A disciplined, high-conviction, long-only equity portfolio in which holdings are selected using strict rules and fundamentally driven screening criteria.
Gladiator Capital Management is an independent, owner-operated investment boutique founded in 2015 that specializes in bringing its unique investing philosophy and discipline to clients.
At Gladiator Capital we believe high-conviction portfolio management can add significant value over passive strategies. We seek to show that long-term out-performance is predominately the result of effective active management through superior stock selection rather than sector rotation.
Active Management over Passive
Identify & Focus on Signal while Ignoring Noise
Rigorous Rules Based Approach Grounded in Fundamentals
Concentrated Positions
The Gladiator investment philosophy was born out of leading edge industry research in behavioral finance. Our process capitalizes on the well-documented chronic underperformance active investment managers experience due to biases inherent in human decision making. We have identified a common set of pitfalls that are the cause of the majority of active managers’ underperformance and have designed our investment process to capitalize on these issues.
We overcome these pitfalls by utilizing fundamental signals in an objective manner, strict investing criteria, and the active avoidance of identifiable common cognitive errors such as overconfidence in our ability to predict the future.
Basing price expectations on past trading history. We take a fresh look every period unencumbered by price history.
“If I can just get back to even I’ll sell.” The objective signals inherent in our process remove emotional pain from decision.
Our ability to predict the future isn’t as good as we think. The Gladiator investment process does not involve attempted predictions.
“You don’t get fired for owning XXX.” All potential holdings are held to same criteria regardless of their popularity.
A polished CEO doesn’t equal a good stock. We focus on specific actions taken such as the payment of dividends.
A nonevent inflated by media until it fills the conversation. A clearly defined strategy keeps us focused only on relevant information.
Our investment process starts by focusing on information signals provided by company management, research analysts, and debt providers. We examine the career critical actions they take to indicate their true opinions.
Where the three signals agree, conviction is highest — the portfolio holds only the names that clear every screen.
A clear signal of management’s confidence in the long-term prospects of the business. Management avoids dividend cuts as much as possible.
Lenders typically have superior access to company information during their due diligence process. Providing large amounts of their own capital is a key indicator of the company’s financial strength.
The Fund puts no faith in sell side recommendations, however, analysts’ estimates of revenue and EPS growth, both current estimates and revision trends, provide investable information.
Since its inception in August of 2015, the Gladiator Fund has established a track record of strong investment performance substantially exceeding the S&P 500.
Quarterly commentaries and market notes from the investment team.
There is no substitute for experience. The Gladiator Capital Management team collectively leverages several decades of financial experience. Since the founding of the firm, the portfolio management team has worked together adhering to the same investment philosophy, exercising the same approach to security selection and employing the same discipline as it pertains to portfolio design.
Merlin is a founding partner of Gladiator Capital and serves as the lead portfolio manager of The Gladiator Fund, our flagship product. Merlin has over 20 years of experience managing investment portfolios. Before founding Gladiator Capital, Merlin was instrumental in creating and managing the San Blas Investment Fund, an equity long/short fund.
Prior to San Blas Merlin spent eight-years with Trusco Capital Management as a sector portfolio manager and analyst covering global equities. He managed a mutual fund of several hundred million dollars in equity investments across multiple geographic regions, currencies, industry sectors, and market capitalizations.
Merlin also has extensive experience in the field of mergers & acquisitions on both the buy side and sell side of the transactions. Merlin is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a member of the CFA Institute as well as the Atlanta Society of Finance and Investment Professionals. He received his undergraduate degree in finance and economics from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and an MBA from Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business.
Scott is a founding partner of Gladiator Capital and is responsible for primary client contact as well as back office operations. Scott brings over 20 years’ experience designing, implementing and managing highly complex systems to manage financial data. From 2001-2014, Scott worked at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., leading projects that improved efficiencies and process automation and accounting systems.
Scott is a multi-faceted professional with certifications in accounting, management reporting, project management, and financial and tax systems. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a member of the AICPA and the Georgia Society of CPAs. Scott received his undergraduate degree in economics from The Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA, MPA, and MTAX from Georgia State University.