Investment Pitches

Pitch Summary:
Amrize is a building materials company that offers cement, aggregates, and solutions for roofing and insulation. Its business needs no introduction: it is the undisputed leader in cement in the US and Canada, with a dominant position in local markets and a production capacity double that of the country's second-largest operator. One of the most important aspects for us, however, is who runs it. We are talking about the current CEO of Holcim (Jan Jenisch), one of the best managers in a sector we know well, with a proven track record in creating value through organic growth and well-executed acquisitions. Amrize was spun off from Holcim in the summer and listed in both Switzerland and the US in a transaction that has created a rare opportunity: to buy a leading, well-managed company with room for operational improvement and a clear roadmap for growth, at a price that does not reflect either its quality or its potential.

BSD Analysis:
Amrize is a specialty chemicals and materials company positioned around performance additives and value-added formulations rather than commodity volume. Its exposure to construction, industrial coatings, and infrastructure-linked demand provides cyclical upside with some defensiveness from specification-driven products. Margin expansion depends on mix improvement and pricing discipline rather than raw volume growth. Input-cost volatility remains a swing factor, but Amrize’s customer relationships support pass-through over time. The balance sheet appears manageable, giving room for incremental bolt-on acquisitions. Execution consistency is the key variable investors should watch. This is a mid-cycle industrial story where self-help matters as much as end markets.

Pitch Summary:
Meta reported quarterly revenue growth of 22% and highlighted AI as a tailwind to engagement and to advertiser's return on ad spend, prompting the company to increase 2026 estimated capex expectations to $100 billion, $30 billion higher than Wall Street expectations. We thought Mark Zuckerberg’s comments regarding “Early glimpses of AI improving itself” were particularly insightful. If AI can improve itself, a self-reinforcing flywheel can emerge resulting in super-intelligence.

BSD Analysis:
Meta is a cash machine hiding behind a reputation problem. Performance advertising remains wildly effective, and AI has quietly improved targeting post-privacy changes. The metaverse burn is tolerated only because the core business prints money. Attention competition is real, but Meta still owns distribution at planetary scale. Regulation is a slow bleed, not a fatal wound. Buybacks are the unsung hero of shareholder returns. The company oscillates between discipline and obsession. Bulls see operating leverage plus AI efficiency; bears see capital misallocation risk. Meta survives because advertisers have nowhere better to go.

Pitch Summary:
Lastly, we added to our position in the leading cybersecurity platform, CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. A year post the famous outage that grounded planes and impacted a broad array of the company’s customers, we can conclude that management has done an excellent job in the aftermath of the outage. CrowdStrike is now seeing a reacceleration in net new annualized recurring revenues driven by strong adoption of its new Flacon Flex offering, which enables customers to use multiple modules from the company without having to go back to procurement. Additionally, customer care packages provided in the aftermath of the outage also incentivized customers to use more of the platform, planting seeds for broader adoption over time. We visited CrowdStrike’s West Coast office in September, to spend some time with management and drill down into the emerging growth areas and ability to consolidate more wallet share. We came away incrementally positive on several of the products, including Next-Gen SIEM (security information and event management), Cloud Security and Identity, as well as their opportunity in Security for AI. A week later we spent three days at Falcon, the company’s annual user conference, speaking with customers and partners, and attending its Investor Day. Key takeaways include: i) customer trust as high as we've seen; ii) CrowdStrike’s platform leverages its market leading end point product and best-in-class threat prevention capability powering its Threat Graph that collects and correlates the data across its large customer base, adding key contextual awareness, and; iii) utilizing this across a large and growing set of products on the back of strong innovation and a rapid customer feedback loop, helps customers plan and spend more with CrowdStrike over time. We continue to view CrowdStrike as one of the long-term winners in cyber and a core long-term durable grower with strong margin and cash flow generation.

BSD Analysis:
CrowdStrike is a security platform winner, riding the reality that cybersecurity spending is non-discretionary—until CFOs try to make it discretionary. The platform story is real: once customers standardize, module expansion drives high-margin growth. But the market regularly overpays for “mission critical” narratives, then punishes any execution wobble. Competition is intense, and pricing pressure shows up when budgets tighten. The biggest risk is reputational—security failures are not like software bugs; they’re existential to trust. Bulls see a dominant platform; bears see valuation and competitive mean reversion. CrowdStrike is high quality—at a price that assumes perfection.

