Missing NVIDIA, Polen's Assets Under Management Evaporate Nearly $50 Billion in Four Years

Odaily: Asset management firm Polen has become a textbook case of how missing out on a single major winner during the AI boom can alter an institution's fate. In just four years, its assets under management have shrunk by 60%, a decrease of nearly $50 billion, leaving it with approximately $33 billion.

Most of the company’s six equity mutual funds employ a concentrated investment strategy, holding a small number of growth stocks. Its flagship product, the Polen Growth Fund, holds fewer than 30 stocks. The fund did not buy NVIDIA (NVDA.O), instead sticking to software stocks like Adobe (ADBE.O), Salesforce (CRM.N), and ServiceNow (NOW.N). In a June 2023 letter to clients regarding NVIDIA, Polen wrote: "We believe that almost all of the upside opportunity we can currently see for the company is already priced into the market." Since then, NVIDIA's stock price has surged nearly 400%.

During the same period, an index tracking cloud software companies fell by 3%. It wasn't until late 2025, after NVIDIA had already made countless investors substantial profits, that Polen finally changed its stance. The firm admitted its previous pessimistic outlook on AI chips was a misjudgment and began buying related stocks. (Jin Shi)