January 4, 2026
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
I am pleased to report the Intrepid Capital Fund finished a successful calendar year in 2025 with the Fund’s return of 2.11% in the fourth quarter bringing the annual return to 13.44%. The trailing 3-year and 5-year annualized results were 14.33% and 8.11%, respectively.
The quarterly outcome of slightly over 2% annualizes to roughly 8%, which is what I would come to expect of a fund that holds a mixture of stocks, bonds, and cash over time (as this one does).
We do pay a quarterly dividend, although it was de minimis at the end of December. This significantly lower rate in December compared to September’s .054805 cents per share, June’s .07976 cents per share, and March’s .166937 cents per share is due more to the peculiarities of the bond market, where interest income is paid semi-annually and may not match up perfectly with the December quarter. Dividends of the Fund’s current stock holdings do pay quarterly; they just aren’t particularly high at this point in time. I would anticipate a payout similar to the S&P 500 index, with the potential to end up slightly higher.
I want to continue to stress the long-term orientation of your portfolio manager and, subsequently, this mutual fund. History does not favor a high-turnover portfolio over lower-turnover portfolios. There are brokerages that have figured out that portfolios that were simply left alone – through death, divorce, benign neglect, etc. – often outperform the most active ones. As Warren Buffett would suggest, let sloth be your friend as far as your portfolio is concerned. Your doctor will argue the contrary for your physical health, however!
Much like a farmer planting seeds and then waiting for harvest, sometimes many years in the future, I am looking for founder-run businesses as founders care the most about the business’s prospects. In a year-end interview in Barron’s weekly financial magazine, Will Danoff, portfolio manager of the behemoth Fidelity Contrafund, says something similar: “Often large insider ownership suggests management is totally aligned with outside shareholders.” He goes on to say, “Owner-operators tend to be more cautious because their own money and legacy are on the line. Often the founder is thinking differently how to make the right decision for the long term of the company.”
That is the most common theme in the equity portion of the Intrepid Capital Fund as well: founder-led businesses or, at the very least, management with a significant equity ownership. I believe it aligns their interest in business success with ours through common ownership.
To wit, here are names in the portfolio where this is applicable:
- Alphabet
- Berkshire Hathaway
- FRP Holdings
- Liberty Live
- Madison Square Garden Sports
- Sprott
- WR Berkley
- Atlanta Braves Holdings
- Markel Group
- Becle
- IAC
- UniFirst
- Jefferies Financial
- Garmin
- Airbnb
- Green Brick Partners
- Scotts Miracle-Gro
- SS&C Technologies
- Copart
- Levi Strauss
- Dropbox
- Watsco
- Howard Hughes Holdings
So, as the year progresses, should the wind ever be in our face, the market falling, and your pulse quickening, rest easily knowing these managers have their long-term interests aligned with ours!
For the fourth calendar quarter of 2025, the largest contributors were:
- Alphabet
- Fabrinet
- Dollar Tree
- iShares Gold Trust
- Sprott
For the 4th quarter of 2025, the largest detractors were:
- Watsco
- Green Brick Partners
- Garmin
- Liberty Media Live
- Fiserv
For the full calendar year 2025, the largest contributors were very similar:
- Fabrinet
- Alphabet
- iShares Gold Trust
- Sprott
- Dollar Tree
For the full calendar year 2025, the largest detractors were:
- Civitas Resources
- Jefferies Financial
- Copart
- Fiserv
- FRP Holdings
Thank you for your continued support. If there is anything we can do to assist you, please don’t hesitate to call.
All the best,
Mark F. Travis, President
Intrepid Income Fund Co-Portfolio Manager