Pitch Summary:
We increased the size of our position in KKR & Co. Inc., as we took advantage of price volatility towards the end of the quarter. KKR is a leading alternative asset manager. The company manages $686 billion in assets across a diverse range of strategies in Private Equity (PE), Private Credit, and Real Assets. The company is in the middle of a three-year fundraising super-cycle, in which it expects to raise over $300 billion in new capital. KKR is a prime example of the shifting trends in the alternative asset management industry. Historically, the industry was characterized as buyout PE, typically in North America and Europe, while nowadays, alternative asset classes have significantly expanded including Real Estate, Infrastructure, and Private Credit. We think KKR will continue to be an industry leader as it has successfully diversified its business beyond PE into these other asset classes, and now boasts three scaled businesses (PE, Private Credit and Real Assets) that are each over $150 billion in asssets under management and continuing to grow. Alongside the Asset Management business which generates highly recurring fees, KKR also has a large insurance company, Global Atlantic, which participates in the growing market for retirement assets, and a collection of long-term holdings in private business called Strategic Holdings. We think KKR is poised to leverage its scale, strong track record, and relationships to continue building on this foundation as it scales towards $1 trillion in assets. This includes a more nascent opportunity in Private Wealth, where KKR is partnering with existing large firms such as Capital Group to rapidly scale its distribution capabilities. This is an investor class that has historically not been well served by alternative asset managers (aside from ultra-high-net-worth) and so presents a large growth potential, with retail assets estimated to be $150 trillion. We took advantage of a sell-off in the stock to add to our position, which was related to some concerns over potential weakness in Private Credit given bankruptcy headlines around one or two companies, although our belief is that these companies’ debt was not actually underwritten in the private markets. As compared to peers, we think KKR has arguably the most diverse earnings stream given its scale with multiple business models helping drive earnings growth, which we think gives the company many ways to win over the long term, across macroeconomic cycles.

BSD Analysis:
KKR is a scale alternative-asset manager benefiting from the great migration from public markets to private ones. Fee-related earnings are the “quality” part; performance fees are the “casino” part, and both matter. The business is structurally advantaged: permanent capital, diversified strategies, and distribution muscle. The risk is cycle timing—credit losses, valuation markdowns, and fundraising slowdowns when liquidity dries up. Another risk is crowding: too much capital chasing too few good deals compresses returns. Still, the model works because KKR sells certainty (yield/solutions) in an uncertain world. It’s financial engineering with industrial-scale distribution.

Pitch Summary:
MercadoLibre, Inc., the leading e-commerce marketplace across Latin America, detracted from performance as shares declined 10.6% due to macro and competitive pressures and despite strong quarterly results across GMV – up 21% year-on-year, total payments volume – up 39%, and revenues – up 34%. On the macro side, the sharp sell-off in Argentine assets weighed heavily on the shares given that Argentina represents roughly 20% of MercadoLibre’s revenues and 40% of direct group contribution. The Argentine business, which had been a source of recent growth upside and upward forecast revisions, now faces potential downside as consumer confidence and currency stability have deteriorated. At the same time, Amazon, one of MercadoLibre’s largest competitors in the region, announced new promotional rates for sellers in Brazil, reinforcing concerns around intensifying competition in e-commerce. While these factors drove near-term pressure, we maintain conviction in MercadoLibre’s long-term opportunity: the company remains uniquely positioned to capture a large share of Latin America’s underpenetrated e-commerce and fintech markets, with scale, brand trust, and a powerful ecosystem that continue to provide significant competitive advantages.

BSD Analysis:
MercadoLibre is the Latin American compounder everyone wants: marketplace + payments + logistics, with network effects that actually show up in results. The moat is execution in hard environments—building infrastructure where infrastructure is weak. Credit and fintech growth add upside, but also introduce risk when macro turns ugly. Currency volatility and politics are constant headwinds, yet MELI has navigated them better than most multinationals. The market prices it like a long-duration winner, which it likely is, but sentiment can swing violently on macro noise. The bull case is still years of share gains; the bear case is credit losses and regulation. MELI is a machine—operating in chaos.

