Under the Radar: Why This 600M Fund Manager Keeps Outperforming Wall Street

Author: Tim Melvin | November 18, 2025 10:42am

While everyone else is running in circles over the next week breathlessly talking about what Buffett, Ackman, Pabrai and Woods are buying, I will be calmly going through the 13f filings of obscure money managers who know one has heard of, have little to no social media presence

These are the fund managers who prefer to work out of the spotlight, way off Wall Street's radar screen.

I work to find the managers who are putting up big numbers buying the stocks that the cord is ignoring.

Finding out that someone of Berkshire Hathaway bought a bunch of United Health at the same time a few million other people get the same news does not create an edge.

Every once in a while, you come across a firm that reminds you why deep research, conviction, and patience still matter in this business. Shah Capital, founded in 2005 by Himanshu H. Shah, is one of those rare firms that quietly beats the market while most of Wall Street chases the next shiny thing. Tucked away in Raleigh, North Carolina, this is not a shop built on algorithms, ETFs, or marketing gloss. It is built on hard research, independent thought, and the old-fashioned belief that concentrated portfolios of undervalued businesses will outperform over time if you simply ignore the noise.

The firm's mission is simple but brutally demanding: create long-term value through focus and conviction. Shah Capital invests globally in situations where the gap between market perception and intrinsic value is wide enough to drive a truck through. The website makes it clear that this is not a spray-and-pray operation. The portfolio, spread across biotech, renewable energy, and emerging-market telecom, is concentrated and intentionally selective. It is an investor's portfolio, not a trader's playground.

They serve a particular audience—high-net-worth and institutional investors who understand that true alpha requires patience. No day trading, no market-timing gimmicks. Just old-fashioned, fundamental investing with a willingness to act like an owner when necessary.

At the heart of it all is Himanshu Shah, a soft-spoken but fiercely analytical investor with over three decades of experience in global markets. Before launching Shah Capital, he spent nearly a decade at UBS, where he managed institutional portfolios and honed his contrarian instincts. Educated in India and the United States, Shah built his philosophy around simplicity: find companies that are misunderstood, undervalued, or poorly managed and then work patiently to unlock that value.

Since its founding, the firm has made a habit of showing up in places where most investors fear to tread. From energy to telecom to biotech, Shah Capital has consistently gone where the crowd isn't. Over the years, the firm has taken meaningful positions in companies such as Emeren Group, a solar developer operating across global markets, and VEON, a telecom play in emerging economies.

It has also owned a stake in Marius Pharmaceuticals, where Shah serves as Executive Chairman, and, more recently, in Novavax, where his firm's engagement helped push the struggling vaccine maker toward a licensing deal with Sanofi.

That 2024 Novavax campaign is a perfect example of how Shah's quiet brand of activism works. Reuters reported that the firm, owning roughly 7% of Novavax, called for two new board members to help redirect the company. Weeks later, Sanofi announced a strategic partnership, and Shah Capital stepped back, satisfied that value was finally being realized.

No fireworks, no noise, just a disciplined investor doing what shareholders are supposed to do.

As of late 2024, Shah Capital managed over $600 million and had been closed to new investors for several years. The reason, according to the firm, was simple: they preferred to focus on performance, not asset gathering. In a business obsessed with scaling AUM, that decision alone speaks volumes.

 It's a return to the old partnership ethos, when success meant generating returns for clients rather than collecting management fees.

The firm and its founder have earned quiet respect in the investment community. Business North Carolina profiled Shah in 2024 as "one of North Carolina's most successful investors," noting his relentless pursuit of complacent management teams and undervalued businesses. Reuters has covered his activist campaigns, typically portraying Shah as an intelligent, value-driven voice in an era of headline-chasing funds.

There is little in the way of controversy or noise surrounding Shah Capital. No social media campaigns, no flashy conference circuits. Just results. The public record shows an investor and a firm that have stayed faithful to their principles while adapting to global shifts—renewable energy, emerging-market growth, and post-pandemic restructuring.

Shah Capital is what happens when a contrarian thinker decides to run money the way investing was meant to be done: selectively, patiently, and with conviction. Himanshu Shah doesn't run a hedge fund built for CNBC sound bites. He runs a partnership for people who understand that real wealth is created over time, not over quarters.

It's rare to find a firm that still speaks the language of intrinsic value in a market dominated by AI and momentum screens. Shah Capital proves that focus still beats frenzy. It's a story worth watching and, for the few who get in early enough, one worth investing alongside.

Buying his top ten holdings the day after his 13f lands at the SEC has delivered market crushing returns over the last decade,

The firm only made two purchases in the third quarter.

Shah Capitals's move into Dole (NYSE:DOLE) reads like a textbook contrarian value story. The world's largest fresh-produce company has spent the past two years cleaning up its balance sheet and integrating prior acquisitions, all while operating in a defensive industry that quietly benefits from global population growth and rising demand for fresh foods. With shares trading well below book value and a generous dividend, Shah likely saw a margin of safety combined with steady cash flow potential. Dole's focus on automation, distribution efficiency, and premium branding suggests a multi-year path to higher.

His purchase of Tronox Holdings (NYSE:TROX), a leading titanium dioxide producer, follows a similar logic but adds a cyclical twist. TROX sits at the intersection of industrial recovery and specialty chemicals, with improving global demand for coatings, construction, and renewables. The company's vertically integrated mining and processing structure provides cost advantages, and management has been laser-focused on deleveraging and returning capital to shareholders. At current levels, the stock offers both turnaround potential and inflation-hedging characteristics, a rare combination in today's market.

Other top holding that were not reduced in the quarter include Baidu (BIDU), Gannett (GCI), Antero Resources (AM) and Novavax (NVAX).

Posted In: DOLE TROX