COMO INVESTE UM DOS MAIORES INVESTIDORES BRASILEIROS | Market Makers #401

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  August 18, 2026 at 21:00  |  1:43:09  |  Market Makers
Speakers
Cristiano Souza — Founder, Zeno Equity Partners

Summary

Cristiano Souza discusses his return to investing in Brazilian equities, driven by extreme market pessimism that has created attractive valuations for high-quality companies. He shares his framework for portfolio construction, position sizing, and the importance of intellectual humility. Additionally, he explains his cautious stance on the AI consensus trade and the software sector, preferring businesses with durable market power like Danaher and Linde.

  • Cristiano Souza recently allocated about 11% of his global fund to two Brazilian equities due to exaggerated risk perceptions.
  • He emphasizes that investors should not extrapolate current bad news into the future.
  • Selling discipline is crucial; he sold GE Aerospace purely because its expected return fell below his minimum threshold.
  • He is cautious on the AI infrastructure trade (e.g., Nvidia) because it is unclear how long-term profits will be distributed.
  • Software companies face increased competition and margin erosion due to AI-driven explosions in coding capacity.
  • Danaher is his largest position, as its market power allows it to retain AI productivity gains.
  • Linde is favored for its utility-like predictability and immunity to AI disruption.
  • The biggest and most painful investment mistakes usually stem from misjudging the character and decision-making of management.
Ideas
Cristiano Souza Founder, Zeno Equity Partners 5:33
Extreme pessimism created attractive valuations in Brazil.
Risks in Brazil are currently overestimated and returns are underestimated due to extreme market pessimism. High-quality Brazilian companies are trading at attractive valuations, prompting a reallocation of about 11% of the fund into two Brazilian equities.
EWZ HIGH
Cristiano Souza Founder, Zeno Equity Partners 29:26
Sold due to low expected returns.
Despite being an exceptional business with a dominant market share in aircraft engines, the stock was sold because its price appreciation compressed the expected return below the minimum required threshold.
GE HIGH
Cristiano Souza Founder, Zeno Equity Partners 54:12
Avoid AI hardware due to profit uncertainty.
While AI is a transformational technology, it is impossible to predict how profits will be distributed among LLMs, cloud providers, and chip makers like Nvidia. It is better to avoid consensus AI hardware and infrastructure trades due to this uncertainty.
NVDA SMH HIGH
Cristiano Souza Founder, Zeno Equity Partners 55:47
Holds a large position in Amazon.
Amazon is held as a relatively large position and is the only significant exposure to the AI theme in the portfolio, though it was purchased prior to the current AI boom.
AMZN MED
Cristiano Souza Founder, Zeno Equity Partners 57:08
Market power captures AI productivity gains.
Danaher is the fund's largest position. It has strong market power and barriers to entry, allowing it to capture AI-driven productivity gains in its margins rather than passing them on to consumers.
DHR HIGH
Cristiano Souza Founder, Zeno Equity Partners 59:17
AI increases competition and erodes software returns.
AI has caused an explosion in software production capacity, which will likely increase competition and erode returns for many software companies. Most software exposure was sold to avoid this disruption.
IGV HIGH
Cristiano Souza Founder, Zeno Equity Partners 61:51
Industrial gases are protected from AI disruption.
Linde is a large position because its industrial gas business is highly protected from AI disruption. It operates like an unregulated utility with very low tail risk and highly predictable returns.
LIN HIGH
Up Next
8:43
AI's New Rules of Engagement
Morgan Stanley · Aug 18
9:34
Stocks Fall As Global Bond Yields Stay Elevated | Closing Bell
Bloomberg Markets · Aug 18
4:02
Trivariate Research's Adam Parker says the market reaction to rising yields is 'fleeting'
CNBC · Aug 18
3:47
'We're subsidizing a technology that will replace millions': Andrew Yang on calling for AI tax
CNBC · Aug 18
4:36
Robinhood’s Steve Quirk: Two weeks of net selling at the end of July
CNBC · Aug 18

This Market Makers video, published August 18, 2026, features Cristiano Souza discussing EWZ, GE, NVDA, SMH, AMZN, DHR, IGV, LIN. 7 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Cristiano Souza  · Tickers: EWZ, GE, NVDA, SMH, AMZN, DHR, IGV, LIN