Non-Agency RMBS posted positive excess returns driven by higher income despite modest spread widening. Total Non-Agency RMBS supply reached $194 billion, up 41% from 2024. The fund expects Non-QM AAA spreads to tighten toward the low-100-basis-point range and favors 2023-vintage Non-QM senior and pro-rata mezzanine tranches with higher coupons. CMBS spreads ended 2025 near the tighter end of the year's range with total issuance rising to $155 billion. Credit performance was mixed with retail properties improving but office remaining challenged at just 45% payoff rate. The fund continues to prefer the top of the capital stack as BBB and lower investment-grade tranches offer limited compensation for elevated credit risk. Real GDP growth was supported by continued investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. AI-related data centers are expected to become a larger part of the CMBS market in 2026. The fund sees continued investment in AI-related infrastructure as a driver of economic growth in 2026. The Federal Reserve cut the federal funds target range to 3.50%-3.75% in December, marking the third cut of 2025 and bringing total easing to 175 bps since cuts began in 2024. Longer-term curve steepening remains the fund's core thesis with expectations for additional rate cuts in 2026 as labor market conditions soften.

Manager views credit spreads as historically low and insufficient to compensate for credit risk. Credit exposure reduced from 3.8% to 3.6% during quarter as spreads compress to extreme levels. Low spreads increase risk of permanent capital impairment and short-term drawdowns. Fund shifted toward high quality bonds rated A or higher, increasing from 96% exposure. Strategy focuses on Treasuries, agency mortgages, and AAA-rated bonds to mitigate credit risk in expensive market environment. Quality positioning viewed as contrarian but historically proven approach. Federal Reserve implemented two 25 basis point cuts amid debate over dual mandate priorities. Treasury yields declined across short-to-intermediate maturities while longer yields rose slightly. Fund positioned with 100 basis point duration test to preserve capital in rising rate scenarios.

Copper surged 17% over the quarter, driven by supply risks and production disruptions at major mines. Portfolio holdings Freeport McMoRan, Teck Resources, and BHP delivered strong performance. The fund maintains conviction in copper due to tightening supply, record prices, and geopolitical uncertainty. Gold gained 12% in the quarter, reaching record highs and delivering extraordinary 64% gains for 2025. Monetary policy uncertainty and geopolitical tensions provided positive backdrop. Portfolio holdings Newmont and Northern Star Resources contributed meaningfully to performance. Union Pacific's proposed merger with Norfolk Southern would create the first coast-to-coast rail network in the US, potentially unlocking rail's potential to capture long-distance freight. The unified network could benefit broader US supply chains and provide the next leg of growth for an industry that has relied on efficiency gains. European banking sector produced strong outperformance led by Bank of Ireland, Lloyds Banking Group, and CaixaBank. Sector returns supported by interest rate stabilization and yield curve steepening. The market is transitioning toward improving organic loan growth after fifteen years of stagnant credit activity.

AI-related stocks continued to show strength, with mega-cap technology and AI-related names benefiting early in the quarter. South Korean equities gained from improving sentiment around the global electronics and AI cycle, while semiconductor stocks maintained momentum. Semiconductor stocks performed well, particularly in South Korea where they benefited from improving sentiment around the global electronics and AI cycle. TSMC was a notable contributor to fund performance. The Federal Reserve delivered a further 50bp rate cut over the quarter, lowering the federal funds target range to 3.50%-3.75%. Lower global interest rates supported South African equities and contributed to improving macro conditions.

The Fund focuses on European credit markets, particularly the iTraxx Crossover suite of indices which produced positive returns in Q4. The managers view leveraged European credit as offering good risk-adjusted opportunities in the absence of meaningful defaults. The Fund increased risk during Q4 by adding structured notes referencing leveraged iTraxx indices. The commentary extensively discusses risk-adjusted returns using standard deviation and return coefficients. The managers analyze risk across different asset classes and emphasize the importance of risk measurement in portfolio construction. They acknowledge that excess returns should compensate for risk taken. Central bank policy and interest rate movements are analyzed across major economies. The ECB has essentially completed its cutting cycle, while the Bank of England faces challenges with elevated inflation. The Fund's performance is tied to EURIBOR spreads and rate movements affect the underlying credit instruments.

Gold rose 12% over the period, reaching a record high in December. Monetary policy and geopolitical uncertainty continued to provide a positive backdrop for gold. Portfolio holdings Newmont gained 18% and Northern Star Resources gained 13%. Copper surged 17% as supply risks came back into focus following production disruptions and material downgrades to production guidance due to geotechnical issues at several large-scale mines. Recent supply disruptions acutely highlight how tight copper markets have become given the lack of new greenfield capacity coming online and record low inventories. Challenger Limited remained a standout on the back of regulatory reforms and interest rate normalization. The position rose 8% over the quarter and achieved a 57% return for the year ending 31 December 2025. Investors are increasingly pricing in the anticipated benefits of APRA's proposed capital requirement reforms. In steelmaking coal, Stanmore Resources remains resilient despite low commodity prices that have seen peers take measures to preserve cash. Stanmore has maintained consistent mine plans and capital expenditure programs and is therefore well positioned to benefit from any improvement in commodity prices.

