Institutional ticker directory tracking stock mentions, long/short ideas, and high-conviction pitches extracted from quarterly hedge fund letters.
| Ticker | Company | Sector | Industry | Pitches | Stance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund / Manager | Thesis Excerpt | Stance | Period / Date | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aristotle Small/Mid Cap Equity Jack McPherson and Dave Adams | “Bentley Systems provides mission-critical engineering software and digital twin technology utilized by civil engineers and infrastructure owners worldwide to design, construct, and maintain large-scale physical assets. The fund initiated a new long position during the quarter, viewing the stock as a premier software asset trading at an attractive discount to intrinsic value. The business features an exceptional economic moat characterized by high switching costs, customer retention rates exceeding 95%, and highly predictable subscription and recurring maintenance revenue. Operating leverage is structurally strong, allowing double-digit top-line expansion to translate into consistent operating margin improvement and robust free cash flow generation. Catalysts include secular spending on global infrastructure modernization, grid electrification, and expanding digital twin deployments. Primary risks involve public sector infrastructure budget delays and macroeconomic slowdowns affecting private engineering design backlogs.” | BULL | Q3 2026 Oct 15, 2026 | View Pitch |
Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund Colin McWey, Will Nasgovitz, Troy McGlone | “Bentley Systems ($BSY) is an infrastructure engineering software provider that represents 1.24% of the fund's net assets. Heartland initiated a new position after shares were discounted by broad negative sentiment toward software. The manager maintains a bullish stance, distinguishing vertical mission-critical software with high domain specificity from generic horizontal administrative tools vulnerable to rapid technological disruption and enterprise churn. From an economic standpoint, Bentley commands a formidable economic moat protected by forty years of proprietary engineering data and exceptionally high switching costs. Its software represents merely five basis points (0.05%) of total infrastructure project capital expenditures, creating extreme pricing power and high customer retention given that system failure carries catastrophic financial consequences. This mission-critical utility creates durable unit economics, structural operating leverage, and robust free cash flow conversion as engineering firms utilize software to alleviate severe engineering labor shortages. Key forward-looking catalysts include increased software consumption driven by artificial intelligence modeling workloads and sustained public spending addressing structural underinvestment in global infrastructure. Key risks include delays in civil infrastructure funding cycles, broader enterprise IT budget rationalization, and integration challenges in emerging AI-native engineering tools.” | BULL | Q3 2026 Oct 12, 2026 | View Pitch |
Aoris International Fund Matthew Berry | “Bentley is the global leader in software for the design and lifetime operations of infrastructure assets. Its software is used by engineers to create their design models, simulate how physical and environmental forces might affect an asset, and for project management and collaboration. Bentley has an industry-leading position in the majority of disciplines it serves. The manager believes Bentley can continue to grow revenue and earnings at a healthy rate by providing meaningful productivity benefits to labour-constrained engineering firms. The broad sell-off of software businesses over the last 18 months has provided an opportunity to invest in this resilient, steady-growth business at an unusually attractive discount to fair value. Bentley's biggest opportunity is to create AI agents that suggest designs, run simulations and assist with project management.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 23, 2026 | View Pitch |
Mairs & Power – Power Fund Andrew R. Adams & Pete J. Johnson | “The fund initiated a new position in Bentley Systems, a provider of software for designing and managing critical infrastructure. The manager is attracted to the disconnect between the company's strengthening fundamental trends—such as high subscription retention and accelerating growth—and its declining stock price.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jun 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
Mairs & Power – Power Fund Andrew R. Adams & Pete J. Johnson | “The fund initiated a new position in Bentley Systems, attracted by a disconnect between strong fundamentals and a declining stock price. Bentley provides essential design and management software for physical infrastructure assets, boasting high customer retention and rising demand. The manager believes this valuation dislocation offers an excellent opportunity to acquire a robust business.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jun 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
Conestoga Mid Cap Composite Conestoga Capital Advisors, LLC | “Bentley Systems, Inc. (BSY) traded lower during the quarter as revenue growth decelerated modestly and margins were impacted by increased investment in product development and go-to-market initiatives. Investor concerns centered on project timing delays and variability in public-sector infrastructure spending. While near-term execution weighed on results, Bentley's subscription-based model continues to generate high recurring revenue. The company remains well positioned to benefit from long-term global infrastructure investment trends. Market weakness reflected valuation compression rather than a deterioration in competitive positioning. BSD Analysis: Bentley runs mission-critical design software for infrastructure assets that last decades. Once embedded in a project, Bentley tools remain through the entire lifecycle. Revenue is recurring, global, and tied to long-duration infrastructure spend. Growth isn't flashy, but retention is elite. Investors compare Bentley to faster SaaS names and miss durability. Digital twins and asset optimization add incremental value over time. Government and utility customers don't churn lightly. Margins improve slowly as scale builds. This is software for things that can't fail.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Conestoga Mid Cap Composite Conestoga Capital Advisors, LLC | “Bentley Systems, Inc. (BSY) BSY, a provider of infrastructure engineering software, outperformed the benchmark in 2Q, delivering its thirteenth consecutive quarter of double-digit annual recurring revenue growth (ARR). Management saw strength in Public Works, Utilities, and Small/Medium sized customers, as well as a resilient infrastructure spending environment, underpinned by the flow through in government funding (IIJA). BSD Analysis: Bentley is executing a classic high-quality software compounder playbook with durable double-digit ARR growth and strong visibility from critical infrastructure projects. Its exposure to public works and utilities ties growth to long-term government and regulated spending cycles, dampening macro cyclicality. Margin structure is attractive and should expand as cloud adoption and scale efficiencies continue. The balance sheet is solid and recurring revenue dominates, supporting consistent free cash flow generation and shareholder returns. While the stock typically trades at a premium to general software and market multiples, its “infrastructure rails” positioning and long runway of digitization justify the valuation.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Each excerpt above is the manager's commentary on this ticker specifically. The full letter has the rest of their portfolio thinking, risk discussion, and broader institutional context.