Miller Howard's North American Energy portfolio underperformed in 2Q 2026 but beat its benchmark amid Middle East-driven oil price volatility. The manager sees strengthening structural tailwinds as North America becomes a more critical stable energy source. Tight crude inventories, rising LNG demand following Qatar supply disruptions, and accelerating US LNG exports support a positive outlook across the energy value chain.

Utilities Plus outperformed in Q2 2026 despite rate headwinds, benefiting from small/mid-cap regulated utility strength and data center power demand. The portfolio added to Xcel Energy on valuation. Regulated utility capex guidance surged 83% since 2022 to $265B, with growth accelerating to 23% year-over-year, driven by data centers, electrification, and grid modernization—positioning the sector for steepening earnings growth and rising dividends.

Miller/Howard sees high-yielding dividend stocks offering superior risk-adjusted returns as broad market valuations reach extreme levels. The S&P 500's dividend yield hit a 55-year low while its P/FE ratio of 20x suggests future 10-year returns of only 4%. High-yielders trade at 16.4x with historically associated returns of 7.4%, providing structural downside protection through compressed valuations and consistent cash returns.

Miller Howard sees midstream energy infrastructure poised to capitalize on two structural tailwinds: LNG export growth accelerated by Middle East supply disruptions and data center buildout requiring natural gas infrastructure. With the largest pipeline capacity additions since 2008 planned through 2028, the manager expects strong cash flow generation to drive distribution growth and deleveraging across the 16-position portfolio focused on natural gas midstream companies.

Miller/Howard Infrastructure maintained outperformance through Q2 2026 with a 2.8% yield at 2.5x the S&P 500. Energy and transportation holdings benefitted from falling commodity prices and the end of the freight recession. The manager views SpaceX's orbital data center ambitions as posing limited near-term risk to the portfolio's infrastructure assets, which are protected by durable barriers to entry and positioned to deliver high and rising income.

MJG returned 3.45% in H1 2026 after an exceptional 2025, maintaining decade-long outperformance at 21.9% annualized. Precious metals collapsed 28-52% from January peaks as anticipated, validating defensive positioning. Copper remains the largest weighting at 34% with strong fundamentals despite equity underperformance. Cash increased to 22%, the highest since inception, positioning for potential broad weakness while preserving deployment capacity. The proven people-first, bottom-up approach continues unchanged.

Grandeur Peak's high-quality small-cap portfolios began surfacing in Q2 after years underwater, driven by strong semiconductor performance and a broad market rally favoring fundamentals over speculation. The firm rotated away from AI-threatened software into industrials and consumer franchises trading at attractive valuations. While most holdings haven't yet re-rated, management believes earnings growth will eventually force market recognition and sustained outperformance.

Grandeur Peak's EM Opportunities Fund returned +18.19% in Q2 as quality growth investing showed signs of resurfacing after years of underperformance. Small-cap Semiconductors surged +68.7% on strong fundamentals. The firm sees compelling opportunities in Industrials, Consumer, and selective Chinese brands at attractive valuations. Management believes most portfolio holdings remain undiscovered and positioned for sustained outperformance as the market refocuses on fundamentals over speculation.

Harris Associates' International Strategy underperformed in Q2 2026 despite strong contributions from AI-driven semiconductor and cloud positions. Samsung benefited from exceptional memory demand while Alibaba and SAP showed strong cloud growth. The manager opportunistically initiated Bureau Veritas at decade-low multiples following transitory headwinds. BMW and Alibaba e-commerce weakness detracted. The strategy maintains disciplined focus on competitive advantages and intrinsic value.

Palm Harbour Capital returned 4.66% in Q2 2026 despite June underperformance from Asian holdings caught in leverage-driven market distortions. The manager expresses deep concern about extreme leverage and passive flows creating systemic risks while maintaining strong conviction in fundamentally-driven value investing. Portfolio trades at 6.6x P/E with 106% upside to NAV. Top contributor Watches of Switzerland surged 59% on resilient luxury demand. Management extremely optimistic about medium-term prospects.

Summers Value Fund posted its best quarter ever at 41.7% net, capitalizing on deeply discounted small-cap healthcare opportunities. The concentrated portfolio benefited from M&A activity, strong product launches at Liquidia and Electromed, and a 106% gain on Avanos acquisition. Over 50% allocated to pharma/biotech with heavy royalty exposure. Despite one misstep on Embecta, the strategy continues finding special situations at attractive valuations.

