Investment Pitches

Pitch Summary:
Accenture remains the world’s leading IT services provider with nearly 800,000 employees. AI disruption concerns have pressured sentiment, but management has embraced transformation, doubling AI bookings to $5.9 billion in fiscal 2025. Partnerships with Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA are deepening, while 77,000 AI and data specialists position the firm to capture new revenue streams. The managers view the market’s caution as excessive.

BSD Analysis:
Accenture remains the gold standard in IT and digital transformation consulting, with global scale and multi-vertical depth that competitors can’t replicate. AI and cloud modernization work continue to drive high-quality demand even as enterprises scrutinize budgets. Margins are stable, utilization is solid, and the company’s M&A flywheel keeps it ahead of market trends. Skeptics focus on macro softness, but ACN’s diversified exposure insulates it better than peers. As AI integration ramps across industries, Accenture looks positioned for another multi-year period of premium compounding.

Pitch Summary:
EOG Resources was among the weakest performers in September, as softening U.S. oil prices and higher service costs weighed on sentiment. The company continues to generate strong free cash flow but has guided toward slightly lower 2026 production growth amid capital discipline and inflationary pressure on drilling and completions. Investors remain cautious as lower realized prices compress margins, despite management’s focus on returning cash through dividends and variable payouts.

BSD Analysis:
EOG continues to set the pace in U.S. shale with best-in-class well productivity, strict capital discipline, and a balance sheet that gives it real cycle flexibility. Its premium drilling inventory supports stable volumes at high returns even with moderate oil prices. Capital returns remain top-tier, and the company consistently generates peer-leading free cash flow. While shale fatigue weighs on valuation, EOG’s asset quality and execution make it the cleanest operator in the group. This remains a high-quality E&P compounder disguised as a value stock.

Pitch Summary:
Repsol was another key contributor to the Guinness Global Energy Fund during the third quarter. The company benefited from firm refining margins in Europe and higher gas realization prices. Management reiterated guidance for shareholder returns, emphasizing buybacks and an attractive dividend policy. Progress in renewables continues to diversify cash flows and reduce the carbon footprint.

BSD Analysis:
Repsol is transforming from a legacy integrated oil player into a more balanced energy platform, with meaningful optionality in renewables, low-carbon fuels, and petrochemicals. Cash flow remains resilient despite commodity volatility, supported by disciplined capex and strong refining margins. The balance sheet is solid, and capital returns are competitive with global peers. Regulatory overhang keeps sentiment muted, but fundamentals look far better than the multiple suggests. Repsol screens as a steady, underappreciated compounder in European energy.

Pitch Summary:
Halliburton was among the top performers for the Guinness Global Energy Fund in September 2025, benefiting from resilient North American drilling activity and robust international expansion. Continued improvement in service pricing and efficiency gains have driven margin expansion across both its Completion and Production and Drilling and Evaluation segments. The company’s disciplined capital spending and focus on returns over growth are translating into strong free cash flow generation.

BSD Analysis:
Halliburton is the purest way to play the strength in North American completions and the acceleration of international drilling. Pricing remains firm, service intensity is rising, and HAL is extracting more margin from each crew than at any point in the last decade. The international upcycle is early, providing multi-year tailwinds. Margins, FCF, and capital discipline all look better than the prior cycle. With energy security back in focus, Halliburton remains one of the most compelling operators in oilfield services.

Pitch Summary:
Valero, the largest of the U.S. refiners, was among September’s strongest performers in the Guinness Global Energy Fund portfolio. The company has benefited from a recovery in refining margins and a steady ramp-up of U.S. Gulf Coast demand. Strong cash flow generation and a disciplined capital allocation strategy, including consistent dividend growth and share buybacks, continue to support the investment case. The management team’s focus on cost control and operational efficiency remains key to sustaining performance as product spreads normalize.

BSD Analysis:
Valero remains one of the most efficient refiners globally, with a complex asset base that lets it capitalize on heavy-crude discounts and robust distillate margins. Crack spreads remain elevated, and operational discipline supports industry-leading utilization and free cash flow. Renewable Diesel adds a high-margin kicker that most peers can’t replicate. Despite strong fundamentals, the stock still trades at a deep cyclical discount. With supply tight and demand proving sticky, Valero remains a cash-flow machine set up for continued shareholder returns.

Pitch Summary:
Greggs is a vertically integrated food-on-the-go operator with over 2,650 shops across the UK. Greggs sells products which are low ticket, consumed immediately, and often repurchased during the day. The company’s strong brand and differentiated business model have created loyal customers and long-term market share gains. Elevated cost inflation and growth investments have coincided with a demand slowdown, weighing on the near-term outlook and pressuring the stock. While sales growth and margins are likely to take a step back in the interim, given investments being made across the business (supply chain, innovation, employees, channels/partnership), we think the company has a long runway for new store openings. The company is cresting the peak of their supply chain investment cycle this year, management remains disciplined, and they are in an excellent financial position with cash flow set to inflect thereafter. We view the valuation as too low relative to their long-term prospects.

