Tom Russo's Trades and Holdings in Q1 2026

Breaking down the stocks Tom Russo (Gardner Russo & Quinn) bought, sold, and held in Q1 2026, including their holdings at the end of the quarter. All data sourced from Gardner Russo & Quinn's 13F filed on May 13, 2026.

Who are Tom Russo and Gardner Russo & Quinn?

Tom Russo is the founder and managing member of Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC (commonly referred to as GRQ). The firm is known for its concentrated portfolio, typically consisting of around 85 positions with the top 10 holdings comprising approximately 80% of assets, reflecting a focus on a core group of long-held, high-conviction investments with low annual turnover (averaging around 5.5%). His investment strategy is a global value investing approach inspired by Warren Buffett's principles, emphasizing companies with the "capacity to reinvest" and "capacity to suffer" — meaning they can endure short-term earnings pressures to compound intrinsic value at high rates over decades through strategic reinvestments. Russo focuses on underfollowed or undervalued global brands, often family-controlled, that expand into large addressable markets, with strong qualitative factors like pricing power, indispensable products, high returns on invested capital, reinvestment opportunities in emerging economies, and low agency costs.

Q1 '26 13F filed with SEC

Holdings in Q1 2026

Current Investment Strategy

Tom Russo's Gardner Russo & Quinn maintained its hallmark Buffett-inspired global value approach in Q1 2026, anchoring a highly concentrated portfolio around enduring consumer and luxury franchises — including Costco, AbbVie, Lindt & Sprüngli, and L'Oréal — that exhibit strong pricing power, high returns on invested capital, and the capacity to reinvest earnings at scale across global markets. Russo trimmed exposure to hospitality and healthcare by exiting Hyatt Hotels, Abbott, and SSP Group, while seamlessly converting his long-held stake in Ashtead Group into newly NYSE-listed Sunbelt Rentals, preserving continuity in the structurally growing North American equipment rental industry with minimal portfolio turnover.

New Investments

Sunbelt Rentals SUNB

Tom Russo bought $393.74B of Sunbelt Rentals in Q1 2026. The company operates as a leading equipment rental provider with solid fundamentals—normalized P/E around 21x, price/sales near 3.0x, and strong profitability metrics including ROE ~20.8% and ROIC ~10.9%—yet the share price is roughly flat to slightly down (about −2–3%) over the last 12 months. Over the last two quarters the stock has been range‑bound, generally trading in the high‑$60s to mid‑$70s with recent levels near the upper end of its $68–77 52‑week band, reflecting investor caution on macro and rate headwinds despite resilient rental demand and strong returns on capital. In the current quarter, the name appears to be consolidating rather than meaningfully gaining or declining, and upside in valuation is most likely to come from evidence that revenue and EBITDA growth are holding up better than expected, stable or improving margins, and management commentary that underscores sustained demand from US infrastructure and non‑residential construction projects to support the existing low‑20s P/E multiple.

• Stock is down about 2.5% over the last 12 months, with recent trading around $73–75 versus a 52‑week range of roughly $68–77.
• Current valuation multiples are a normalized P/E of ~21.3x and price/sales of ~2.95x on a market capitalization of roughly $31B.
• Profitability metrics remain strong, with normalized ROE at ~20.75%, ROIC at ~10.89%, and ROA at ~7.2%.

Added, Trimmed, and Exited

Added

Gardner Russo & Quinn added to one existing position in Q1 2026: Netflix (NFLX), where the firm increased its stake by approximately 606,000 shares (roughly +12%), bringing the total holding to about 5.61 million shares.
What it means: The incremental buy in Netflix (NFLX) signals continued conviction in the company's compounding growth story. For a manager like Tom Russo, whose style centers on businesses with durable pricing power and deep reinvestment capacity, Netflix's expanding global subscriber base, improving free cash flow, and growing advertising tier fit squarely within that framework. Adding on what has been a strong-performing position suggests Russo sees the current price as still reasonable relative to the long runway ahead, rather than a valuation stretched enough to prompt trimming.

Trimmed

Gardner Russo & Quinn reduced seven existing positions: Alphabet (GOOG) (−581K shares, ~−15%), JPMorgan (JPM) (−380K shares, ~−72%), Nestle (NSRGY) (−135K shares, ~−2%), Heineken Holding (HEIO.AS) (−99K shares, ~−1%), Philip Morris (PM) (−92K shares, ~−2%), Anheuser-Busch InBev (−82K shares, ~−31%), and Pernod Ricard (−74K shares, ~−3%).
What it means: The most striking move is the near-three-quarter reduction in JPMorgan (JPM), which looks like a disciplined trim after a period of significant outperformance in financials — Russo locking in gains in a sector that sits somewhat outside his core consumer-brand philosophy. The cuts in Alphabet (GOOG) are also notable in size and may reflect a modest reallocation away from large-cap US tech at elevated valuations. The reductions in Anheuser-Busch InBev and Pernod Ricard — two of his classic "capacity to suffer" consumer staples names — are more measured but directionally consistent with both stocks having faced prolonged earnings pressure from volume declines and elevated input costs. The very small trims in Nestle (NSRGY), Heineken Holding (HEIO.AS), and Philip Morris (PM) read more as portfolio housekeeping than a change in thesis, as he retains large core positions in all three.

Exited

Gardner Russo & Quinn fully liquidated ten positions: Ashtead Group (ASHGY), Abbott (ABT), Hyatt Hotels (H), SSP Group (SSPG.L), Warby Parker (WRBY), Fielmann (FIE.DE), H&M (HMSB.DE), Apple (AAPL), Walmart (WMT), and Nestlé (NESN.SW).
What it means: The most strategically significant exit is Ashtead Group (ASHGY), which is almost certainly a direct swap rather than a true exit — Ashtead Group's primary US operating subsidiary is Sunbelt Rentals, the brand-new position Russo opened this quarter. By selling the UK-listed parent and buying the US-listed entity directly, Russo appears to be simplifying his exposure to the same underlying business while removing currency and cross-listing complexity. The exit from Nestlé (NESN.SW) similarly looks like a consolidation trade, as he continued to hold the ADR Nestle (NSRGY) with only a minor trim — eliminating the Swiss-listed shares in favour of a single, more liquid vehicle. The remaining exits — Abbott (ABT), Hyatt Hotels (H), SSP Group (SSPG.L), Warby Parker (WRBY), Fielmann (FIE.DE), H&M (HMSB.DE), Apple (AAPL), and Walmart (WMT) — were each very small positions (largely under $2M in reported value), and their removal is consistent with Russo's long-standing preference for a concentrated portfolio; these were likely legacy or exploratory holdings that never grew into high-conviction core positions.

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.