Pitch Summary:
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. manufactures the da Vinci robotic surgical system for minimally invasive surgical procedures. Shares detracted from performance in the quarter declining 17.7%, due to system placements in the U.S. falling short of investor expectations. In addition, investors are concerned about financial pressure on hospital customers resulting from cuts to Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Finally, concerns emerged about the use of reprocessed instruments from third parties with Intuitive’s robotic systems. We believe it is unlikely that hospitals would be willing to take a risk using third party reprocessed instruments because of the potential for quality, reliability, and liability issues. We continue to believe Intuitive has a long runway for growth driven by the continued adoption of the company’s robotic systems in an expanding number of surgical procedures.

BSD Analysis:
Intuitive is the definition of medical device compounding: razor/razorblade economics with recurring revenue and deep clinical switching costs. Once a hospital commits to da Vinci, the ecosystem locks in through training, workflow, and consumables. Growth is steady, not explosive, which is why the stock lives or dies by valuation discipline. Competitive threats exist, but adoption curves in surgery move at glacial speed—favoring incumbents. The risk is procedure volumes in downturns and pricing pressure from cost-conscious hospitals. Still, this is one of the rare medtech franchises with true platform characteristics. It’s expensive because it deserves to be.

Pitch Summary:
The Trade Desk is the leading internet advertising demand-side platform (DSP), enabling agencies to efficiently purchase digital advertising across Connected TV (CTV), PC, mobile, and online video channels. Shares declined 31.9% during the quarter as the company reported in-line earnings relative to conservative guidance amid a strong quarter for peers in digital advertising. Trade Desk’s TAM remains large and underpenetrated, but advertisers may take longer to shift towards biddable programmatic CTV advertising and could be drawn to lower fees offered by competitors. We continue to monitor the competitive landscape, particularly as Amazon enters the market more meaningfully with its rapidly improving DSP offering. Even so, we believe Trade Desk remains the market leader. Execution has improved in managing the rollout and client adoption of the company’s upgraded Kokai platform, and operations have stabilized following organizational changes in late 2024. As growth has moderated going forward, we have significantly reduced our position.

BSD Analysis:
The Trade Desk is the cleanest way to play the shift from linear TV to programmatic advertising, with a “neutral platform” pitch advertisers love. Its edge is data, measurement, and workflow—becoming the system of record for ad buyers. But advertising is cyclical, and budget cuts expose how quickly growth narratives can wobble. The bullish thesis rests on CTV adoption and UID2 helping preserve addressability in a privacy-first world. Competition from walled gardens never goes away, and platforms prefer to tax rather than empower intermediaries. The company executes, but the industry structure is not always friendly. TTD is a great operator in a knife fight.

Pitch Summary:
We continued to build our position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC). We believe that while near-term uncertainty is heightened due to the developing China_xFFFE_U.S. geopolitical relations, TSMC’s competitive positioning in leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing remains unmatched with a 90% market share (and 65% overall). TSMC’s unique positioning in the market is underlined with the company’s ability to raise prices as demand for its next generation nodes continues to be robust – this should also enable TSMC to offset any margin pressures from cost inflation or the headwinds from opening fabs in the U.S. at an accelerated pace. We also believe that TSMC will benefit from a long duration of growth as the adoption of AI continues to accelerate. Note that TSMC will benefit regardless of the ultimate market share split between NVIDIA, Advanced Micro Devices, OpenAI, or Anthropic and whether application-specific integrated circuits would garner any significant market share. It’s the ultimate picks and shovels supplier to AI.

BSD Analysis:
TSMC is the single most important company in global technology manufacturing. Its moat is execution at the atomic level, reinforced by trust and scale no rival can match. Leading-edge pricing power is real because customers have no credible alternatives. The discount exists for one reason: geopolitics. Capex is enormous, but returns justify it because the industry has consolidated around winners. Any disruption would be catastrophic, which paradoxically reinforces global dependence. If Taiwan risk never materializes, the stock is mispriced. If it does, valuation is irrelevant. TSMC is excellence with existential beta.

