Investment Pitches

Pitch Summary:
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is a discount retailer offering a treasure-hunt shopping experience with brand-name merchandise at deeply discounted prices. Like Cognex, Ollie’s is a company we have owned before. We believe its differentiated closeout retail model benefits from several structural tailwinds, including an Amazon-resistant format, increased access to prime retail locations due to competitor store closures (e.g., Big Lots) and strong vendor relationships. Favorable cyclical trends are also in place, such as consumer trade-down behavior, ongoing disruption in the retail landscape and tariff-related volatility. These dynamics are driving strong availability of closeout inventory and accelerating growth in its loyalty program, Ollie’s Army, which now accounts for roughly 80% of total sales. Additionally, a relatively new management team is implementing improved systems and processes to further professionalize operations and support long-term expansion.

BSD Analysis:
Ollie’s is the cockroach of retail — and that’s a compliment. When consumer stress rises, Ollie’s traffic spikes; when consumers feel good, closeout supply accelerates. It wins in both directions. Its treasure-hunt model creates cult-like shopping behavior, and the company’s sourcing engine has more leverage now that big brands are sitting on bloated inventories. Store growth remains low-risk and high-return, and despite being a discount retailer, Ollie’s margin discipline is one of the best in specialty retail. The company thrives in chaotic supply chains, and chaos isn’t going away. Yet the stock still trades like a mid-tier discount chain instead of the structurally advantaged closeout machine that it is. In a world of overstretched consumers and volatile brands, Ollie’s continues to be one of the purest defensives in consumer discretionary.

Pitch Summary:
During the quarter, we initiated new GardenSM positions in Cognex, Waystar and Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Cognex, a leading manufacturer of machine vision systems, automates and optimizes processes across manufacturing and logistics. We reinitiated a position in the company during the quarter. Our investment thesis is supported by three key drivers: a new management team focused on aligning products with enhanced customer service and disciplined cost control; advancements in AI that reduce installation and operational costs, enabling access to small and mid-sized customers that were previously out of reach; and potential upside from a cyclical recovery in Cognex’s end markets, which could further strengthen the profit cycle.

BSD Analysis:
Cognex got smacked by the industrial slowdown, but the long-term story here hasn’t changed: machine vision is becoming mandatory across logistics, robotics, EV manufacturing, and automated warehouses. Cognex owns the premium end of that market with hardware-software systems that competitors can’t replicate cheaply. The temporary pullback in order volumes has masked the fact that robotic automation demand is structurally rising, and when capex normalizes, Cognex will see massive operating leverage. The balance sheet is pristine, R&D spend is disciplined, and Cognex continues to seed new verticals where vision is non-negotiable. The stock trades like a wounded growth name, but the technology moat — algorithms, optics, and integration depth — remains intact. When the next automation cycle kicks off, Cognex will snap back harder than consensus models allow.

Pitch Summary:
MACOM designs and manufactures high-performance semiconductors. The company delivered better-than-expected quarterly results. However, it was required to assume operational control of the fabrication facility acquired from Wolfspeed approximately six months ahead of schedule, following Wolfspeed’s bankruptcy filing. This accelerated transition has temporarily weighed on MACOM’s near-term margin outlook, though we believe the impact will be short-lived. We took advantage of the resulting share price weakness to increase our position.

BSD Analysis:
MACOM is one of the stealth winners of the high-frequency, high-power semiconductor renaissance — a pure-play on RF, telecom, and datacenter upgrades that the market still prices like a sleepy component vendor. Its gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon photonics capabilities put it right in the slipstream of 5G densification, hyperscale interconnect upgrades, and defense spending that’s accelerating, not slowing. Margins are expanding as the mix shifts toward higher-end solutions, and MACOM’s customer relationships in defense and telecom give it a level of visibility most analog chipmakers envy. With inventory digestion now easing across telecom, MACOM’s earnings power is set to re-accelerate into one of the strongest multi-year demand cycles the RF ecosystem has seen. The stock still trades like a mid-tier RF house, but MACOM is evolving into a must-have supplier in markets where performance literally cannot slip. The rerating potential is real.

