Polen Capital's Trades and Holdings in Q1 2026

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

Who is Polen Capital?

Polen Capital is a global investment management firm founded in 1979, specializing in high-conviction growth strategies across large-cap, small-cap, and emerging markets portfolios. Known for its disciplined approach and low turnover, Polen has established a strong track record of outperformance over multiple market cycles. The firm's investment philosophy centers on identifying businesses with sustainable competitive advantages, superior financial strength, and proven management teams that can deliver consistent, above-average earnings growth.

Polencapital.com
Wikipedia on Polen Capital
Q1 '26 13F filed with SEC

Holdings in Q1 2026

Current Investment Strategy

Polen Capital, the $23-billion Florida-based growth manager, maintained its high-conviction, concentrated approach in Q1 2026, anchoring its portfolio around durable compounders with wide economic moats — including large stakes in Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle — while targeting businesses with "durable advantages, wide economic moats, strong balance sheets, and the ability to grow their earnings over a multi-year horizon." Leaning into market volatility rather than retreating from it, the firm rotated out of healthcare and payments names such as Abbott, Adobe, and Paycom and initiated new positions in technology and AI-infrastructure plays including Meta, Lam Research, and DigitalOcean, signaling a deliberate pivot toward software and semiconductor companies it views as mission-critical beneficiaries of the agentic AI buildout.

New Investments

Meta META

Polen Capital bought $272.71B of Meta in Q1 2026. Meta's Q1 2026 performance demonstrated exceptional earnings delivery with $10.44 EPS, representing a 55.89% beat on consensus estimates of $6.67, while $47.52B in revenue exceeded guidance by approximately 6.2%. The company maintained strong sequential momentum with 10.17% quarter-over-quarter net income growth reaching $18.34B, supported by net margins of 32.84% and a 36.93% return on equity, reflecting operational leverage and efficient capital deployment across its advertising and infrastructure platforms. Despite robust financial performance, the stock has declined 6.5% year-to-date to approximately $617, likely due to investor concerns over pending copyright litigation with OpenAI and Microsoft regarding AI model training, though consensus price targets of $840.31 suggest meaningful upside of 36.1% if legal risks are resolved favorably.

• 55.89% EPS beat with $10.44 earnings per share versus $6.67 consensus, demonstrating exceptional profitability execution.
• 10.17% quarter-over-quarter net income growth to $18.34B with 36.93% ROE and 32.84% net margins, reflecting strong capital efficiency.
• Stock down 6.5% YTD despite fundamentals, trading at 19.72x P/E with $840.31 average price target implying 36.1% upside potential.

Lam Research LRCX

Polen Capital bought $225.3B of Lam Research in Q1 2026. The company demonstrated strong topline momentum in the latest quarter with an EPS beat of 7.78% and revenue outperformance, though sequential net income declined by 8.80%. Despite the profitability headwind, management provided stellar forward guidance, and the stock rallies near its 52-week high of $300, reflecting investor confidence in semiconductor equipment demand. With a remarkable 248.44% year-over-year return, the company is positioned favorably within the semiconductor capital equipment sector.

• Latest quarter EPS of $1.47 beat estimates by 7.78% with revenue of $5.32B exceeding guidance by approximately $100M.
• Stock has appreciated 248.44% over the past 12 months, trading near $300 against a 52-week low of $79.49.
• Sequential net income declined 8.80% to $1.57B, offsetting topline strength, though forward guidance remains optimistic.

Rollins ROL

Polen Capital bought $116.31B of Rollins in Q1 2026. Rollins delivered a robust first quarter in 2026 with net income growth of 34.43% sequentially and EPS of $0.24 matching analyst expectations, supported by organic revenue growth of 6.6%. Despite the strong operational performance, the stock has declined 3.34% over the past week and 4.95% over the past year, reflecting valuation concerns at its elevated 49.18x price-to-earnings ratio. The company's commercial and termite segments continue to drive performance, with management guiding for $1.02B in revenue for the upcoming quarter, demonstrating sustained operational momentum.

• Q1 2026 net income surged 34.43% sequentially to $141.49M.
• EPS of $0.24 in Q1 met estimates with 9% year-over-year growth.
• Organic revenue growth of 6.6% in Q1 2026 with acquisitions contributing 3.6%.

DigitalOcean DOCN

Polen Capital bought $8.25B of DigitalOcean in Q1 2026. DigitalOcean has demonstrated exceptional profitability gains over the past year, with net income surging 206.5% and EPS growing 201.9% as the company successfully executes its strategic pivot toward AI-native cloud infrastructure and enterprise customers. The company's revenue grew 14.2% TTM to $863.96M while market capitalization expanded 59.7%, reflecting strong investor confidence in its positioning for inference and agentic workloads. However, despite bullish analyst sentiment with 14 "Buy" ratings, the stock has appreciated significantly from its 52-week low and now trades above consensus price targets, suggesting potential near-term consolidation risk.

• Net income surged 206.5% with EPS growing 201.9% over the trailing twelve months.
• Revenue grew 14.2% TTM to $863.96M while market cap expanded 59.7%.
• Stock gained 160% from 52-week low of $25.45 to recent highs of $65.92, though analyst consensus target of $51.69 implies 20.16% downside.

Fastly FSLY

Polen Capital bought $6.93B of Fastly in Q1 2026. Fastly demonstrated strong operational momentum in Q1 2026, delivering 20% year-over-year revenue growth to $173 million while expanding gross margins to a record 62.5%, culminating in a 160% earnings surprise with $0.13 EPS versus $0.05 Street expectations. The 47% year-over-year growth in the security business showcases strong customer demand in higher-margin offerings, while company-wide operating cash flow of $94.4 million demonstrates improving cash generation capabilities despite remaining accounting-level net losses. The recent pullback from the 52-week high of $34.82 to current levels around $17.47 appears to reflect profit-taking rather than fundamental deterioration, with shares up 124.1% over the past twelve months and the company approaching a profitable inflection point.

• Q1 2026 earnings per share reached $0.13, beating estimates by 160% and reversing the $0.05 loss from the prior-year quarter.
• Revenue grew 20% year-over-year to $173 million with gross margins expanding to record 62.5%, up significantly from the 57.1% trailing twelve-month average.
• The stock appreciated 124.1% over the past twelve months despite retreating 50% from its $34.82 peak, currently trading near $17.47.

Added, Trimmed, and Exited

Added

Polen Capital meaningfully added to two existing positions in Q1 2026: CoStar (CSGP) was aggressively increased by approximately 157%, growing from ~4.9M to ~12.6M shares, while ServiceNow (NOW) was expanded by roughly 28%, from ~5.7M to ~7.3M shares.
What it means: The dramatic near-tripling of the CoStar (CSGP) position stands out as the most decisive conviction call of the quarter, suggesting Polen Capital sees significant undervaluation or a major inflection in the commercial real estate data and analytics space. The concurrent increase in ServiceNow (NOW) reinforces the firm's ongoing commitment to high-quality enterprise software platforms with durable pricing power. Together, these additions signal a preference for data-driven, platform businesses with sticky recurring revenue rather than purely cyclical growth.

Trimmed

Polen Capital trimmed eight existing positions in Q1 2026, with the steepest cuts applied to Amazon (AMZN) (reduced ~55%, from ~8.7M to ~3.9M shares) and Boston Scientific (BSX) (reduced ~86%, from ~4.0M to ~580K shares), followed by meaningful reductions in Oracle (ORCL) (~30%), Alphabet (GOOG) (~27%), Microsoft (MSFT) (~27%), Starbucks (SBUX) (~25%), Zoetis (ZTS) (~24%), and Nvidia (NVDA) (~23%).
What it means: The broad-based trimming of mega-cap technology names — Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), and Nvidia (NVDA) — suggests Polen Capital is rotating away from the most consensus-owned AI and hyperscaler trades, likely on valuation discipline rather than fundamental concern. The near-exit of Boston Scientific (BSX) is particularly notable given it was previously a top holding, potentially signaling reduced conviction in the medtech growth narrative. Trimming Starbucks (SBUX) and Zoetis (ZTS) further points to a broader deemphasis of consumer-facing and non-core growth names as the firm reshapes the portfolio around higher-conviction ideas.

Exited

Polen Capital fully liquidated 12 positions in Q1 2026, including sizable holdings in Abbott (ABT), Adobe (ADBE), and Paycom (PAYC), as well as smaller positions in Icon (ICLR), HDFC Bank (HDB), Monday.com (MNDY), ON (ONON), Willis Towers Watson (WTW), Medtronic (MDT), GeneDx (WGS), Tencent Music (TME), and dLocal (DLO).
What it means: The sheer breadth of these exits — spanning healthcare devices (Abbott (ABT), Medtronic (MDT), Icon (ICLR)), software (Adobe (ADBE), Paycom (PAYC), Monday.com (MNDY)), emerging market financials (HDFC Bank (HDB), dLocal (DLO)), and consumer/genomics names — reflects a significant portfolio streamlining rather than isolated stock-specific concerns. Polen Capital appears to be concentrating capital into a tighter set of highest-conviction positions, shedding diversified exposure across slower-growth or more macro-sensitive industries. The simultaneous exit of multiple healthcare names is especially telling, suggesting the firm has materially reduced its thesis on healthcare growth as a near-term driver, while the departure from emerging market and payments-adjacent names like dLocal (DLO) and Tencent Music (TME) indicates a pull-back from international and higher-risk growth bets.

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.