BSD Analysis:
Greggs’ scale, low price points, and strong brand support resilience in a soft consumer environment. Margins should recover post-investment cycle, with store growth driving mid-single-digit revenue expansion. Shares trade at ~17x forward earnings, appealing for a high-ROIC retailer with clear runway for unit growth and capital efficiency.

Pitch Summary:
Becton Dickinson is a medical supply and device company, selling low-cost medical essentials. Products include vascular access devices, pre-fillable syringes, and catheters, to name a few. Becton is the leader in most of its product lines and often competes in oligopoly market structures. Their management team has been executing on a strategy to grow and simplify the business. This has been successful but is obscured by noise in the financials caused by the pandemic, portfolio actions, and other temporary factors, providing us with an opportunity to buy a quality business at an attractive price. We believe execution on the company’s growth strategy and pending business separation will unlock value, with management targeting over 5% annual organic revenue growth and continued margin expansion in the coming years. Manufacturing scale is a key competitive advantage, with the company manufacturing billions of devices annually. Driven by healthcare utilization, the business is durable. Post their separation of biosciences and diagnostics solutions business in 2026, ~90% of revenue is recurring in nature (consumables). The valuation is attractive given the company’s defensive attributes and growth potential.

BSD Analysis:
Becton Dickinson combines strong recurring revenue visibility with steady mid-single-digit growth. Margins are set to expand as operational simplification and portfolio optimization conclude. Shares trade near 19x forward earnings, reasonable for a market leader with stable cash flow and balance sheet strength. Continued innovation in medical consumables and global healthcare utilization trends support long-term compounding.

Pitch Summary:
OneMain is a scale leader in nonprime personal lending. Although they have a messy corporate history, our research suggests that in most key areas they are superior to their peers. We believe with a few years of clean results and an improved macro environment, this company could be reframed as a differentiated, high-quality financial. Given organic growth opportunities in personal lending, and newer areas such as credit card and direct auto, we believe they can grow organically in the mid-single digits with operating leverage, while at the same time returning significant capital through a large dividend and episodic buybacks. Although the current macro environment has stressed their core consumer and pressured net charge offs, we believe the income statement alone provides sufficient protection from an adverse outcome in nearly all reasonable scenarios, with further protection on the balance sheet in a tail risk scenario. The macro backdrop has given us the opportunity to own this industry leading business at an attractive valuation.

BSD Analysis:
OneMain remains one of the best-capitalized lenders in the consumer finance sector, with strong underwriting and consistent profitability. Despite cyclical stress, the company generates ROEs above 20% and offers a 9% dividend yield, supported by disciplined balance sheet management. Valuation at ~6x forward earnings reflects overly bearish assumptions. Long-term catalysts include digital lending expansion and eventual credit normalization.

Pitch Summary:
Guardant Health continued to perform well within the Small/Mid Cap Growth portfolio, echoing its success in the Small Cap Growth Fund. The fund cited strong adoption of its oncology diagnostics and the expanding addressable market for early detection. Revenue growth exceeded expectations, supported by clinical trial success and favorable reimbursement momentum.

BSD Analysis:
Guardant remains one of the most ambitious players in liquid biopsy, and while the road’s been bumpy, the underlying tech and clinical data continue to point in the right direction. The company is carving out real share in both advanced cancer and minimal residual disease, with improving sensitivity data validating its platform against entrenched incumbents. Burn rates are high, but commercial traction and pipeline breadth give Guardant more shots on goal than most genomics peers. Bears focus on the competitive landscape — and it’s real — but Guardant’s pace of innovation and payer progress suggest the worst of the reimbursement overhang may be behind it. If the early-stage screening program hits, the stock’s upside is massive relative to its current risk discount. GH is volatile but far from broken — it’s a high-risk, high-upside precision oncology bet with real technology behind it.

Pitch Summary:
Carvana rebounded strongly during the quarter, supported by cost discipline and improving profitability. Driehaus noted that balance sheet restructuring and operating leverage from higher unit volumes have driven positive free cash flow and margin expansion. The company’s online-first model continues to capture share in the fragmented U.S. used car market. While volatility remains, execution improvement underpins optimism.