Harris Associates' concentrated value strategy underperformed in Q2 2026 as markets favored AI beneficiaries. The manager added Marsh & McLennan on insurance rate weakness and maintained conviction in Salesforce and Intercontinental Exchange despite AI disruption concerns. Managed care holdings like Centene benefited from stabilizing medical costs. The strategy remains disciplined, targeting quality businesses at discounts to intrinsic value rather than chasing momentum themes.

Brandes Core Plus Fixed Income outperformed in Q2 2026 through disciplined security selection, led by Sabre Global as travel sector headwinds eased. The manager views corporate credit spreads at 30-year tights as complacent despite record issuance, maintaining a defensive posture with shorter duration, meaningful Treasury holdings for opportunistic deployment, and emphasis on bottom-up fundamental analysis to navigate historically tight valuations.

Steyn Capital's long/short South African equity fund declined 1.84% in Q2 2026 as Middle East conflict created volatility. Strong results from Grindrod, Sun International, and AECI drove gains, while gold and PGM positions detracted on commodity price weakness. The manager tactically reduced exposure during peak uncertainty then redeployed into special situations as geopolitical risks receded. South Africa's positive outlook remains intact despite near-term inflation pressures from higher fuel costs.

GCQ's -22.6% return reflects AI-driven multiple compression, not business deterioration. Portfolio companies grew earnings 15% while trading quality declined from 23x to 19x forward earnings despite 18% expected annual cash flow growth ahead. Manager repositioned aggressively, exiting fully-valued names and adding quality businesses caught in AI disruption fears. Current valuations represent best buying opportunity manager has ever seen for concentrated quality portfolio.

Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund delivered 50.34% returns in Q2 2026, crushing its benchmark by 17 percentage points through concentrated bets on semiconductor equipment makers and AI infrastructure enablers. The fund's largest position Bloom Energy surged on data-center power demand, while overweights in Lam Research, Applied Materials, and Western Digital capitalized on the AI buildout cycle. Management sees AI spending in early innings with multi-year runway ahead.

O'Keefe Stevens harvested AI infrastructure gains established pre-boom, trimming NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Corning as valuations exceeded thesis. Initiated Sotera Health, a sterilization duopoly with 50% margins trading at litigation-depressed valuations with 50% upside. Cash remains largest holding for third quarter as deployment opportunities stay scarce. Hedged concentrated positions with options while watching software sector for violent rotation opportunity if AI funding dynamic reverses.

Columbia Dividend Opportunity Fund underperformed in Q2 2026 due to avoiding high-flying AI stocks that don't meet yield requirements, with the entire shortfall attributable to zero weightings in Micron, Intel, Sandisk and AMD. Technology holdings still contributed through Seagate, Cisco and others benefiting from the memory cycle. The manager maintains conviction in dividend-focused positioning, viewing AI concentration as creating opportunities in fundamentally sound businesses elsewhere.

Langdon Global Smaller Companies returned 9.4% in Q2 but lagged the benchmark's 17.0% due to underweight information technology hardware exposure. The manager used volatility to add to YETI and DO & CO where prices fell faster than business value, initiated Miami International Holdings for its exchange platform potential, and reassessed Royal Unibrew after its Pepsi agreement expiration. The core thesis: price signals investigation, not automatic action.

Zeno argues Danaher is a high-quality compounder trading at a discount despite market-leading positions across Biotechnology, Diagnostics, and Life Sciences. The Biotechnology segment is the crown jewel with 88% recurring revenues and 40% EBIT margins, particularly dominant in chromatography purification. Recent headwinds from COVID normalization, biotech funding winter, and policy uncertainty have delayed but not derailed the thesis. At 5% FCF yield with high-single-digit to low-double-digit growth potential, risk-adjusted returns are compelling.

Brandes Small Cap Value delivered strong absolute returns but lagged the Russell 2000's AI-driven rally by deliberately avoiding expensive technology infrastructure plays. The fund doubled down on value discipline, adding defensive food companies like Campbell's at attractive valuations while trimming appreciated industrials winners. Management believes the market has overreacted to AI disruption fears in legacy IT services, positioning the fund for long-term outperformance as valuations normalize.

Brandes International Equity underperformed in Q2 2026 as AI-driven technology concentration dominated markets. The manager trimmed semiconductor winners and maintains conviction in mission-critical enterprise software despite near-term pressure. New positions in Kerry Group and NetEase reflect disciplined value hunting in overlooked areas. The Fund's differentiated exposures in health care, consumer staples, and select emerging markets offer meaningful diversification from AI-concentrated benchmarks at attractive valuations.

