| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 7.8% | -0.7% | 3.7% |
Bell Global Equities Fund declined 1.5% in December 2025, underperforming the MSCI World ex-Australia Index by 0.6%. The fund faced headwinds from a prolonged risk-on market environment that favored momentum and sentiment over fundamentals, impacting their Quality at a Reasonable Price (QARP) approach. Key contributors included Old Dominion Freight Line, which benefited from improving cycle indicators and attractive valuations, while detractors included Tractor Supply due to sector rotation preferences. The team made strategic portfolio adjustments, exiting long-term winners American Express and HCA Healthcare due to elevated valuations, while adding W.W. Grainger and LPL Financial at attractive entry points. Looking ahead to 2026, Bell sees an increasingly supportive backdrop for quality investing as valuations across high-quality businesses appear compelling and markets may transition toward earnings-driven leadership. The portfolio's weighted upside potential sits at the upper end of historical ranges, positioning it well for multiple pathways to stronger performance.
Bell maintains conviction in their Quality at a Reasonable Price (QARP) approach despite 2025 underperformance, believing the current environment of compelling valuations across high-quality businesses positions the portfolio well for 2026 as markets transition from narrative-driven to earnings-driven leadership.
Looking ahead to 2026, we see the backdrop as increasingly supportive for our QARP investment approach. Valuations across many high-quality businesses are compelling and the portfolio's weighted upside potential sits at the upper end of historical ranges. We expect sustained earnings delivery and evidence that challenges prevailing narratives to support a re-rating of many portfolio holdings over time. Overall, we believe the portfolio is very well positioned for 2026, with improving risk-reward, attractive entry valuations and multiple pathways to stronger absolute and relative performance.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23 2026 | 2025 Q4 | 3064.T, 6098.T, 8697.T, AAPL, ACN, AMZN, AUTO.L, AVGO, BOOT, GOOGL, GWW, JPM, LPLA, META, MSFT, NVDA, ODFL, SAP.DE, SNPS, TSCO, V | financials, Global Equities, industrials, QARP, Quality, technology |
ODFL TSCO GWW LPLA JKHY |
Bell maintains a Quality at a Reasonable Price (QARP) approach despite challenging performance in 2025. The team believes quality investing periods of underperformance often create compelling opportunities to lean in as fundamentals ultimately reassert themselves and valuations matter again. The portfolio benefits from sustained demand from AI-driven data centre investment, with technology companies like NVIDIA representing significant holdings. AI infrastructure continues to drive performance across multiple portfolio positions. |
| Oct 14 2025 | 2025 Q3 | 3064 JP, ASML | AI, Global Equities, Quality, technology, valuation |
ASML SGE WM |
The fund emphasizes maintaining a disciplined quality at a reasonable price approach amid a speculative market phase favoring momentum and growth stocks. AI-related technology names such as ASML and Oracle are key performance drivers, while the manager expects eventual normalization as fundamentals reassert dominance. The outlook highlights opportunities to accumulate high-quality global companies as valuation gaps widen. |
| Jun 30 2025 | 2025 Q2 | AIR FP, BJ, NFLX | AI, Cloud, Global Growth, semiconductors, technology | - | The letter discusses global growth investing amid strong performance from technology and communication services. AI-driven cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, and digital platforms are highlighted as key contributors. Valuation discipline remains important as market enthusiasm broadens unevenly across regions. |
| Apr 30 2025 | 2025 Q1 | 4684 JP, AUTO LN, BJ, BNZL LN, DECK, ENX FP, IT | - | - | |
| Dec 31 2024 | 2024 Q4 | AVGO, GOOG, LULU, NVO | - | - | |
| Jun 30 2024 | 2024 Q2 | 4684 JP, NVDA, ULVR LN | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
AIAI has been integrated into RGA's research process through tools like NotebookLM, Gems in Gemini, and Claude Code. The firm views AI as a force multiplier for human judgment rather than a replacement, emphasizing the Kasparov Law principle. They believe the market narrative around AI displacement is swinging to unhelpful extremes, creating investment opportunities. |
Machine Learning Automation Software Productivity Innovation |
QualityThe company emphasizes investing in businesses with excellent economics, durable competitive advantages, and high-integrity management. This quality focus is evident in concentrated equity holdings and operating business acquisitions. |
