I have made a lot of changes this fall. Several I reported last month, which landed me at the end of September with this:
Aehr Testing (AEHR) 12.19%
Global-e Online (GLBE) 12%
The Trade Desk (TTD) 11.8%
Nu Holdings (NU) 11.68%
Samsara (IOT) 10.68%
CrowdStrike (CRWD) 10.11%
Pure Storage (PSTG) 8.96%
Procore Technologies (PCOR) 8.22%
Remitly (RELY) 7.62%
PureCycle Technologies (PCT) 5.65%
Then came the start of earnings and I exited two of those positions and just added one a few minutes ago.
EXITS
I exited Procore after earnings that I felt were weak. It was not one of my higher conviction companies, so I let it go.
I exited PureCycle a couple of days ago. It has not yet posted earnings, but it had it’s second major issue in opening its first plant in Ironton, OH and for a second time had to renegotiate with bondholders. It was already my smallest position and selling shares had helped me fund several others, so I got out. I would still love a good green energy play, but I haven’t found it yet.
NEW POSITION
I wasn’t happy with just eight positions, but I’ve been wrestling with what to add. I couldn’t muster enthusiasm for a beverage I would never drink or makeup, much as I appreciate E.L.F.'s emphasis on sustainability and humane products.
Plus, with a lot of smaller, riskier holdings, I wanted another more established anchor in my portfolio that I thought would still grow well but was unlikely to fall off a cliff. Today I settled on Palo Alto Networks (PANW).
The share price had been hit a bit with shaky Fortinet earnings and then today PANW announced yet another acquisition, which sent the price down more. So I bought the dip, although apparently did so too early in the day. Trying to catch a falling knife is always an issue for me.
Before clicking buy, I checked out management. Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora has maintained a 91% approval rating on Glassdoor with almost a thousand ratings and 79% would recommend working there. That all works for me.
So, I went looking for videos. Sadly, I didn’t find a Fortt Knox Conversation. But, although Jason Calacanis annoys me as an interviewer (Let the man talk, Jason!), this interview with Arora from a month ago sold me on the integrity and brilliance of the CEO.
Especially helpful were the last few minutes of the interview when Arora talks about the way he integrates their acquisitions. PANW does a lot of M&A deals, and the shares were on sale today because of their second deal in as many months.
Arora explains that they look for companies that are either #1 or #2 in an area of security where PANW either is weak or has nothing. They recognize that the company they are acquiring has solved a problem that PANW has not been able to solve (thus the acquisition), and that the people currently working at the purchased company are the ones who (A) saw and solved the problem and then (B) scaled their solution to become one of the top two in that niche.
So, instead of replacing their people with PANW employees, PANW keeps all founders on board, along with most employees, and then sends current PANW employees to work under those incoming founders to make that product even better and integrate it with the rest of their offerings. I love that. That alone could get a CEO a 91% approval rating. It’s great for employee retention and for business.
@CMF_BigECat has been lifting up PANW for some time; and, although it’s a bit risky to enter the week before earnings, I can’t help but believe they will be a steady if not hyper grower going forward and that they will likely remain the leader in the space. I’m still in CRWD and wanted additional cybersecurity exposure but in a less risky company than either S or even ZS. So, in addition to money raised from the sales mentioned above, I sold some CRWD and got into PANW with a roughly equal cost basis.
Across October, I also added a bit to Aehr, Samsara, Pure Storage, and Remitly, using some gains from Global-e, and The Trade Desk. Other shifts in percentages are simply due to share price changes.
So as of today, my portfolio looks like this:
Nu Holdings (NU) 14.9%
Samsara (IOT) 12.61%
The Trade Desk (TTD) 12.08%
Pure Storage (PSTG) 11.7%
Remitly (RELY) 11.25%
CrowdStrike (CRWD) 10.37%
Global-e Online (GLBE) 9.97%
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) 7.88%
Aehr Testing (AEHR) 7.8%
Reporting this week is TTD on Thursday. So far I haven’t seen weakness in streaming companies that have reported, so I’m hopeful here.
Next week I have NU, and I’m hoping the strength in MELI last week portends good things for NU on Tuesday, just as I’m trusting that the strong SHOP report last week will make GLBE shine next Wednesday morning. Next Wed. afternoon will tell whether my add of PANW today was a good one. CRWD, PSTG, and IOT will close things out at the end of the month. IOT and PSTG will be the wild cards there. I’m hoping for a bigger META investment in PSTG.
JabbokRiver