OUR INVESTIMENT PHILOSOPHY AT WORK
A Disciplined Approach to Long-Term Value
In a constantly changing investment environment, we believe it’s crucial to rely on a disciplined, repeatable and rational process that helps us identify long-term opportunities within financial markets. Avoiding the short-term noise, our investment philosophy is built around 4 key steps that guide every decision we make, from an initial idea to portfolio construction and beyond.
Four Pillars of Long-Term Value
Each pillar plays a vital role in how we select, evaluate, and manage our investments over time.
IDEA GENERATION
We look for companies with superior business models, a clear competitive advantage, and the ability to generate consistent free cash flow. Why? These are the businesses that can thrive across
market cycles and do not keep us up at night.
VALUATION
Using our proprietary valuation model, we assess whether a company is trading below its intrinsic value, while having an acceptable debt load. This helps us distinguish between what is cheap and
what is expensive, independent of market sentiment or short-term noise.
PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION
We only invest in companies that meet our strict quality standards and are undervalued. This ensures our portfolio is built on conviction and reflects our long-term focus.
TIME AT WORK
Markets are not always rational. We trust that time will do its work, allowing the true value of our investments to be recognized. Patience is a key part of our strategy.
ORACLE: AN EXAMPLE OF OUR PHILOSOPHY
Oracle Corporation is one of the world’s leading providers of enterprise software, database technology, and cloud infrastructure. Founded in 1977, Oracle built its reputation on relational database systems and has since evolved into a global technology powerhouse that helps businesses worldwide.
This software giant is a textbook example of how our philosophy translates into action.
We first invested in Oracle in 1999, already recognizing its strong business model, high switching costs, and dominant market position within relational databases. These characteristics aligned with our criteria for competitive advantage and free cash flow generation. However, financial markets were more sceptical about this as they believed that Oracle wasn’t well placed to benefit from the internet. Trading at only 11 times earnings, we decided to initiate a position into our portfolios.
During the internet bubble, valuations across the tech sector became disconnected from fundamentals. Oracle surged during this period and was valued at 40 times earnings. Staying true to our valuation discipline, we exited our position and took our profits.
An active management over the long run
In 2008, we re-entered Oracle, seeing renewed value as the company continued to grow its core business while transitioning towards cloud-based solutions. Oracle’s ability to generate consistent free cash flow, while maintaining an acceptable debt profile reaffirmed our conviction. Over the years, Oracle has remained a core holding within our portfolio. It resembles how we apply our 4-
step philosophy:
IDEA GENERATION
A business with durable competitive advantages that generate sufficient free cash flow.
VALUATION
Initiating the position when the market undervalued its long-term potential and exiting when valuation became too expensive. Re-entering when financial markets turned irrational again.
PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION
A quality company held with conviction over time and became a core holding in our portfolio.
TIME AT WORK
Actively managing this core holding for 26 years, Oracle has generated strong performances for our portfolios. However, this journey has not been without volatility. Periods of underperformance
and market scepticism tested our patience, but staying the course proved rewarding.
Since 2011, we bought Oracle at an average price of $53. Following the recent surge towards $328 (10/9/2025), we have taken some profits, reflecting our ongoing commitment to valuation discipline and active portfolio management. Oracle’s journey in our portfolio is a clear demonstration of how we combine fundamental analysis, and a long-term investor focus to deliver value to our clients.
Disclaimer: The above themes and case studies are based on assumptions made by CapitalatWork SA and are presented for illustrative purposes only. They should not be used to make investment decisions. These assumptions are not recommendations or advice regarding the purchase or sale of financial instruments or any other form of investment. Nor should they be interpreted as such. CapitalatWork SA cannot be held liable if you decide to follow our opinions or statements in general. Furthermore, this presentation does not contain sufficient information to make an investment decision. The recipient must ensure that they have all the relevant information before making an investment decision. It is prohibited to distribute or reproduce this publication, in whole or in part, in any form whatsoever, without the written authorisation of CapitalatWork SA.
