Academic research project. Hypothetical walk-forward performance — no foreknowledge, not a live track record. Not investment advice, not FCA-authorised, capital at risk.
Portfolio Lab · Research Lab
Research Lab — an experiment in what an agentic-AI research framework can do, published in full. Research, not advice — not a tip service. Explore →

Portfolio Factsheet

FCF Value

The signal from our free-cash-flow study, put to work. Holds the ten S&P 500 companies cheapest on free cash flow relative to enterprise value (the most cash generated per pound of company), recomputed once a year from primary SEC filings, equal-weighted. Our research found the cheap-on-cash 'value tail' is where the return is — and that it gets stronger the more you concentrate it (the full ~196-name basket returned about 19%/yr, the top ten about 33%). Financials and property are excluded — free cash flow isn't a meaningful measure for banks, insurers or REITs. We hold ten rather than the whole basket so it is a portfolio a person could actually own and afford the dealing costs on, while keeping most of the edge. Concentrated and higher-risk — expect a deeper drawdown than the all-weather products. Long-only, annual rebalance, walk-forward out-of-sample. Hypothetical and forward-tracked: the historical leg is flattered by survivorship, so the live record from here is the real test.

📄 Based on our research → read the Free-Cash-Flow study

Inception: January 2019

Benchmark:

Last updated: June 2026

Final Value

£171,137

vs benchmark: £62,186

Annual Return

35.57%

vs benchmark: 16.46%

Volatility

27.0%

vs benchmark: 16.0%

Max Drawdown

-29.3%

vs benchmark: -25.5%

Equity Curve

HL Retail ISA is shown net of all costs and is genuinely tax-free. IB Pro is shown net of dealing/spread/FX costs but gross of UK tax — a higher-rate taxpayer would face dividend tax, CGT and interest tax that add ~80-150 bps/yr of further drag. See Methodology for full details.

FCF Value — portfolio versus benchmark equity curve

Monthly Returns

Year JanFebMarAprMayJun JulAugSepOctNovDec Total

Performance Metrics

Metric HL ISA IB Pro Benchmark

Drawdown

Allocation over time

HL ISA (UCITS only)