US-based investment company, McIntyre Partnerships, returned -19% gross and -20% net in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the Russell 2000 Value Index’s 5% return. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Since inception, the fund has returned ~14% gross and ~10% net per annum, surpassing the benchmark’s return of ~7% per annum. The Q1 results were disappointing for the fund, primarily due to a significant decline in the shares of life science tools and medical device stocks, in which the fund has substantial investments, as well as specific issues related to QDEL, a company in the life science tools sector. By the end of the month, the fund’s exposure was recorded at 123% long, 27% short, and 97% net. In addition, you can check the Strategy’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2026.
In its first-quarter 2026 investor letter, McIntyre Partnerships highlighted stocks such as QuidelOrtho Corporation NASDAQ:QDEL). QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) is a diagnostic testing solutions company that provides diagnostic testing solutions across Labs, Transfusion Medicine, Point of Care, and Molecular Diagnostics. On May 29, 2026, QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) closed at $13.02 per share. One-month return of QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) was 1.97%, and its shares lost 57.28% over the past 52 weeks. QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) has a market capitalization of $863.64 million.
McIntyre Partnerships stated the following regarding QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“Our investment in QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL) is a significantly concentrated position, which makes market comparisons less useful at present. In the winners column, CC, ICLR, and SEG contributed 100-500bps. In the losers column, FTRE, SHC, SWIM, and STHO lost 100-500bps, and QDEL lost over 500bps. To state the obvious, the Q1 result was not a bright spot for the fund. The primary driver of our decline was a sharp pullback in the shares of life science tools and medical device stocks, to which the fund has significant exposure, and stock-specific issues at QDEL, a life science tools company, which I had previously referred to as Stock A. QDEL is now the fund’s largest position, and we have accumulated a full position.
To cut to the chase, I believe QDEL’s current price is a once-in-five-to-ten-year opportunity. For the third time in ten years, I have decided to size a position at more than 20% of the fund’s capital, though we have purchased put options which limit our total loss to under 20%. Our two previous significantly concentrated investments, CC in 2019 and GTX in 2021, also involved large drawdowns at initiation. They are also our two largest outright winners and drove a 120% gross return from 2020 to 2022, while our benchmark increased only 14%.
QuidelOrtho Corporation (QDEL) Life Science and Diagnostic Tools Sector. The life science tools space has broadly declined amid fears that AI models will dramatically change how drugs are developed. I think we are a ways away from anyone being injected with a drug made entirely from asking ChatGPT with no further testing, and QDEL specifically has almost nothing to do with drug development, but when blue chip stocks in your sector like ABT, TMO, and DHR are all down 15-20%, it’s hard to fight that trend…” (Click here to read the full text)
