Q3 fund letters are starting to come out. 170 new letters are already on the site since Oct 1. Good time to show what I've built to save you hours of reading fund research 🧵

Halvio Capital is long Master Drilling Group Limited ($MDI) — their thesis in 5 points: • Global leader in raise boring for mining, with 80% of revenues tied to raise boring worldwide, not one region, and a history of strong profitability • Backlog has doubled recently and sits at an all-time high of $1 billion; gold is 38% of that amount, and the company says the pipeline is now over $1 billion • With a market cap just under $150 million, MDI trades at under 4x earnings, 3x EV/EBIT, 2.3x EV/EBITDA and 0.63x book value • Growth could come from mining budgets tied to the metal bull market, plus new tech: Shaft Boring System trials ran at 3 to 5 metres per day vs 1 to 2 metres per day, with potential for 5 to 10 metres per day by next year • Risks: Johannesburg Stock Exchange listing limits access and price discovery, stock is in South African Rand while reporting is in USD, and it is cyclical despite revenue growth in all but one of the past 10 years Source → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

Desert Lion Capital Fund I, LP is long iOCO ($IOC) — their thesis in 5 points: • iOCO is one of South Africa’s largest IT services companies, covering software implementation, managed IT services, cloud/data/automation/AI, cybersecurity, custom development, payroll/HR, legal/risk/forensics, and industrial systems for mining, utilities and manufacturing. • The business has turned around under new management and a strategic activist shareholder: EPS was up +42% YoY to 57cps, ROIC was 26%, ROE was 35%, and net debt fell to 0.2 times Net Debt to EBITDA. • The stock is under the radar at a R2.5bn ($150m) market cap, with no sell side coverage, and the market is also weighed down by a tarnished EOH history. • iOCO trades at 400cps and 7 times trailing PE; management sees 200 cents in FCF per share over the next 2 years, which it wants to use for earnings-accretive acquisitions and buybacks of 20% of outstanding shares. • Desert Lion’s base case for FY2027 is EPS of around 68cps, implying about 5.9 times forward earnings with EPS growing at circa 20% per annum. Source → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

Cedar Grove Capital Management Multi-Strategy's latest quarterly letter — key takeaways: • The drawdown was framed as a macro shock, not a fundamental one: the manager points to the 10-year Treasury moving above 5%, persistent inflation fears, fiscal uncertainty, and heavy AI-related debt issuance as the real pressure on the portfolio, while stressing that operating performance at the businesses owned has continued to improve. • Market breadth deteriorated materially even as small-cap indices held up, and the manager is watching to see whether participation broadens again or whether index levels have to fall to force that divergence to close. • The portfolio remains highly concentrated in 13 longs, with a deliberate bias toward profitable businesses, strong industry tailwinds, modest leverage, and balance-sheet resilience; gross leverage was raised to 106% to lean into discounted valuations. • The manager made a meaningful portfolio reset: closed longs in MTY Food Group, uniQure, ClearPoint Neuro, and Suja Life, exited numerous shorts, and added exposure to ABVX, EVLV, GRID.TO, HIMS, KITS.TO, LNSR, NKTR, NURS.V, REAL, and STLN. • New long Zedcor is a mobile surveillance and monitoring provider; OneSpaWorld was added because it looks mispriced relative to resilient cruise demand; Auxly Cannabis was initiated as a vertically integrated Canadian producer with improving revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow. • Evolv Technologies remains the largest position and the clearest core conviction: the manager cites recurring subscription revenue, growing ARR and contracted obligations, improving margins, and continued guidance increases, while acknowledging the overhang from prior revenue-recognition issues, regulatory scrutiny, valuation compression, and possible acquisition interest. • The RealReal is another major contrarian bet, viewed as a turnaround in luxury resale driven by higher-quality consignment growth, AI-enabled authentication, improving EBITDA margins, rising GMV, and network effects between buyers and consignors; the main risks remain 4.4x leverage, consumer weakness, and take-rate compression. • Abivax and Nektar Therapeutics are treated as catalyst-driven biotech positions whose valuations have been pressured by rising yields and temporary uncertainty, but where the manager still sees attractive long-term drug economics and development prospects. • The throughline is a classic deep-value, research-intensive approach: buy companies below estimated intrinsic value, tolerate volatility, and stay invested when fundamentals are improving even if the stocks are being punished by the market. Read the full letter → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

