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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The investment philosophy of Brass Rat Investments centers on capital deployment into high-quality structural compounders during periods of macro-driven market dislocation, while actively shorting legacy businesses unable to navigate technological transitions. During the first quarter of 2026, the portfolio weathered a historically complex landscape, defined by the dual pressures of a Middle Eastern energy shock and the massive capital demands of the global artificial intelligence infrastructure build-out. Despite a challenging March, the fund experienced a strong recovery during the first week of April, driven by signs of de-escalation in the US-Iran geopolitical conflict, which successfully narrowed its one-month drawdown to -0.99%. Key performance drivers included successful long exits from Teledyne and Knight-Swift, alongside an effective short position in CVS Health. Conversely, disciplined risk management triggered stop-losses on positions in Planet Fitness and Tesla to preserve capital. Moving forward, the fund maintains a constructive posture, prioritizing disciplined execution. Portfolio exposure remains concentrated in high-conviction structural growers like Eaton, Atlassian, Meta, and HEICO to navigate the volatile re-equilibration of the broader market.
Exploiting market inefficiencies created by macro-driven, indiscriminate selling to acquire high-quality structural growers while shorting legacy businesses failing to adapt to rapid technological shifts.
The fund is constructive heading into the next period, viewing macro-driven sell-offs as fertile ground for identifying high-quality long ideas with sound structural fundamentals, while simultaneously targeting legacy companies failing to adapt to the artificial intelligence transition as short candidates.
As of Mar 31, 2026
Co-founded by Telis Bertsekas and Nina Hughes, both former technology portfolio managers at Point72 Asset Management who jointly managed several hundred million dollars in technology stocks. Bertsekas currently serves as MBA Finance Certificate Head at MIT Sloan School of Management and lectures on Introduction to the Practice of Finance. Hughes brings expertise as a technology investor in both public and private markets with academic qualifications including an MBA, MS in Biomedical Engineering, and BSEE in Electrical Engineering. Both founders left Point72 in 2014 and established the educational investment platform while also operating a separate professional hedge fund entity called Axiomada Fund.
Train the next generation of investors by providing hands-on experience in managing diverse investment strategies within a fundamental framework. The organization creates a dynamic learning environment where members gain practical investment experience while managing a diversified portfolio across technology, industrial, consumer, and healthcare sectors. Fund members meet weekly to pitch ideas and vote on allocations using rigorous fundamental analysis and professional valuation techniques. The approach emphasizes developing communication and professionalism skills while analyzing company fundamentals using industry-standard tools including Microsoft Excel, Refinitiv, and S&P Capital IQ.
Lead Portfolio Manager
Moderate Conviction Bullish
Market Conviction
Scored at 0.70, reflecting moderate-to-high conviction. The fund maintains a highly concentrated, named set of core holdings (Eaton, Atlassian, Meta, HEICO) and a high-conviction short (CVS), backed by explicit investment theses and a strict risk-preservation framework that triggers automatic stop-loss executions.
Growth Outlook
The manager has a slightly positive, constructive outlook, scored at 0.55. While the letter notes a shift toward 'cautious, if volatile, re-equilibration' and references geopolitical concerns like the US-Iran conflict, it also outlines an environment 'ripe for opportunistic positioning' on both the long and short sides.
Risk Appetite
The score of 0.50 reflects a highly disciplined, balanced risk appetite. The fund actively exited positions (Tesla and Planet Fitness) that breached stop-losses to preserve capital, while initiating HEICO as a defensive hedge, indicating a cautious but opportunistic posture.
Capital Deployment
Scored at 0.45 as the fund is in a net-neutral or slightly capital-preserving state. It realized gains on TDY and KNX and exited PLNT and TSLA, resulting in significant cash realization, with plans to reallocate this capital selectively rather than aggressively deploying it immediately.
Forward Guidance
Assigned a 0.60 to represent a moderate action bias. The manager is actively monitoring a limit order to cover CVS at $69.76 and is seeking to reallocate capital from exited names (PLNT, TSLA) into higher-conviction ideas, indicating selective deployment.
Language Signal
The language signal is neutral-to-positive at 0.55. The text balances optimistic phrasing like 'high-quality names,' 'high-conviction structural growers,' and 'primary beneficiary' with risk-aware terminology such as 'geopolitical paralysis,' 'drawdown,' and 'SaaSpocalypse software sell-off.'
Perceived Risk
Perceived risk is scored at 0.75 due to detailed mentions of global threats. The manager highlights a 'historically complex quarter' defined by a 'Middle Eastern energy shock,' 'acute geopolitical paralysis,' and broader systemic issues such as consumer spending weakness and software sector sell-offs.
Opportunity Density
The opportunity density is scored at 0.65. While the manager sees a 'fertile ground for short opportunities' and notes that macro sell-offs 'often surface entry points,' they are highly selective, focusing on specific secular niches like AI infrastructure and defense.
Time Horizon
A score of 0.60 reflects a medium-term outlook. The manager's core holdings are anchored in long-term structural narratives like cloud migration and AI infrastructure, yet they remain highly sensitive to short-term stop-loss triggers and catalyst events.
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