Pitch Summary:
Twist Bioscience is a life sciences company leveraging a proprietary silicon-based DNA writing platform with synthetic biology applications in drug discovery, diagnostics, agriculture and industrial materials. The company recently reported 18% revenue growth and improved gross margins, driven by strong demand in next-generation sequencing, which helped offset weaker synthetic biology product sales. We view Twist’s risk-reward profile as compelling and see the new Veracyte partnership as further validation of its platform, with potential to drive long-term upside. We used the recent pullback as an opportunity to add to our position.

BSD Analysis:
Twist Bioscience is a high-growth life sciences platform leveraging its proprietary DNA writing technology for applications in drug discovery, diagnostics, and synthetic biology. The core thesis is a strong belief in the platform's scale and improving unit economics, particularly within the booming demand for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). Despite an offset from weaker synthetic biology product sales, the company reported 18% revenue growth and improving gross margins due to strong NGS demand. A key catalyst is the new Veracyte partnership, which provides external validation of the platform and hints at future, lucrative applications in diagnostics. The recent stock pullback due to volatility is viewed as an attractive entry point to increase exposure, betting on the company's long-term path to profitability through scale effects and margin expansion.

Pitch Summary:
Insmed is a commercial-stage biotech company focused on serious pulmonary diseases. Its lead product is ARIKAYCE®, an inhaled antibiotic that treats lung infections unresponsive to standard therapies. The company recently received FDA approval for Brinsupri™, the first once-daily oral treatment for non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis—a chronic and progressive lung condition with limited treatment options. With over one million diagnosed patients across the US, Europe and Japan, Brinsupri™ addresses a major unmet need, and we expect rapid adoption. In our view, Insmed also has a promising pipeline, including a third de-risked drug candidate with multibillion-dollar potential. Given the company’s increasing market capitalization, we began to pare back our CropSM position.

BSD Analysis:
Insmed is a high-conviction biotech commercialization story, validated by the recent FDA approval of Brinsupri as the first once-daily oral treatment for non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFBE). This approval opens up a massive Total Addressable Market (TAM) of over one million diagnosed patients across the US, Europe, and Japan for a chronic, underserved lung condition. The core investment thesis is built on the belief that the company has a proven commercial platform with a new, multi-billion-dollar blockbuster indication. As the revenue accelerates rapidly from this new market, the company is poised to generate significant operating leverage, driving the stock to a higher valuation. Furthermore, the company's robust pipeline optionality, including a third de-risked drug candidate, strengthens the long-term growth trajectory.

Pitch Summary:
Modine is a global leader in thermal management solutions. The company is experiencing strong growth, driven by increased business with existing hyperscale customers as well as the addition of new accounts in the hyperscale segment. Rising demand across newer geographies, particularly in the US and Southeast Asia, and Modine’s expansion into advanced product lines, such as rack-level and modular data center cooling solutions, have further fueled this momentum. As a result, the company has significantly raised its revenue expectations for the year.

BSD Analysis:
Modine is a high-conviction bet as a pure-play AI data center infrastructure winner, leveraging a massive and sudden surge in cooling demand from hyperscalers. The company's thermal management expertise has made it a critical enabler for the capital-intensive AI buildout, with demand accelerating from both existing and new hyperscale accounts. Management is ruthlessly committing $100 million in CapEx over 12-18 months to double its capacity by 80%, a strategic pivot that ensures multi-year revenue visibility. This focus is driving significant product mix upgrades toward high-value, modular cooling systems, which is expected to translate into substantial EBITDA margin expansion. With a fortress balance sheet (ND/Adj. EBITDA ∼1x) and strong secular tailwinds in compute power and electrification, Modine remains an indispensable, yet still attractively valued, industrial stock.

Pitch Summary:
Lattice is a fabless leader in low-power field-programmable gate arrays. The company has faced a challenging couple of years due to an inventory overhang among its industrial and automotive customers, which account for approximately 40% of its revenue, following stockpiling during the post-COVID semiconductor shortages. As supply chains normalized, these customers began reducing their excess inventory, which in turn weighed on demand. New management recently expressed confidence that the inventory destocking cycle will be complete by early 2026. Meanwhile, Lattice’s growing presence in AI data centers and robotics applications positions it for strong growth over both the near and long term.