BSD Analysis:
Carvana’s turnaround continues to defy the skeptics, with unit economics, SG&A leverage, and inventory discipline all landing far better than the market thought possible during the 2022 washout. The company has rebuilt its P&L from the inside out — logistics efficiency, reconditioning throughput, and gross profit per unit have all structurally improved. Debt overhang is still the bear case, but cash generation and improved maturities mean the “insolvency risk” narrative is now badly outdated. Volumes remain sensitive to used-car affordability, but Carvana’s brand equity and digital experience give it a real moat in a fragmented market. The stock is volatile, sure — but the business underneath is no longer the chaotic growth story it once was. If execution holds, CVNA remains a high-torque recovery-to-compounder setup.

Pitch Summary:
Quanta Services was highlighted as a leading industrial contributor, benefiting from AI-related energy and utility capex growth. The company’s exposure to transmission, distribution, and renewable infrastructure makes it a core beneficiary of grid modernization and electrification. Driehaus noted that Quanta’s backlog expansion and strong execution continue to drive margin stability and cash flow strength.

BSD Analysis:
Quanta Services is positioned to capitalize on structural trends in grid modernization and energy transition. Backlog exceeds $30B, with double-digit revenue growth visibility. Margins are supported by scale and diversification. At ~20x forward earnings, valuation remains justified by durable earnings and electrification tailwinds.

Pitch Summary:
Axon Enterprise remained a key holding in the Small/Mid Cap Growth Strategy and benefited from continued adoption of cloud-based evidence management and global Taser demand. The fund emphasized Axon’s dual growth drivers: expansion in its software-as-a-service platform (Axon Cloud) and robust international hardware demand. Despite broader market volatility, Axon’s recurring revenue growth and profitability resilience supported strong relative performance.

BSD Analysis:
Axon’s combination of recurring SaaS revenue and hardware sales supports consistent growth and margin expansion. Revenue is growing at a 25% CAGR, and its subscription business drives visibility. With ~30% EBITDA margins and a net cash balance sheet, Axon trades at ~35x forward earnings, justified by high-quality recurring revenue and global expansion potential.

Pitch Summary:
Karman Holdings was among the top industrial contributors in the Driehaus Small Cap Growth portfolio. The company benefited from rising defense and aerospace spending as well as AI-related data center construction. Its vertically integrated engineering and fabrication capabilities position it for strong order growth across satellite, nuclear, and defense programs. The fund emphasized Karman’s expanding backlog and margin improvement from scale efficiencies.

BSD Analysis:
Karman Holdings is well situated to benefit from long-cycle defense and infrastructure spending. Its order backlog provides multi-year earnings visibility. Trading at ~18x forward earnings, Karman offers an attractive combination of growth and stability, supported by strong operating leverage and exposure to defense and data center end markets.

Pitch Summary:
Guardant Health gained significantly during the quarter as optimism around liquid biopsy adoption strengthened. The company continues to demonstrate clinical and commercial progress across Guardant Shield and Guardant360 platforms. The fund highlighted that successful readouts from ongoing trials could materially expand its addressable market in early detection. Revenue momentum and improving gross margins underpin confidence in long-term profitability.

BSD Analysis:
Guardant Health’s improving fundamentals reflect the growing adoption of liquid biopsy diagnostics. The company’s revenue growth (~25%) and declining cash burn point to a sustainable business inflection. With FDA approvals anticipated in 2026 and partnerships expanding globally, Guardant remains a leader in oncology diagnostics innovation.

Pitch Summary:
Credo was another major contributor to performance, benefiting from rising hyperscaler capex and cloud networking investment. The firm’s products enable efficient, low-power interconnects for AI-driven data centers. Driehaus emphasized Credo’s leadership in optical components and strong design-win pipeline across major cloud customers. The company’s growth reflects structural demand for bandwidth and energy efficiency in AI networking.

BSD Analysis:
Credo continues to gain share in the high-speed interconnect market driven by AI workloads. Revenue growth exceeds 35%, supported by expanding design wins with hyperscalers. Margins are improving with scale, and balance sheet strength supports reinvestment. Valuation (~10x forward sales) remains compelling given secular AI and networking tailwinds.

Pitch Summary:
TKO renewed U.S. UFC rights with Paramount+ on a 7-year, $7.7B deal—more than double the prior ESPN economics—and expands reach via streaming and CBS simulcasts. Greater exposure should boost sponsorship CPMs (e.g., Octagon branding), live event monetization, and the flywheel across the ecosystem. Management sees long-run upside from global demand for live sports content across streamers and broadcasters.

