Hamilton Helmer's Trades and Holdings in Q1 2026

Breaking down the stocks Hamilton Helmer (Strategy Capital) bought, sold, and held in Q1 2026, including their holdings at the end of the quarter. All data sourced from Strategy Capital's 13F filed on May 14, 2026.

Who are Hamilton Helmer and Strategy Capital?

Strategy Capital is a focused investment firm founded by Hamilton Helmer, author of the influential business strategy book 7 Powers. The firm maintains a highly concentrated portfolio of select growth businesses with sustainable competitive advantages. Helmer's investment approach centers on identifying companies utilizing distinctive strategic frameworks to disrupt markets and capture substantial market share.

Strategycapital.com
Wikipedia on Hamilton Helmer
7 Powers (Book)
Q1 '26 13F filed with SEC

Holdings in Q1 2026

Current Investment Strategy

Hamilton Helmer's Strategy Capital entered the second quarter of 2026 running an ultra-concentrated, long-only book of roughly ten to eleven names worth about $1.2 billion, applying Helmer's proprietary "7 Powers" framework—scale economies, network effects, switching costs and counter-positioning—to back cloud-infrastructure and AI-adjacent software leaders such as Cloudflare, Shopify, Axon Enterprise, Amazon and Taiwan Semiconductor. During the quarter Helmer swapped out collaboration-software play Monday.com for AI-connectivity chipmaker Astera Labs, a rotation that underscored the fund's tilt toward the picks-and-shovels of the AI buildout even as it kept faith with its core roster of durable-moat compounders.

New Investments

Astera Labs

Hamilton Helmer bought $38.61M of Astera Labs in Q1 2026. Against the backdrop of our new position, Astera Labs has delivered exceptional fundamental momentum over the last 12 months, with trailing-twelve-month revenue reaching $1.2 billion, quarterly revenue growth of 104.5% year over year, and profit margin of 30.74%, characteristic of a high-growth AI connectivity semiconductor franchise. Fundamentals have accelerated over the last two quarters, as Q1 2026 revenue of $308.4 million (up 14% QoQ and 93% YoY) grew further to a record Q2 2026 revenue of $392.4 million (up 27% QoQ and 104% YoY), while adjusted EPS stepped up from $0.61 in Q1 to $0.80 in Q2 despite a modest gross margin compression from 76.4% to 73.7%. In the current quarter the company is clearly gaining, underpinned by broad-based PCIe 6 and AI fabric demand plus the volume ramp of Scorpio X-Series switches, with management guiding Q3 2026 revenue to $540–$560 million (about 40% sequential growth) and signaling Scorpio’s transition into its largest product family—key catalysts that could support further value creation if execution and AI infrastructure spending remain strong.

• Q2 2026 revenue $392.4 million, up 27% QoQ and 104% YoY; adjusted EPS $0.80, up 81.8% YoY and ~16% above consensus..
• Q1 2026 revenue $308.4 million, up 14% QoQ and 93% YoY, with non-GAAP gross margin 76.4%, operating margin 36.2%, and non-GAAP EPS $0.61..
• Trailing-twelve-month revenue $1.2 billion, quarterly earnings growth 198.9% YoY, and EBITDA of $285.4 million, supporting a profit margin of 30.74%..

Added, Trimmed, and Exited

Added

Strategy Capital added modestly to every one of its ten existing holdings this quarter, with the standout increase coming in Cloudflare (+96,518 shares, roughly a 9% boost to the position, bringing total value to $234.9M) alongside smaller step-ups in Nu Holdings, Axon, CrowdStrike, and Tesla (each up roughly 2.9% in share count), and even more modest additions to Shopify, Datadog, Amazon, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Meta (each up under 1%).
What it means: The fact that every legacy position received an add—despite sharply negative quarterly returns in names like Shopify (-25.7%), Axon (-23.1%), and Nu Holdings (-11.7%)—suggests Hamilton Helmer is treating this broad tech/growth drawdown as a buying opportunity rather than a signal to de-risk. The outsized incremental conviction in Cloudflare, which delivered a positive 14.4% return even as most peers fell, indicates the firm is willing to lean further into names showing relative strength within an otherwise weak quarter for the portfolio.

Trimmed

There were no trims to existing positions this quarter; every holding saw its share count increase.
What it means: The absence of any reductions, even amid double-digit percentage losses in several names, reinforces a high-conviction, buy-the-dip posture consistent with Strategy Capital's concentrated, long-term "7 Powers" strategy—Helmer appears unwilling to cut exposure to core holdings based on short-term price weakness alone.

Exited

The firm fully liquidated its position in Monday.com, selling all 222,388 shares worth approximately $32.8M as of the prior quarter.
What it means: Exiting Monday.com while simultaneously initiating a new $38.6M position in Astera Labs and adding across the rest of the portfolio suggests a rotation away from SaaS/collaboration software exposure toward AI infrastructure and connectivity semiconductors, aligning with the fund's thesis of backing companies with durable structural advantages in accelerating growth markets.

Disclaimer: All posts are for informational purposes only. They are NOT a recommendation to buy or sell the securities discussed. Please do your own research and due diligence before investing your money.