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This is my third year posting a short summary of my value investing portfolio. My post is mostly for a record, one more way to keep myself, if not honest, at least informed of my past decisions.
This taxable brokerage account began as a learning tool and continues as a learning tool. Positions are organized by percent of total value as July 17th, 2026. I've done longer write-ups on many of these positions over the last roughly 5-1/2 years, so I'm only writing very, very abbreviated thoughts on each.
**BBW** \- 17.9% of Total - Down -4.5% - Position started 02/2024. Number of shares increased 70% over the last 12 months.
* Small cap, niche stuffed toy company. Focus on unique customer experiences. Like the omnichannel approach and strong financials. Not a "10 bagger", but healthy return expected.
* 2.58% Dividend Yield on Cost Basis.
* Current headwinds include fear around consumer discretionary spending, tariff costs, and CEO transition. The last is a nothing burger; new CEO served under old CEO and knows what works.
* Advantages include Brand, Network, some Barrier to Entry to similar experiential theme.
* Thesis: Clean balance sheet, 0 long-term debt, expanding beyond mall-centric beginnings.
**META** \- 17.0% of Total - Up 236.63% - Position started 02/2022.
* Ad revenue powerhouse.
* Dominate player in social media landscape.
* FCF generating monster.
* Headwind is CapEx spend.
* Thesis - ain't going away anytime soon.
**AEBI** \- 16.8% of Total - Up 26.24% - Position started 07/2025 when SHYF acquired.
* Originally, this started out as a position in The Shyft Group. Merged last year with Swiss based AEBI.
* Guidance for 2026 is sales of $1.95–$2.15 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $175–$195 million.
* Thesis: Company has decent runway with their core products. They've been tightening things up substantially since the merger. Tangible results will start to flow down to earnings by early next year.
**FTCO** \- 16.7% of Total - Up 11.32% - Position started 02/2024. Share count increased 33% since last year.
* Junior gold mining company w/tight capital structure. My read on exploration results is they are favorable.
* Five sites within 30 miles of active mine and processing setup. Reduced CapEx as a result, and *hypothetically* fewer regulatory hurdles.
* Dividend yield of 2.85% on current cost basis.
* Concerns: company is aggressively pursuing exploration and development of current properties. This has lead to share dilution this year to raise cash to expand their heap leach pad. This after multi-year permit delays during which their flagship mine played out. This severely and negatively impacted the company. So cash got very tight. They also entered into a $40m joint venture for a 40/60 split of their East Camp Douglas property. I'm monitoring if management continues to dilute shareholders.
* Thesis: This company was stymied by broad permitting delays to all mining operations. That obstacle has disappeared with the current administration. With new permits in hand, and more in process, the company is taking advantage of the current regulatory environment. As production numbers ramp up, expect dividend to increase again in 2027, and share price to increase as EPS recovers.
**XPEL** \- 14.2% of Total - Up 13.11% - Position started 12/2024. Share count increased 25% over last year.
* Premium vehicle protection supplies, including protective films, ceramics, window tint, etc.
* Top 2 in the protective film wraps in the US, and growing globally.
* Best in market "self-repairing" wraps.
* One of the best DAP programs in the segment for precutting PPF and tint patterns.
* Installer certification program.
* Advantages include Brand name, Switching cost through DAP and Installer Cert Program.
**WBD** \- 5.9% of Total - Up 38.23% - Position started 06/2022.
* Paramount/Netflix bidding war netted me a 170% return on 66% of my holdings/tax lots.
* Candidly, those sales were covered calls that didn't quite break the way I had wanted. Had intended to net a little more $$ on the premiums, but news broke the evening before those contracts expired. At least I made a return on it though!
* Holding the last 33% until the sale closes or gets blocked/cancelled.
* Last 33% are the higher cost tax lots, so return will not grow substantially over current 38%, but I do not have any better ideas brewing right this second.
* Thesis: company will be bought out at a decent premium above my cost basis. If the Paramount sale is blocked, I fully expect other companies to jump back in at the opportunity.
**LAD** \- 5.9% of Total - Up 37.10% - Position started 11/2021.
* Top 3 dealership group (US).
* High rate environment headwind. Lower rates will be a tailwind.
* Advantage is one of scale.
* I need to seriously reassess where I think this is going.
**Cash/Cash Equivalents** \- 5.6%.
Candidly, my YTD returns are significantly trailing the S&P 500. Most chip and AI companies sit so far outside my circle of competence that I cannot invest in them individually. This portfolio will suffer this year, which I can accept. I capture those returns quite readily in my tax-advantaged retirement accounts, which are simply indexed.