BSD Analysis:
Lattice remains one of the most compelling small-cap stories in semiconductors, leveraging its leadership in low-power FPGAs to ride secular demand in AI at the edge, industrial automation, and advanced connectivity. Product velocity remains exceptional, with the Avant and Nexus families expanding Lattice’s TAM and pushing the company deeper into higher-performance applications. Gross margins remain elite thanks to an asset-light model and strong pricing power in differentiated, mission-critical use cases. While near-term demand softness has weighed on sentiment, design-win momentum and content growth across automotive, industrial, and security markets paint a far stronger long-term picture. The stock trades at a discount to its quality and growth trajectory, reflecting temporary inventory digestion rather than impaired fundamentals. With execution strong and secular tailwinds intact, Lattice stands out as a high-ROIC semiconductor compounder with significant upside.

Pitch Summary:
Vertex provides tax compliance software through both cloud and on-premises deployments, integrating with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems primarily for large enterprises (companies with over 250 employees). The company offers comprehensive solutions that automate the full scope of indirect tax processes, including tax determination, data management, compliance, reporting, and document management. Shares detracted from performance during the quarter after Vertex reported strong second-quarter results but lowered its full-year revenue guidance. Management cited a more uncertain demand environment, as customers are expected to delay ERP and software implementations, which overshadowed otherwise solid quarterly execution.

BSD Analysis:
Vertex is the tax-automation powerhouse that quietly runs the back office for half of corporate America, yet the stock still trades like a sleepy compliance vendor. As e-commerce sales tax complexity explodes and global jurisdictions invent new reporting rules every quarter, Vertex’s software becomes less of a “nice-to-have” and more of a regulatory survival tool. The company’s shift to cloud and subscription is finally paying off with expanding margins and cleaner recurring revenue visibility. Meanwhile, competitors can’t keep up with the constant rule changes — Vertex’s domain expertise and data depth create a moat that looks more like a defensive wall. Growth looks modest on paper, but once enterprise ERP upgrade cycles kick in, Vertex sits at the intersection of every transaction that needs tax logic. This isn’t glamorous software, but it’s the kind that quietly compounds for decades while everyone else chases hype cycles.

Pitch Summary:
Palomar Holdings is a specialty insurance company providing property and casualty coverage focused on risks such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, primarily serving residential and commercial clients in the United States. The company generates revenue by underwriting specialized insurance policies and collecting premiums from policyholders. We believe Palomar is favorably positioned due to its targeted focus on underserved markets and strategic growth initiatives. During the quarter, shares detracted from performance as investors grew concerned about underwriting quality despite strong second-quarter earnings. Palomar’s combined ratio (i.e., incurred losses and expenses as percentage of earned premiums) came in higher than analyst estimates, driven by elevated expenses and a mix shift from early crop premiums, signaling margin pressure. These concerns overshadowed strong second-quarter earnings, driven by strong premium growth, where management raised its full-year earnings guidance.

BSD Analysis:
Palomar Holdings is a specialty insurance company that offers a compelling investment case based on its focus on underserved catastrophe-exposed markets like earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Despite strong premium growth and a raised full-year earnings guidance, the shares were detracted by investor anxiety regarding underwriting quality and margin stability. Specifically, a surprisingly elevated combined ratio—the measure of incurred losses and expenses as a percentage of earned premiums—signaled near-term margin pressure due to expense increases and an unfavorable mix shift. This focus on margin noise overshadowed the underlying growth story, but the long-term thesis remains supported by management's strategic focus and pricing power in its niche verticals. Until the company demonstrates a normalization of its expense ratio, the stock may lag despite strong revenue.

Pitch Summary:
SPS Commerce provides cloud-based tools that help retailers, suppliers, and logistics partners share product information, manage orders and inventory, and track sales across channels. During the quarter, the company delivered strong fiscal second-quarter results, raised its full-year outlook, and announced a share repurchase program. However, shares detracted from performance after management lowered their medium term organic revenue growth rate, citing more cautious customer spending and longer decision cycles amid macroeconomic uncertainty.

