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Equity Core SMA
Designed to outperform the S&P 500 by matching its downside volatility while aiming for superior upside. Invests in market-leading companies that consistently deliver steady, reliable growth across essential sectors.
Equity Core SMA
Growth of $100,000
Calendar Year Returns
Annual performance vs. the S&P 500 — computed live from daily return data
| Year | Core (Gross) | S&P 500 | Alpha | Market Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Seen Enough? Let's Talk.
Schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss whether the Core SMA belongs in your portfolio — or keep scrolling for the full strategy breakdown.
What Makes Core Different
The Equity Core SMA is the foundation strategy of BRIM's lineup — the one we build most client portfolios around. It holds 20–25 concentrated positions in the highest-quality businesses we can find: wide economic moats, durable competitive advantages, pricing power, and the kind of enduring brands and franchises you'd be comfortable owning for a decade.
Every holding must demonstrate revenue growth of 12–15% annually, best-in-class margins, fortress balance sheets, and disciplined capital allocation. This is the strategy that compounds quietly. It's not the fastest horse in the race. It's the one that's still running at year 20 — still improving, still compounding, still earning more than it did the year before.
- Long-term investors with 5+ year horizons at any life stage
- Every account type — taxable brokerage, Roth IRA, traditional IRA, SEP, joint
- Moderate risk profiles who want equity exposure without peak volatility
- Households rebuilding after a concentrated-stock event — diversification into quality
- Investors who measure success in decades, not quarters — compounding > trading
Current Holdings
How We Identify Exceptional Businesses
Every position in the Core portfolio passes through rigorous bottom-up analysis. We don't screen for stocks — we research businesses. Core rewards quality and durability over flash and hype.
Revenue Growth of 12–15%
Steady, durable top-line growth in the 12–15% zone — the quality compounder tier. Not the fastest. Not the flashiest. The most predictable. A growth rate that can persist for a decade without stretching the business beyond what the market can absorb.
Best-in-Class Margins
Industry-leading gross and operating margins, persistent and widening. The best businesses earn more per dollar of revenue than their peers — that's not luck, that's pricing power. Margins tell the story of whether a company has a moat.
Wide Economic Moat
Brand, scale, network effects, switching costs, regulatory position, distribution — the structural advantages that let a business defend its share and its margins year after year. We buy moats. We don't buy potential.
Fortress Balance Sheet
Strong cash generation, manageable debt, meaningful liquidity. Wide-moat businesses fall too in a bear market — but the ones with fortress balance sheets come out the other side stronger, while weaker competitors either fold or dilute shareholders.
Disciplined Capital Allocation
Management teams that treat shareholder capital with the seriousness of owner-operators. Return capital through dividends and buybacks at reasonable prices. Reinvest at high ROIC or don't reinvest at all. Avoid bad acquisitions. The boring stuff.
Reasonable Entry Price
Even the best business can be overpaid for. We buy quality compounders at prices that allow the underlying business to do the work of compounding. Paying 40× earnings for a 12% grower is how returns get compressed — discipline on entry price is part of the edge.
Where Quality Lives
Diversified across the industries where wide moats, pricing power, and durable cash flows compound through any cycle.
Why We Believe Quality Compounds
Six principles that govern how the best businesses of the past century created wealth — and why those same principles continue to produce the best long-run returns for patient capital.
Quality Compounds Quietly
The best investment returns don't come from the loudest stocks. They come from businesses that earn more every year, for a very long time, without drawing attention. A 13% CAGR over 30 years turns $100k into $3.9M. The math doesn't need to be flashy.
Simple compound interest
Pricing Power Beats Volume
The single greatest decision in investing is whether a business can raise prices without losing customers. That one attribute drives margin durability, earnings growth through inflation, and the ability to reinvest profitably. Everything else is noise.
Morningstar moat research
Wide Moats Don't Erode
A business with a real moat defends its market share, its pricing, and its margins year after year — not by being cheapest, but by being irreplaceable. That's the difference between a stock and a position. The moat keeps compounding while competitors struggle.
Morningstar / Credit Suisse HOLT
Balance Sheets Matter
Every business gets hit in a downturn. The difference between winners and losers is liquidity. Fortress balance sheets let great businesses buy back shares at crisis prices, acquire struggling competitors, and emerge stronger. Leverage is a fair-weather friend.
Ned Davis Research
Dividends + Buybacks Compound
Total shareholder yield — dividends plus buybacks — is the most reliable driver of long-run returns. Quality businesses return capital consistently, which compounds even during flat market periods. It's the invisible force behind the best equity portfolios.
