Investment Pitches

Pitch Summary:
Albemarle is benefiting from a surge in lithium prices thanks to near-term production disruptions at some competitors, an improving outlook for global EV penetration, and investment in batteries as energy storage platforms for alternative energy supplies.

BSD Analysis:
Albemarle is a lithium leader navigating the volatile middle of an EV adoption cycle. Pricing has corrected, but long-term demand remains intact. Cost discipline and asset quality matter most at the bottom. Albemarle’s resource base is among the best globally. Capital spending is moderating, improving free cash flow. Investors extrapolate short-term oversupply too far. Energy transition doesn’t pause permanently. Albemarle survives cycles to win the long one. This is patience-tested value.

Pitch Summary:
Quarterly Liquidations: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

BSD Analysis:
Vertex is a rare biotech that prints cash like a consumer staples company. Cystic fibrosis dominance funds a pipeline with meaningful optionality. Next-generation therapies in pain and gene editing expand the growth runway. Execution risk exists, but financial flexibility is enormous. R&D productivity remains elite. Investors fear CF concentration, yet replacement revenue is approaching reality. Few biotechs self-fund innovation this cleanly. Vertex doesn’t need acquisitions to grow. This is biotech without existential drama.

Pitch Summary:
Quarterly Liquidations: T-Mobile US, Inc.

BSD Analysis:
T-Mobile has completed one of the most successful telecom consolidations ever, translating scale into sustained market share gains. Network quality now matches or exceeds peers, removing the last competitive excuse. Pricing discipline has improved across the industry, benefiting margins. Customer churn remains best-in-class. Capital intensity is declining as integration capex rolls off. Investors worry about saturation, but share shifts continue. Fixed wireless adds a new growth vector. This is telecom with real operating leverage. The disruptor became the incumbent — profitably.

Pitch Summary:
Quarterly Liquidations: Corteva Inc.

BSD Analysis:
Corteva is a high-quality agriculture input company benefiting from global food security concerns. Seed genetics and crop protection products provide pricing power farmers are willing to pay for. Innovation cycles are long, creating durable customer relationships. Input cost inflation has eased, supporting margin recovery. Weather volatility increases demand for resilient crop solutions. Investors often trade Corteva like a commodity business, which misses the IP content. Cash generation supports reinvestment and returns. Agriculture is political, but necessity always wins. Corteva’s moat is science, not acreage.

Pitch Summary:
We added a partial position of Avantor to the portfolio in the second half of the year after (and then while) the company had some self-inflicted ups and downs. It is probable that the worst is in the past for Avantor after a leadership change and guidance reset, but we felt it best to exit and book a loss before year end.

BSD Analysis:
Avantor is the infrastructure backbone of labs and biopharma manufacturing, supplying mission-critical consumables that customers can’t easily substitute. Volume slowed as biotech funding tightened, but demand didn’t disappear—it deferred. The company’s scale and logistics network create switching costs that matter when operations restart. Debt and margin compression hurt sentiment, but cash generation remains real. Investors confuse near-term destocking with structural decline. As funding and production normalize, operating leverage returns. Avantor is a picks-and-shovels play that the market currently treats like a broken tool.

Pitch Summary:
Bio-Rad – Life-sciences companies Bio-Rad and Avantor combined to detract from our performance this year. We entered the year owning only Bio-Rad. The company got off to a rough start with a disappointing set of results compounded by large industry headwinds as a result of US government-driven research spending cutbacks. The good news on Bio-Rad was that it repurchased shares at a strong pace in the first half of the year and avoided large, value-destructive M&A. The company also showed operational improvement and should be in a better position to grow FCF in 2026 and beyond.

BSD Analysis:
Bio-Rad is a quietly dominant life sciences tools company with deep roots in diagnostics and research workflows. Demand cycles ebb with funding, but the installed base creates recurring consumables revenue that stabilizes cash flow. The company’s technological depth makes it sticky in labs that don’t like switching critical systems. Margin pressure has masked the durability of the model. Investors often compare Bio-Rad to faster-growing peers and miss its resilience. Long-term growth tracks scientific complexity, not funding headlines. This is a steady compounder hiding behind cyclical noise.

Pitch Summary:
We purchased more Angi shares post-spin at a depressed price and then sold our position as evidence of their multi-year turnaround heading down the right path caused the stock to reach our appraisal.

BSD Analysis:
Angi is the classic platform that built demand before solving unit economics, and the market has punished it accordingly. The brand still owns mindshare in home services, which is not trivial in a fragmented category. Cost discipline is finally improving contribution margins, even if growth slows. Matching homeowners and contractors profitably is harder than the pitch decks suggested, but the demand isn’t going away. Investors price Angi like a terminally broken asset. Any proof of sustainable unit economics changes the conversation fast. This is a damaged platform with real optionality.