Multiple portfolio holdings operate in e-commerce including Sea Ltd.'s Shopee platform, MercadoLibre as Latin America's largest marketplace, and the broader digital transformation occurring in frontier markets. Competition pressures are impacting margins but long-term growth opportunities remain strong. The dollar's weakening in 2025 benefited frontier emerging market stocks that had been hardest hit by prior dollar strength. Countries like Pakistan, Egypt and Colombia experienced dramatic comebacks of 50-100%+ as currency pressures eased and equity valuations recovered from beaten-up levels. Fabrinet is benefiting from increased demand as data centers upgrade networks to handle complex AI workloads, while Baltic Classifieds faces potential disruption from AI agents that could bypass classified portals. AI represents both opportunity and threat across the portfolio.

Despite signs of re-emergence of higher inflation across major global developed economies including Australia in the December quarter, the fund delivered positive returns. Australian bond yields increased significantly with three year bonds rising over 60 basis points and 10 year bonds almost 50 basis points, representing a shift from rate cut expectations to multiple rate increase expectations in 2026. The fund increased exposure to fixed interest rates during the quarter as markets became overly optimistic about cash rate increases in 2026. Management believes multiple rate increases would put notable downward pressure on the economy given cost-of-living pressures and higher house prices remain issues.

Small caps are overlooked, disdained and cheap relative to large caps. Quality small caps are trading at significant discounts to quality large caps while historically trading at premiums. The fund sees growing opportunity set as capital withdraws from actively managed small value strategies. The fund focuses on quality companies with balance sheet strength, earnings consistency, and high returns on capital. Quality small caps have become cheap compared to large caps and the quality premium in small caps is modest versus pronounced in large caps. The fund's value-focused process leads to a portfolio designed to protect clients during market drawdowns. They identify overlooked, out of favor companies trading at attractive valuations with strong franchises in boring industries.

Gold prices rose 65% in 2025, with precious metals miners performing strongly. The fund trimmed gold positions significantly from 15% to 9% of the portfolio due to strong performance, rolling gains into platinum and industrial metals where more upside is seen. Platinum group metals producers were among the largest contributors for the second consecutive quarter. South African companies Valterra and Impala had strong returns of 20.7% and 26.4% respectively, with substantial upside potential remaining relative to risk-adjusted intrinsic value estimates. After over a decade of underperformance, value stocks had a strong fourth quarter with Russell 1000 Value up 3.3% versus 1.2% for growth. The manager believes the market is beginning to recognize value, emphasizing buying good companies for less than they are worth. Conglomerates performed well with Cresud up 48.7% and LG Corp up 9.1%. The manager notes conglomerates are complex and difficult to analyze, frequently ignored by the market, providing significant opportunities for fundamental bottom-up analysis.

AI infrastructure buildout continues with supply constraints limiting growth rate. Training and inference demand remains strong, but monetization challenges persist with most users paying nothing. Private market valuations appear excessive with OpenAI valued at $830bn despite $20bn revenue run-rate. Gold returned +65% in dollars in 2025, driven by broadening demand from central banks, professional and retail investors. Central banks now hold 24% of reserves in gold versus 23% in US Treasuries for the first time. Maintained 12% portfolio allocation throughout the year. Dollar depreciated -9% against trading partners in 2025, worst year since 2017. De-dollarization trend accelerating as world shifts away from US. Reduced net dollar exposure from 25% to 8% following geopolitical tensions and superpower positioning concerns. Supply constraints curtailing infrastructure buildout rate, but compute capacity is being used immediately upon coming online. This differs from dot-com bubble when dark fiber was installed ahead of need. Labor, power and land shortages creating bottlenecks. Private markets represent greatest point of fragility with AI at intersection of many risks. Interconnectedness between public and private markets creates systemic concerns, particularly around excessive valuations in private funding rounds.

The market experienced turbulence in November marked by concerns about the sustainability of AI-driven investment. Looking ahead to 2026, the AI trade will be in focus as investors may start to expect companies to show returns on the capital being invested in AI infrastructure. The fourth quarter delivered continuation of upside since April, with the market hitting new all-time highs in October before experiencing a shaky November. The Equity Income strategy is positioned to capitalize on volatility and buffer any pullbacks in the near term.

AI investments are driving significant growth across portfolio companies. Alphabet benefits from AI overviews in 40 languages with 2 billion monthly users and AI Mode with 75 million daily users. Google's AI investments contribute to faster query growth and improved monetization. Oracle's cloud infrastructure business is built for AI workloads, targeting over $100 billion in revenue by 2029. Fanuc is partnering with Nvidia to embed physical AI into industrial robots and create digital twins for virtual factory optimization. Cloud computing represents a major growth driver across multiple holdings. Google Cloud accelerated growth to 34% year-over-year, representing 15% of total Alphabet revenue. Oracle's cloud transition from on-premise to subscription model is driving faster growth with substantial RPO backlog of $523 billion. The company targets over $100 billion in OCI revenue by 2029. Shopify's cloud-based platform enables merchants to manage retail operations globally. E-commerce growth remains strong across Latin America and globally. Shopify reported 32% revenue growth with $92 billion GMV, gaining market share and expanding merchant solutions. MercadoLibre continues to dominate Latin American e-commerce with 49% revenue growth, expanding product categories and deepening selection. The company benefits from lower e-commerce penetration rates in Latin America versus other regions. Streaming entertainment continues secular growth from linear television shift. Netflix reported 17% revenue growth driven by higher subscriptions and pricing, with share of TV viewing growing 15% in US and 22% in UK since 2022. The company completed rollout of internal ad tech platform and targets doubling advertising revenue in 2025. Netflix's proposed $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. would expand content scale and intellectual property portfolio. Factory automation benefits from rising labor costs and falling automation costs globally. Fanuc reported 9% revenue growth with strong robot segment performance, driven by EV industry demand in China and US manufacturing activity. The company maintains 50% market share in factory automation and is partnering with Nvidia to embed AI into industrial robots. Rising labor costs across manufacturing countries support long-term secular demand growth.