Pitch Summary:
Generative AI models like ChatGPT have introduced a bear case for Alphabet for the first time in over 20 years, centering on the potential disruption of its core search business and massive advertising revenue stream. While Google has long held a near-monopolistic position in the search engine market, the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT could lead to a shift in user behavior and a potential erosion of Google’s long-standing lead. For long-term investors, the central risk is that generative AI-powered interfaces could fundamentally change how users seek information, bypassing traditional search results and threatening Alphabet's most profitable advertising engine. However, Google has thus far only seen growth in the number of search queries supported by AI overviews and AI mode, which have also expanded the addressable opportunity to longer and more complex queries. Additionally, Google has seen paid clicks reaccelerate despite the rise of ChatGPT. More broadly, the bull case for Alphabet is multifaceted, leveraging its extensive AI expertise and vast ecosystem. Firstly, Alphabet's DeepMind is a leader in AI research, with a superior talent pipeline and retention, allowing the company to attract top-tier talent and convert research into products at scale – see the recent Veo 3 video generation model release or the significant progress that Alphabet has made with its Gemini models. Second, in contrast to rivals like Meta, Alphabet's diversified revenue streams and hardware investments, such as its custom tensor processing units, provide a crucial advantage. By developing its own full-stack AI infrastructure, from hardware to applications, Alphabet gains superior price-to-performance relative to general-purpose chips like GPUs. This approach enables a more cost-efficient scaling of AI workloads all else being equal. Third, Alphabet's scaled user aggregation surfaces, offers a significant competitive moat. The company has a "billion user club," with nine software products boasting over a billion users each, including Android, Chrome, YouTube, Gmail, and Google Maps. This massive, existing user base provides a substantial advantage by effectively lowering customer acquisition costs for new AI products. Critically, this scaled user base is a powerful magnet for developers, who are incentivized to build applications that integrate with Google's AI engine to reach a vast audience. This flywheel effect – where users attract developers, and a robust app ecosystem attracts more users – strengthens Alphabet's position at the heart of the AI landscape. A fourth forward-looking driver is the coming evolution in commerce, in which every piece of content becomes "shoppable." With its scaled surfaces like YouTube and Google Maps, combined with advanced AI, Alphabet is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this shift. For instance, AI models could recognize products in real_xFFFE_time within videos or images, and via integrations with merchants, enable them to be shoppable just in time – this should strengthen Alphabet’s positioning in commerce. Lastly, the recent resolution in the Department of Justice case against Alphabet, which was close to a best-case scenario, removes a significant overhang from the stock. Getting everything Alphabet has to offer across its platform and ecosystem at a 23 times P/E multiple is attractive for long-term investors in our view.

BSD Analysis:
Alphabet prints cash, but AI forces it to defend search economics for the first time in decades. The shift from links to answers threatens ad formats and pricing. Cloud is improving, yet remains a capex arms race. Optionality is everywhere, but discipline is uneven. Regulation is a slow bleed on multiples, not a kill shot. Buybacks quietly support per-share math. Bulls see an undervalued cash engine; bears see peak search rents. Alphabet’s future is monetizing AI without eating itself.

Pitch Summary:
Tesla, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells fully electric vehicles (EVs), related software and components, solar products, and energy storage solutions. Shares rose 40.0% during the quarter due to three key catalysts. First, Tesla’s core automotive business is showing renewed strength, with record third quarter delivery volumes across major markets following an enthusiastic consumer response to a new Model Y variant in China and the expiry of EV credits in the U.S. Second, investor confidence in the company's long-term vision and in Elon Musk’s leadership was reinforced by a newly proposed CEO compensation package and nearly $1 billion in personal share purchases by Musk. Finally, Tesla’s AI initiatives continue to advance rapidly, highlighted by the Austin robotaxi network’s expansion from 20 to over 170 square miles since its June 2025 launch and plans for rollouts to additional cities. The Full Self-Driving version 14 release is also expected to deliver a major leap in capability for the company’s consumer-owned fleet, while humanoid robot production is anticipated next year as Tesla finalizes its latest Optimus design.

