Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen Focus Growth Strategy” Q3 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here.The fund outperformed the Russell 1000 Growth Index in the third quarter of 2026, as investors began distinguishing between businesses vulnerable to artificial intelligence disruption and those positioned to benefit from AI adoption. The Portfolio returned 4.46% net of fees, outperforming the Index’s 0.92% gain by 3.54 percentage points. However, its year-to-date net return remained negative at 8.11%, compared with a 6.30% gain for the benchmark. Strong relative contributions from software and services holdings helped offset weakness among semiconductor and other direct AI-capital-expenditure beneficiaries, which faced valuation pressure as investors reconsidered spending levels, financing, and future returns on infrastructure investment. The managers continued rebalancing the Portfolio toward businesses with attractive long-term growth prospects, stronger current momentum, and more visible demand, initiating positions in selected semiconductor equipment, power infrastructure, payments, and data-storage companies while trimming or exiting other holdings. The Portfolio also added to selected infrastructure and technology investments and maintained exposure to established software, services, internet, and information-based businesses. Looking ahead, Polen aims to maintain a balanced portfolio of competitively advantaged companies that can withstand shifts in market leadership. The managers remain constructive but cautious about persistent inflation, higher interest rates, energy costs, and valuations, particularly for businesses whose earnings potential lies further in the future. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its third-quarter 2026 investor letter, Polen Focus Growth Strategy highlighted stocks like Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP). Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP) provides commerce software and payment tools that help merchants build online stores, manage sales channels, and operate their businesses. The one-month return of Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP) was 19.36% while its shares traded between $94.00 and $182.19 over the last 52 weeks. On October 22, 2026, Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP) stock closed at approximately $168.81 per share, with a market capitalization of about $217.88 billion.
Polen Focus Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP) in its Q3 2026 investor letter:
