4Q2024 - Global SMID Company Growth Commentary
While our quality growth-oriented Portfolio has not been immune to recent volatility, it displays resilience. When stock prices rose beyond what fundamentals justified, we right-sized positions and sourced funds to add to new and existing ideas with better risk-return profiles, reinforcing our opportunity cost mindset. This approach helps to ensure that capital is allocated to areas with the highest potential for long-term growth and return.
- Over the fourth quarter of 2024, the Polen Global SMID Company Growth Composite Portfolio returned -2.28% gross and -2.66% net of fees, respectively, versus the -3.37% return of the MSCI ACWI SMID Capitalization Index.
- Shifting economic expectations and uncertainty surrounding political elections weighed on equity markets.
- The top contributors to the Portfolio’s relative and absolute performance over the fourth quarter were Warby Parker, Revolve Group, and Sanrio.
- The most significant detractors from relative and absolute performance were Insight Enterprises, Indutrade, and TopBuild.
- In the current environment, with several uncertainties, we remain focused on our Portfolio companies' long-term value propositions, competitive advantages, growth opportunities, and potential earnings