Pitch Summary:
Casino operator MGM Resorts had a relatively weaker 2025 in Las Vegas due to difficult comparisons after multiple years of strength. A significant turnaround at BetMGM plus strong performances at non-Las Vegas “regional” properties and Macau helped steady the consolidated business throughout the year. The general market narrative for most of the year has been that Las Vegas has peaked for various reasons. We, and IAC, believe Vegas cannot be replicated anywhere in the world, and MGM has a great position as the market leader. Management has corrected some pricing mistakes while making moves to narrow their focus. A recent sale of one of their lower-quality properties for a higher multiple than where the consolidated business trades, as well as withdrawing their New York City casino bid, freed up more capital for a management team who has repurchased over 40% of their shares at extremely attractive prices over the past five years.

BSD Analysis:
MGM is a leveraged play on global experiences, with Las Vegas acting as a cash engine that continues to defy macro skepticism. Room rates, entertainment, and convention demand remain structurally stronger than pre-COVID norms. Digital gaming adds upside, even if profitability takes longer to materialize. Asset monetization and partnerships have improved balance sheet flexibility. Investors treat MGM like a pure cyclical, but pricing power in Vegas tells a different story. When consumers choose experiences over goods, MGM wins. This is volatility with a structural tailwind.

Pitch Summary:
Angi – We purchased more Angi shares post-spin at a depressed price and then sold our position as evidence of their multi-year turnaround heading down the right path caused the stock to reach our appraisal.

BSD Analysis:
Angi is still searching for the right balance between growth and profitability in local services marketplaces. Brand recognition is strong, but customer acquisition costs have historically overwhelmed economics. Recent cost discipline shows management understands the problem now. Home services demand is real, but matching supply and demand profitably is harder than it looks. Investors have written Angi off as broken. If unit economics stabilize, upside appears quickly from depressed levels. This is a wounded platform with latent value.

Pitch Summary:
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is a long-term holding and remains a top 10 position in the Fund. ICE’s share price has been under pressure, largely due to AI-related concerns. The share price has already recovered 15% from recent lows.

BSD Analysis:
ICE is a financial infrastructure tollbooth masquerading as an exchange operator, and that distinction matters. Its real power sits in data, clearing, and mission-critical workflows that market participants can’t easily unplug. Volatility actually helps ICE by driving volumes while long-term contracts stabilize revenues when markets calm down. The NYSE brand gets the headlines, but the quiet dominance in energy, rates, and mortgage technology is where compounding happens. Margins remain elite because switching costs are enormous and regulation works in ICE’s favor. Investors often underappreciate how asset-light and sticky this model really is. ICE is boring in the way monopolies usually are.

Pitch Summary:
During the December 2025 quarter, we initiated a position in London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). LSEG is highly diversified, with many of its businesses embedded in the plumbing of the global financial services industry. While it does own the London Stock Exchange, as the Group’s name suggests, that business only accounts for a small percentage of the company’s operations.

BSD Analysis:
LSEG has quietly transformed from a trading venue into a global data and financial infrastructure powerhouse. The Refinitiv acquisition shifted the earnings mix toward recurring, high-margin information services. Indexing, clearing, and data create a diversified revenue base that dampens market volatility. The Microsoft partnership adds credibility and distribution to its data ambitions. Investors still anchor on “exchange” multiples, missing the SaaS-like characteristics of the business. Capital intensity is manageable, and pricing power is real. LSEG is less about trading volumes and more about owning the pipes of global finance.

Pitch Summary:
Intuit is another leading software holding where we believe AI-related concerns are overly reflected in the share price and is currently trading on decade low earnings multiples.

BSD Analysis:
Intuit owns the financial nervous system of small businesses and consumers, and that position only strengthens as regulation and complexity rise. TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Credit Karma create an ecosystem that’s incredibly difficult to displace. AI improves efficiency and customer experience without disrupting the core model. Pricing power remains strong because switching costs are real, not theoretical. Even in downturns, compliance-driven demand holds up. Investors often underestimate how mission-critical Intuit’s products are. This is a textbook compounder with technology tailwinds layered on top.

Pitch Summary:
C3.ai was among the top contributors on the short side and ranked among the top short-side gainers for both the quarter and the full year.

BSD Analysis:
C3.ai sits at the intersection of AI hype and enterprise reality, which is both its biggest opportunity and its biggest problem. The platform is powerful, but selling broad AI software into large organizations takes longer than the market wants to admit. Recent shifts toward consumption-based pricing make strategic sense, even if they muddy near-term revenue optics. The company benefits from rising corporate urgency around AI adoption, regardless of who wins the model wars. Skeptics fixate on losses, but enterprise software inflections rarely look clean at the bottom. If deployments scale, operating leverage appears quickly. This is a sentiment-driven stock tied to execution, not buzzwords.

Pitch Summary:
UniQure detracted about 1.1% during the quarter.

BSD Analysis:
uniQure is one of the original gene therapy pioneers, now grinding through the long and expensive process of turning science into durable revenue. Its hemophilia B therapy validated the platform, even if commercial uptake has been slower than early hype suggested. The real value lies in the broader pipeline and the company’s manufacturing and delivery know-how, which are hard-won and hard to replicate. Cash burn and timelines remain investor pain points, but strategic partnerships help offset risk. The gene therapy market is consolidating toward players with proven vectors and regulatory experience. uniQure fits that bill better than most small-cap peers. This is a credibility play in a sector that’s done pretending.