BSD Analysis:
Tesla is still the best EV manufacturer, but EVs are no longer scarce. Pricing pressure has exposed how thin automotive moats really are once competition becomes competent. The pivot to AI, autonomy, and robotics is strategically necessary, but chronically delayed. Margins compress when growth is bought with discounts, not innovation. The brand is powerful, yet consumer patience is finite. Execution risk is now about delivery, not vision. Bulls are underwriting future breakthroughs; bears are underwriting present economics. Tesla remains great—but greatness alone no longer commands the multiple it once did.

Pitch Summary:
Shopify Inc. is a cloud-based software provider for multi_xFFFE_channel commerce. Shares rose 28.6% during the quarter as the company continued to deliver stellar results, with second quarter revenue up 30% year-over-year in constant currency, reflecting sustained market share gains driven by 29% growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV). Growth was broad based across Shopify’s core e-commerce merchant base and supported by successful expansion into offline, international, and business-to_xFFFE_business channels, which grew 29%, 42%, and 101%, respectively. Shares also benefited from developments in agentic commerce, underscored by Shopify’s recently announced partnership with OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT. We believe the company's maturing product suite is becoming increasingly attractive to merchants of all sizes and geographies, enabling it to further expand its addressable market. We remain shareholders due to Shopify’s strong competitive positioning, innovative culture, and long runway for growth, as it still holds less than a 2% share of the global commerce market.

BSD Analysis:
Shopify powers the long tail of e-commerce, quietly embedding itself as the operating system for merchants. Switching costs are real, but pricing power is subtle and indirect. Growth is no longer about store adds—it’s about monetization depth and merchant success. Fulfillment ambitions were dialed back for a reason: logistics eats margins and focus. Merchant health is cyclical, and downturns show up quickly in GMV. Competition from Amazon is existential but overstated; competition from indifference is not. The platform is excellent, but valuation assumes durability under pressure. Shopify works best when merchants are optimistic. It’s a platform with mood swings.

Pitch Summary:
NVIDIA Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in platforms for accelerated computing. Its dominant position in AI infrastructure with a comprehensive portfolio spanning graphics processing unit (GPUs), systems, software, and high-performance networking solutions, continues to drive strong performance. Shares rose 18.1% during the quarter as investor confidence in AI infrastructure expansion grew. NVIDIA reported mid-term visibility of tens of GWs in AI buildouts, with each GW representing an estimated $35 billion total addressable market (TAM). During its last earnings call, the company announced that its long-term TAM expanded from $1 trillion to between $3 and $4 trillion, while more recently announcing a 10 GW deal with OpenAI. As AI infrastructure investment accelerates, NVIDIA’s leadership continues to strengthen through durable moats across compute silicon, networking, systems, software, and supply chain. We maintain a long-term constructive view, as leading AI labs show growing confidence in their ability to achieve human-level intelligence and deploy AI products in enterprise settings. All the industries bottlenecked by intelligence will leverage AI, unlocking trillions of dollars in value. Most of these AI workloads will be supported by large language models running in the datacenters. NVIDIA is uniquely positioned to power this transformation through its full-stack approach, spanning silicon, systems, software, and developer ecosystem, and hence its competitive moat continues to widen.

BSD Analysis:
NVIDIA is the arms dealer to the AI revolution, and right now it controls both supply and pricing. The moat extends beyond silicon into software, developer ecosystems, and relentless execution velocity. Demand today is real, but investors are increasingly underwriting permanence rather than cycle. Hyperscalers are both customers and future competitors, which caps long-term negotiating power. Any normalization in supply or capex discipline will ripple straight into expectations. That said, switching costs are brutally underestimated. NVIDIA is a phenomenal business priced for dominance without interruption. When sentiment shifts, it will be violent—but until then, fundamentals justify arrogance. This is scarcity economics with a timer attached.

Pitch Summary:
CME Group owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, NYMEX, and COMEX, giving it dominance across interest rate, equity index, and energy futures. CME benefits from two powerful network effects: (1) exchange liquidity, since futures contracts must be opened and closed on the same exchange, and (2) clearinghouse position netting, which substantially reduces customer capital requirements when transactions offset. These reinforcing effects create massive switching costs and make alternative liquidity pools extremely difficult to establish. CME’s exclusive index futures licenses (S&P 500, Russell 2000, Nasdaq) further cement its moat. As global capital markets structurally grow faster than GDP, CME stands to benefit from rising futures volume, volatility demand, and international investor participation.