Langdon sees exceptional opportunity in Canadian small caps as market capital concentrates on AI narratives, leaving quality businesses overlooked. Portfolio holdings like A&W Food Services continue compounding intrinsic value through disciplined execution and strong culture, yet trade flat as investor attention flows elsewhere. The fund is positioned in resilient, faster-growing companies at attractive valuations, requiring patience to capture value as fundamentals compound regardless of market attention.

Columbia Global Technology Growth Fund surged 39.25% in Q2 2026, outperforming on concentrated AI infrastructure positioning. The quarter delivered decisive validation of the AI supercycle thesis as semiconductor and memory companies reported superlative earnings with tangible revenue and margin expansion. Micron tripled revenue year-over-year while Lam Research raised industry forecasts. The widening divergence between AI infrastructure winners and disrupted software businesses became impossible to ignore as traditional SaaS models face structural repricing.

BNY Mellon Core Plus Fund outperformed in Q2 2026 on high yield, convertibles, and energy/utility sector positioning despite Fed hawkish pivot under new Chair Warsh. Manager trimmed corporate credit as valuations compressed but added utility hybrids and MBS/ABS. Expects Fed holds rates despite market pricing hikes, creating fixed income value. Sees selective AI infrastructure credit opportunities. Maintains longer duration and overweight credit positioning targeting 2% GDP growth.

CrossingBridge Advisors remains deeply skeptical of the AI infrastructure boom, drawing parallels to historical boom-bust cycles that destroyed investor capital despite technological importance. They increased investment grade allocation and dry powder as spreads tightened, while selectively investing in Norwegian data center debt, Oracle bonds at dislocated spreads, and event-driven credits including Warner Bros Discovery, Spirit Airlines, and Evoke. Returns remain grounded in economics, not visions.

Lord Abbett Developing Growth Fund delivered 39% returns in Q2 2026, crushing its benchmark through concentrated bets on AI infrastructure, semiconductors, and defense technology. The manager sees earnings growth driving markets higher but demands selectivity, favoring quality companies with secular tailwinds and strong balance sheets over leveraged cyclicals. AI adoption across semiconductors, cloud, and industrials remains the core thesis, with defense technology emerging as a new conviction area.

The fund delivered 24% in Q2 2026 driven by semiconductor capital equipment positions that doubled as capacity expansion accelerated. The manager added NAND supply chain and datacentre power infrastructure positions while making selective space ecosystem investments. Defense holdings underperformed on geopolitical developments. The portfolio emphasizes companies with unique capabilities in semiconductors, automation, and AI infrastructure while avoiding highly competitive AI model development and maintaining selective long-term defense exposure.

Consumer brands are thriving beneath a surface of extreme negative sentiment. The fund's holdings grew sales 13% and profits 19% despite being left behind by a semiconductor-driven rally. With jobs improving, oil prices normalizing, and fiscal support increasing, the gap between depressed valuations and strong fundamentals presents compelling opportunity. Market concentration in AI and semiconductors appears unsustainable.

Platinum Asia delivered 15% quarterly returns on AI winners SK hynix and Samsung but is trimming these positions due to unsustainable profitability and growing speculation. The manager is redeploying capital into neglected quality businesses across Philippines, Indonesia, and China trading at crisis-era valuations. The fund remains fully invested, positioned for AI's continued strength while exploiting opportunities created by record foreign capital outflows from the region.

Platinum Global Fund (Long Only) delivered 3% in Q2 2026, trailing the MSCI World's 13% return. The fund maintains large-cap concentration with 57% in companies exceeding $100 billion market cap. Top positions include technology leaders Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, and TSMC alongside payment processors Mastercard and Visa. Cash stands at 3%. No investment commentary provided in this quarterly report.

Q2 2026 saw stocks rally 15% to record highs despite Middle East conflict and inflation spike. AI spending drove semiconductor stocks up 88% in their strongest quarter in 30 years, while market leadership broadened to small-caps gaining 21.5%. Oil reversed from $115 to $70 following ceasefire, expected to ease inflation. Market demonstrated resilience through significant volatility.

Small-cap stocks led a powerful Q2 rally, posting their best first half since 1991 and signaling healthier market breadth after years of narrow leadership. Oil volatility from the Strait of Hormuz crisis is fading, but AI infrastructure spending is driving sticky core inflation. The manager maintained discipline through the spring selloff, adding to quality names and trimming winners, positioning for full market cycles rather than chasing concentrated index momentum.

Wasatch Global Select underperformed in Q2 2026 as AI enthusiasm drove markets. Software stocks sold off on disruption fears, hurting Procore despite strong competitive moats. ASPEED Technology led gains on surging AI server chip demand. Aerospace names rallied on strong fundamentals. The managers are selectively investing in AI beneficiaries while concentrating capital into ignored steady growth companies trading at attractive valuations, positioned to outperform when fundamentals regain focus.