BSD Analysis:
SPS Commerce is a leading provider of cloud-based supply chain and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) software, offering mission-critical tools that underpin global retail and logistics flows. While the core growth algorithm remains fundamentally intact, management provided a tempered medium-term organic revenue outlook, leading to a stock pull-back. This deceleration reflects cautious customer spending and increasingly elongating sales cycles amid macroeconomic uncertainty. Although the company continues to deliver strong quarterly results and excellent cash generation, the multiple compression risk is elevated until demand normalizes. For long-term investors, the focus remains on the platform's ability to drive margin expansion and a return to previous growth levels as macro concerns abate.

Pitch Summary:
Artivion manufactures, processes, and distributes medical devices and preserved tissues used in cardiac and vascular surgeries for patients with aortic disease. The business spans medical devices and preservation services. Shares contributed positively during the quarter after Artivion reported a strong fiscal second-quarter earnings and raised its full-year outlook. Management pointed to renewed momentum in its mechanical valves and continued uptake of a new aortic stent graft, and emphasized operating leverage as the business scales. Investor confidence was further supported by progress on the U.S. clinical pathway for an aortic arch device.

BSD Analysis:
Artivion is a high-growth medical device company focused on aortic disease, with a compelling investment thesis built on strong commercial execution and pipeline progress. The company reported robust quarterly earnings and raised its full-year outlook, signaling confidence in its momentum. Growth is being driven by renewed momentum in its mechanical valves and accelerated uptake of a new aortic stent graft. As a durable niche leader in the aortic repair market, Artivion is poised to see expanding operating leverage as the business successfully scales its products. Investor confidence is further solidified by progress on the U.S. clinical pathway for a key aortic arch device, which de-risks future growth. This combination of execution and pipeline strength suggests the stock is ripe for a multi-year re-rating as revenue visibility dramatically improves.

Pitch Summary:
Impinj designs, sells, and licenses a platform based on RAIN RFID—a wireless tagging technology that helps organizations identify and track items across supply chains. Its offering spans small endpoint chips (the tags placed on products), readers, and software that work together to improve visibility of inventory and assets across stores, warehouses, and distribution. We believe Impinj is well positioned as adoption of item-level tracking expands across retail and other industries. We believe the company’s next-generation endpoint chip (the M800 family) is supporting broader use cases and helping Impinj continue to gain share in the RAIN RFID market. During the quarter, shares contributed positively after the company reported stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and issued an improved outlook for the third quarter. Despite a mixed retail environment, management highlighted ongoing progress with large enterprise rollouts and continued momentum at major customers, while pilot programs in food and grocery are accelerating.

BSD Analysis:
Impinj is emerging as an essential player in the connected-item economy, with RFID tag and reader demand soaring as retailers, logistics providers, and manufacturers push toward real-time inventory and asset intelligence. The company’s platform enjoys strong competitive moats—ecosystem partnerships, superior tag-IC technology, and a software layer that drives recurring revenue. While the business has historically been cyclical, adoption curves are steepening as RFID shifts from “nice-to-have” to operational necessity, especially in omnichannel retail and automated warehouses. Margins are recovering as supply-chain constraints ease and higher-value endpoint ICs take a larger mix share. Investors still discount PI due to perceived volatility, but the structural demand story—billions of items yet to be connected—remains early. With accelerating enterprise adoption and a clear path to scale, Impinj stands out as a high-growth, high-moat enabler of the next wave of supply-chain digitization.

Pitch Summary:
Accor was increased. With 6,000 hotels in 110 countries, it leads in EMEA, Asia, and Latin America. Despite a shift to an asset-light model, shares trade at a 35–40% discount to peers. Divesting legacy ventures and expanding luxury franchise exposure could unlock value.

BSD Analysis:
Accor is a deep value opportunity in the hospitality sector, trading at a steep 35-40% discount to peers despite successfully pivoting to a high-return, asset-light franchise model. This discount is inexplicable given its massive global scale (6,000 hotels across 110 countries) and market leadership across high-growth geographies like EMEA, Asia, and Latin America. The core strategy is unlocking value through strategic simplification—divesting legacy ventures and aggressively expanding its profitable luxury franchise exposure. The company's strong, fee-based revenue streams and geographic diversification underpin predictable, steady earnings growth. Management's commitment to share buybacks further reinforces the bull case, creating a tangible catalyst for a major multiple re-rating as operational focus sharpens and the discount to competitors closes.

