| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 8.1% | - | 11.1% |
| 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|
| 11.1% | 56.6% |
Rowan Street generated +11.1% net returns in 2025 versus +17.9% for the S&P 500, delivering solid absolute performance following two exceptionally strong years. The three-year cumulative return of +252% significantly outpaced the S&P 500's +78% return. Performance was driven by highest-conviction holdings, with Tesla contributing +6.8% as the largest contributor, followed by Shopify at +5.6% and Spotify at +4.5%. The Trade Desk detracted -6.9% but remains profitable since inception. The portfolio reflects a disciplined approach of concentrated ownership in exceptional businesses, allowing compounding rather than activity to drive results. Meta Platforms exemplifies this philosophy, compounding at 19% annually over eight years without any sales. The strategy accepts inevitable periods of underperformance in exchange for long-term compounding, with position sizes adjusting naturally based on business execution rather than forced rebalancing. The current portfolio represents the strongest collection of businesses since inception, positioned for continued long-term value creation through patient capital deployment.
Rowan Street operates as a concentrated strategy focused on owning a select number of high-quality businesses with strong balance sheets, durable economics, and the ability to reinvest free cash flow at attractive rates across cycles, allowing long-term business performance rather than short-term market movements to determine outcomes.
The portfolio today represents the strongest collection of businesses owned since inception, reflecting a disciplined approach of owning select exceptional businesses led by capable and tested management teams. The focus remains on holding these businesses long enough for their economics to reveal themselves, with confidence that results will take care of themselves over time.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 5 2026 | 2025 Q4 | META, SHOP.TO, SPOT, TSLA, TTD | Compounding, Concentration, long-term, Quality, technology | - | Shopify represents a key e-commerce infrastructure play that has strengthened its competitive position despite valuation compression. The company refocused operations, improved efficiency, and prioritized long-term economics while expanding its merchant ecosystem and deepening merchant services. Meta Platforms demonstrates the power of long-term compounding in social media, with the business consistently growing revenues, earnings, and cash flow over eight years. Current AI investments are improving advertising platform effectiveness with benefits flowing through to engagement and monetization. Tesla represents exceptional competitive advantages and deep engineering capabilities in the electric vehicle space. The company is led by a founder focused on long-duration value creation who has repeatedly reshaped entire industries through willingness to invest through uncertainty. The Trade Desk operates critical infrastructure for the open internet as an independent, data-driven advertising platform with strong network effects. However, recent execution challenges and communication issues have moderated conviction in management's ability to navigate adversity. |
| Oct 24 2025 | 2025 Q3 | ADYEY, DNOPY, META, NFLX, SHOP, SPOT, TOI CN, TSLA, TTD | AI, Compounding, Founders, Quality, Tesla |
TSLA SPOT TSLA SPOT |
Rowan outperformed with a 20.4% YTD gain, emphasizing founder-led compounders like Meta, Shopify, and Adyen. The fund reallocated from Spotify to Tesla, citing Teslas multi-layered moats in manufacturing, AI, data, and robotics. Managers view Tesla as a generational opportunity built on vertical integration and structural compounding power across autonomy and energy. |
| Jul 11 2025 | 2025 Q2 | META, SPOT | fundamentals, growth, secular trends, unit economics, valuation |
META SPOT |
The commentary highlights selective growth investing focused on companies with expanding addressable markets and improving unit economics. Management stresses avoiding speculative excess while leaning into secular growth drivers supported by fundamentals. Valuation discipline remains central despite enthusiasm around growth narratives. |
| Apr 16 2025 | 2025 Q1 | ADYEY, SPOT | - | - | |
| Jan 24 2025 | 2024 Q4 | META, SHOP, SPOT, TOI CN, TTD | - | - | |
| Oct 18 2024 | 2024 Q3 | - | - | - | |
| Sep 5 2024 | 2024 Q2 | META, SHOP, SPOT, TOI CN | - | - | |
| May 18 2024 | 2024 Q1 | CMG, TTD | - | - | |
| Jan 24 2024 | 2023 Q4 | ADYEY, META, SHOP, SPOT, TOI CN, TTD | - | - | |
| Oct 15 2023 | 2023 Q3 | META | - | - | |
| Dec 7 2023 | 2023 Q2 | CMG, NVO, TSCO | - | - | |
| Nov 4 2023 | 2023 Q1 | META, SPOT, TTD | - | - | |