The fund expects a broadening of market leadership to support dividend-oriented equities given elevated U.S. equity market concentration. The team maintains exposure to dividend-focused strategies as part of their equity income approach. The fund rotated equity positioning by adding defense-focused stocks during the quarter as part of their tactical allocation adjustments.

The rapid acceleration in artificial intelligence has been a key catalyst behind the recent cyclical resurgence across emerging markets. Large-scale capital expenditure by global hyperscalers has driven sharp increases in demand for semiconductors and data-center infrastructure. However, SGA believes the current trend of AI CapEx growth is unsustainable and has largely run its course due to structural constraints in power availability, skilled labor, and capital availability. Several 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. The portfolio's underweight to South Korean semiconductor companies, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, was a key driver of relative underperformance. These stocks continued to benefit from strong AI-related memory demand and elevated investor enthusiasm. Memory chips are largely a commoditized product with weak pricing power, extreme capital intensity and pronounced boom-bust cycles that lead to volatile earnings. SGA sees worrying signs of excess and weakening lending discipline from credit markets. The scale of capital required has led to greater reliance on private credit markets and off-balance-sheet structures. Transactions such as Meta's $27 billion joint venture with Blue Owl Capital highlight both the availability of capital and the risk of excess. The sustained focus on cyclicality and momentum has driven the quality factor to historically depressed relative levels. The valuation premium for high-quality stocks has compressed to levels typically observed only during periods of crisis. SGA remains committed to businesses with pricing power, recurring revenues, and strong balance sheets - attributes that may be underappreciated in today's momentum-driven market.

METC is a U.S.-based producer of metallurgical coal with low cost position versus competitors and growing production profile from 4m tons per year to upwards of 7m tons by 2028. The company has a significant rare earth project at Brook Mine in Wyoming with a PEA study indicating pre-tax NPV of approximately $1.2b, representing substantial embedded value that the market was mispricing. Atlas Energy Solutions is the lowest-cost producer and market share leader of frac sand in the Permian basin with cost advantages from in-basin location, high quality sand reserves, and unique distribution network including a 42 mile conveyor belt. The Dune Express conveyor system reduces trucking miles by 60-70% which lowers delivered costs and improves reliability. Green Dot is a fintech company and prepaid card services provider that underwent strategic review process and announced a two-part transaction. The company renewed a large contract with Wal-Mart extending the term from 2027 to 2033, removing a large overhang on the stock, and beat and raised guidance for three consecutive quarters. Atlas Energy Solutions provides distributed power solutions through its fleet of over 900 natural-gas powered generators typically used in remote energy and industrial applications. The company is targeting over 400 megawatts installed by year-end 2027 compared to around 240 megawatts today with potential market opportunity of 2,000 megawatts in the years ahead.

AI capital expenditures are expected to moderate due to structural constraints including power availability, skilled labor shortages, and capital availability. Hyperscaler CapEx spending has reached historically high proportions of revenues and operating cash flows. The most attractive long-term AI opportunities reside with businesses building long-term value rather than companies exposed to cyclical swings. 2025 was characterized by extreme momentum dynamics with capital flowing into immediate winners while perceived losers saw unprecedented pressure. Market leadership concentrated in lower-quality, speculative, and cyclically sensitive stocks. The momentum trade has been exceptionally profitable short-term but timing the inevitable reversal remains challenging. Quality growth companies with stable fundamentals have seen relative valuations plummet to lowest levels in decades while cyclicals trade at historically high levels. The portfolio focuses on reliable and durable growth companies with lower variability that continue to compound earnings and cash flows attractively despite not being rewarded by the market currently. Semiconductor and AI capital equipment stocks were among market darlings, buoyed by massive AI infrastructure spending. However, purely cyclical sectors exposed to hyperscaler CapEx growth rates will have a shorter runway of growth left as further upward growth revisions become challenging.

Technology hyperscalers spent close to $400 billion in 2025 on AI infrastructure with potential to reach $527 billion in 2026. However, an MIT study found 95% of generative AI pilots failing to deliver measurable returns, raising concerns about overinvestment similar to the dot-com era. Supply demand dynamics favored US stocks with $1.1 trillion in total stock buybacks versus only $46 billion in IPOs. Energy leaders like Chevron rewarded shareholders with aggressive stock buybacks alongside strong production and growing dividends. Over 100 countries dramatically increased defense spending in 2025, providing a boost for the aerospace and defense sector. Jet engine production and maintenance soared, benefiting firms like Parker Hannifin, GE, RTX and Berkshire's Precision Castparts. In the fourth quarter, investors shifted toward undervalued, high-quality companies with strong free cash flow yields. Healthcare led with an 11.25% catch-up return as its valuation metrics remain at a significant discount to the broader market. Larger banks enjoyed steepening yield curves and robust capital markets activity, with Bank of New York and Citigroup showing strong fundamentals at cheap valuations. JPMorgan predicts a breakout year for IPOs in 2026 with names like SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic potentially entering the market.