Pitch Summary:
Unite Group was added as U.K. REIT valuations fell 20% below NAV. With 65,000 beds across top universities, 95% leased, and modest leverage, Unite offers resilient income. A recent bid for Empiric Student Property caused a selloff, leaving shares at 15-year low P/B.

BSD Analysis:
Unite Group offers a contrarian value entry into the UK's student housing market, with shares trading at a multi-year low Price-to-Book (P/B) multiple after a temporary sector dislocation. The company is the market leader, controlling an irreplaceable portfolio of approximately 65,000 beds located across the highest-tier universities, which ensures resilient demand. Its business model is fortified by high occupancy rates (95% leased), minimal development risk due to strong demand visibility, and modest leverage. The current low valuation is a function of the broader sell-off in UK REITs and an unrelated bid for a competitor (Empiric Student Property) that caused market noise. The long-term thesis is underpinned by structural undersupply of student accommodation and the company's scale advantages, which are poised to drive long-term compounding as market sentiment normalizes.

Pitch Summary:
Champion Homes remains a top Fund holding and was increased. Orders have softened, but the company’s financial strength, excess production capacity, and ability to integrate financing and retailing make it a top player in affordable housing. Shares trade near five-year lows despite favorable long-term demand trends.

BSD Analysis:
Skyline Champion remains one of the cleanest ways to play structural housing underproduction, with a scalable factory-built model that delivers affordability the traditional site-built market can’t match. While order trends have been choppy, backlog quality has improved and mix is shifting toward higher-value homes and community partnerships. The company’s lean manufacturing footprint and disciplined capital allocation generate strong free cash flow even through housing cycles. Demand tailwinds—from persistent supply shortages to growing acceptance of modular housing—provide a long runway for share gains. Despite these advantages, the stock trades at a discount to its long-term growth profile due to near-term housing volatility. As volumes normalize and community channels scale, Skyline Champion should regain momentum as one of the sector’s highest-ROIC operators.

Pitch Summary:
The fund initiated a position after a sharp correction, citing the company’s cost leadership, store expansion, and long-term earnings potential. Management expects margins to recover to 15–17% and EPS growth of 20–30%+ annually as remodeling demand rebounds.

BSD Analysis:
Floor & Decor is the category killer the home-improvement sector didn’t see coming — a specialty retailer that figured out consumers want choice, price transparency, and inventory availability, not wandering through a big-box store hoping someone knows the difference between porcelain and ceramic. Its warehouse-sized stores and private-label assortment give it pricing power and gross margins that Home Depot and Lowe’s can’t easily replicate in flooring. The near-term housing slowdown hit sentiment, but FND continues expanding aggressively into new markets while keeping store-level economics among the strongest in retail. Pro customer penetration is growing, e-commerce is tightening up, and supply-chain discipline gives FND a structural cost advantage over regional competitors. With a long runway of store growth and industry consolidation working in its favor, the stock’s multiple looks far too pessimistic for a retailer with this level of market share momentum. When housing turns — even modestly — FND’s operating leverage will snap back fast.

Pitch Summary:
AAON’s stock rebounded after an overdone sell-off tied to ERP implementation challenges. The fund expects BASX subsidiary growth to exceed 40% annually, supported by rising data center cooling demand. With strong production recovery, AAON targets sustained double-digit EPS growth.

BSD Analysis:
AAON is the HVAC powerhouse hiding in plain sight, running laps around larger competitors by focusing on custom, high-efficiency systems instead of commodity volume. While the rest of the industry battles supply-chain headaches and margin erosion, AAON has been quietly expanding capacity, improving mix, and pricing with confidence — because its customers actually care about performance, not just sticker price. The surge in demand for data centers, cleanrooms, education facilities, and advanced manufacturing plants plays directly into AAON’s strengths in mission-critical, engineered solutions. Margins have exploded as scale effects kick in, and the company’s balance sheet gives it room to keep reinvesting without stretching itself thin. Despite multi-year growth visibility and market share gains, AAON still trades like a mid-cap industrial instead of a premium HVAC specialist with a sticky customer base. If the secular demand for specialized HVAC systems continues, AAON’s “quiet compounder” status won’t stay quiet much longer.

