Monthly Newsletter - February 2026 - Baskin Wealth Managment

Benjamin Graham, widely considered the “father of value investing”, famously observed that “In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine”.

Put another way, stock prices can fluctuate wildly in the short-term based on news, political or economic concerns, or simply speculation. As an extreme example, shares of GameStop, a declining video game retailer, soared by over 1,500 percent in 2021 entirely due to retail enthusiasm for “memes” even as sales of physical video game disks continued to decline. In the long-term however, the share price and return will ultimately be dictated by the fundamental performance of the underlying business.

In 2025, despite poor relative stock price performance, our portfolio companies did well:

30 out of 33 companies grew earnings per share with 22 growing over double digit.
26 out of 33 companies pay recurring dividends, and all of them increased their base dividend in 2025 (see the appendix below for the full list)

Through 2026, all 33 companies in the portfolio expect to grow earnings with 27 growing earnings double-digits. Notwithstanding lackluster share prices, fundamentals remain strong which is a good indicator of future performance.

Qualitatively, our companies are gaining market share and doing smart things to drive growth in the future. Here are a few examples:

Domino’s Pizza grew same-store sales in the US by 3.5% and is opening new stores in a weak environment for fast-food by revamping their loyalty program and launching new products such as the stuffed crust pizza. By contrast, Pizza Hut’s US same-store sales were down 5% and expects to close 250 stores in 2026.
Netflix grew subscribers by 8% and revenues by 16% by adding new types of content and an ad-supported tier while streaming competitors struggle to manage declines from cable TV
Visa had strong payments growth (up 8%) with healthy adoption of products like Visa Direct, and launched key initiatives to facilitate stablecoins and agentic commerce
Brookfield had a record year of fundraising at BAM including $5 billion in initial commitments for its AI Infrastructure Fund and took advantage of falling interest rates to sell assets and refinance portfolio debt, while repurchasing over $1 billion in stock at discounted prices.
Live Nation continues to benefit from strong concert demand, while adding to their portfolio of owned venues including Rogers Stadium

While we are long-term investors, we do not buy and hold indiscriminately. If the results and our assessment of the company’s prospect changes, we will make changes. Over the last 2 years, we sold all our shares in CN Rail, Vail Resorts, Floor & Décor, and CoStar Group at higher prices than the current stock price, while adding new positions in TransDigm, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Meta, and Alimentation Couche-Tard. Each has been a profitable swap. February was a busy month for our portfolio as we made several new trades and we are contemplating more.

Today, the quality and earnings growth of our portfolio is healthy while valuations are cheap and back to 2022 prices in many cases. History suggests good returns should follow and we are very confident in our stock selections.