3 Knockout Growth Stocks From Munro's Qiao Ma

Why It Matters

Monroe’s disciplined trigger system and sector shift illustrate how rigorous risk management can capture upside in emerging growth themes, offering investors a blueprint for navigating volatile small‑midcap markets.

Key Takeaways

• Monroe's risk process triggers reviews when stocks fall 20%
• Exited digital enterprise holdings, avoiding recent tech sector downturn
• Focused on aerospace, connectivity, HPC, and infrastructure for growth
• TKO Group offers scarce, cash‑flow‑rich UFC and WWE assets
• Helmet Aerospace supplies critical turbine blades to aerospace and power markets

Summary

The interview with Chiao Ma of Monroe Partners centered on the firm’s small‑ and mid‑cap growth fund, its disciplined risk‑management framework, and the standout stock ideas driving recent performance. Monroe’s team uses a 20%‑price‑drop trigger that forces a full‑team review, leading them to exit the entire digital‑enterprise (software) segment before the broader tech sell‑off and to stay nimble across other sectors. Key insights include an 8% year‑to‑date return, a systematic “trigger‑review‑repitch” process that weeds out losers, and a strategic pivot toward aerospace, connectivity, high‑performance computing and infrastructure—areas showing accelerating earnings and strong macro tailwinds. The fund’s tight‑knit 12‑person team also cross‑checks triggers across small‑cap and global‑growth mandates, ensuring early detection of sector‑wide stress. Illustrative examples were the bullish case for TKO Group Holdings, which owns UFC and WWE. Ma highlighted its scarce, cash‑flow‑rich assets, 10‑15% annual revenue growth contracts, and a new Paramount Plus streaming model that lifted UFC viewership from under a million to five million. She also praised Helmet Aerospace, a former Alcoa spin‑off that manufactures high‑temperature turbine blades for jet engines and large gas turbines, serving aerospace, defense and power‑generation markets. The discussion underscores that disciplined risk controls can protect portfolios while uncovering high‑conviction opportunities in non‑software growth niches. For investors, Monroe’s approach suggests that small‑midcap exposure to infrastructure‑heavy themes and unique entertainment assets like TKO can deliver outsized returns amid a shifting technology landscape.

Original Description

Global growth investors have had a turbulent couple of years. The rise of large language models (LLMs), shifting capital cycles, and changing technology dynamics have upended some of the sectors that once defined the growth playbook.

Few investors have navigated that shift more thoughtfully than Munro Partners’ Qiao Ma. As a specialist in global small and mid-cap growth companies, she spends her time searching for the businesses that can ride the next wave of structural change, rather than the last one.

In our latest conversation, it quickly became clear that while some areas of the market are under pressure, the opportunity set has rarely looked richer.

“In terms of opportunities, frankly, the opportunity set has never been greater,” Qiao says. She argues that while parts of the technology ecosystem, particularly software, are grappling with disruption from artificial intelligence, entirely new industries are being built at the same time. Massive data centre construction, reshoring of manufacturing, and rising defence spending are creating new winners across the global economy.

In this interview, Qiao explains how Munro manages risk when markets shift, where she sees the most exciting growth opportunities emerging, and three stocks she believes are particularly well positioned today.

TIME CODES

00:03 – Introduction and overview of the global small and mid-cap opportunity

00:21 – How Munro avoided the recent tech sell-off

01:29 – The “trigger review” risk management process explained

03:10 – What it means when multiple stocks trigger at once

04:20 – Can investors still make money in small and mid-cap growth?

05:19 – Why AI infrastructure is creating a new investment pipeline

07:19 – Stock pick #1: TKO Group (UFC and WWE)

08:41 – The shift from pay-per-view to streaming and the impact on UFC

10:07 – WWE’s move to Netflix and media partner concentration

11:50 – Fighter compensation and litigation risks

13:31 – Stock pick #2: Howmet Aerospace

15:27 – Boeing and Airbus production constraints

16:19 – Input costs, tariffs, and pricing power

16:44 – Stock pick #3: Coherent and the optical networking opportunity

18:39 – Why AI data centres are driving optical demand

19:37 – Customer concentration risk

20:20 – The real bottleneck in AI optics