term weakness. The focus is consistently on 2-5 year thesis horizons with structural drivers rather than near-term catalysts. This is a clear multi-year investment horizon with patience for thesis realization, placing it in the upper-moderate range.
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