Hello! Thank you for reading my first ever newsletter! On a weekly basis, I want to provide insight on my portfolio, the market, economics, and more. Everything is completely free, including my website, which has detailed research on my portfolio. https://stackingcpa.netlify.app/
The market is down. Here's what I'm actually doing about it.
Welcome to the first issue of Stacking CPA — a newsletter about investing in wide-moat businesses with long time horizons and a margin of safety.
I'm a CPA and Manager of Technical Accounting. I analyze financial statements for a living, and I invest using that same accounting lens.
Every position I own has a full deep-dive scorecard behind it. No speculation. No tips. Just durable businesses bought at reasonable prices.
Let's get into it.
The market narrative right now
As I write this, the S&P 500 is down about 0.6% YTD. Doesn't sound dramatic — but underneath that number, the dispersion is brutal. Software is getting crushed. High-multiple growth names are down 30–50%. The market is repricing risk.
The narrative driving it: AI is eating software margins, interest rates are staying higher for longer, and geopolitical uncertainty (Iran, trade) is keeping investors cautious.
"The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient." — Warren Buffett
I've heard this quote a hundred times. But it hits differently when you're watching names you own down 20–40% in a few months.
So let me tell you exactly how I'm thinking about it — and what I'm actually doing.
What I'm actually doing
Nothing dramatic. That's the point.
My portfolio is up about +0.6% YTD — slightly ahead of the S&P 500's -0.4%. But that headline number hides a lot. I have some positions up 40–50% (MRVL, MPWR, ASML, TSM) and some down hard (ZS -47%, DUOL -49%, NOW -46%).
The spread is wide. Here's my actual checklist when I see a position down 30%+:
✦ Has the thesis changed? Not the stock price — the business. Is the moat narrower? Is the competitive position worse? Are the economics deteriorating?
✦ Has the valuation become more attractive? A stock down 30% with earnings up 15% is a very different story than a stock down 30% with deteriorating fundamentals.
✦ Would I buy it today if I didn't own it? This is the best gut check I know. It cuts through anchoring bias instantly.
For most of my down positions — ZS, NOW, DUOL, MSFT — the answer to all three is: thesis intact, valuation better, yes I'd buy more. So I'm holding, and in some cases adding.
Three positions I'm watching closely right now
Here are three names that have pulled back significantly but where I think the long-term thesis is stronger than ever.
$MSFT Microsoft — the quiet AI infrastructure play
Down 23% YTD. Trading at 19x forward earnings — the lowest multiple it's seen in years. The market is worried about Azure growth decelerating and Copilot ROI. I'm focused on the fact that Microsoft controls the enterprise software stack, the cloud infrastructure, and the developer tooling. That's not a narrative — it's lock-in.
Wide moat, 5-star Morningstar rating, 0.62x price-to-fair-value. I added to my position in April.
P/FV: 0.62x · YTD: -23.1% · Moat: Wide · Stars: ★★★★★
$ZS Zscaler — the most hated stock in my portfolio
Down 47.5% YTD. Yes, really. The market hates it. AI disruption fears, slowing enterprise spending, and a high multiple have made it a punching bag.
But here's what I know: zero-trust network security is not optional for enterprises anymore. The attack surface is growing. Zscaler's platform approach — where replacing them means ripping out your entire security architecture — is exactly the kind of switching cost moat I look for.
At 0.39x fair value, Morningstar has it at 5 stars. I'm not selling.
P/FV: 0.39x · YTD: -47.5% · Moat: Narrow · Stars: ★★★★★
$SPGI S&P Global — the toll booth on global capital
Down 20% YTD. This one surprises people. S&P Global is as close to a guaranteed compounder as I've found — they rate every bond issuance, they own the market data infrastructure, and they have pricing power that most businesses can only dream about.
The pullback is macro-driven (rate sensitivity, lower issuance expectations). The business hasn't changed at all. Added in October 2023 and added again in April.
Wide moat, 5-star rating, 0.73x fair value.
P/FV: 0.73x · YTD: -20.3% · Moat: Wide · Stars: ★★★★★
The thing I keep coming back to
Volatility is the price of admission for long-term returns. It's not a bug — it's the mechanism that creates opportunity. The investors who get shaken out at -30% are the ones who fund the returns of the investors who hold through it.
I'm a CPA. I spend my days in financial statements. And the thing that becomes crystal clear when you read enough 10-Ks is this: great businesses with durable competitive advantages tend to be worth more in 5 years than they are today.
The stock price might not agree in the short term. It doesn't need to.
My job isn't to predict the next 3 months. It's to own the right businesses for the next 10 years.
That's the whole framework. Everything else is noise.
Thanks for being here for issue #1. If you found this useful, forward it to one person who you think would appreciate it. That's how this grows.
P.S. My full portfolio — all 24 positions with deep-dive scorecards, scenario analysis, and valuation metrics — is at stackingcpa.netlify.app. Everything is free and open.
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Not investment advice. I own all positions mentioned. Do your own research.