Company Reports

Before its 2017 merger with Swift Transportation, Knight Transportation was the 12th-largest full-truckload carrier in the United States, with a history of exceptional execution, including average return on invested capital in the low teens—an unusual accomplishment in trucking. Knight's long-standing laser focus on network efficiency has served it well; its legacy operating ratio, or OR, (expenses/revenue, excluding fuel) averaged in the mid-80% range before the Swift deal, versus an industry average that traditionally exceeds 90%.

L3Harris Technologies is the sixth-largest US defense contractor by sales. It formed in 2019 from the merger of L-3 Technologies, a sensormaker that operated a decentralized business focused on inorganic growth, and the Harris Corporation, a sensor and radio manufacturer that ran a more unified business. Underpinning the merger was an assumption that additional scale would primarily generate cost synergies and eventually, the firms could produce meaningful revenue synergies. With the recent addition of ViaSat's tactical data link business and most recently the $4.7 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, L3Harris has opportunistically vaulted its strategy forward into becoming a more well-rounded defense prime contractor, adding munitions, space exploration, and hypersonic missile components and capabilities to its very radio- and communications-heavy base. That said, Aerojet supplies components to many other defense contractors, which isn't likely to change, and competes with the space segment of Northrop Grumman. We think it will take time for meaningful revenue synergies that weren't already in the backlog for L3Harris, ViaSat, or Aerojet to materialize.

Ball is the world's largest producer of aluminum beverage cans. Used primarily for carbonated soft drinks and beer, aluminum cans are historically a low-growth industry but one with favorable competitive dynamics for incumbents. Ball became the world’s largest producer of aluminum beverage cans in 2016 with its sizable acquisition of Rexam. As a condition of the acquisition, Ball was required to divest eight aluminum can plants in the United States. These assets were sold to Ball’s competitor, Ardagh. Since the acquisition, Ball has divested from specific industries (such as steel food and aerosol containers) and regions (China) to focus on producing aluminum cans in markets where it can earn strong economic profits.

Allegion, a global leader in security products and solutions, was spun off from Ingersoll-Rand in December 2013. No longer forced to compete for capital from a conglomerate parent, Allegion has employed a more robust acquisition strategy to expand its scale, technological capabilities, and product portfolio. At roughly 80% of sales and 90% of segment profitability, the Americas segment is Allegion's largest and strongest business, with a leading position in locks, exit devices, and door controls. The Americas business has been the key driver of Allegion’s stable, industry-leading profitability, which is a testament to the firm’s market position and pricing power. We expect the Americas business to post mid- to high-single-digit organic growth, on average, over the next five years as the segment capitalizes on the convergence of electronics and mechanical security solutions, and on the increased retrofitting, upgrading, and spending across commercial and residential end markets. The segment’s already strong profit margins should benefit from a mix shift to higher-priced electronics products and operating leverage on increased volume, partially offset by structurally lower profit margins from the acquired access technologies business.

Weatherford is one of the larger oilfield service firms in an otherwise hyper-fragmented industry. However, in terms of size, it remains some distance from the industry’s Big Three: Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, and Haliburton.

NOV is the fourth-largest diversified oilfield-services supplier after Schlumberger, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes. It competes with the Big Three in many end markets, but its significant presence in equipment manufacturing sets it apart. NOV is the largest original equipment manufacturer of rig systems for oilfield-services providers in both onshore and offshore markets. It's maintained majority market share for two decades, controlling over half the market.

Airbus primarily generates revenue by manufacturing commercial aircraft. It benefits immensely from being in a duopoly with Boeing in the market for aircraft 130 seats and up; the companies act as a funnel through which practically all such commercial aircraft demand must flow. This allows both companies to actively manage their order backlogs to reduce cyclicality, despite the intense cyclicality of their customer base.

Saia ranks among the 10 largest less-than-truckload, or LTL, carriers by revenue and is a top-tier operator in terms of profitability and service quality. Pure-play public competitors of similar quality include XPO and best-in-class Old Dominion. Saia was historically a super-regional carrier, serving 34 states across the South, Southwest, Midwest, Pacific Northwest and West. That said, in 2017, it launched an organic expansion strategy into the Northeast, while more recently boosting door capacity and service capabilities in existing regions with solid long term growth prospects such as Dallas and Atlanta. Saia has opened more than 40 new terminal facilities since 2017, with about half of those opened over the past few years, bringing the total to more than 190.

We generally like Charter’s efforts to drive customer penetration by limiting price increases, improving customer service, and expanding its offerings to appeal to a variety of preferences. However, we aren’t enamored with the extremely heavy discount on broadband and wireless services it offers. We believe this type of promotion tends to attract disloyal customers while also diminishing the value of these services in consumers’ minds. Charter's heavy exposure to the Affordable Connectivity Program, a federal broadband subsidy, may also impair growth in the short term as funding dries up in 2024. Still, we believe the firm is positioned to remain a dominant broadband provider and produce stable cash flow.

