Ankur Crawford, manager of the Alger Concentrated Equity ETF (CNEQ), is BI's Investor of the Month for May.
Crawford's growth fund launched in April 2024 and has burst onto the scene. Over the last 12 months, it's up 30%, which was good enough to beat 96% of similar funds, according to Morningstar data. The S&P 500, by comparison, has returned 12% in that time. In May alone, CNEQ rose 17%.
Crawford said the fund, which has 30 holdings, focuses on finding companies with little to no competition and, therefore, the ability to keep prices and profits high.
"I would say 50% of the company would liken itself to being an oligopoly or a monopoly," she said. "A great example of that is we own Ferrari. There's only one Ferrari, and they can raise prices however much they want; they are still sold out for three years."
Thematically, Crawford said the fund is betting big on artificial intelligence, which she called "one of the biggest opportunities that we see, probably of our generation."
Despite sparking a market frenzy since late 2022, the AI trade is still in its early days, she said, and likely has legs for another 5-10 years.
"It is a game-changing technology that is still in its infancy," she said. "What it will do to companies that furnish it and companies that are part of building out the infrastructure is significant."
The top holdings in CNEQ reflect Crawford's affinity for AI: Nvidia (NVDA) has a 13.18% weighting, followed by Microsoft (MSFT) at 10.06%, Amazon (AMZN) at 9.27%, and Meta Platforms (META) at 6.1%.
Crawford highlighted two companies in particular as leading the AI trade going forward, and that also fit her preference for monopoly or oligopoly firms: graphic processing unit maker Nvidia and semiconductor producer Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM). While both have high valuations, they also have pricing power that's just about unmatched.
"Being the only player in the world that can do something so important, I would argue TSM is probably the most strategic business on this planet," Crawford said. "That comes with a lot of rewards, including pricing power."
Those considered for BI's Investor of the Month include managers of US-listed mutual funds or ETFs, those whose funds have outperformed peers in a given month, and those whose funds are outperforming a benchmark index (in most cases this will be the S&P 500) on a trailing 12-month basis. Leveraged funds are not considered.