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| # | Fund | Strategy | Style | Geography | AUM | Latest Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
During the third quarter of 2026, the Polen 5Perspectives Small-Mid Growth Composite returned -12.52% net of fees, underperforming the Russell 2500 Growth Index benchmark return of -10.35%. Year-to-date, the strategy has generated an 8.14% net return compared to 7.28% for the index. The quarter exhibited sharp volatility, opening with an aggressive mechanical liquidation across AI-related equities before staging a mid-quarter rebound that was subsequently derailed by hawkish Federal Reserve monetary policy and a 25 basis point interest rate hike. Despite the drawdown, the management team maintains that underlying demand trends across key secular themes remain durable. From a macroeconomic perspective, the team interprets recent market turbulence as a positioning reset rather than fundamental deterioration, labeling the correction a pause that refreshes. The dominant narrative driving portfolio positioning is an ongoing structural pivot from artificial intelligence infrastructure suppliers toward enterprise appliers. As hyperscaler capital expenditure scrutiny intensifies, the strategy is actively rotating capital out of industrial suppliers into software, technology platforms, and healthcare innovators capable of deploying artificial intelligence to enhance productivity and launch differentiated commercial offerings. Portfolio activity reflected this thematic rotation, with Technology overtaking Industrials as the strategy's largest sector weighting, followed by Health Care as the second largest allocation. Capital was harvested from industrial electrification and picks-and-shovels infrastructure providers to fund additions in precision medicine, next-generation diagnostics, and therapeutics. Key performance contributors included Twist Bioscience, Twilio, and Embraer, while detractors included nLight, Terawulf, and BWX Technologies, where the team retained conviction due to robust multi-year backlogs and secular demand tailwinds.
Capitalize on change and disruption by investing in dynamic US small- and mid-cap growth companies transitioning from building AI infrastructure to deploying AI applications across high-impact sectors.
The investment team expects market volatility to serve as a healthy reset of extreme positioning and expectations rather than a fundamental slowdown in technological innovation. Moving forward, the portfolio is positioned to capture superior risk-adjusted growth by shifting capital from infrastructure hardware suppliers to the appliers of AI that embed machine learning into enterprise software and healthcare solutions. Management believes the US SMID cap asset class remains uniquely positioned to benefit from accelerating change and secular disruption irrespective of prevailing macroeconomic conditions.
As of Oct 13, 2026
Drew Cupps
Lead Portfolio Manager
Moderate Conviction Bullish
Market Conviction
Growth Outlook
Risk Appetite
Capital Deployment
Forward Guidance
Language Signal
Perceived Risk
Opportunity Density
Time Horizon
Top Conviction Themes
Key Catalysts
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