Robert Shiller / S&P DJ Indices
Concentrated Within Quality
Owning 500 average businesses is closet indexing. Owning 20 exceptional businesses is portfolio construction. Diversification matters — but the goal isn't to match the index, it's to outperform it by owning fewer, better businesses. Concentration plus quality is the edge.
Evans & Archer, Journal of Finance
Since March 2021
Core SMA · Gross
Marketplace Approved
Every daily return is public.
Every day of this track record — from January 7, 2008 to today — is open for your inspection. No gated access. No qualification form. No asterisks. The same spreadsheet that powers this page is the one we'd hand to a regulator.
The Structural Advantages of Direct Ownership
Comparing BRIM Core to quality-factor or wide-moat ETFs misses the fundamental difference: you own individual stocks, not fund shares. This unlocks tax management, customization, and transparency that pooled vehicles cannot replicate.
| Feature | SMA | ETF |
|---|---|---|
| Direct stock ownership | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Tax-loss harvesting on individual positions | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Customizable exclusions (ESG, sector, etc.) | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Fund-level expense ratio | ✓ None | ✗ Yes |
| Capital gains distributions from other investors | ✓ Impossible | ⚠ Common |
| Transparency into every holding | ✓ Real-time | ⚠ Delayed |
| Transferability — move positions in-kind | ✓ Yes | ✗ Liquidate only |
| Estate planning flexibility — step-up per lot | ✓ Per lot | ✗ Fund-level only |
Build Your Portfolio's Foundation
Schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss whether the Equity Core SMA belongs at the center of your portfolio. No obligations, no pressure — just a straightforward conversation about quality-compounder investing and how it fits with your long-term plan.
Explore Our Other Strategies
Four proprietary equity SMAs — matched to your risk profile and long-term goals.
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Highest-conviction, highest-growth strategy targeting the companies defining the next decade — AI, cloud, semiconductors, cybersecurity.
ExploreEquity Growth SMA
Category-leader strategy holding proven compounders with real operating leverage across tech, consumer, and financials.
ExploreEquity Low Volatility SMA
Defensive, income-oriented companies with strong dividends and low beta. The stabilizer within multi-strategy allocations.
ExplorePerformance Methodology. All performance data shown both gross and net of an advisory fee consistent with BRIM's published tiered fee schedule (maximum 1.50% annual rate), deducted quarterly based on average daily balance methodology. Returns prior to March 24, 2020 are backtested using the same investment methodology applied to live accounts. Backtested performance does not represent actual trading and may not reflect the impact of material economic and market factors. Live performance begins March 24, 2020.
Rankings & Comparisons. Benchmarks (S&P 500) are unmanaged and not directly investable. Calendar-year returns are computed from daily return data and reflect the compounding of published daily returns for the Equity Core SMA model portfolio within each calendar year. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Holdings Disclosure. Holdings shown are representative of a model portfolio as of the date indicated and may not reflect the exact positions in every client account. Individual account holdings may differ due to customizations, tax considerations, timing of funding, or other factors. Holdings are subject to change without notice and should not be considered investment recommendations. Sector allocations are approximate and shift as positions are added, trimmed, or rotated.
Risk Disclosure. This strategy involves risk including the potential loss of principal. The Core SMA is a concentrated equity strategy focused on quality compounder businesses and is not suitable for all investors. Concentrated equity portfolios can experience greater volatility and drawdowns than broad diversified indices. Past performance is not indicative of future results. No guarantee is made that any investment strategy or account will achieve its objectives.
Fees. The advisory fee shown (1.50%) represents the maximum rate. Actual fees may be lower based on account size per BRIM's published tiered fee schedule: $0–$250K at 1.50%, $250K–$500K at 1.25%, $500K–$1M at 1.10%, $1M–$2.5M at 0.95%, and $2.5M+ at 0.85%, billed quarterly in arrears on average daily balance. Advisory fees do not include custodian-charged brokerage or transaction costs.
Regulatory. Bull Run Investment Management, LLC ("BRIM") is a fee-only Registered Investment Adviser headquartered in McLean, Virginia (CRD #306763), registered in California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For additional information about BRIM — including fees, services, and disciplinary history — refer to our Form ADV at adviserinfo.sec.gov, or contact us at bullrunim.com · (703) 344-6844 · info@bullrunim.com.
Questions? Seeking Further Insight?
Connect with our team to discuss your goals. No obligations, no pressure — just a straightforward conversation about how we can help.
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Connect with our experts at BRIM.