Innovation Portfolio- Quarterly Review Q3 2025
The Sasfin Innovation Portfolio had a strong finish to the third quarter of 2025, increasing 12.84% in US dollars (22.3% in Rands) to achieve a year-to-date (“YTD”) return of 25.4%.
The Sasfin Innovation Portfolio had a strong finish to the third quarter of 2025, increasing 12.84% in US dollars (22.3% in Rands) to achieve a year-to-date (“YTD”) return of 25.4%.
The Sasfin Innovation Portfolio had a strong finish to the third quarter of 2025, increasing 12.84% in US dollars (22.3% in Rands) to achieve a year-to-date (“YTD”) return of 25.4%. Since its inception, the portfolio has achieved an annualised return of 20.3% (25.3% in Rands), comfortably outperforming the benchmark’s return of 14.0%.
Most of the third quarter’s gain occurred in August, following positive earnings performances in some of our bigger holdings as well as AI and data centre tailwinds that proved to be pervasive, specifically for two of the portfolio’s larger holdings, Nvidia, and Arista Networks. Both of these companies reported better-than expected top line growth in the second quarter. Nvidia benefitted from strong growth in demand for high- end AI infrastructure chips as well as increased demand for data centre GPUs, supporting the broader narrative of Nvidia being central to the AI boom. Arista Networks, reported similarly strong numbers for the quarter, reinforcing the company’s position in AI- driven networking, a theme that has found massive favour in both 2024 and 2025.
The quarter also saw some good performances from some of the portfolio’s healthcare-related counters, with Medpace Holdings, Inc. being the pick of the bunch. The share price surged by approximately 50% on the day after their second quarter earnings report. This was one of the largest single days moves the company has ever seen and followed a strong uplift in forward guidance. The size of the share-price move signalled a reshaping
of the market’s narrative around Medpace: from a company facing cyclical pressure in the CRO (contract research organisation) industry to one demonstrating superior growth and improved outlook. This rebound underscored how quickly sentiment can shift once fundamentals reassert themselves — a rewarding outcome from a position that had, until recently, trailed broader market performance.
Tesla was also a massive contributor to performance, with the share ending the period around 48% higher as the company saw a surge in delivery and production expectations. In addition to this, positive sentiment around the share picked up substantially as Elon Musk disclosed a ~$1 billion share purchase.
InterDigital continued their sharp rally in the year, following the release of the group’s better-than-expected second quarter results at the end of July. The company raised its guidance for the third quarter of the year on the back of a new license deal with a Chinese smartphone vendor. The deal increases the company’s recurring revenue segment and this was viewed very favourably by the market. For context, InterDigital is a leading
technology research and development company specialising in wireless communications, video, and artificial intelligence solutions.
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