| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| - | 0.6% | 5.5% |
Fortress Global Funds delivered mixed but mostly positive returns in Q4 2025, with the Emerging Markets Fund leading at 49% for the year, followed by International Equity at 24%. The manager maintains that despite market volatility and geopolitical tensions, excellent investment opportunities remain globally. Artificial intelligence continued dominating U.S. markets while masking economic moderation in other sectors. Tariff policies negatively impacted U.S. consumers and companies, though international firms found new trade arrangements and growth opportunities. The manager sees exceptional value in international and emerging markets despite recent strong performance, noting attractive valuations with portfolio P/E ratios significantly below market indices. U.S. healthcare and consumer staples, left behind by the AI frenzy, offer appealing valuations. High-quality bonds provide meaningful return potential, especially with continued Fed easing. The funds are positioned to benefit from global opportunities, with cash levels rising temporarily after trimming positions following strong gains, ready for redeployment as attractive opportunities emerge.
Despite volatile markets and geopolitical uncertainty, attractive investment opportunities persist globally with the best value found in international and emerging markets, U.S. healthcare and consumer staples, and high-quality bonds offering meaningful return potential.
As we start 2026, there are still excellent investment opportunities around the world, and the Fortress funds are positioned to benefit from them in the years to come. Even after strong performance in international and emerging markets, the manager still sees some of the best value globally in these areas. The future may not be perfect, but there is still every reason to expect it to be positive for investment portfolios.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 31 2025 | 2025 Q4 | 005930.KS, 0700.HK, 1288.HK, 1585.HK, 1878.T, 2318.HK, 392.HK, 3968.HK, 6920.T, 8035.T, 916.HK, ACN, AMAT, AXP, BABA, BBDO, BNZL.L, BRK.B, BTI, CHTR, FMC, GMEXICOB.MX, GRMN, HSY, ITUB, IX, JNJ, LOGI, MC.PA, MRK, NTES, NVO, ORLY, PDD, PHM, ROG.SW, SBS, SNA, TSM, UNH, VALE, VRTX, WKL | AI, Bonds, emerging markets, healthcare, international, technology, Trade Policy, value | - | Fortress delivered strong 2025 returns led by emerging markets at 49% and international equity at 24%. Despite AI-driven U.S. market strength masking broader economic moderation and tariff headwinds, the manager sees excellent global value opportunities. International and emerging markets remain attractively valued, while U.S. healthcare and consumer staples offer compelling prospects after being left behind by the technology rally. |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
AIAI emergence has created market hysteria and broad software sell-offs despite limited real-world automation success. Manager believes dominant vertical software platforms can successfully reinvent themselves for an agentic world and fend off AI-native startups through domain expertise and mission-critical systems integration. |
Artificial Intelligence Software Automation Technology |
SoftwareSoftware sector treated as monolith awaiting AI disruption, but manager sees meaningful differentiation. Incumbents with engineering talent and proprietary data have structural advantages in deploying AI tools. Early adopters historically capture more economic benefits than infrastructure providers. |
Enterprise Software SaaS Technology Digital Transformation | |
ValueManager caught between cutting-edge technologies and traditional value industries during market broadening. Software positions ironically cheaper than traditional value industrial exposure but have been a millstone. Focus remains on value-oriented special situations within principled framework. |
Value Investing Special Situations Contrarian | |
HotelsChoice Hotels represents asset-light, high-margin hotel franchisor trading at distressed multiple due to cyclical headwinds. Company shifting portfolio toward higher revenue segments like Extended Stay and international markets. Potential for significant cash unlock and share buybacks at historically low valuations. |
Hospitality Franchising Real Estate Travel |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Elevator Pitches found | ||||||||||
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| 005930.KS | Top gainers included Samsung (+38% in U.S. dollar terms) |
| 0700.HK | Shinya also visited Shenzhen, where Star Magnolia Capital organized an educational visit for our families to Tencent's headquarters, alongside meetings with several promising early-stage companies. |
| 1585.HK | weakest performers included Yadea Group (-18%). During the quarter, we added incrementally to the Fund's holding in Yadea Group on weakness |
| 1878.T | weakest performers included Daito Trust (-13%) |
| 2318.HK | Top gainers included Ping An Insurance (+23%) |