BSD Analysis:
CME Group is one of those rare market infrastructures that becomes more valuable simply because the global financial system keeps getting more complex. Its dominance across interest rate, equity index, and energy futures is not an accident but the result of decades of liquidity buildup that competitors have no realistic way to replicate. The exchange and clearinghouse network effects work together in a way that makes switching basically impossible; once liquidity is established on a single venue, everyone is locked in because moving means losing tight spreads, deep order books, and efficient netting. CME’s exclusive index futures licenses on benchmarks like the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 add another layer of moat strength that rivals can only envy. As capital markets keep outgrowing the broader economy, demand for hedging, leverage, and volatility exposure naturally rises with them. International investors also continue to flow into CME’s ecosystem because it offers the cleanest, most regulated, and most liquid access to the benchmarks they care about. The result is a business with massive embedded advantages that quietly compounds as global trading volume expands.

Pitch Summary:
Barrick Mining rose sharply supported by continued strong gold price performance as well as delivering strong second quarter earnings. Highlights included a significant 47% year-over-year increase in adjusted net earnings per share, marking the best quarterly performance since 2013. Robust performance was driven by steadily rising gold prices and improved operational efficiency, with all of Barrick’s production regions on track to meet their 2025 output and cost targets. Notably, the company provided a positive update regarding its Fourmile operations in Nevada, highlighting the potential to commission one of the world's highest-grade gold mines by the end of the decade. This development is expected to support Barrick's future growth and enhance its cash flow profile.

BSD Analysis:
Barrick’s surge reflects a rare moment when both the macro backdrop and company fundamentals are pushing in the same direction. Gold prices have been grinding higher, but what really stands out is Barrick translating that tailwind into its strongest quarterly earnings performance since 2013, with adjusted EPS up forty seven percent year over year. Operationally, the company is finally hitting its stride, with every major region tracking toward planned 2025 production and cost targets, a level of consistency investors haven’t always been able to count on. The update on Fourmile is particularly meaningful: commissioning one of the highest grade gold deposits in the world by the end of the decade would materially upgrade Barrick’s long term production quality and cash generation. High grade mines are rare, durable assets that change the profile of a portfolio, not just its near term output. With improving efficiency, stronger pricing, and a high quality growth option maturing in Nevada, Barrick’s cash flow outlook looks increasingly attractive. The stock’s move is justified by fundamentals, and the setup still has room as execution continues to improve.

Pitch Summary:
Elsewhere in the portfolio, we rotated our exposure in Japan via exiting Fujitsu, the largest IT services operator in Japan which provides both software and hardware solutions, having reached our target price and valuation, re-rating to a 15 year high of 18x forward earnings, and has meaningfully outperformed the local index. The capital was deployed into Daikin, the world's largest and most regionally diversified HVAC OEM by sales, with 20% market share globally. HVAC is an attractive growth industry driven by urbanisation, economic growth, rising temperatures and innovations in energy efficiency driving replacement rates. Daikin’s vertically integrated business model and strong US domestic manufacturing footprint, position the company to reclaim lost share as they are relatively insulated from tariffs and can supply internally sourced refrigerant at a time when competitors are facing supply constraints due to reliance on external sourcing.

BSD Analysis:
Daikin stands out as the world’s largest and most regionally diversified HVAC manufacturer, giving it scale advantages and pricing power across virtually every major market. HVAC remains one of the strongest structural growth industries globally, supported by urbanisation, rising incomes, hotter climates, and a steady push toward more energy-efficient systems that accelerate replacement demand. Daikin’s vertical integration is a major competitive edge, allowing it to control key components such as refrigerants at a time when competitors reliant on external sourcing are running into supply constraints. Its robust US manufacturing footprint also protects the company from tariff volatility and helps it compete more effectively in the most profitable HVAC market. With demand picking up across both residential and commercial channels, Daikin is positioned to recapture share it temporarily ceded during supply-chain disruptions. The company’s technology leadership in high-efficiency systems aligns well with tightening regulatory standards worldwide, reinforcing long-term demand visibility. Taken together, Daikin offers a compelling blend of secular growth, operational resilience, and competitive differentiation in a market with decades of runway.