The Fund sharply reduced duration to under one year as managers position for a structural shift to higher inflation. Globalization's disinflationary era is over, replaced by supply-chain fragmentation, labor scarcity, and capital-intensive industrial policy that will push equilibrium inflation from 1.5%-3.5% toward 3.5%-4.5%. Long-term Treasury yields face upward pressure from rising real rates, higher term premiums, and greater volatility.

Manager deployed capital aggressively into AutoZone, CME, and McKesson while markets chased AI momentum, creating 11.4 percentage point Q2 underperformance. Sees AutoZone's distribution buildout nearing inflection, CME's competitive moat intact despite perpetual futures threat, and McKesson positioned for sustained margin expansion from 2028 patent cliff. Avoids memory chips and AI-vulnerable software. Portfolio fully invested in fifteen concentrated positions with strong conviction despite near-term divergence.

The fund underperformed its benchmark in Q2 2026 despite strong absolute returns as its emphasis on valuation metrics backfired. While growth stocks broadly outperformed, companies with weaker fundamentals led the rally, creating a headwind for the fund's quality-focused approach. The manager maintained overweight positions in high book-to-market and profitability names, staying disciplined despite near-term underperformance in a momentum-driven market favoring lower-quality growth.

TCW's EM Income Fund outperformed by 137bps in Q2 2026, driven by high yield selection and overweights in Ukraine, Egypt, and Argentina. The managers are constructive on EM debt given superior fundamentals versus Developed Markets, elevated real yields, and expected dollar weakness. They increased high yield exposure to +14.58% and added to Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, and India while trimming Turkey and Colombia.

LENS fell 15.37% in Q2 2026 as Iran war volatility triggered commodity consolidation, but the manager sees this as a healthy reset within the Return to Tangibles secular bull market. Energy security concerns from the Strait of Hormuz closure will drive strategic oil demand, while unsustainable fiscal deficits and central bank gold buying support precious metals. The commodity super-cycle has only just begun.

EQUAM returned 2.6% in H1 2026 while European indices rose 10-12%, as capital flows ignored small-cap value stocks despite 120% portfolio upside potential. Three companies received takeover bids at 16-73% premiums, validating deep public market discounts. The fund sees exceptional opportunity in structurally undervalued UK equities and oil services entering a multi-year exploration spending cycle. Manager maintains near-zero cash with high conviction in mean reversion.

Buckley Capital returned 36% in Q2 2026 through disciplined capital recycling, exiting Dave at peak valuations and Root after industry headwinds deepened, while maintaining conviction in Liquidia ahead of a catalyst and initiating positions in mispriced Celsius and Light & Wonder. The small-cap portfolio is concentrated in businesses with improving fundamentals and identifiable catalysts where the market underestimates normalized earnings power, positioned for continued compounding.

Mayar Capital endures its worst five-year stretch, underperforming due to avoiding the AI bubble that dominates markets. The manager draws parallels to the late 1990s, identifying extreme valuations, passive flow distortions, and speculative excess. Despite the pain, he maintains conviction that the disciplined value strategy will be vindicated, with the current portfolio representing the highest-quality, most attractively valued opportunity set in the fund's 15-year history.

Wasatch Micro Cap Fund returned 27.41% in Q2 2026, slightly trailing the benchmark's 28.98% as AI-driven concentration dominated micro-cap performance. Stock selection in infrastructure-related materials and industrials added value, led by semiconductor plays Ambiq Micro and Veeco Instruments. Consumer holdings disappointed, with Vital Farms and TriSalus exited. The Russell reconstitution removing elevated-cap AI stocks may support relative performance as earnings growth regains focus.

Wasatch Small Cap Growth trailed the benchmark in Q2 2026 as speculative AI stocks reached dot-com-era valuations, but the managers maintain conviction in their quality-focused approach. Portfolio fundamentals remain strong with 20%+ earnings growth across many holdings. AI beneficiaries like JFrog and AAON contributed meaningfully while the team concentrated capital in overlooked steady growers trading at attractive valuations, positioning for long-term outperformance when market leadership broadens.

Conestoga's Small Cap strategy lagged in 2Q26 as AI-driven speculation created historic market concentration, with semiconductors up 98% and high-beta stocks dominating. Portfolio companies delivered superior fundamentals—14.3% sales growth versus 8.4% for the benchmark—but quality factors underperformed. The manager believes this narrow leadership will not persist as AI supply constraints ease and expects quality characteristics to reassert themselves as market leadership broadens and monetary policy potentially tightens.