Total Fund Management & OCIO
Whole‑portfolio mandates · since 1999Our disciplines, combined as one.
A whole‑portfolio mandate offered since the firm's founding: CastleArk's growth disciplines combined and managed as a single fund for institutional clients.
The Economic Factor Model is applied at the total‑portfolio level — so allocation, overlap, and macro exposure are managed by intention rather than by accident.
- One portfolio built from complementary strategies
- Factor exposures measured at the total‑fund level
- Allocation and overlap managed by intention
- A single point of accountability for institutional clients
Large Cap Growth
Our flagship strategy · since 1999Concentrated. Durable. Cash‑flow rich.
A concentrated portfolio of dominant franchises in the large‑cap universe — businesses with real franchise power, high and improving returns on invested capital, and durable cash flow. The strategy is built on a simple belief: companies with improving ROIC compound through full market cycles, and the market is often slow to recognize it.
We aim to own those leaders early — when their growth potential is still underestimated — in a portfolio of 20–40 holdings.
- Improving returns on invested capital, compounding over full cycles
- Dominant franchise power and durable, cash‑rich economics
- Leaders the market is still underestimating
- Risk management at the position and portfolio level
Small Cap Growth
Extending the discipline · since 2007Where mispriced change runs deepest.
Diversified portfolios of companies at a positive inflection in their fundamentals — change that is identifiable and sustainable, driven by new management, new products, restructuring, acquisition, or a shift in the secular growth rate that the market hasn't yet discounted.
We focus on the magnitude and durability of that change, and on actual improvement versus what was merely anticipated. Because the failure rate in small‑cap growth is high, disciplined risk management sits at the center of the process.
- A positive, identifiable inflection in fundamentals
- Magnitude and durability of change over its absolute level
- Actual fundamental improvement, not just anticipated
- Disciplined risk management at the position and portfolio level
SMid Cap Growth
Small/Mid Cap universeRoom for change to compound.
The same inflection‑driven process, applied to the small/mid‑cap universe — companies whose positive fundamental change has been established and still has room to compound as they scale.
SMID offers a wider liquidity and market‑cap runway while preserving what we prize in small cap: identifiable change the market has not yet fully discounted.
- A positive inflection whose durability is proving out
- Rising liquidity and sponsorship as companies scale
- The magnitude of change over its absolute level
- Disciplined risk management across the portfolio
MLP
Midstream energy infrastructureDistribution growth over yield.
A growth investor's approach to MLPs and midstream infrastructure: a high‑conviction, total‑return portfolio that prioritizes distribution growth over yield, diversified across midstream subsectors.
It is the rate of change in the fundamental outlook — not the absolute level of yield — that drives long‑term returns. That growth focus has historically produced less volatility than a yield‑first approach.
- Distribution growth prioritized over yield
- The rate of change in the fundamental outlook
- Diversification across midstream subsectors
- Fee‑based cash flows and disciplined capital allocation
Global Energy
Across the energy value chainA growth investor’s lens on energy.
Growth‑oriented investing across global energy — upstream, downstream, oilfield‑service, and energy‑infrastructure companies best positioned to enhance returns through the capital cycle.
The same rate‑of‑change lens runs here too: we invest where the fundamental outlook is inflecting positively, across clean and traditional energy alike.
- Monitoring capital cycles for influence on short‑ and long‑term volatility
- The rate of change in the fundamental outlook
- A growth lens across clean and traditional energy
- Companies positioned to enhance shareholder returns through the cycle
Composite performance, holdings, and risk statistics for each strategy are available to qualified institutions on request.
Request the materialsHow every strategy is run
The asset class changes; the discipline doesn't. Each portfolio follows the same path from idea to position.
Identify the inflection
Bottom‑up research to find the point where fundamentals turn — before the market appreciates the change.
Size the change
Judge the magnitude and durability of the improvement, and whether it's real or merely anticipated.
Manage the risk
Proprietary risk management and daily team dialogue, sizing conviction against what could go wrong.
Sell with discipline
Exit when the thesis plays out or breaks — keeping capital aimed at the next inflection.
Same industry. Different economics.
Example: 2022, three U.S. footwear companies. One of them significantly underperformed the other two — and conventional metrics have a hard time capturing this as the economic forces in our world shift. Tap the economic factor readouts to see what we saw.
| Footwear Company A | Footwear Company B | Footwear Company C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional profile | |||
| Market beta | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| EPS growth | +15% | +12% | +14% |
| Forward P/E | 18× | 16× | 17× |
| Economic factor exposure tap to reveal | |||
| Duration | |||
| Cyclicality | |||
| Inflation | |||
More than 80 percentage points.
The 2022 performance spread across these three, relative to their benchmark.
Conventional risk saw three similar companies. The Economic Factor Model saw three very different ones.
The full example — the names, the numbers, and how we measured it — is a conversation.
Talk to the teamIllustrative example drawn from index constituents; conventional figures rounded. Economic factor exposures reflect CastleArk’s proprietary Economic Factor Model as of the period shown and are subject to change.
Let's talk about your objectives.
Whichever strategy fits your goals, we'd welcome the conversation. As a 100% employee‑owned firm, we measure our success by yours.
The city that
prices tomorrow.
Grain futures, listed options, open outcry — Chicago built the modern instruments for pricing what comes next. Our work carries that tradition forward: the change not yet priced, found early, held with conviction.