Investment management company Saga Partners recently released its Q1 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter is available to download here. The portfolio declined 23.0% net of fees in Q1 2026 compared to a 4.3% decline in the S&P 500 Index, including dividends. The Saga Portfolio has returned 298.7% net of fees since its inception on January 1, 2017, compared to 240.3% for the Index. The quarter highlighted risks like AI disruption and geopolitical tensions with Iran, which could impact long-term business value. It’s important to evaluate if new information affects a company’s intrinsic value, rather than trying to predict short-term stock price movements. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, Saga Partners highlighted The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD). The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) is a leading technology company that specializes in digital advertising campaigns. On May 6, 2026, The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) stock closed at $24.01 per share. One-month return of The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) was 16.50%, and its shares lost 59.92% over the past 52 weeks. The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) has a market capitalization of around $11.47 billion.
Saga Partners stated the following regarding The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) provides a useful example of how I think through those issues in practice, and I will return to it later in the letter. Its stock price drawdown reflects not only the broader market response to recent headline risks, but also company-specific concerns about the business and its outlook.
A steep decline in a stock price can reflect a real decline in business value, but it does not automatically mean something is broken or permanently impaired. Rather, it is a prompt to reexamine the thesis and ask whether the market’s criticism is correct, exaggerated, or mistaken in light of the business’s underlying economics and competitive dynamics.
The clearest current example in the Saga Portfolio is The Trade Desk, which is facing the greatest market skepticism and has experienced one of the largest drawdowns among our holdings. The Saga Portfolio first bought shares in 2017 based on the thesis that programmatic ad buying would grow, demand-side platforms (DSPs) would consolidate into a small number of scaled winners, and one of those winners would be an independent platform. More than eight years later, the main elements of that thesis have largely been borne out. The Trade Desk emerged as the leading scaled independent DSP, while revenue, earnings, and market value grew substantially…” (Click here to read the full text)