BSD Analysis:
TKO is a cash-machine built on two global combat-sports IP engines — WWE and UFC — and the integration is already unlocking the kind of margin expansion only a true monopoly-like content portfolio can deliver. Media rights renewals are coming in hotter than the market expected, reflecting the rarity of live, appointment-viewing content that actually moves subs and ad dollars. Cost synergies are flowing, and management isn’t shy about squeezing every ounce of operating leverage from production, talent, and international expansion. The bear case rests on cyclicality and regulatory noise, but the reality is that TKO’s brand power and fan engagement give it a pricing moat most entertainment companies would kill for. With rights deals resetting higher and monetization broadening across sponsorships, global events, and streaming, TKO still looks underpriced relative to its long-term earnings firepower.

Pitch Summary:
Scout24 has executed a multi-year focus on its core property portal after divesting autos, driving improved customer metrics, accelerating sales growth, and margin expansion; the share price roughly doubled into mid-2024. In September, Scout24 announced bolt-on acquisitions of Spain’s #2 and #3 property portals; while small (<2% of EV), the moves suggest management sees limited remaining latency in Germany and is extending the growth runway abroad.

BSD Analysis:
Scout24 keeps proving it’s the rare European online marketplace with real pricing power, leveraging its dominant position in German real estate listings to squeeze out steadily rising ARPU. The platform’s shift toward agent tools, data services, and premium placements is expanding margins and creating a more resilient, subscription-heavy revenue mix. Market softness in housing transactions has barely dented Scout24’s model, highlighting how mission-critical its lead-gen engine has become for brokers. Cost discipline and product bundling are driving enviable free-cash-flow conversion. Despite its structural moat and recurring economics, the stock still trades at a discount to global marketplace peers stuck with weaker fundamentals. As the housing cycle stabilizes, Scout24 looks primed for a clean rerating.

Pitch Summary:
CME is the largest global derivatives exchange, a “royalty” on risk management and speculation that charges per-contract fees across diversified asset classes. With ~68% operating margins and powerful network effects (“liquidity begets liquidity”), it holds ~90%+ share across key product sets and benefits when volatility rises. Attempts to challenge its dominance (ELX, FMX) have seen little traction due to superior liquidity and clearing scale. Management has focused on product innovation over acquisitions, widening the moat as secular participation grows.

BSD Analysis:
CME’s oligopolistic structure, minimal capital needs, and volatility upside support mid-teens TSR: 7% volume CAGR, pricing, and a ~4% dividend yield. Cross-margining advantages and new products (e.g., crypto, minis) extend the runway; regulatory and competitive risks appear manageable given entrenched liquidity.

Pitch Summary:
Wacom was the largest contributor over the month, adding +121bps to performance as its share price increased +12%. Across all funds, AVI controls over 13% of the vote in Wacom, which is the global leader of digital pen solutions. Our investment is premised on the increased adoption of digital drawing and writing, relative undervaluation, and scope for improvement through engagement. Wacom manufactures its own branded tablets and sells its technology to other electronic device manufacturers. In May 2025, AVI launched a public campaign titled ‘Draw Wacom’s Future’, in which we highlighted several constructive suggestions, since which the share price has risen by +47%. We are concerned by the poor-performing Branded Business Segment, which has consistently posted losses since 2022. Alongside the public campaign, we formally submitted shareholder proposals to the AGM calling for governance reform, operational oversight, and share buybacks. Although the Branded Business segment continues to face challenges, we are confident that through shorter product cycles and stronger e-commerce channels, Wacom can reinforce its leadership in digital pen technology.

BSD Analysis:
Wacom remains a leading beneficiary of digitization trends in creative and education markets, supported by rising tablet and stylus adoption globally. The company trades at roughly 20x forward earnings, with improving ROE (~12%) and net cash exceeding 25% of market cap. AVI’s activist engagement could catalyze governance reform, higher payout ratios, and operational improvements. Margin recovery in its OEM segment, coupled with restructuring of the Branded Business, may drive earnings re-rating. Sustained innovation in AI-assisted creative tools further strengthens long-term competitiveness.

Pitch Summary:
Waste Management (WM) provides comprehensive waste management and environmental services across North America. The investment case rests on stable earnings growth, pricing power above CPI, and consistent FCF conversion of 85–100%. Slightly expanding margins of 18%+ enable strong shareholder returns through dividends and buybacks. The recent de-rating in the stock created an attractive entry point, and management continues to guide to steady growth supported by defensive demand.

BSD Analysis:
Waste Management remains a steady, high-visibility compounder with pricing power, recurring revenue, and strong free-cash-flow generation. The company’s recycling and renewable natural gas investments provide incremental growth catalysts beyond core collection and disposal. Margin expansion continues as automation and routing technology improve operational efficiency. The balance sheet is healthy, and capital returns remain consistent. While the stock is rarely “cheap,” WM justifies its premium as one of the most durable infrastructure franchises in North America.