Updated May 24, 2026 · 2187 articles
Insights
Research, news and field guides on institutional positioning. Powered by real SEC filings — 13F, 13D/G, Form 4.
Correlation: Why Diversification Is About Difference, Not Count
Owning fifty stocks isn't diversified if they all move together. Learn how correlation, not the number of holdings, drives real diversification, why it is called the only free lunch in investing, why correlations spike toward 1 in a crisis, and how to read it in a 13F.
Sarah MitchellReinvestment and Return on Incremental Capital
Two companies with the same profits can have wildly different futures, depending on what they can do with each new dollar. Learn return on incremental capital and the reinvestment runway, the engine behind true compounders, and why a cash cow is a different kind of investment.
Sarah MitchellThe Sharpe Ratio: Measuring Return Against Risk
A 20% return isn't automatically better than 12%, it depends on the risk taken. Learn how the Sharpe ratio measures excess return per unit of volatility, why a steadier portfolio can be the more skillful one, what the ratio misses, and why risk-adjusted thinking matters.
Sarah MitchellHolding Cash: Why Dry Powder Is an Active Decision
For disciplined value investors, holding cash is an active choice, not leftover money. Learn why managers keep dry powder when stocks look expensive, how it cushions drawdowns and funds bargains in a panic, the real cost of cash drag, and why a 13F can't show it.
Sarah MitchellEmerging Markets Investing: Higher Growth, Different Risks
Emerging markets offer some of investing's most compelling growth stories alongside its sharpest risks, volatile currencies, abrupt policy shifts, thinner liquidity. Learn what makes EM different, why investors are drawn to it, and how to read emerging-markets exposure in a 13F.
Sarah MitchellMawer 13F (2026 Q1): A Global-Quality Book in Broad Retreat
Mawer, the Calgary firm whose motto is be boring, make money, runs a patient global-quality book. Its 2026 Q1 US filing shows broad retreat, nearly every major position trimmed and reported value down from $22B to $15B, the fingerprint of outflows rather than lost conviction.
Marcus ChenMairs & Power 13F (2026 Q1): Megacaps and a Minnesota Tilt
Mairs & Power has managed money from St. Paul since 1931, and its book carries a hometown accent. Its 2026 Q1 13F pairs a megacap-tech core, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, with prominent Minnesota industrials like Graco and Toro, a quality-growth discipline rooted in local knowledge.
Marcus ChenWestwood Global 13F (2026 Q1): 12 Stocks, Mostly Latin America
Westwood Global runs emerging-markets investing the rare way: just 12 high-conviction positions, mostly Latin American. Its 2026 Q1 book is anchored by Credicorp and Itaú, with a 78% add to Argentina's Grupo Galicia and a new Yum China stake, a focused regional wager, not diversified EM.
Marcus ChenFirst Pacific Advisors 13F (2026 Q1): Value With a Quality Streak
First Pacific Advisors occupies the middle ground of value investing, owning unloved value names and high-quality compounders side by side when the price is right. Its 2026 Q1 book pairs Analog Devices and Alphabet with Citigroup and Comcast, while trimming several winners.
Marcus ChenNetwork Effects: The Moat That Widens With Scale
A network effect makes a product more valuable as more people use it, the rare moat that strengthens with scale instead of eroding. Learn how it powers payment networks, marketplaces and platforms, why two-sided networks are hardest to dislodge, and how it shapes quality portfolios.
Sarah MitchellOperating Leverage: Why Profits Swing More Than Sales
Operating leverage explains why a company's profits can jump 30% on 10% more revenue, or collapse far faster in a downturn. Learn how fixed costs act as a profit multiplier in both directions, why software soars and airlines suffer, and how it shapes the risk in a 13F's holdings.
Sarah MitchellThe Math of Drawdowns: Why Avoiding Losses Matters Most
A 50% loss needs a 100% gain just to break even, and the math only gets crueler from there. Learn why this asymmetry makes capital preservation central to compounding, how avoiding deep drawdowns protects the long-term runway, and how the discipline shows up in a 13F.
Sarah MitchellCountry Risk and Home Bias: Where a Stock Lives Matters
A company's home country shapes its risk through currency, rates, politics and the local economy, and investors quietly overweight their own. Learn country risk and home bias, and how to spot a 13F that is really a concentrated bet on a single nation rather than a diversified book.
Sarah MitchellActive Share: How Active Is a Fund Really?
Active share measures how much of a fund's portfolio differs from its benchmark, from 0% for a pure index-hugger to 100% for no overlap. Learn how it exposes closet indexers charging active fees, why it signals activity but not skill, and how to gauge it from a 13F.
Sarah MitchellCore-Satellite Investing: Index Core, Active Bets on Top
Core-satellite investing pairs a broad, low-cost index core with smaller active bets where conviction is highest. Learn how the approach works, how to spot it in a 13F that holds ETFs alongside individual stocks, and why the two layers must be read completely differently.
Sarah MitchellPinnacle Associates 13F (2026 Q1): Stocks and ETFs Side by Side
Pinnacle Associates' 2026 Q1 13F blends hand-picked megacaps, Johnson & Johnson, Apple, Nvidia, with broad-market index ETFs like SPY, VTI and a new Nasdaq-100 sleeve. A core-satellite book that shows where the firm bets actively and where it is content to own the market.
Marcus ChenCrawford Investment 13F (2026 Q1): An Income-and-Quality Book
Crawford Investment Counsel builds around high-quality companies that pay and grow reliable dividends. Its 2026 Q1 book spreads $5.85B across 300 income payers, with a utility-and-staples backbone, AbbVie, AstraZeneca, AEP, Philip Morris, and a new AstraZeneca stake.
Marcus ChenCardinal Capital 13F (2026 Q1): A Canadian Blue-Chip Book
Cardinal Capital's 2026 Q1 13F reads like the Toronto exchange: a concentrated 66-stock book anchored by Suncor, the big Canadian banks, pipelines and life insurers. A dividend-rich bet on Canada's resource and financial economy, headlined by a doubling of its Sun Life position.
Marcus ChenAuxier 13F (2026 Q1): A Capital-Preservation Value Book
Jeff Auxier runs money to protect capital first and let returns follow. His 2026 Q1 book spreads $696M across 176 mostly defensive names, Philip Morris, Kroger, Walmart, Microsoft, J&J, with only light trims, the texture of a downside-aware, capital-preservation strategy.
Marcus ChenCapital-Light vs Capital-Intensive: Why It Shapes Returns
Some businesses generate revenue with little investment in physical assets; others must keep pouring cash into factories and equipment just to compete. Learn why capital-light franchises are prized for free cash flow, why intensity isn't destiny, and how the split shapes quality portfolios.
Sarah Mitchell