Investor Summary
Fund Strategy
FUND PERFORMANCE AS OF 31st December 2025
| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 21.4% | 2.7% | 15.4% |
| 2025 |
|---|
| 15.4% |
| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 21.4% | 2.7% | 15.4% |
| 2025 |
|---|
| 15.4% |
Gate City Capital generated a 15.4% net return in 2025, underperforming the S&P 500's 17.9% but outperforming the Russell 2000's 12.8%. The fund's investment thesis centers on concerns about U.S. dollar debasement driving investors toward real assets including precious metals, land, energy, and food production. Silver prices rose 150% in 2025, validating this positioning. The portfolio consists of 20 companies with a weighted average market cap of $1.0 billion, trading at attractive valuations of 6.8x EV/EBITDA and 0.9x price-to-book. Top performers included Entravision (media/advertising technology), Peabody Energy (coal), and Heartland Express (trucking). Key detractors were Mosaic and Intrepid Potash (fertilizers) and JAKKS Pacific (toys). The fund maintains significant exposure to industrials (25%), real estate (22%), media (16%), energy (16%), and consumer products (13%). Cash declined to 3% as the manager deployed capital into attractively priced positions. Looking ahead, the manager expects continued rotation toward real assets and sees improving fundamentals across trucking, media, and coal sectors driven by structural tailwinds.
Gate City focuses on undervalued small-cap companies with strong balance sheets and asset-backed value, particularly benefiting from the rotation away from U.S. dollar toward real assets including precious metals, land, energy, and food production.
The manager expects continued benefits from precious metals price appreciation and rotation away from fiat currencies toward real assets. Trucking demand should see significant tailwinds in 2026. Media companies should benefit from midterm election spending. Coal demand supported by data center growth. Fertilizer companies expected to see improved results in 2026.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27 2026 | 2025 Q4 | 1211.SR, ALCO, APP, BTU, DSP, EVC, HTLD, IPI, JAKK, MOS, TTD, XOM | Agriculture, energy, Media, Precious Metals, real estate, small caps, value |
EVC BTU HTLD MOS IPI JAKK ALCO |
Gold and silver prices have continued their meteoric rise as large investors including central banks seek alternatives to U.S. Treasuries to preserve wealth. Silver prices… |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
CoalCoal consumption rose 7-8% in 2025, first increase in years, driven by data center demand and higher gas prices. Multiple plant closures delayed or cancelled as grid reliability concerns mount. Asia continues expanding coal capacity despite transition promises. |
Thermal Data Centers Asia Utilities |
FertilizersMaterials sector exposure to the agricultural-fertilizer industry via Intrepid Potash, Nutrien, and CF Industries was a positive contributor to results. The fund maintains exposure across the fertilizer value chain. |
Agriculture Potash Nitrogen Materials Commodities | |
MediaWarner Bros Discovery was the top contributor as multiple parties submitted acquisition offers, with Netflix acquiring the Streaming and Studios business while Global Networks spins to shareholders. Paramount Skydance made a $30 per share offer for the entire company, creating a bidding war that unlocked shareholder value. |
Streaming M&A Content Entertainment Bidding | |
Precious MetalsThe precious metals sector experienced dramatic outperformance in 2025, with the FTSE/JSE Precious Metals and Mining index more than tripling. This was the primary driver of South African equity market returns and the main reason for the Hedge Fund's underperformance relative to its benchmark. |
Platinum Mining South Africa Commodities | |
Real Estate |
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TruckingHeartland Express contributed positively as the extended three-year slowdown in U.S. trucking market shows signs of abating. Supply of available trucks has decreased as orders for new equipment have fallen sharply, while stricter enforcement of Commercial Drivers Licenses has decreased available drivers. Demand rose in holiday season with spot rates reaching multi-year highs. |
Trucking Logistics Transportation |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 2026 | Fund Letters | Michael Melby | EVC | Entravision Communications Corporation | Communication Services | Broadcasting | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | adtech, advertising, Elections, Hispanic, valuation | Login |
| Jan 27, 2026 | Fund Letters | Michael Melby | BTU | Peabody Energy Corporation | Energy | Thermal Coal & Metallurgical Coal | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | cashflow, coal, dividends, energy, Power | Login |
| Jan 27, 2026 | Fund Letters | Michael Melby | HTLD | Heartland Express, Inc. | Industrials | Trucking | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Capacity, Logistics, Rates, recovery, Trucking | Login |
| Jan 27, 2026 | Fund Letters | Michael Melby | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Materials | Fertilizers | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | agriculture, Fertilizers, Potash, recovery, valuation | Login |
| Jan 27, 2026 | Fund Letters | Michael Melby | IPI | Intrepid Potash, Inc. | Materials | Fertilizers | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | assets, Fertilizers, Lithium, Optionality, Potash | Login |
| Jan 27, 2026 | Fund Letters | Michael Melby | JAKK | JAKKS Pacific, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Leisure Products | Bull | NASDAQ | Licensing, media, recovery, tariffs, Toys | Login |