AI infrastructure demand remains strong, supporting memory companies like SK Hynix. However, AI concerns are creating headwinds for some businesses like RELX, where sentiment remains cautious about AI's potential impact on parts of their operations. The fund focuses on carefully selected quality companies with strong dividend growth potential. The strategy aims to provide dividend growth and consistent returns with lower volatility over the long-term through high-quality, dividend-paying companies.

AI investment is expanding beyond infrastructure-heavy phase toward scaled adoption at the application layer. Current AI infrastructure investment is driven by rollout of newer Blackwell-class GPUs and ramp-up in compute capacity by hyperscalers and sovereign governments. The Trust seeks companies with strong AI monetization strategies and durable competitive moats. Technology sector supported by sustained investment in cloud and data center infrastructure. Accelerating cloud infrastructure spending is driving robust AI-driven demand. National AI and cloud initiatives have been matching or exceeding the scale of traditional hyperscaler investments. Strong demand for advanced semiconductors driven by AI infrastructure rollout and compute capacity expansion. Semiconductor companies in the portfolio benefited from strong earnings momentum and investor optimism around AI-related products. The Trust increased allocations to semiconductors during the quarter.

AI capital expenditure growth is expected to moderate due to structural constraints including power availability, skilled labor shortages, and capital availability limits. Hyperscalers are approaching 90% of operating cash flows for CapEx spending, creating natural constraints on future growth rates. Quality factors including sales stability and high gross margins continued to underperform in 2025 as markets favored cyclical and momentum-driven assets. The portfolio's quality growth companies are trading at historically attractive relative valuations. Market leadership was dominated by momentum and cyclical assets while quality growth strategies faced headwinds. Extreme concentration and momentum effects created significant winners and losers independent of company fundamentals.

The fund remains optimistic about generative artificial intelligence prospects, believing current breakthroughs in large language models will have massive implications for developed economies. The impact is expected to be at least as significant as the transistor or World Wide Web development. The fund maintains significant exposure to semiconductor companies, particularly Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and memory chip producers like SK Hynix. Strong demand for digital memory solutions has resulted in products being sold out through 2026. Commercial aviation represents a key theme as one of the few end markets not yet recovered to pre-pandemic production levels despite robust air travel recovery. Boeing remains the fund's largest overweight with improving fundamentals and strengthened balance sheet. The fund is positioned in companies benefiting from global electrification and decarbonization trends, including GE Vernova which makes gas turbines for electricity generation. The advent of generative AI is increasing global power needs. The fund's core investment philosophy centers on companies with favorable prospects to sustainably pay and grow dividends over time. Energy sector positioning is supported by corporate policies focused on returning capital through dividends and stock buybacks.

The fund holds X.AI Holdings Corp., formed through merger of X and xAI, which developed the Grok AI model. xAI rapidly deployed data centers with 100,000 GPUs and is pioneering a 1-gigawatt training facility. The company is positioned for enduring leadership in the competitive AI field. SpaceX is generating significant value through rapid expansion of Starlink broadband service and established itself as a leading launch provider with reusable technology. The company is making tremendous progress on Starship, the largest most powerful rocket ever flown, representing a significant leap in space exploration capabilities. Tesla remains the fund's largest position by average weight and a top holding despite trimming 30.5% of the position. The fund maintains extreme confidence in Tesla's prospects and ability to become significantly more valuable, with average cost basis of only $14.22 per share. Guidewire Software completed multi-year cloud migration and secured landmark 10-year agreement with Liberty Mutual to migrate to cloud. The company is positioned to be critical software vendor for the $2.5 trillion global P&C insurance industry with cloud as the sole path forward. Spotify continues double-digit user growth despite price hikes, with high engagement and sticky subscription model. The company is structurally increasing gross margins through high-margin artist promotions marketplace, growing podcast contribution, and ongoing advertising investments while expanding into video and developing Super Premium tier.

Large-cap technology stocks led for much of 2025 but weakened into year-end, with more speculative names under pressure. Macro-thematic measures helped motivate successful overweight positions in U.S. and Taiwanese technology stocks.

SGA continues to believe the most attractive long-term AI opportunities reside with businesses building long-term value through proprietary data and integrated workflows. The portfolio is positioned to capture AI value through companies providing essential intellectual property and manufacturing capability for the AI ecosystem, including TSMC, Arm Holdings, SAP, and Dassault Systemes. The portfolio focuses on high-conviction quality growth businesses anticipated to achieve consistent mid-teens earnings growth with reduced variability. Despite market headwinds favoring cyclical assets, SGA maintains conviction in quality companies with predictable revenue and cash flow generation that should become more sought after if market volatility increases. New positions were established in Sea Limited and Grab Holdings, both Southeast Asian consumer internet companies with integrated ecosystems. Sea operates Shopee e-commerce platform with integrated payments and logistics, while Grab provides super-app services for ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital payments across Southeast Asia.

Duration positioning detracted from performance, particularly exposure to the front and belly of the yield curve which sold off in October due to investor perceptions of a hawkish Federal Reserve. The fund decreased duration slightly but continued to hold majority positioning in the belly and long end of the yield curve, while adding to the front end on expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates by more than what has been priced in. The fund favored high-quality securitized and high yield credit exposure. European credit was beneficial for carry potential when swapped back to the U.S. dollar. The team tactically rotated across sectors looking for attractive, high-quality sources of income while remaining cautious about lower-quality credit. Agency mortgages were additive as the allocation to higher coupons benefited from attractive carry and convexity profiles that limited unwanted interest rate swings in an environment of subdued rate volatility. Positioning in agency mortgage-backed securities decreased during the quarter.