📊 Growth signals beneath the surface Source: Legal & General Investment Management

Minot Light Capital Appreciation Fund is long Suja Life ($SUJA) — their thesis in 5 points: • SUJA is one of the country’s largest manufacturers and distributors of fresh pressed juices and immunity shots, with vertical integration, an extensive cold chain distribution network, and strong brands in Suja and Vive. • The shots business is described as one of the best CPG businesses the manager has encountered, with 40%+ market share and gross margins likely well above 50%. • The core juice and shots business, excluding its investment in emerging brand Slice, should have around 20% EBITDA margins. • After its IPO in May 2026, the stock fell to levels approaching 1x EV/Sales, versus more common private market values in better-for-you CPG of 2-3x sales for companies that are far less profitable and less defensible. • A recovery was helped when SUJA’s largest private equity sponsor bought over 20% of the available public float in swift fashion; the fund also cites a relatively strong balance sheet, strong profitability, and a powerful franchise as reasons it could buy more on weakness. Source → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

Generation IM Global Equity Strategy's latest quarterly letter — key takeaways: • The manager sees an early rotation away from AI infrastructure suppliers and toward hyperscalers and software companies that can turn AI spend into durable, recurring revenue. Their core AI view is that the biggest long-term winners will be businesses that “make use of intelligence,” not the suppliers of increasingly commoditised compute, memory and data-centre capacity. • Amazon and Microsoft are central to that thesis as AI diffusion platforms: they combine data, distribution, cloud infrastructure, compliance services and entrenched enterprise relationships, positioning them to capture value as AI adoption spreads. • Generation remains constructive on software companies that are systems of record, hold proprietary customer data and have sticky client relationships, arguing that AI adoption could strengthen rather than erode their terminal value. • The portfolio shifted selectively into AI-related enablers and application-layer winners: it initiated Synopsys for its critical role in increasingly complex chip design and Intuitive Surgical as the leader in robotic-assisted surgery, while also adding exposure via ASML and considering Cadence Design Systems. • The firm’s AI view is explicitly not a blanket bullish call on infrastructure: it expects AI demand to grow substantially, but believes infrastructure returns will decline as supply expands and costs per token fall, with the bigger opportunity moving into software, data integration and organisational redesign. • Several holdings were sold on signs that competitive advantages were weakening: Cooper Companies and Equifax were exited after channel inventory distortion, share loss and erosion in moat quality, while Charles Schwab was sold amid uncertainty around financial agents, deposit risks and inadequate responsiveness to climate-related business issues. • Existing positions Danaher, Sika, Microsoft and Workday remain favored, with the manager pointing to AI-related demand for Microsoft and Workday, and improving bioprocessing and specialty-chemicals momentum for Danaher and Sika. • The sustainability lens remains active and thematic rather than cosmetic: the firm says AI safety and governance are material sustainability issues, arguing that frontier AI labs cannot regulate themselves and need stronger external controls, while portfolio engagement stays focused on data-centre energy and water use, climate standards and transition plans. Read the full letter → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