Polaris is one of the longest-operating brands in powersports. We believe that its brands, innovative products, and lean manufacturing yield the firm a wide economic moat and that it stands to capitalize on its research and development, solid quality, operational excellence, and acquisition strategy. However, Polaris' brands do not benefit from switching costs, and with peers innovating more quickly than in the past, it could jeopardize the firm's ability to take price and share consistently, particularly in periods of inflated recalls or aggressive industry discounting.

Hub Group is the second-largest intermodal marketing company, or IMC, and also ranks among the 25 largest asset-light truck brokers in terms of gross revenue. In its flagship intermodal division, Hub contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its owned containers. It operates the second-largest domestic container fleet in the industry, with access to more than 40,000 containers. By gross revenue, J.B. Hunt is the largest IMC, followed by Hub and the intermodal divisions of STG Logistics, Schneider National and Knight Swift.

We believe AutoNation's massive size and economy of scale advantages will allow the company to deliver operating margins often above 4%, and we see upside potential to profits as its AutoNation USA stand-alone used-vehicle stores roll out. There are 23 USA stores as of first-quarter 2024, and long term we expect over 100.

Weyerhaeuser is one of the world’s largest forest product producers and is the largest private timberland owner in North America. Weyerhaeuser is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, and distributes its REIT income to shareholders without having to pay corporate level incomes taxes. The company operates with significant wood product production capacity in Canada and the United States. Homebuilding, remodeling, and construction are the main uses of softwood lumber and engineered wood products in North America. Weyerhaeuser is closely tied to the North American market as it accounted for over 90% of revenue in 2023 (85% in US and 7.5% in Canada). As price-takers, Weyerhaeuser and its peers see dramatic profit variations depending on the health of housing markets and overall economic conditions.

Through acquisition and internal development, Eastman Chemical owns a solid portfolio of specialty chemicals that are used in safety glass, window tinting, and specialty plastics, all of which offer a solid long-term growth profile. To expand its specialty portfolio, the firm invests roughly 4% of sales from its additives and functional products and advanced materials segments in research and development, which is in line with its specialty chemical peers. Eastman is well positioned to meet growing demand for auto window interlayers, including heads-up displays, and specialty plastics.

The network partner model-based companies in China have gained parcel volume share from direct operation-based companies, with share rising to 76% in 2022 from 66% in 2011. The six largest express delivery companies controlled around 86% of China’s parcel deliveries by volume in 2022, based on data from the companies and China’s State Post Bureau. With share already high, we think further volume share gain is limited for the network partner model-based companies.

In our view, Kikkoman is one of the best-known soy sauce brands globally, with its soy sauce dating back to 17th century Japan in Noda, Chiba Prefecture and the company itself the leading soy sauce manufacturer since its set up in 1917. More recently, Kikkoman has been focused on diversifying and internationalizing its products as the per capita consumption of soy sauce declines and population growth retreats in Japan. It has expanded its product portfolio to include foods that fit the rising health awareness of consumers.

Narrow-moat Daiichi Sankyo is a Japanese drugmaker with a global footprint and cutting-edge development platform for antibody drug conjugates. As an established pharmaceutical company with a long history, it also has numerous lucrative business lines including generics, anticoagulants, painkillers, and heart medications. In 2019 it formed a partnership with AstraZeneca and will co-develop and co-commercialize Enhertu and Dato-DXd, its two leading assets from its ADC platform. In 2023, it formed another partnership with Merck & Co. to co-develop and co-commercialize three other ADCs: HER3-DXd (HER3 ADC), I-DXd (B7-H3 ADC), and R-DXd (CDH6 ADC). We expect its ADC platform and other pipeline assets to drive growth over the next 10 years.

Mapletree Industrial Trust, or MIT, invests in income-producing properties used for the purpose of industrial and data center activities in Singapore and the United States. Its portfolio comprises data centers, high-tech buildings, business parks, and general industrial buildings. Since its IPO, the trust’s manager has grown the trust’s assets under management and distribution per unit by using a mixture of active lease management, asset enhancement initiatives, and acquisitions.

ResMed is taking a “smart devices” and Big Data approach to further entrench itself as one of the two leading players in the global obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, market. With cloud-connected devices, physicians can monitor patient compliance and encourage continued use. Higher adherence supports both reimbursement rates from payers and the resupply of masks and accessories. ResMed also plays a key role in producing clinical data that demonstrates treatment can minimize related risks such as hypertension, stroke, heart attack and Alzheimer’s disease. Through its own testing devices and education, ResMed seeks more widespread diagnosis and treatment of OSA.

Terex has an extensive product portfolio of aerial lifts and materials processing equipment. We believe it will continue to be one of the top companies in the heavy equipment industry, with strong brands that resonate with users across the construction, industrial, utility, mining, and residential markets. Customers value Terex’s high-quality and strong-performing products, which also have good residual values. In addition, Terex helps customers reduce their total cost of ownership through improved operational and fuel efficiency, limited machine downtime, and consistent parts availability.