Value stocks of all sizes won in Q4 and small cap and micro cap value beat other equity styles over the past two quarters. November and December reverted to more typical relative performance, where characteristics associated with historical success such as quality and value were once again rewarded by investors. Artificial intelligence is a rapidly growing influence in asset management with 54% of investment managers currently using AI for investment strategy research. Bailard has been prudently employing AI tools since 2018 with task-specific applications, reliable data sources, and proper oversight to avoid common AI hazards like biases and hallucinations. Small cap value prevailed over small cap growth in Q4. The strategy focuses on small and micro capitalization U.S. equities that exhibit value characteristics, with 35.2% micro cap exposure versus 18.3% in the benchmark. Small cap stocks are generally more highly leveraged than large cap stocks, so lower interest rates tend to benefit them.

AI dominates market headlines and is forcing a re-think of established beliefs about capital-light business models like software. Many software companies now face increased investor skepticism about the sustainability of their moats and scrutiny of their high-margin structures. The AI theme seems less bulletproof with recent Oracle selloff. Ongoing rotation from software into semiconductors, memory, and semicap equipment. SK Hynix has solidified its leadership in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), emerging as the exclusive HBM supplier for Microsoft's in-house AI accelerator and securing roughly two-thirds of NVIDIA's anticipated HBM4 demand at meaningfully higher price points and margins. Continued strength in European defense equities as capital-intensive businesses like defense contractors are having their moment. Investors are waking up to their mission critical role in the rebuilding of supply chains and national security complexes. Both private credit and private equity will continue to struggle with monetization due to billions of dollars trapped in private equity that cannot be monetized at acceptable prices. The line between public and private is blurring with the more relevant distinction being traded and not yet traded. Expect more liability management exercises and in-court restructurings with almost 40% of restructurings being repeat offenders. Ratings downgrades and defaults continue to pressure stressed leveraged loans creating attractive entry points with elevated dispersion in the leveraged loan market. Residential mortgages remained resilient in 2025, particularly seasoned loans with lower balances. There is currently $35.8 trillion of home equity in US homeowners' balance sheet, creating large margin of credit protection and ability to expand investments in residential real estate into home affordability products.

AI advancements and record investments by U.S. tech giants dominated headlines. International markets benefited from AI infrastructure demand, with Korea's remarkable run fueled by AI/semiconductor exposures. Non-U.S. stocks are involved in secular themes including AI-required infrastructure. Utilities sector led EAFE sectors with +10.1% gains, boosted by surging power demand for data centers. The data center demand tailwind supported utility performance and drove infrastructure needs. Rhetoric of self-sufficiency and national security was a prevalent theme, as countries refocused attention on security capabilities and strategic alliances. Security spending represents one of the secular themes supporting non-U.S. equity growth. Precious metals led the surge with gold climbing 65% for the year, reaching record highs of $4,300/oz. Gold's continued rise may be reflecting concern about policy risks and geopolitical tensions. Silver was up 38% in December alone and soared over 150% for the year, demonstrating remarkable precious metals performance alongside gold as investors sought safe havens from escalating geopolitical risks.

Artificial intelligence remained a central market topic during the quarter. Investors shifted from broad-based enthusiasm to taking a more critical look at potential returns of AI-related investment plans, leading to more varied performance across the largest tech-related and AI-adjacent companies. The fund's overweight position in inexpensive stocks and underweight in richly valued names was a positive contributor to performance. During the quarter, stocks with higher valuations lagged while those trading at more attractive valuations outperformed. The fund's focus on higher quality stocks added to performance as lower quality stocks marginally underperformed. The manager believes this focus positions the fund well as economic conditions shift and markets remain volatile.

The fund invests in attractively valued stocks with strong peer-relative profitability, cash flows, and management efficiency. Value stocks significantly outperformed in both R1000 Index and R1000 Value Index during the quarter. The fund's value tilt added to performance. The fund tilts towards high quality stocks which slightly added to performance during the quarter. High quality stocks outperformed the R1000 Value index. The manager emphasizes the importance of high quality company fundamentals.

The fund continues its disciplined value approach, seeking reasonably priced but profitable small-company stocks while avoiding lower quality companies. The strategy focuses on balancing return, risk, and transaction costs through cost- and risk-efficient investment methodology.

Semiconductor stocks advanced significantly, contributing to strong gains in South Korea and Taiwan during the fourth quarter. The fund benefited from exposure to semiconductor companies in South Korea through positive stock selection.

Structural shortage of housing in the USA with higher mortgage rates reducing existing home supply as homeowners are locked into low-rate mortgages. New homebuilders capturing increasing share of home sales as they can buy-down mortgages to lower rates. Significant underinvestment in metallurgical coal which is a needed input for worldwide steel consumption, particularly in Asia and India where high-grade met coal resources are limited. Minimal worldwide met coal resource development over the last 10 years could lead to tight supply when steel production improves. Significant underinvestment in natural gas, oil and thermal coal which are necessary for the world's economies to function and grow. While renewables will play an increasing role, the change will occur over decades, not years. Lack of global investment in energy development creates opportunities. Flagstar has exceptional management and board that are ahead of the game in turning their business around after balance sheet issues. Trading at significant discount to conservatively marked balance sheet compared to similar banks. While AI will have an impact on lives, we are still very early in its lifecycle. Many businesses are transforming to benefit from investor excitement with questionable business plans but intense stock promotion. Weak business fundamentals should become more apparent over time. The space has become very popular with lots of LP money chasing returns. Some sponsors have paid extremely high prices and lent on unfavorable terms. Many have also lent into the AI/data-center space to businesses with questionable futures.