Durable Advantages Management Quality Economic Moats Competitive Position | |
| 2025 Q3 |
Market Rotation |
|
Quality Investing |
||
Technology |
||
| 2025 Q2 |
Growth |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 14, 2025 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | ASML | ASML Holding NV | Information Technology | Semiconductor Equipment | Bull | Euronext Stock Exchange | AI, CapEx, Euv, growth, Lithography, semiconductors, technology | Login |
| Oct 14, 2025 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | SGE | Sage Group PLC | Information Technology | Software | Bull | London Stock Exchange | AI, cloud, growth, Margins, SaaS, SMB, Software | Login |
| Oct 14, 2025 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | WM | Waste Management Inc. | Industrials | Environmental Services | Bull | NYSE | defensive, dividends, FCF, infrastructure, Pricing power, utilities, waste | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | ODFL | Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. | Industrials | Cargo Ground Transportation | Bull | NASDAQ | Cyclicals, Logistics, Ltl, Pricing, Trucking | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | TSCO | Tractor Supply Company | Consumer Discretionary | Specialty Retail | Bear | NASDAQ | guidance, retail, Rural, seasonality, Weather | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | GWW | W.W. Grainger Inc. | Industrials | Industrial Distribution | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | cashflow, Industrial distribution, Margins, MRO, scale | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | LPLA | LPL Financial Holdings Inc. | Financials | Investment Banking & Brokerage | Bull | NASDAQ | Advisors, Brokerage, Inflows, operating leverage, wealth management | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | JKHY | Jack Henry & Associates Inc. | Information Technology | Application Software | Bear | NASDAQ | Capital Rotation, Core banking, Fintech, Software, valuation | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| AAPL | Apple Inc. represents 1.6% of company owned with cost basis of $6,255 million and market value of $61,962 million, providing $280 million in 2025 dividends. |
| ACN | Accenture is the world's leading IT consultant, with advantages stemming from their depth and breadth across products, geographies, and industries. Over the last four years, Accenture's valuation has roughly halved. They've faced headwinds in IT spending and suffered from the perception that they are an AI loser. We believe that AI will cause deflationary pressure in parts of their business, but that it will be more than offset by the work required for enterprises to adopt AI. This is recently evidenced by partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic. |
| AMZN | One company we own that we think has unique positioning to benefit from both the infrastructure and application layers is Amazon. Amazon's logistical prowess is one of the foremost moats in business today and it can and will be enhanced with AI. The company will do this in multiple ways, with better orchestration of its logistics assets and underlying cargo, as well as the buildout of more capable, sophisticated and robust robotics. Amazon is singularly well positioned to dominate the coordination layer, with AI's help, across its entire logistics network. |
| AUTO.L | Auto Trader, a UK-listed automotive classifieds platform, was the Fund's largest detractor. This reflected a combination of short-term factors unrelated to its half-year earnings release in November, which was a positive surprise. These included the rollout of its new Deal Builder product in late 2025, which triggered backlash from a small but vocal portion of its UK dealer base and threats of coordinated cancellations. While actual cancellations were well under 1% of its customer base, and management undertook rapid and extensive outreach efforts with dealers, this episode likely weighed on investor sentiment. |
| AVGO | The primary contributors to its performance were our exposures to Broadcom |
| BOOT | Longer-term holdings such as Boot Barn increased, outperforming benchmark returns |
| GOOGL | In the third quarter, Google, Kairos Power, and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced a major collaboration centered on a novel power purchase agreement. Google followed this announcement with another significant step forward. On October 27, Google and NextEra Energy announced plans to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center. |