Pitch Summary:
We also initiated a position in Globus Medical, a leading medical devices manufacturer with a top three position in spinal orthopedics devices, spinal surgical robots and trauma surgery devices. It is a pure-play operator in the spinal market, taking market share through innovation and business development to boost scale and fill product gaps. Growth is supported by structural tailwinds in spinal orthopedics including demographics, improving surgery success rates with advances in technology, expansion into orthopedic adjacencies such as knees and hips, under-penetration of robotics in spinal surgeries, and further expansion into the spinal cord stimulation market. The company has a strong balance sheet, is buying back stock and has capacity for business development to support growth.

BSD Analysis:
Globus Medical is one of the strongest pure-play operators in spinal orthopedics, with top-three positions in spinal implants, surgical robotics, and trauma devices anchoring a well-defended competitive moat. Its focus on the spine market allows Globus to innovate faster than diversified medtech peers, consistently taking share by expanding its product ecosystem and filling gaps through targeted business development. The company benefits from powerful structural tailwinds including an aging population, rising surgical success rates driven by better navigation and imaging, and growing demand for minimally invasive procedures. Robotics remains significantly under-penetrated in spine surgeries, giving Globus a long runway as hospitals upgrade to more precise, tech-enabled operating rooms. The company is also pushing into adjacent categories such as knees, hips, and spinal cord stimulation, broadening its addressable market while leveraging its existing commercial footprint. With a strong balance sheet, active buybacks, and ample capacity for bolt-on deals, Globus has the financial flexibility to compound growth for years. Overall, it represents a high-quality medtech growth story with multiple vectors of durable upside.

Pitch Summary:
We trimmed our longstanding position in Microsoft against strength and increased the position on Procore, a leading US construction management software used by the largest general contractors, project owners and specialty trades globally. Concerns including competition and soft construction demand presented the opportunity to establish a position. Procore continues to see new wins and an expansion in existing contracts given it is over-indexed to non-residential segments such as datacentres, manufacturing and healthcare, despite the macro backdrop. Our analysis suggests Procore can see revenue growth re-accelerate towards high-teens as overall construction demand improves, broader industry digitisation drives technology adoption and its go-to-market ramps to secure greater share in new geographies and segments.

BSD Analysis:
Procore is the leading construction management software platform in the US, embedded across the workflow of major general contractors, project owners, and specialty trades. Even with competitive noise and a softer construction backdrop, the company continues to win new customers while expanding usage within existing accounts, a sign that its platform has become mission-critical for complex projects. Its exposure is skewed toward non-residential segments such as datacenters, manufacturing, and healthcare, all of which remain comparatively resilient and continue to drive solid demand. Construction is still one of the least digitised major industries, and rising project complexity, labor shortages, and regulatory requirements are pushing firms to adopt integrated cloud tools like Procore. As broader construction activity stabilizes, Procore has a credible path to reaccelerate growth toward the high-teens, helped by deeper industry digitisation and an expanding international footprint. Its go-to-market engine continues to strengthen, allowing the company to penetrate new geographies and adjacent segments. With a durable competitive position and a large underpenetrated market, Procore is well positioned to compound revenue for many years.

Pitch Summary:
We initiated a position in Shin-Etsu Chemical Company, a global leader in three key businesses (PVC, silicones and polysilicon wafers), each operating in consolidated markets with high barriers to entry. In PVC, most of Shin-Etsu’s assets are in the US, benefiting from low-cost power and natural gas, placing the company at the bottom of the global cash cost curve. While demand has been weak due to a sluggish US housing market, signs of rates peaking and resilient household balance sheets can support a recovery. In silicones, used across construction, autos, electronics, and healthcare, demand typically grows at twice GDP. The market outside China is highly consolidated, and recent overcapacity in China has pushed prices to breakeven levels, but with closures and cancelled expansions, conditions are improving. Finally, in polysilicon wafers, Shin-Etsu is the leading player in 300mm diameter wafers, the standard for advanced nodes. Demand spans autos, gaming, smartphones, PCs and data centres, with AI emerging as a structural driver. AI servers require three times more silicon than traditional servers, offering a powerful tailwind. The company is priced at 16x forward earnings with high single digit growth, 20% of the company’s market capitalisation in cash, and potential upside from corporate action.