AI has been the defining theme of market leadership in 2025, driving data center capex and benefiting companies like Bloom Energy that provide power solutions for AI workloads. The theme faced scrutiny in early Q4 but reasserted dominance after NVIDIA's strong earnings, with AI also providing structural tailwinds for biotech through drug discovery efficiencies. The portfolio maintains significant exposure to electrification themes through companies like Bloom Energy, which provides clean, reliable power solutions for AI data centers. The energy transition represents a structural opportunity as companies race to build power infrastructure to support growing electricity demands from AI workloads. Biotech delivered its best quarter in five years, benefiting from improving interest rates, easing regulation enabling more M&A activity, and excitement around AI's promise in drug discovery. The portfolio nearly doubled its biotech exposure during the quarter as more opportunities presented themselves in this improving environment. The portfolio includes exposure to critical minerals through Ramaco Resources, which produces metallurgical coal and is developing a rare earth elements deposit aimed at strengthening domestic supply chains for defense, batteries, and advanced technologies. However, the rare earths narrative faced increasing investor scrutiny during the quarter.

AI is the most powerful technology platform shift since the internet, driving stock leadership and returns over the last three years. Baron has investments across all layers of the AI stack, with successful infrastructure investments like NVIDIA being a 10-bagger. AI is already delivering value through software development productivity improvements, customer service cost savings, and emerging applications like Tesla Robotaxis and AI-powered commerce. SpaceX is generating significant value through rapid expansion of Starlink broadband service and establishing itself as a leading launch provider with reusable technology. The company is making tremendous progress on Starship, the largest most powerful rocket ever flown, representing a significant leap forward in space exploration capabilities. Eli Lilly's portfolio of Mounjaro/Zepbound GLP-1/GIP drugs are important treatments for diabetic and non-diabetic obese patients. This drug class should become the standard of care for both diabetes and obesity and grow to at least a $150 billion category. The market is in early innings of uptake with adoption driving Lilly to nearly double revenues by 2030. Microsoft has built a $135 billion run-rate cloud business including Azure cloud infrastructure and Office 365 applications. The company remains well positioned across overlapping software, cloud computing, and AI landscapes with its vertically integrated technology stack and broad sales distribution, driving durable long-term double-digit growth. NVIDIA has been more than a 10-bagger for the Fund, with Baron being early investors over four years before the ChatGPT moment. Broadcom has been a 2.5-bagger resulting from explosive growth not multiple expansion. These investments represent successful positioning in the infrastructure layer of AI computing. Spotify continues to demonstrate double-digit user growth and industry-leading engagement levels with evident pricing power as customer retention held despite recent price hikes. The company is on a path to structurally higher gross margins aided by high-margin artist-promotions marketplace and scaling podcast offering, with potential to reach over 1 billion monthly active users.

AI continues to represent a powerful long-term opportunity, though early beneficiaries such as semiconductors and infrastructure have already seen significant gains. The team is focused on ensuring proper exposure within the AI complex while also positioning for potential market leadership broadening. Eli Lilly rose strongly after striking a deal with the U.S. government to offer its GLP-1 treatments to Medicare and Medicaid patients while readouts on the company's oral GLP-1 treatment indicated a broader market than expected. Long-term demand for commercial aircraft to support air travel is increasing, with much of the growth from China and other parts of Asia, while aging of the existing fleet provides a robust pipeline of replacement demand for years to come. Hilton has a long runway for growth supported by continued mid- to high-single-digit net unit expansion. The company has strong margins and free cash flow conversion, enabling consistent return of capital through share buybacks.

Canada announced significant defense spending increases to reach 2% NATO target in 2026 and 5% of GDP by 2035, representing a potential sea change in investment levels. This shift from past decade of neglecting NATO spending requirements creates substantial infrastructure investment opportunities. Canada is prioritizing key infrastructure investments including energy sector regulatory reform and defense-related infrastructure. The government is working with Alberta on energy infrastructure including pipelines, rail, power generation, and transmission grid to unlock natural resource production. Global shift towards National Capitalism where governments actively prioritize national economic interests over global integration, using tools like tariffs, subsidies, and industrial policy to support domestic production. This represents movement away from market-based economies toward greater state intervention. US tariffs announced in early 2025 pushed average tariff rates to levels not seen in over 100 years. Tariffs are expected to remain elevated and permanent reality for global economy, creating distorting impacts on global trade and financial markets. Technology sector capital spending has increased from $100 billion in 2020 to over $400 billion expected in 2026 due to AI data center investments. This massive capital cycle will drive returns on capital lower in technology sector as infrastructure investments depreciate over 5-8 years. Canadian energy sector positioned to benefit from regulatory reform and government cooperation with Alberta. US military action in Venezuela aimed at accessing oil sector, with administration asking US energy companies to invest $100 billion in Venezuelan infrastructure.

