Madison Mid Cap Fund Q3 2026 Portfolio Activity

The Madison Mid Cap Fund (Class I) returned -2.09% in the third quarter, outperforming the Russell Midcap Index, which fell 3.00%, by 0.91 percentage points. Gartner, Medpace Holdings, Ross Stores, Revvity, and Waters Corporation were the fund’s top contributors; MKS, Floor & Decor Holdings, Carlisle Companies, Moelis & Co., and Glacier Bancorp were its largest detractors.

Analysis

The useful signal is dispersion, not a clean factor call: the reported attribution spans healthcare services and tools, off-price retail, housing-related demand, semicap/industrial exposure, investment banking and regional banking. That makes the quarter a weak basis for extrapolating a single winning theme. Nor does contributor rank reveal position size, contribution magnitude, or whether returns came from earnings revisions versus multiple changes.

For the next 1–3 months, distinguish durable operating momentum from exposure to macro inflections. For Medpace (MEDP), check bookings/backlog and biotech trial funding; for Ross Stores (ROST), comparable sales and inventory; for Gartner (IT), contract value and renewal trends. On the detractor side, Floor & Decor (FND) is exposed to housing turnover and discretionary renovation, MKS (MKSI) to semiconductor-equipment demand, Moelis (MC) to deal activity, and Glacier Bancorp (GBCI) to deposit costs and credit quality. These are monitoring hypotheses, not explanations of the quarter’s returns.

Over 6–18 months, persistent earnings and cash-flow revisions matter more than this attribution snapshot. The relative result may reflect security selection, sector mix, or both; without weights and benchmark-relative attribution, those effects cannot be separated. No compelling standalone trade follows from the available information.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Do not chase the reported contributors or fade the detractors on rank alone. Request position weights, contribution magnitudes, sector/factor attribution, and whether performance was earnings-driven before drawing a repeatability conclusion.
• Over the next 1–3 months, use earnings updates as verification points: MEDP bookings/backlog and trial funding, ROST comparable sales, IT contract-value trends, and FND renovation demand. Weakening operating indicators would falsify a durable-winner interpretation.
• Treat MKSI and MC as cyclical watch items: track semiconductor-capex/order commentary and announced deal activity, respectively. Avoid extrapolating a single quarter absent confirmation in orders or transaction volumes.
• For GBCI, monitor deposit costs, deposit stability, and credit quality; a deterioration in any of these would strengthen the downside case, while stabilization would challenge it. No immediate position is warranted from this attribution alone.