Our approach
The market is impatient.
We are not.
Black Cypress manages a concentrated, value-oriented portfolio of U.S. companies, selected through original research and owned for years, not quarters. What sets us apart is hard to replicate: a structure that lets us act, the discipline it permits, and a process focused on producing better decisions, not more data.
At a glance
Black Cypress Long-Only Equity
Asset class
Long-only, U.S. equity
Style
Value-oriented, research-driven
Benchmarks
Russell 1000 Value
S&P 500
Holdings
12 to 20 companies
Investment horizon
Five years or longer
Composite inception
March 31, 2011
Firm assets
$301 millionAs of September 30, 2026
Vehicle
Separately managed accounts (SMAs)
An enduring approach, by design
Our investment edge rests on a chain with three links.
I.
A durable inefficiency
Structurally short investor horizons misprice long-term value. We invest on the other side of that impatience.
II.
A process to exploit it
Companies studied long before we buy them, held ready for the right price, and a concentrated portfolio of 12 to 20 holdings.
III.
A structure that protects it
Owner-operated, with conviction reaching the portfolio undiluted: no investment committee, no asset-gathering mandate, and no short evaluation horizon.
Our edge does not depend on information that leaks or a formula that gets copied. It rests on three things that are hard to compete away: an inefficiency rooted in how investors and institutions are built, a process refined since 2009, and a structure we have protected since our founding.
Prepared opportunism
Preparation, then volatility, then action.
We have a long-studied research bench and a well-honed process. Our discipline is hardened and our criteria sharp before an opportunity arises. We act decisively in the exact moments when prepared capital is scarce: buying businesses others are avoiding over a short-term problem they treat as permanent, adding to high-conviction positions as they fall, and selling into strength when price runs ahead of value.
We make the full case in our technical report, The Case for a Repeatable Edge, available on request.
Foundational beliefs
What we believe as investors.
Process over outcome
The quality of a decision can’t be judged solely by its outcome. Process is paramount. We won’t always be right, so we learn from both errors of omission and commission and refine accordingly.
Concentrated positions
Markets are largely efficient, but there are a sufficient number of inefficiencies at the single-stock level to build an equity portfolio. We concentrate in them rather than dilute them.
Original, differentiated research
Inefficiencies are, by nature, non-consensus. Finding them takes original, qualitative research, sound valuation practices, and the often-overlooked study of how capital flows into and out of an industry.
Value-oriented
We think like owners, require a margin of safety, and judge a business by its intrinsic worth rather than by mere statistical cheapness.
Opportunity cost framework
Every holding has to earn its place against the alternatives. We don’t sell rigidly at intrinsic value when a position remains superior, which keeps turnover low and lets the portfolio adapt to low-return markets.
Volatility is not risk
Stock price volatility is not a measure of risk. The likelihood of a permanent impairment of capital is. We accept volatility and seek to use it to our advantage, while our research works to manage true risk.
A word on fit
We would rather be the right fit for a few investors than a passable fit for many. The strategy suits those with a genuinely long horizon, tolerance for concentration and visible tracking error, and the conviction to stay invested through drawdowns. For investors who need returns that mostly mirror the market, our strategy likely isn’t the right choice.