Strength in Specialty: Carpenter Technology’s (CRS) Drive in Aerospace Materials

Strength in Specialty: Carpenter Technology’s (CRS) Drive in Aerospace Materials

Wed, September 2, 2026 at 4:24 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• CRS -0.70%

Sands Capital, an investment management company, released its "Sands Capital Select Growth Fund" Q2 2026 investor letter. The letter can be downloaded here. Select Growth Fund targets U.S. businesses driving significant structural change through disruptive innovation. The fund returned 23.2% in the quarter, outperforming the Russell 1000 Growth Index at 16.7%. U.S. large-cap growth equities rebounded sharply, driven by improving corporate fundamentals and renewed investor confidence in AI, despite geopolitical uncertainties. However, the market's gains were narrow, concentrated among AI beneficiaries. The portfolio's success stemmed from strength in AI infrastructure holdings, especially memory and storage, supported by better pricing and tightening supply. As AI development advances, continuous demand for compute capacity is expected, prompting investments in memory, CPUs, AI chips, and semiconductor manufacturing to address emerging bottlenecks essential for scaling AI. Also, check the fund's top five holdings to see its best picks in 2026.

In its Q2 2026 investor letter, Sands Capital Select Growth Fund highlighted Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS), a specialty metals manufacturer serving diversified industries. Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS), held since 2025 with a 4.2% portfolio weight, contributed 1.7% to the Fund's performance this quarter. On September 1, 2026, Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) closed at $473.06 per share. Over the past month, Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) declined 17.06%, while its shares are up 100.69% over the past year. Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) has a market capitalization of $23.44 billion, and its stock has traded within a 52-week range of $228.00 to $625.99.

Sands Capital Select Growth Fund stated the following regarding Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:

"Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) is a leading supplier of specialty nickel alloys for the aerospace industry. Fiscal third quarter results reinforced our margin thesis as the company demonstrated significant operating leverage as the aerospace equipment cycle continued to recover. Specialty Alloys Operations generated an 86 percent incremental margin in a quarter when volume grew at its strongest rate since the post-COVID aerospace recovery. In our view, the results helped validate that Carpenter's earnings power can continue to expand as the business benefits from improving volume, pricing, and mix. We maintain conviction, supported by Carpenter Technology's specialized materials leadership, pricing power, and exposure to a multiyear aerospace production recovery."

Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) is not on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 76 hedge fund portfolios held Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) at the end of the second quarter, which was 74 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we discussed Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) and the list of stocks Jim Cramer discussed. Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) contributed to Sands Capital Select Growth Fund's performance last quarter as well. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.