EARNEST Partners Q1 2026: A $24B Book With No Megacaps

Scroll through almost any large institution's 13F and you will see the same names at the top: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon. EARNEST Partners is a striking exception. The Atlanta-based manager runs a $24.25 billion book — and not a single megacap appears among its largest holdings. Instead, the top of the portfolio is a roster of mid-cap industrials, specialty financials, and niche technology names: Moog, FormFactor, Reinsurance Group, Woodward, GATX. For investors who assume all big institutional money flows to the Magnificent Seven, this filing is a useful corrective.

The portfolio is also unusually diversified. The top ten holdings account for only about 18% of the book, with the remaining 82% spread across nearly 300 positions. EARNEST expresses its views through a wide collection of mid-sized businesses rather than a few outsized bets, and its first-quarter 2026 filing shows mostly steady positioning, with reported value up 3.9% to $24.25 billion.

A mid-cap industrial backbone

The largest positions read like a tour of high-quality industrial America. Aerospace-and-defense actuation maker Moog leads at $542.9 million (2.24%), held roughly flat, followed by Woodward ($462.2 million), the aerospace and energy control-systems company, and GATX ($446.5 million), the railcar-leasing operator. Hexcel, the advanced-composites maker, also features in the top ten.

These are not household names, but they are exactly the kind of cash-generative, competitively entrenched mid-caps that a disciplined active manager can analyze deeply and the index-hugging crowd tends to overlook. Holding them roughly flat signals ongoing conviction rather than fresh repositioning — EARNEST is letting a carefully assembled industrial core compound.

Specialty financials and niche tech

Beyond industrials, the book leans into specialty financials and selective technology. Reinsurance Group of America ($462.8 million) and pawn-and-consumer-finance operator FirstCash ($406.4 million) anchor the financial sleeve, while CBRE Group ($395.8 million) adds commercial real estate.

The technology exposure is where the quarter's modest trimming showed up: FormFactor, the semiconductor-test specialist, was cut 16% to $472.8 million, and Advanced Energy Industries was trimmed 13%. Both are smaller, more cyclical semiconductor-adjacent names, and reducing them while holding the industrial core flat reads as trimming the more volatile edge of the book rather than a change in strategy. The overall impression is of a manager fishing in a different pond than the megacap crowd entirely.

Steady growth

EARNEST's reported value has climbed gradually rather than swinging.

The book has moved from about $21.39 billion in mid-2024 to $24.25 billion by the first quarter of 2026, a steady upward drift with no dramatic dislocations and a position count holding near 295-300. That stability is consistent with a diversified, lower-turnover active manager — one whose returns are meant to come from security selection across a broad mid-cap universe rather than from big swings in a handful of large positions.

What it signals

For investors who track institutional positioning, EARNEST Partners' first-quarter filing is a reminder that the institutional universe is far wider than the megacaps that dominate the headlines. Here is $24 billion of professionally managed capital deliberately concentrated in mid-cap industrials, specialty financials, and niche technology — names most retail investors never see in a holder list. The actionable takeaway is the hunting ground itself: when a disciplined manager builds a book entirely outside the crowded megacap trade, its holdings are a useful idea source for investors looking beyond the obvious.

FAQ

What did EARNEST Partners change in Q1 2026?
The firm held most of its top positions flat while trimming a few semiconductor-adjacent names — FormFactor by 16% and Advanced Energy by 13%. Reported 13F value rose 3.9% to $24.25 billion across 295 positions.

What are EARNEST Partners' largest holdings?
Moog ($542.9 million), FormFactor ($472.8 million), Reinsurance Group of America ($462.8 million), Woodward ($462.2 million), and GATX ($446.5 million) — a mix of mid-cap industrials and specialty financials, with no megacaps in the top tier.

Why are there no megacaps in EARNEST's top holdings?
EARNEST runs a diversified active strategy focused on mid-cap industrials, specialty financials, and niche technology rather than large-cap technology. Its edge is meant to come from security selection in a less-crowded part of the market.

How diversified is EARNEST Partners' portfolio?
Very. It holds roughly 295 positions, with the top ten accounting for only about 18% of the book and the remaining 82% spread across the tail — a broad, lower-turnover approach.