April Investment Portfolio Review
Monthly Return
5 Year Rate of Return = 41.3% (Recalculated at the beginning of each year)
Stock Allocations: I try to build an individual stock allocation to the 10-15%, then I prune as little as possible. If my thesis clearly breaks (e.g. Upstart), I remove it from my portfolio. If a stock is a market leader and the business is doing well (e.g. Monday and Samsara), I will leave it alone as much as possible. This is me correcting my process after I sold Crowdstrike at the beginning of last year and lost out on a 350% gain. If I do modify my holdings, it will be when I am convinced that there is a much more dominant stock to replace a stock with. I’m happy with my 6-7 companies, but will always be looking for something that would upgrade my portfolio.
Allocations (%)
Comments on Companies (Returns are my returns that include a small periodic investment)
Mercadolibre (-4.3% YTD) : Mercadolibre’s earnings were hit by a $351M impairment due to difficulties passing inflationary costs along to Argentinian customers and a Brazilian court decision that increased tax costs. This caused the stock to drop about 20% from the highs even though the business remains strong. On April 17, MELI announced it is hiring 8,200 people to help with its Mexican business, 6,500 to help with Brazil, and 1,800 in Argentina.
Nvidia (42.0% YTD): There seems to be a press release a day from Nvidia. Maybe the biggest news this month was NVDA’s purchase of Run:ai. Run:ai promotes improved data utilization for AI learning.
Samsara (3.3% YTD): Samsara is opening an office and hiring over 200 people to serve its Mexico customers. 5 of the top 10 Mexican trucking companies are Samsara customers. United Natural Foods, the largest wholesale grocery logistics company. JJX a London based logistics company announces a reduction in fleet emissions by 17% by using Samsara’s fleet management tools.
Nu Holdings (31.2% YTD): Announced Nubank+ which offers cash back on credit card purchases, free withdrawals at a network of ATMs, and automated bill payment, and free streaming of Warner Brothers Discovery. Additionally, 400,000 people registered for Nu Bank in Columbia in April.
Celsius Holdings (22.8% YTD): On April 4, Celsius announced that it is expanding sales in France through Suntory Beverage and Food as a distributor. It previously announced expansion to Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It’s going to be critical to see if Celsius’ positioning as a healthy energy drink resonates overseas.
Monday (0.8% YTD): Monday has a headwind from their first price increase and reduced guidance. The only major news this month is that a General Manager of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia has been announced. It’s going to be interesting to see the effect of the price increase during the conference call.
e.l.f. Beauty (8.8% YTD): Although elf’s business has been strong, there’s been a lot of angst about the ban of TikTok, a major marketing tool for the company. The ban will only take place if TikTok cannot find a purchaser. I’m optimistic that this will happen or they find another way to communicate e.l.f. products information. Nobody communicates with teens like they do. This month they were a sponsor of the Indianapolis 500.
Best,
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