There is no substitute for experience

Investing for growth

American Capital Management is dedicated to helping our clients achieve their goals through investing in a disciplined growth strategy.

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About Us

American Capital Management, Inc. (ACM) is a boutique investment management firm, founded in 1980, with over $3.0 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2023. We believe our firm and investment approach are unique relative to most investment management organizations. We invest for growth, focusing on active management of innovative quality small and medium-sized companies — the most rapidly growing sector of the economy. The firm is a registered investment advisor with the SEC.

Our Objective: to provide superior absolute and risk-adjusted returns relative to the major indices
  • Investing in small to medium-sized companies (generally between $100 million and $2.5 billion in sales at time of initial purchase) with potential to grow at a rate substantially greater than the S&P 500.
  • Emphasizing companies with proven management teams, strong R&D efforts, dominant market positions, and effective sales and marketing organizations.
  • Focusing on companies that possess the necessary profitability and financial strength to fuel and support their growth.
  • Team-based approach results in concentrated, high-conviction portfolios.
ACM Serves a Diverse Client Base
  • Our firm manages assets for institutions, foundations, pensions, single and multi-family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.
We Are Committed to Enduring Relationships
  • ACM is proud to have a history of working with clients through multiple market cycles, generational shifts, and life changes.
Deep Expertise
  • All investment personnel at ACM are dedicated to one strategy, Small and Medium Company Growth. This creates a focused environment where resources are directed where they are most needed.

Key Advantages

Exclusive focus

Subject Matter Experts in growth investing.

Long-term perspective

We invest in businesses with an understanding that market fluctuations are a normal part of asset management.

Revenue size is the focus of our universe

Management can influence revenues whereas market cap is a product of market opinion. This aligns with ACM’s long-term perspective.

Concentrated portfolios

Dedicating time and attention where it is most valuable.

Proven Track Record of Success

An investment process that yields results.

Control to mitigate risk

Carefully researched, strong businesses are their own best tools to manage risk within a portfolio.

     

Investment Philosophy

We believe that above-average returns can be achieved by owning a diversified group of small to medium-sized companies growing at a rate greater than the average company in the S&P 500.

  • We focus on revenue rather than market capitalization.
  • Our approach provides opportunities to hold individual securities as they grow from small to medium-sized businesses.
  • As long-term investors, we own our holdings considerably longer than the industry average, which has resulted in deep institutional knowledge of our investments, higher returns, lower turnover and greater tax efficiency.

 

Quality and Selectivity

  • We identify a proprietary universe of 100 companies based upon a consistent and proven research-driven process.
  • We follow companies closely, typically over a multi-year period, before committing to an investment.
  • We strongly favor growth companies with strong management, commitment to research and whose products and/or services enjoy dominant market positions, financial strength and profitability, and proven marketing organizations.

A Consistent and Proven Investment Process

Our firm employs a fundamental, benchmark-agnostic, and research-driven approach to asset management.

We consider ourselves owners of businesses and make decisions with a long-term investment horizon.

Focusing on innovative small and medium-sized growth companies enables us to hold our positions for an extended period of time. This has resulted in higher returns, lower turnover, and greater tax efficiency for taxable investors.

The strategy emphasizes revenue instead of market capitalization to evaluate size.

All members of the investment team are generalists, as we believe this produces the best framework for informed opinions and productive dialogue.

Commentaries

Overview

The S&P 500 (SPX) increased 21% through July and the outlook was positive.  Since then, the SPX has declined 10%, and some indices flipped negative year-to-date.  What happened?  Faster economic growth combined with increasing Treasury issuance to finance the rising U.S. budget deficit put upward pressure on longer term interest rates.  Specifically, the 10-year Treasury yield gained 26% to 5.02% recently.  In addition, Hamas attacked Israel, Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza and there is concern of a widening conflict.  What factors will impact the economic and investment outlooks today?

Long term investors expect a strong central bank with tough inflation fighting credentials to preserve the purchasing power of money and foster healthy financial markets.  The current Federal Reserve Board led by Chair Jerome Powell has been aggressive in raising the short-term federal funds rate 525 basis points (bps) with 11 hikes over the past 18 months — an unprecedented pace of tightening and a 22-year high.  This restrictive stance is uncomfortable as the stock market gyrates with higher interest rates.  However, investors will benefit from this inflation fight with the prize of lower inflation.  The Fed hopes to engineer a “soft landing” with lower inflation, but there are risks that higher interest rates may generate a “hard landing.”  We believe the monetary tightening process is nearing an end and the equity markets will rebound significantly as investors discount an incrementally more accommodative monetary outlook in 2024.  A summary of year-to-date index returns for the period ending September 30 is as follows:

 

Dow Jones Industrials 2.7%Russell 2500     3.6%
MSCI EAFE7.6%S&P 50013.1%
NASDAQ Composite  27.1%Wilshire 500012.5%

Contact Us

American Capital Management, Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue
30th Floor
New York, NY 10022
TEL: 212-344-3300
FAX: 212-658-9693
info@amcapmgt.com