| Jan 27, 2026 | Fund Letters | Michael Melby | ALCO | Alico, Inc. | Real Estate | Agricultural Land | Bull | NASDAQ | assets, development, land, realestate, valuation | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| ALCO | Alico continues to be the Fund's largest position and was a meaningful contributor to our performance both during Q4 and for all of 2025. Alico owns nearly 50,000 acres of land in Florida which were previously devoted primarily to citrus farming. In January 2025, Alico announced a Strategic Transformation where it would be exiting its citrus operations following the 2025 harvest. Alico expects that 75% of its citrus acres (37,970 acres) will be converted to other agricultural purposes with the remaining 25% of its citrus acreage (12,600 acres) converted to higher and better use opportunities, including residential and commercial developments. Alico continues to advance in the entitlement process at key development projects including Corkscrew Villages (4,600 acres) and Bonnet Lake (610 acres). After year-end, Alico sold 2,950 acres of ag land for $26.8 million ($9,084/acre) and had leased 97% of the company's remaining agricultural acreage. Alico also announced that it plans to reduce the size of its board from 8 directors to 6 directors and add Eric Speron, a successful investor in land and water companies, to the board. Alico currently has a market capitalization of $312 million and, with $48 million of net debt, (excluding $35 million of assets sales after quarter-end) has an enterprise value of $360 million, or $7,200/acre. Our price target of $60.50 represents +50% upside from current prices. |
| APP | AppLovin provides tools that help mobile app developers, particularly mobile game developers, market and monetize their products. We exited AppLovin after significant price appreciation. |
| BTU | Peabody Energy shares advanced in the fourth quarter, and Peabody was the Fund's top contributor to our performance in 2025. Peabody is a global producer of metallurgical and thermal coal. Our investment thesis on Peabody was highlighted in our Q3 2025 quarterly letter. Peabody's strong performance continued in the fourth quarter after domestic thermal coal prices strengthened as the build-out of data centers continues to strain the U.S. power grid. Peabody also highlighted that its thermal coal mines in the Powder River Basin have the potential to produce economic quantities of rare earth minerals. Following a soft contracting season in late 2025, metallurgical coal prices have since increased substantially. Peabody's low-cost Centurion mine in Australia is on schedule to ramp up production in Q1 2026 and is expected to contribute meaningfully to the company's 2026 results. After terminating its prior agreement to purchase Anglo American's Australian met coal assets, Peabody is positioned to return significant capital to shareholders. Peabody has $280 million in net cash and should generate significant free cash flow in 2026. Peabody has publicly committed to returning 65% of free cash flow to shareholders each year. |
| EVC | Entravision was the Fund's top performer in the fourth quarter and was also a strong contributor to our performance in 2025. Entravision owns 49 television stations and 44 radio stations in the United States that target a Hispanic audience. Entravision also operates a profitable and rapidly growing Advertising Technology & Services segment, led by the company's Smadex subsidiary. Entravision's share price advanced in Q4 after the company announced strong quarterly results driven by Smadex's robust growth. The Advertising Technology & Services segment generated $76 million in quarterly revenue (+100% y/y growth) and $10 million in EBITDA. Smadex's publicly traded competitors including AppLovin (APP), The Trade Desk (TTD), and Viant Technologies (DSP) all trade at multiples over 25x Enterprise Value / EBITDA, suggesting Smadex alone could be worth more than Entravision's entire enterprise value. Additionally, Entravision's Media segment should perform well in 2026 as politicians spend heavily on midterm elections. Additionally, deregulation in broadcast television and radio should encourage industry consolidation. Entravision's television and radio assets are likely considered to be attractive acquisition targets. Entravision has a market capitalization of $290 million and has $106 million of net debt, resulting in an enterprise value of $396 million. Our price target of $5.45/share suggests +70% upside. |
| HTLD | While the freight recession has been severe, Heartland's operating results appear to be stabilizing. Trucking rates have shown signs of bottoming and are beginning to increase from very depressed levels. There is growing optimism that ongoing capacity reductions will support more meaningful pricing improvement in 2026. |
| IPI | Materials sector exposure to the agricultural-fertilizer industry via Intrepid Potash was a positive contributor to results |
| JAKK | The All Cap Strategy also borrows from the highest conviction theses in liquid stocks owned in the Small Cap Strategy and has been a beneficiary of Rapid Micro Biosystems (RPID) rapid rise while also holding the heretofore underwhelming JAKKS Pacific, Inc (JAKK). |
| MOS | We sold Mosaic as agricultural pricing softened and reallocated the proceeds to better opportunities within the portfolio. With fertiliser products such as potash and phosphate now considered critical minerals, we may re-enter should fundamentals dynamics assert a sustained move higher in underlying potash and phosphate prices as Mosaic is very well positioned to benefit. |
| TTD | Communication Services also detracted from relative performance, driven by early-year weakness in The Trade Desk (TTD). The company, one of the world's largest independent demand-side advertising platforms, faced its first revenue miss in more than eight years and issued softer-than-consensus expected guidance. These challenges were compounded by disruptions from a sales reorganization and slower adoption of its new AI-powered platform, Kokai. |
| XOM | BAC, JNJ, JPM, and XOM were held in Miller/Howard portfolios as of December 31, 2025. |
| 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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