| 392.HK | exited an investment in Beijing Enterprises |
| 3968.HK | China Merchants Bank (+13%) delivered strong performance |
| 6920.T | Top gainers among the Fund's holdings included Lasertec (+38% in U.S. dollar terms). During the quarter, we trimmed the Fund's holding in Lasertec on strength |
| 8035.T | Tokyo Electron did well in the quarter as related semiconductor production equipment companies also did well. |
| 916.HK | weakest performers included China Longyuan Power (-19%) |
| 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. |
| AMAT | Top gainers in the Fund this quarter included Applied Materials (+26%). During the quarter, we trimmed the Fund's holding in Applied Materials as it rallied |
| AXP | American Express Company represents 22.1% of company owned with cost basis of $1,287 million and market value of $56,088 million, providing $479 million in 2025 dividends. |
| BABA | Alibaba was a detractor during the quarter after the company reported mixed fiscal Q2 results. While cloud revenue growth accelerated and margins remained stable, the core commerce business struggled with slowing growth and significant profit pressure, particularly in the quick commerce segment where heavy investment and intense competition led to a sharp decline in profitability. |
| BNZL.L | weakest performers included Bunzl (-11%) |
| BRK.B | Berkshire remains a cornerstone holding because it is a permanent capital system built to compound per share intrinsic value through cycles. Disciplined insurance underwriting creates float that can be invested over long horizons, while a diversified set of operating businesses generates durable cash flows that management redeploys with unusual rationality. Berkshire's 10.9% return in 2025 reflected steady per share value accumulation, supported by profitable underwriting and the management of its record $382 billion cash balance. |
| BTI | Foreign based British American Tobacco p.l.c. started the year left for dead, priced at 7x earnings and a dividend of over 8%. Sales and earnings grew, the P/E expanded to 11 and the stock gained 63.4% for the year. |
| CHTR | Weakest performers included Charter Communications (-24%) |
| FMC | moved out of a holding in FMC |
| GMEXICOB.MX | Grupo Mexico is a holding company with mining, transportation and infrastructure operations. Primarily through its listed subsidiary Southern Copper, Grupo Mexico's mining business comprises more than 80% of earnings. With the largest reserves of any copper producer and mines well positioned on the cost curve, Grupo Mexico controls long-duration assets that are nearly impossible to replicate. Despite its high-quality characteristics, Grupo Mexico—like many holding companies—trades at a discount to the sum of its parts; Grupo Mexico's stake in publicly traded Southern Copper alone exceeds its own market cap by more than $30 billion. Bolstered by an attractive dividend, Grupo Mexico has delivered compelling, long-term total returns despite the holding-company discount. |
| GRMN | Weakest performers included Garmin (-17%) |
| HSY | During the quarter, we added to an existing holding of The Hershey Company on relative weakness |
| ITUB | Our portfolio is full of examples, whether that's Pedro Moreira Salles at Itaú Unibanco |
| JNJ | During the quarter, we switched out of a long-held position in Johnson & Johnson into a new holding in Merck. |
| MC.PA | Top gainers among the Fund's holdings included LVMH (+24%) |
| MRK | Top gainers in the Fund this quarter included Merck (+26%) |
| NTES | During the quarter, we added to an existing holding in Netease |
| NVO | added a new holding in Novo Nordisk, which had seen its share price decline by two thirds since mid-2024 |
| ORLY | Weakest performers included O'Reilly Automotive (-15%) |
| PDD | weakest performers included PDD (-14%) |
| PHM | PulteGroup, in the homebuilding industry, struggled due to slowing orders and margin pressures despite a slight decrease in mortgage rates. We continue to hold PulteGroup in the Fund. |
| ROG.SW | Top gainers among the Fund's holdings included Roche (+27%) |
| TSM | TSMC was a top contributor during the quarter, driven by robust demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing and improved gross margins as AI continues to grow strong and the non-AI segment showed signs of recovery. Management raised its revenue growth guidance to the mid-30% range, and given continued strength in demand, AI-related growth targets are expected to move above the current mid-40% level. |
| UNH | We also added back a full position in UnitedHealth |
| VALE | Top gainers included Vale (+26%) |
| VRTX | Top gainers in the Fund this quarter included Vertex Pharmaceuticals (+16%) |
| WKL | weakest performers included Wolters Kluwer (-24%) |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
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| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
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