Pitch Summary:
Wynn’s shares surged 37% in Q3 on strong results in Macau and Las Vegas. Management highlighted robust demand and a promising new project in the UAE (Wynn Al Marjan Island), expected to open in 2027. Despite gains, the fund believes shares remain attractively valued at 9.3x 2026E cash flow, with upside from the UAE development.

BSD Analysis:
Wynn is the luxury casino operator everyone claims is “too cyclical,” yet it consistently prints margins that make the rest of the industry look like they’re running charity drives. Las Vegas is firing on all cylinders, Macau visitation keeps climbing from depressed post-COVID levels, and Wynn’s premium positioning means it doesn’t need mass-market volume to drive profitability — it just needs whales to keep showing up, which they are. The company’s balance sheet cleanup and disciplined cost structure are paying off, turning every incremental dollar of demand into outsized EBITDA. Wynn’s non-gaming amenities — hotels, dining, entertainment — remain best-in-class and give it a pricing moat that weaker operators can’t touch. The market keeps pretending luxury gaming is fragile, but the customer base Wynn caters to historically shrugs at macro slowdowns. As Macau normalizes and the U.S. consumer remains resilient at the high end, Wynn’s cash flow ramp looks far better than the stock’s still-recovering multiple suggests.

Pitch Summary:
Starboard Value presented a detailed activist thesis on Tripadvisor, arguing that the company remains deeply undervalued at only 6.5x FY26E EBITDA compared to peers trading between 12–17x. Tripadvisor’s transformation into an independent, one-share-one-vote entity in April 2025 removed long-standing governance overhangs tied to Liberty and Barry Diller. The presentation highlights that Tripadvisor now operates three distinct businesses—Brand Tripadvisor, Viator, and TheFork—each of which could be separately valued. Starboard advocates a sale of TheFork at 5x revenue, margin expansion at Viator to OTA-like levels (~25–30%), and cost restructuring at Brand Tripadvisor. Under this pro forma scenario, Tripadvisor could trade at just 2.5–3x EBITDA. Starboard also notes that the company has received buyout interest from strategic and financial sponsors, with recent bids in the $18–19 range per share.

BSD Analysis:
Tripadvisor is a deeply mispriced asset in the online travel sector, caught in a structural governance discount that Starboard Value is now ruthlessly exploiting. The stock trades at a perplexing 6.5x EBITDA (compared to peers trading at 12x–17x), implying minimal value for its growing segments. The successful elimination of the controlling stake held by Liberty/Barry Diller removed the structural overhang, clearing the path for a sum-of-the-parts value unlock. Starboard's activist thesis calls for a surgical restructuring: maximizing value by selling TheFork, driving margin expansion at Viator (the high-growth Experiences segment), and cost-cutting in the core Brand. Under this pro forma scenario, Tripadvisor could easily trade at 2.5x–3x EBITDA, creating massive enterprise value upside. This situation is a high-stakes, event-driven opportunity, with management acknowledging buyout interest and activist involvement acting as the powerful catalyst for re-rating.

Pitch Summary:
Ayala Corp. trades near 25-year lows despite holding leading stakes in Ayala Land, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom, and ACEN. Valuations in Philippine equities are depressed amid low foreign ownership. Ayala’s buybacks, asset monetizations, and solid balance sheet offer recovery potential.

BSD Analysis:
AC Ayala is the type of diversified Philippine conglomerate that screens boring until you realize how aggressively it has been repositioning itself toward higher-growth, more defensible sectors. While the legacy real estate and banking engines keep throwing off cash, the real story is Ayala’s expanding footprint in renewables, digital infrastructure, and healthcare — areas where the company has a national scale advantage and access to cheap capital. The balance sheet isn’t pristine, but it’s sturdy, and management has a long track record of avoiding flashy, value-destroying bets. Ayala plays the long game better than any local competitor: build early, scale patiently, and monetize when the market wakes up. Valuation remains discounted because investors fail to appreciate how much optionality is embedded in the renewable pipeline and the fast-growing healthcare arm. As the Philippines’ structural growth story strengthens, Ayala’s portfolio mix looks increasingly aligned with the country’s next decade, not its last.