Malborough US Focus Fund's latest quarterly letter — key takeaways: • The manager remains worried about extremely narrow market breadth: mega-cap technology stocks are still driving index gains while many other constituents remain well below their 52-week highs. • He expects higher bond yields to persist, citing large fiscal deficits, increased defence and ageing-related spending, elevated energy prices and heavy debt issuance to fund AI infrastructure. • The letter is constructive on the broader earnings backdrop: strong corporate earnings growth and continued upward revisions to longer-term estimates, with the manager expecting broader market leadership to emerge as profitability and free cash flow expand beyond the largest technology companies. • AI capex is seen as a near-term drag on free cash flow for several mega-cap technology names, but he thinks the beneficiaries are elsewhere: electrical equipment, power generation, construction, semiconductors, HVAC and industrial automation should see improving cash-flow prospects. • Microsoft, Halozyme Therapeutics and Meta were the main contributors; the manager pointed to Microsoft’s Azure and Copilot reacceleration, Halozyme’s royalty growth and Meta’s early monetisation of consumer AI. • KLA, Applied Materials and Lam Research detracted as investors rotated away from high-momentum semiconductor and AI-related stocks and reassessed whether the returns on elevated AI capital expenditure will justify the spend. • A new position in SanDisk reflects a structural AI view: the manager sees NAND flash memory as a beneficiary of AI workloads and future inferencing demand, with improving margins and less cyclical demand creating room for valuation expansion. • Tapestry was sold despite the successful Coach revival, because revenue growth is expected to slow, operating margins may have peaked and Kate Spade’s recovery may take longer than expected. Read the full letter → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Global Fixed Income's latest quarterly letter — key takeaways: • The manager sees a structurally higher real-yield backdrop as AI infrastructure, power-grid spending, climate adaptation and defence drive investment demand; fiscal deterioration, ageing populations and higher defence spending are also medium-term concerns, even if debt levels are not yet seen as unsustainable. • Duration was moved from neutral-to-slightly long to neutral-to-long, with a clear preference for Australia and New Zealand: high rates are already weighing on those economies, while yields still look attractive. • The portfolio is being positioned for carry at the short end while limiting yield-curve risk, with core bond exposure centered on commodity exporters including Norway, Australia and the US. • The manager expects developed-market yields to plateau and then eventually decline, arguing that 5% ten-year yields are a meaningful drag on growth; if spreads widen, credit exposure may be increased. • In Europe, the short-rate stance stays neutral: markets are still pricing more ECB tightening toward a deposit rate a bit above 3%, but energy-driven inflation is being offset by easing wages and tighter financial conditions. • Long-dated UK gilts are seen as attractive after the global backup in yields, with elevated term premia and the Bank of England’s pause in gilt sales providing technical support. • Japanese government bond yields are expected to rise further on BOJ normalisation, reduced central-bank purchases, fiscal concerns and weaker domestic institutional demand. • FX conviction remains limited, but the manager is modestly bullish AUD; the yen is expected to weaken gradually on energy-import costs and wide rate differentials, even if intervention causes temporary setbacks. Read the full letter → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

Harding Loevner Global Equity's latest quarterly letter — key takeaways: • Rising bond yields, including a US 10-year Treasury yield above 5%, are still a headwind for growth stocks, but the manager says valuations are now much more reasonable than during the initial rate-upcycle. • The firm’s earnings framework is centered on two forces: heavy AI infrastructure spending and a commodities windfall that is boosting Energy producers. • AI remains a major source of opportunity across hyperscalers, semiconductors, hardware, power management, and software, but the portfolio stays diversified because capacity expansion, competition, and eventually weaker returns could unwind the cycle. • The manager is explicitly skeptical that current 75–80% incremental profit margins at many semiconductor and IT-equipment companies can last once competitors add capacity and supply catches up with demand. • The portfolio added Lenovo, SK hynix, and Delta Electronics after sharp share-price declines, leaning into hybrid AI computing, high-bandwidth memory, and rising data-center power demand when valuations became attractive. • Software names were retained despite weak sentiment because the manager thinks AI may actually strengthen their competitive advantages, especially where products are embedded in workflows and supported by proprietary data. • Neurocrine Biosciences was added as a comparatively attractively valued healthcare growth idea, backed by the Ingrezza franchise and Crenessity potential, even though the Soleno Therapeutics acquisition introduces execution risk. • The manager exited AstraZeneca after a clinical-trial failure weakened confidence in the pipeline, and sold Booking Holdings because AI assistants could threaten its long-term “connected travel” strategy. • The quarter also saw sales of Atkore after a takeover offer, Deere after valuation appreciation, and exits from Honeywell Aerospace and SAP, underscoring a disciplined willingness to harvest gains and move on. • Diversification remains a core portfolio principle because leadership can shift quickly: Energy outperformed IT in the quarter, and the portfolio is positioned for companies with multiple earnings drivers and more moderate valuations. Read the full letter → hfbestideas.com/letters?open…

📊 Search Engine to Steam Engine Source: Hosking Partners