Sands Capital, an investment management company, released its "Sands Capital Technology Innovators Fund" Q2 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the quarter, global equities rebounded sharply, with the MSCI ACWI posting its strongest quarterly gain since 2020, supported by broad market strength, easing geopolitical tensions, and continued enthusiasm for AI infrastructure. Information technology led the advance, with semiconductor and hardware companies accounting for most of the index's rise. The fund returned 26.9% (net) in the second quarter of 2026. The portfolio benefited from strong gains across memory, software infrastructure, cybersecurity, and other AI-related holdings, although its concentrated exposure to mega-cap chip designers and manufacturers weighed on relative performance as leadership broadened into CPUs, networking, and memory. Vertical software, internet, and financial holdings were modest detractors amid macro concerns and uncertainty over AI disruption. The fund remains focused on critical AI bottlenecks, including compute, memory, manufacturing, networking, and power, while retaining selected businesses that may use AI to strengthen their competitive positions. You can check the fund's top five holdings to learn more about its leading investment ideas for the year.
In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Sands Capital Technology Innovators Fund highlighted Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) as a notable performance contributor. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) engages in the provision of data storage technology and infrastructure solutions in Singapore and internationally. On August 7, 2026, Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) closed at $812.76 per share. One-month return of Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) was -5.57% and its shares gained 435.80% over the past 52 weeks. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) has a market capitalization of $184.21 billion with a 52-week trading range between $144.75 and $1,145.00.
Sands Capital Technology Innovators Fund stated the following regarding Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:
"Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ:STX) is a global leader in mass-capacity data storage. Shares advanced as improving supply demand conditions continued to support stronger pricing expectations for hard disk drives. The company reported strong first-quarter results, with revenue rising 44 percent year over year and non-GAAP gross margin reaching a record 47 percent. Demand for storage capacity is improving as AI-related workloads require greater data retention and retrieval, while industry supply remains constrained. Management now expects pricing to grow at a multiyear mid-teens rate, following 12 percent yearover-year pricing growth in the quarter. We believe this combination of rising demand, limited supply response, and improving pricing discipline will support durable e