| Jan 18 2023 | 2022 Q4 | COST, KO, PG | - | - | |
| Sep 11 2022 | 2022 Q3 | DOCU, SPOT | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
AdvertisingDigital advertising represents a secularly fast-growing space with Meta as the dominant leader serving over 3.5 billion daily active users. AI-driven content recommendation systems and granular consumer behavior visibility enable highly precise ad targeting, making these platforms essential for businesses. |
Digital Targeting Programmatic Social Search |
E-commerceSeveral investments in e-commerce leaders across Asia and Latin America, including MercadoLibre, Sea Limited and Alibaba, faced a more competitive operating environment during the period. As long-term investors, SGA observes that competitive intensity in these markets tends to ebb and flow over shorter time horizons, with market leaders typically emerging from such periods with strengthened strategic positions given inherent network effects. |
Marketplaces Competition Network Effects Asia Latin America | |
Electric VehiclesRivian represents maybe the most exciting position in the portfolio, with the company developing its own autonomy platform and in-house chip (RAP1). The R2 model represents a pivotal moment, and partnerships with Volkswagen and Amazon have strengthened the balance sheet while expanding strategic options. |
Autonomy Manufacturing Technology Partnerships Scale | |
Social MediaMeta demonstrates the resilience of large networks through its ability to adapt to competitive threats and regulatory changes. The company's massive user base and AI investments have enabled it to maintain growth in engagement and advertising despite challenges from TikTok and Apple's privacy changes. |
Social Media Network Effects AI Investment User Engagement Advertising | |
| 2025 Q3 |
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 |
| 2025 Q2 |
Growth |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 24, 2025 | Fund Letters | Alex Kopel | TSLA | Tesla Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Automobiles | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, Automation, Autonomy, Data, energy storage, EV, innovation, manufacturing, Margins, robotics | Login |
| Oct 24, 2025 | Fund Letters | Alex Kopel | SPOT | Spotify Technology S.A. | Communication Services | Entertainment | Bear | NYSE | advertising, ARPU, Audio, Automation, Competition, Margins, Podcasts, Streaming, valuation | Login |
| Oct 24, 2025 | Fund Letters | Alex Kopel | TSLA | Tesla Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Automobiles | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, Automation, Autonomy, Data, energy storage, EV, innovation, manufacturing, Margins, robotics | Login |
| Oct 24, 2025 | Fund Letters | Alex Kopel | SPOT | Spotify Technology S.A. | Communication Services | Entertainment | Bear | NYSE | advertising, ARPU, Audio, Automation, Competition, Margins, Podcasts, Streaming, valuation | Login |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Fund Letters | Alex Kopel | META | Meta Platforms, Inc. | Communication Services | Interactive Media & Services | Bull | NASDAQ | advertising, AI, compounding, Drawdowns, social media | Login |
| Jul 11, 2025 | Fund Letters | Alex Kopel | SPOT | Spotify Technology S.A. | Communication Services | Interactive Media & Services | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Audio, Engagement, margin expansion, Streaming, Subscription | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| SHOP.TO | Non dividend paying technology names Shopify and Celestica had also meaningful contribution to the index returns for the year, detracting our relative outcome. |
| SPOT | Spotify is the world's leading audio streaming platform. Third-quarter results showed continued operating progress, with users increasing 11% to 713 million and subscribers growing 12% to 281 million. Meanwhile, operating income expanded to a mid-teens margin, alongside a record quarterly free cash flow. Despite the momentum, the shares weakened as investors reset near-term margin expectations. Spotify has been a top contributor to long-term Fund performance, and we remain confident that pricing, product innovation, advertising efficiency, and an expanding ecosystem can continue to widen margins over time, as reinforced this quarter by the launch of Spotify recommendations within ChatGPT. |
| TSLA | Under the previous system, companies that produced only electric vehicles—most notably Tesla—generated large quantities of credits that could then be sold to manufacturers falling short of their EV production targets, allowing them to avoid regulatory penalties. |
| 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. |
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