BSD Analysis:
Shin-Etsu Chemical is uniquely positioned as a global leader in PVC, silicones, and polysilicon wafers, each of which operates within consolidated industries that offer high barriers to entry and structurally attractive economics. Its PVC capacity is largely based in the US, giving the company a durable cost advantage thanks to low-cost power and natural gas that place it at the bottom of the global cash-cost curve. Demand softness tied to US housing should ease as rates peak and household balance sheets remain healthy, setting up a cyclical recovery from a position of structural strength. In silicones, Shin-Etsu benefits from end markets that historically grow at roughly twice GDP, and the recent price pressure from Chinese overcapacity is beginning to abate as closures and cancelled expansions tighten supply. The company’s leadership in 300mm semiconductor wafers gives it exposure to powerful secular demand across autos, electronics, data centers, and especially AI, where next-generation servers require several times more silicon per unit. With the stock trading at around sixteen times forward earnings, backed by high single-digit growth and a balance sheet holding cash equal to roughly twenty percent of its market cap, valuation remains undemanding. Potential corporate actions only add optionality to what is already a high-quality, multi-segment compounder positioned to benefit from both cyclical recovery and long-term technological tailwinds.

Pitch Summary:
We meaningfully increased our position in CATL, a global leader in electric batteries, as the outlook appears incrementally positive. Domestically, the company can continue to benefit from higher electric passenger vehicle sales and the accelerated adoption of light and heavy-duty EV trucks. Internationally, the company is taking market share in Europe, with overseas sales now accounting for 40% of gross profit. Rising demand coupled with supply side reform can see profitability inflect further. Despite this, the stock is priced at 15x forward earnings, with earnings growing c. 20% p.a. over the medium term.

BSD Analysis:
CATL remains the global leader in EV battery technology and scale, and the outlook has turned increasingly constructive as both domestic and international demand trends improve. In China, rising penetration of electric passenger vehicles and accelerating adoption of electric trucks give CATL a deep runway of OEM demand across multiple vehicle classes. Abroad, the company is steadily gaining share in Europe, where overseas sales now contribute roughly forty percent of gross profit, demonstrating that its competitive advantages translate well beyond its home market. A healthier demand backdrop combined with ongoing supply-side reform is setting up a profitability inflection, particularly as weaker competitors exit or scale back expansion. Despite this improving environment, CATL still trades at about fifteen times forward earnings, an attractive entry point for a company central to global electrification. With earnings expected to grow around twenty percent annually over the medium term, the valuation looks increasingly disconnected from its strategic importance. CATL’s scale, technology leadership, and global positioning make it one of the most compelling long-duration beneficiaries of the EV transition.

Pitch Summary:
Barrick Mining rose sharply supported by continued strong gold price performance as well as delivering strong second quarter earnings. Highlights included a significant 47% year-over-year increase in adjusted net earnings per share, marking the best quarterly performance since 2013. Robust performance was driven by steadily rising gold prices and improved operational efficiency, with all of Barrick’s production regions on track to meet their 2025 output and cost targets. Notably, the company provided a positive update regarding its Fourmile operations in Nevada, highlighting the potential to commission one of the world's highest-grade gold mines by the end of the decade. This development is expected to support Barrick's future growth and enhance its cash flow profile.

BSD Analysis:
Barrick Mining’s recent share price strength reflects a combination of rising gold prices and the company’s strongest operational performance in more than a decade. Adjusted earnings surged forty-seven percent year over year in the second quarter, marking Barrick’s best quarterly result since 2013 and highlighting how effectively it is converting higher metal prices into cash flow. All major production regions remain on track to hit 2025 output and cost targets, a meaningful improvement in consistency for a company that has historically struggled with variability across its portfolio. The update on the Fourmile project in Nevada is particularly important, as it positions Barrick to bring one of the world’s highest-grade gold deposits into production by the end of the decade. High-grade mines materially enhance margin durability and long-term cash generation, making Fourmile a strategic asset rather than just incremental volume. With operational efficiency improving and the gold price backdrop supportive, Barrick’s cash flow profile looks increasingly robust. The company is building real momentum and appears well positioned for a multi-year period of stronger, more predictable growth.