ValueAct & Insight: A Tech Spending Puzzle

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So, ValueAct Holdings, a fund that, as far as I can tell, spends its days peering into the entrails of corporate balance sheets, has trimmed its stake in Insight Enterprises. Not dumped it entirely, mind you, just… tidied it up a bit. About $99 million worth of tidying. It’s a curious business, this world of institutional investment. They buy and sell chunks of companies as casually as you might rearrange the furniture. Though, admittedly, the furniture is usually worth several billion dollars.

Insight Enterprises, for the uninitiated, is a technology distributor. Which means they don’t make the computers, the servers, the blinking bits and bobs that keep modern life functioning. They just… get them to the people who need them. It’s a vital role, really. Like the circulatory system of the digital age. Though slightly less glamorous, perhaps. And definitely less prone to poetic metaphor.

The trimming of the stake is, on the surface, a fairly unremarkable event. Funds are always reshuffling their portfolios. But it does offer a little window into the prevailing winds. Specifically, that the winds might be shifting on corporate IT spending. Apparently, businesses are becoming a little… hesitant. A bit shy about opening the checkbook for the latest and greatest tech. Which, when you consider the sheer volume of money sloshing around in the corporate world, is rather like a whale developing a sudden aversion to krill. Unusual.

ValueAct still holds a piece of Insight, about $99.12 million worth, which is roughly equivalent to the annual GDP of a small island nation, give or take. They’ve just decided that maybe, just maybe, they don’t need quite as much of it. Which, as a value investor, makes a certain amount of sense. You buy low, sell high, and occasionally trim your holdings when things look a bit… uncertain.

As of February 17, 2026 – dates always feel strangely specific when discussing the financial world – Insight’s stock was trading at $83.00, which is a rather alarming 50.6% drop from where it was a year ago. It’s also underperforming the S&P 500 by a margin that would make a particularly gloomy economist weep. Which is never a good sign.

Here’s a quick rundown of the numbers, for those who enjoy that sort of thing (and I confess, I’m often bewildered by them):

Metric Value
Price (as of market close 2/17/26) $83.00
Market Capitalization $2.63 billion
Revenue (TTM) $8.25 billion
Net Income (TTM) $157.35 million

Insight Enterprises, in essence, is a middleman. A very successful middleman, admittedly, but a middleman nonetheless. They don’t invent the technology; they facilitate its delivery. This means their profits are heavily reliant on the whims of other companies, and, crucially, the willingness of businesses to spend money. When the economy slows down, everyone tightens their belts, and the middleman often feels the pinch first. It’s a bit like being the waiter in a restaurant during a recession. You’re still there, but you’re serving fewer meals.

ValueAct’s top holdings, for those keeping score, are currently: CRM ($793.28 million), Amazon ($783.47 million), RKT ($762.41 million), BlackRock ($743.89 million), and Meta ($691.76 million). A rather impressive collection of digital behemoths, if I may say so. Though one does wonder if they ever get a good night’s sleep, worrying about quarterly earnings reports.

The key question now is whether corporate technology spending is going to stabilize. Will businesses start investing again, or will they continue to hoard their cash? And can Insight Enterprises shift its focus from simply reselling hardware to providing more lucrative cloud and managed services? Because that, ultimately, is where the real money lies. It’s a bit like the difference between selling shovels during the gold rush and owning the mine itself.

Insight’s path forward, like that of many companies in this ever-changing digital landscape, is uncertain. But one thing is clear: the future belongs to those who can adapt, innovate, and, crucially, provide value to their customers. And perhaps, just perhaps, avoid the temptation to trim their stakes quite so often.

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2026-02-20 20:53