Overall:

Year-to-date:

Today I sold my stake in The Trade Desk. It's no secret that I've been frustrated with them for a year and the news today was the final straw.

There was a new 8K filed this morning on TTD. They have parted ways with the CFO they hired just 4 months ago and named an interim CFO in his place. The CFO before that was only in place for two years. Not good. A CFO suite serving as a revolving door is a classic red flag and we were just told by leadership that the period of aggressive c-suite turnover was done. The company also reiterated Q4 guidance in the release, which makes me think an in-line quarter for a company that used to consistently and sharply beat and raise every single quarter is likely. That's despite expectations being as low as they've ever been for this company. 2026 growth estimates also continue to fall as sell-siders note Amazon is having an impact on TTD pricing power and the people I talk to close to the matter confirm TTD is ramping up discounting practices. Meaning? We've gone from "Amazon isn't our competitor" to lowering prices to keep budgets in the span of two quarters.We didn't get the reiteration I wanted on the Q3 call that things would accelerate in 2026, despite comps getting far easier. 2026 growth estimates are now a full 2 points slower than 2025 despite the election help. If they can't accelerate in 2026... and they've given me little reason for recent confidence... that tells me the growth engine has topped out and this is maturing into a cyclical legacy ad-tech name.The commentary from Jeff Green over the last year doesn't match the flow of actual news. Green says everything is amazing... but then why are so many executives leaving... why are you struggling to deliver strong growth... why has this Kokai platform launch been such a mess for your company... All of this leaves me with too many things to worry about to justify owning shares. I don't suddenly think this is a terrible company. I think TTD is struggling and it is no longer earning my finite investment dollars. I'm motivated to consolidate into the other enterprise software holdings that have also sharply corrected but are still fundamentally healthy. Could TTD bounce back? Absolutely, and I hope they do. I personally know people at that company who I think very highly of and I want them to succeed.

And doing so will be easier in 2026 than it was in 2025. It's possible for them, but making that bet comes with unacceptable risk/reward at this point. I just have far more confidence in companies like ServiceNow, Zscaler and Rubrik at this stage, so I will focus there. I hesitate to sell at lows, but the lows are justified and these other 3 names have also meaningfully corrected... so it's not like I'm chasing other high fliers with soaring forward multiples. It's the opposite.TTD has been moved to my watchlist and I plan to keep covering their earnings for now. They'd just need to show me a lot if I'm going to jump back in.

In terms of what I used the proceeds for:

If there is one guarantee in investing, it is that we have to operate with publicly available information and sometimes that proves to be misleading, incomplete or unreliable. That means being wrong sometimes is inevitable for all of us. Me, you, Buffett, Lynch… all of us.

That's why diversification is so important and why this thing we call investing is so awesome. I've picked losers like Trade Desk and PayPal and others before that. And yet? I have a 8% compounded annual lead vs. the S&P 500 in year 4. That is the beauty of finite downside and infinite potential upside. It's the beauty of taking profits in high fliers that are ahead of their skis. And it's the beauty of proper portfolio management.

I think there are two lessons that I will take from this exit:

As so many great investors have said before me, I am fully willing to accept the risk of being wrong. That's the only way I can enjoy the rewards of the greatest wealth builder in human history (Mr. Market). I am just not willing to stay wrong forever. My patience is abundant, but has its limits. This company has consistently tested them for a few quarters and the conditions required for me to remain bullish are not being met. It’s never personal.

*the order of the names in these lists below is meaningless.

My holdings that are performing & compellingly priced where I'd accumulate into modest multiple contraction:

My holdings that are performing & compellingly priced where I'm happy with what I own:

Uber and DraftKings fit into this grouping. I love both names being around 4% of holdings as prediction market and autonomous vehicle markets develop and evolve. I am confident in owning both names, but I want to see my bullishness proven out over the coming quarters and don't want either to be a top 5 holding while that happens.

My holdings that are performing & expensive where I'd accumulate into meaningful multiple contraction:

Watch List:

"If you were starting a portfolio today, what would it look like?"