AI stocks showed mixed performance with investor worries about high valuations offset by stellar quarterly earnings from AI-linked companies including Alphabet, NVIDIA and Microsoft. Semiconductor giants SK Hynix and TSMC posted record-high profits driven by accelerating AI adoption. However, concerns about an AI bubble created drag on global tech stocks in early December. The Fed cut interest rates at October and December meetings, bringing total reductions to three in 2025 and lowering the target range to 3.50%-3.75%. The Bank of Japan raised its key rate to a 30-year high at 0.75%. The ECB held rates steady despite elevated eurozone inflation remaining above the 2% target. U.S. inflation slowed to 2.7% in November from 3% in September. Eurozone inflation rose to 2.2% in November, remaining above the ECB's 2% target for three consecutive months. Japan's core inflation rose 3.0% in November, well above the central bank's 2% target.

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.

The team maintains a conservative approach to AI-driven market themes, avoiding flavour-of-the-month AI investments while selectively benefiting from AI demand through quality holdings like Samsung and TSMC. They emphasize disciplined AI capex spending and focus on companies with sustainable competitive advantages rather than chasing AI hype. The team is adding to Chinese holdings where they find leading businesses with strong competitive advantages and attractive growth at reasonable valuations, particularly Tencent. They view China as offering better opportunities despite some headwinds in specific sectors like property and chemicals. The team is reducing exposure to India, mainly in cyclical businesses where valuations are expensive and growth outlook has deteriorated. However, they remain excited about high-quality Indian companies positioned to benefit from structural tailwinds including urbanization, demographics, and digital infrastructure. Semiconductor holdings like Samsung and TSMC are key contributors, benefiting from AI-related demand for memory chips and leading-edge processors. The team focuses on companies with strong competitive positions and visibility into future earnings growth through 2026-2027. The investment philosophy centers on identifying quality companies with exceptional cultures, strong franchises, resilient financials, and sustainable competitive advantages. The team seeks companies that can deliver attractive returns over much longer periods than the market expects. The team is optimistic about emerging market opportunities, noting that the global economy is increasingly being led by emerging markets. They see attractive valuations compared to developed markets and expect this trend to accelerate as investors seek alternatives to US markets.

AI infrastructure buildout drove strong performance in holdings like Vertiv and Legence. JFrog benefited as customers leveraged generative AI to improve developer productivity, driving increased binary creation and platform usage. The manager expects corporations to show continued productivity gains as AI is adopted to reduce costs and open new revenue opportunities. Data center activity was a key driver for several holdings. Vertiv Holdings benefited from robust data center infrastructure demand with 29% organic revenue growth. Legence Corp, an engineering and maintenance services company, was a strong contributor due to robust data center activity. Aerospace and defense players were among the best performers in 2025, including Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Karman Holdings, and RBC Bearings. The manager notes heightened aerospace and defense spending and improving margins in this sector. The manager expects small-cap companies to grow faster than large caps going forward, which is not typical of recent years. Better growth ahead for small caps could lead to market broadening and leadership change. Small caps have historically grown more slowly than large caps, contributing to extended underperformance.

Artificial Intelligence enthusiasm supported market resilience during the quarter despite government shutdown. AI represents a transformative technology driving sustained corporate investment and can exert powerful disinflationary force through productivity gains. Federal Reserve implemented two rate cuts during the quarter, with overall trajectory biased toward further accommodation despite potential early 2026 pause. Lower interest rates provide outsized tailwind for small and mid-cap companies that dominate the convertible market.

Direct lending market experiencing sharp rise in defaults with sponsors transferring $21 billion of equity to lenders in first half of 2025. Bad PIK debt now represents over half of distressed direct loans with loan-to-value ratios climbing from 45% to 83%. AI infrastructure spending estimated to reach $7 trillion by 2030 with hyperscalers issuing $120 billion in bonds in 2025. Credit markets showing skepticism requiring increasing premiums for hyperscaler debt while industrial credit spreads decline. Fed cut rates three times in 2025 causing bull steepener with short-term rates falling dramatically while long-term rates remained elevated. Money market yields dropped from above 5% to 3.5% creating need for alternatives. Global capital demand over next decade from AI infrastructure, federal deficit expansion, European defense spending, and reconstruction needs creating potential crowding out effect. Credit markets remain healthy preventing crisis-level disruption.

Superior Plus is a leading North American propane distributor serving 750,000 customers with sticky customer relationships due to company-owned tanks and container laws. The propane industry benefits from stable demand, high switching costs, and pricing power. Superior is executing a transformation program targeting $70 million in EBITDA improvements through cost optimization and customer growth initiatives. Certarus operates the leading over-the-road compressed natural gas delivery platform with 40% market share, serving pipeline-stranded customers. The business is diversifying beyond oil and gas wellsites into utility resiliency, renewable natural gas transport, and AI data center power solutions. Multiple growth vectors include utility infrastructure support and hyperscale data center buildout. AI infrastructure buildout is driving fivefold increase in data center power requirements, creating opportunities for Certarus to provide bridge power solutions while customers wait for permanent grid connections. The portfolio's physical activity focus provides protection from AI displacement risks while enabling participation in AI infrastructure growth through energy delivery services. The portfolio benefits from energy transition trends through renewable natural gas transport via Certarus, which has 50% market share in stranded RNG delivery. RNG production is expected to increase sevenfold over the coming decade, while propane serves as a cleaner alternative to fuel oil for heating applications.