Pitch Summary:
The top contributor in Q4 was Celcuity, a healthcare name highlighted in our last quarterly letter, which added 3.8% during the quarter and 4.4% for the full year.

BSD Analysis:
Celcuity is a high-risk, high-upside oncology play built around the idea that signaling-pathway biology can be measured more precisely than legacy biomarkers. Its CELsigna platform aims to identify which tumors are actually dependent on specific pathways, a nuance that could materially improve drug response rates. The market treats this like another early-stage biotech science project, but the diagnostic-plus-therapy angle creates differentiated optionality. Clinical readouts will drive everything, and volatility is guaranteed. What makes Celcuity interesting is that success doesn’t require curing cancer — just proving superior patient selection. If the platform works, partners and acquirers show up fast. This is binary, but the payoff is asymmetric.

Pitch Summary:
Marex Group PLC (MRX) was held as a high-quality, diversified financial services platform with earnings resilience and strong performance in periods of elevated market volatility. We exited the position as the stock’s more defensive profile reduced near-term upside in a constructive market environment. Additionally, a recently published short report has introduced an overhang that could weigh on investor sentiment and valuation for several quarters, regardless of underlying results. We continue to view Marex favorably on a longer-term basis and would consider revisiting the stock once these technical and perception-driven headwinds begin to clear.

BSD Analysis:
Marex is a global brokerage operating at the center of commodities, energy, and financial clearing. Volatility is good for business. Diversified revenue streams reduce reliance on any single market. Regulatory barriers favor scale players like Marex. Technology investments improve operating leverage. Investors still view it as cyclical. But infrastructure characteristics dominate. Elevated volatility extends earnings power. This is trading plumbing with growth.

Pitch Summary:
Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (CNK) was originally purchased on the view that normalized box office trends, improving studio release slates, and disciplined cost control would drive meaningful free cash flow inflection and balance sheet deleveraging. However, we exited the position as fourth-quarter box office results materially underperformed expectations. In addition, increasing strategic uncertainty, specifically the prospect of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros., represents a potential structural overhang for the exhibition industry by accelerating direct-to-consumer distribution and weakening the long-term negotiating position of theaters. While Cinemark remains a well-run operator, these factors materially reduced our conviction in the medium-term earnings power and risk-adjusted return profile of the stock.

BSD Analysis:
Cinemark is a theatrical exhibitor benefiting from a leaner industry post-COVID. Content supply has normalized, restoring attendance visibility. Premium formats and pricing support margins. Debt remains elevated but manageable. Streaming hasn’t killed theaters — it reshaped them. Investors price secular decline aggressively. Cash flow stability is improving. If box office trends hold, equity torque is real. This is survival turned optionality.

Pitch Summary:
We initiated a position in Adeia, Inc. (ADEA) in the fourth quarter. ADEA licenses intellectual property (IP) to its customers for use in their media and semiconductor products and services. Spun out of Xperi Inc. in 2022, ADEA has a broad range of media customers as licensees. Additionally, hybrid bonding is becoming a key technology used by semiconductor manufacturers as complexity increases. ADEA’s IP is currently licensed by the major memory players, with several logic players also interested.

BSD Analysis:
Adeia is a misunderstood IP monetization business sitting at the intersection of semiconductors, media, and consumer electronics, where embedded technology quietly compounds value over time. Its licensing model generates high-margin, recurring cash flow without the capital intensity most tech companies carry. Revenue visibility looks messy because outcomes depend on renewals, negotiations, and occasional litigation, but that lumpiness masks strong underlying economics. Adeia’s portfolio is deeply woven into standards and device architectures, which makes it harder to design around than skeptics assume. The market discounts the stock because it hates opaque IP stories and overweights legal risk. Capital returns matter here, and Adeia has been disciplined about returning cash rather than chasing growth optics. As media delivery and semiconductor complexity increase, IP relevance rises, not falls. This is not a growth darling, but it doesn’t need to be. Adeia is cash-flow leverage with embedded optionality that the market continues to price too cheaply.

Pitch Summary:
Our bullish thesis for Synovus (SNV) rests on the view that the recent selloff reflects generalized market skepticism toward “merger of equals” bank transactions rather than deal-specific fundamentals. The Pinnacle–Synovus combination creates a top-tier Southeast regional bank with meaningful scale, strong capital, and projected 21% EPS accretion by 2027E alongside a reasonable tangible book value earnback of roughly 2.6 years. Importantly, this skepticism overlooks the fact that management teams at both institutions are widely regarded by Wall Street as best-in-class, with long track records of disciplined growth, strong risk management, and peer-leading profitability. With execution milestones met and earnings accretion emerging, SNV shares appear poised to re-rate as merger uncertainty fades.

BSD Analysis:
Synovus is a regional bank with strong Southeast exposure. Net interest margins benefited from higher rates but are normalizing. Credit quality remains a key watch. Fee income provides some diversification. Balance sheet strength is improving post-stress. Investors fear regional contagion. Fundamentals are more stable than headlines suggest. If credit holds, valuation is too pessimistic. This is regional banking with optional recovery.