| GWW | One of the new entrants into the portfolio was W.W. Grainger, a North American distributor of industrial consumables, tools and supplies. We have previously owned this name in the portfolio and followed closely for many years. The driver to re-introduce to the portfolio now is an attractive valuation and view that an up-cycle seems imminent. Our modelling calls for double digit revenue growth and mid-teens EPS CAGR over the next few years, together with good potential for multiple expansion as earnings accelerate. W.W. Grainger has a solid moat allowing for pricing and market share gains on top of the industrial production growth. Its profitability (GPM, OPM, RoCE and cash conversion) is in the top-quintile relative to peers and financial leverage is low, which allows for generous shareholder returns. |
| JPM | JPMorgan (JPM) has identified 42 AI-related stocks in the S&P 500, which today represent 45% of the index's market cap. They estimate that these stocks have accounted for 78% of S&P 500 returns, 66% of earnings growth, and 71% of capital spending growth since ChatGPT launched in November 2022. As it relates to the impact on the U.S. economy, JPM estimates tech sector capital spending contributed 40%-45% of U.S. GDP growth through the first 9 months of the year, up from less than 5% during the same period in 2023. |
| LPLA | Additionally, a position in the leading US independent broker-dealer LPL Financial was established. LPL is well positioned to benefit from the ongoing shift toward fee-based wealth management and greater adviser independence. The company has delivered impressive organic revenue growth over time, targeting the 7–13% range, reflecting strong advisor recruitment and the firm's ongoing ability to attract advisers who are switching platforms. This momentum has translated into consistent net new asset inflows and robust revenue growth, while technology investments continue to enhance their platform stickiness and operating leverage. Although LPL does possess interest rate sensitivity through its cash sweep program, which is a meaningful earnings contributor, we are comfortable that consensus and buyside expectations already embed a prudent buffer for interest rate cuts through to 2027. Trading at a reasonable valuation relative to its growth profile and capital return potential, LPL offers a compelling risk-reward profile and exposure to structural tailwinds in wealth management. |
| META | On January 9, Meta Platforms unveiled a new agreement with Vistra—the largest generator of competitive electricity in the United States—as well as with TerraPower and Oklo. The announcement builds on Meta's agreement last year with Constellation Energy and positions the company to become one of the largest corporate purchasers of nuclear-generated electricity in the United States. |
| MSFT | MSFT was a detractor in 4Q25 following its fiscal first-quarter 2026 earnings report released on October 29. While results were better than expected operationally, investor reaction was driven by guidance and capital expenditure intensity rather than headline performance. Revenue grew 17% year-over-year, exceeding consensus expectations, and Azure revenue increased 39% year-over-year, also ahead of estimates. However, management guided to a sequential deceleration in Azure growth in fiscal Q2, signaling some moderation after a period of exceptional demand. |
| NVDA | AI bellwether NVIDIA's very strong set of earnings in late November helped the AI theme re-assert its dominance when investors breathed a sigh of relief following the results. |
| ODFL | Rotated exposure from Old Dominion Freight Line, a leading less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier. |
| SAP.DE | Germany-based global software developer for business applications |
| SNPS | Key performance contributors in the month of December included AppLovin, Synopsys, and PAR Technology Corporation. |
| TSCO | Tractor Supply, a US based speciality retailer serving rural and recreational customers, was one of the most significant detractors for the month. With no material company-specific news, the underperformance likely reflects a current preference for some of the lower quality and more cyclical areas within the Consumer Discretionary sector. Additionally, the mild winter and absence of a major storm season suggests Q4 results may track toward the lower end of guidance. Despite this, our long-term conviction remains intact, with direct sales initiatives and accelerated store rollouts expected to support top-line growth in 2026. |
| V | There were companies there such as Visa, which we own, as well as many we do not, and which would not likely be appropriate for this mandate. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
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