The buildout of AI infrastructure is one of the largest infrastructure investment cycles in history, driving unprecedented demand for power, data centers, compute infrastructure, and grid modernization. Brookfield launched an AI Infrastructure Fund anchored by founding partners NVIDIA and KIA as part of their $100 billion AI Infrastructure Program. Growing power demand remains a key global priority, requiring large investment to participate in the generational buildout of power generation and energy transition solutions to support sustainable growth. This represents multi-trillion-dollar investment opportunities globally. Deglobalization is reshaping supply chains and increasing demand for localized, resilient industrial and logistics assets. Supply chains are being re-wired and manufacturing capabilities are being re-evaluated as companies modernize operations. Brookfield sees significant growth opportunities in infrastructure with the upcoming launch of their sixth flagship infrastructure fund expected to be their largest vintage ever. The convergence of digitalization, deglobalization, and power demand creates a deep investment pipeline. Momentum continues to build across credit platforms with Brookfield's acquisition of the remaining stake in Oaktree to enhance collaboration across their credit business and strengthen their ability to deliver long-term value for clients.

The AI investment cycle accelerated notably in 2025 and is expected to continue driving the market early in 2026. Bottlenecks from power supply availability remain a key gating factor to bring new computing capacity online. Despite widespread calls that AI stocks are in bubble territory, the managers hold a balanced view and believe investor skepticism may prove supportive of a prolonged investment cycle. Healthcare remains the largest sector in the US with total expenditures reaching $5 trillion and accounting for 17.7% of GDP. The sector has been working off excesses from the COVID-19 pandemic but shows reasons for optimism including increased M&A activity and more favorable valuations. Interest in healthcare stocks could see a resurgence once investors are comfortable with policy and regulatory overhangs. Aerospace stocks have largely outperformed as production challenges at two global aircraft manufacturers have led to sustained increases in high-margin aftermarket parts and services. With manufacturers finally resolving longstanding production issues, original equipment exposed stocks could potentially outperform aftermarket-exposed stocks as aircraft production rates ramp up. Re-shoring and factory automation are expected to emerge as key themes driving broader capital spending in 2026. This represents a significant shift in manufacturing and investment patterns as companies bring operations back to the United States.

Yacktman builds the portfolio based on evaluating normalized free cash flow and business fundamentals, comparing price to arrive at forward rate of return based on current market valuation. The approach focuses on risk-adjusted returns and long-term underlying business performance, holding companies through periods of stock price underperformance when the long-term thesis offers attractive risk-adjusted returns. South Korea is launching broad value-up reforms modeled after Japan's program, shifting governance standards from company-centric to shareholder value creation focus. The manager believes MSCI will eventually re-rate South Korea from Emerging Market to developed market status, with investor access and index flows beginning to close the 30-year Korean discount. Samsung was late relative to competitors SK Hynix and Micron in HBM design wins with NVIDIA but was awarded HBM qualification in 2025 and ramped production quickly. Samsung has long been a leader in memory including NAND, DRAM, and now HBM, with memory chips appearing in AI data centers and broad array of IOT devices from cars to refrigerators to wearables. The U.S. indices reached record highs driven by artificial intelligence exuberance. Memory chips are ubiquitous in AI data centers, and Samsung reorganized to emphasize Galaxy phones with AI feature leadership to compete with Apple. Hyundai Mobis benefitted from share gain and electric vehicle penetration by Hyundai and Kia, continuing strong capital allocation discipline as one of the top global auto parts suppliers. Warner Bros. Discovery has been a relatively small position that contributed to performance in 2025. After the legacy Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, the company embarked on multi-year deleveraging and management transition. Netflix and Paramount-Skydance bidding process has re-rated the company price.

AI-related demand is driving strong performance for optical networking equipment manufacturers like Ciena, which is dominating market share for scale across data center projects in 2026. The quarter began with concerns about a potential AI capital expenditures bubble affecting market sentiment. Power grid modernization efforts are driving demand for smart metering and grid monitoring solutions. Companies like Itron are well-positioned to benefit from these infrastructure investments despite some regulatory approval delays. Continued reshoring of U.S. manufacturing is identified as a potential tailwind for small/mid-cap stocks. This trend supports domestic manufacturing capabilities and creates opportunities for industrial companies.

Yacktman builds the portfolio based on evaluating normalized free cash flow and business fundamentals, comparing price to arrive at forward rate of return based on current market valuation. The approach focuses on risk-adjusted returns and owner's mindset investing with long-term focus on underlying business performance. Samsung was late relative to competitors in HBM design wins with NVIDIA but was awarded HBM qualification with NVIDIA in 2025 and ramped production quickly. Memory chips are ubiquitous in AI data centers and broad array of IOT devices from cars to refrigerators to wearables. South Korea is launching broad value-up reforms modeled after Japan's program, shifting governance standards from company-centric to shareholder value creation focus. The country may eventually be re-rated by MSCI from Emerging Market to developed market, with investor access and index flows beginning to close the 30-year Korean discount. Samsung has three primary lines of business including memory, foundry, and phones. The company has long been a leader in memory including NAND, DRAM, and now HBM. Samsung has focus on U.S. foundry with massive fab outside Austin in Taylor, Texas. Hyundai Mobis benefitted from share gain and electrical vehicle penetration by Hyundai and Kia, continuing strong capital allocation discipline. The company is one of the top global auto parts suppliers. Warner Bros. Discovery has been a relatively small position along with other sizeable media holdings. After legacy Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, the company embarked on multi-year deleveraging process and management transition. Netflix and Paramount-Skydance bidding process has re-rated the company price.