The winners of the Pershing Square Challenge 2026 discuss their Doordash pitch, including why the growth story still has room to run (and the 90 primary research calls they made to back up that call). We get into durable US restaurant growth, why new verticals and international could inflect to profitability earlier than the street models, the underappreciated opex leverage, their proprietary Wolt case study, the Tony Xu bet, and why they think the Citrini AI-agent thesis on DoorDash is overblown.

This episode is sponsored by Trata. Check out their DASH transcript at https://www.trata.com/dash

Team DASH presentation:

ZK's LinkedIn

Aaron's LinkedIn

Elliot's LinkedIn

Chapters

00:00 The Pershing Square Challenge and team DoorDash

01:14 Sponsor: Trata

02:50 Meet the team: ZK, Elliot, and Aaron

05:40 Why they picked DoorDash out of the screen

10:10 The bull case in three parts

11:20 US restaurant growth: still the middle innings?

13:20 Demographics as a tailwind

17:50 Order frequency and the China comp

21:00 Valuation: $70B cap, adjusted EBITDA, and the path to $320

25:35 The real downside: competition, Amazon, bundled memberships

29:50 The ~90 primary research calls

33:35 New verticals and the grocery economics

38:10 A DoorDash bet or a Tony Xu bet?

41:40 Management comp and alignment

43:45 International: the Wolt case study and Deliveroo

47:00 The tech-stack reinvestment cycle

51:00 Sylvie makes her podcast debut

51:20 Citrini and the AI-agent threat

56:20 Wrap

Links:

Yet Another Value Blog - https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com

See our legal disclaimer here: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/legal-and-disclaimer

Production and editing by The Podcast Consultant - https://thepodcastconsultant.com/

James Elbaor of Marlton makes the case that $PSUS will trade at a premium to NAV instead of the typical closed-end fund discount and that $PS will ultimately trade at a premium multiple to peers like Blackstone, KKR, Apollo and Carlyle given its lean team and advantaged fee structure. We push on every part of that, including whether Ackman's portfolio is just an expensive S&P hug, why London still doesn't fully credit him, and whether Spark gives Pershing a real path into Universal Music Group.

Sponsor: Fiscal.ai. Real-time fundamental data for global equities, plus one of the leading data connectors for Claude and ChatGPT. Get 15% off at fiscal.ai/yav

Chapters:

0:00 Intro and the divergent thesis

1:05 Sponsor: Fiscal.ai

2:20 Marlton's lens on closed-end funds and UK trusts

5:00 $PSUS: scale, structure, why it's already the largest US equity CEF

7:30 The case for a premium to NAV instead of a 15 to 20% discount

12:30 $PSUS vs $PSH London: who can own what, and why it matters

15:20 The 40-Act book and Ackman's macro hedging history

17:50 Track record with and without the COVID hedge

22:00 Why London still does not fully credit Bill

23:50 "But isn't it just Google, Amazon, Meta?" — the index-hug pushback

26:00 Can Pershing get private assets (Spark, HHH-style deals) into $PSUS

29:00 $PSCM valuation: 30x FRE and the bridge from $300M to $550 to $590M

36:00 Why $PSCM should deserve a premium multiple to KKR, Apollo, Carlyle, Blue Owl

42:30 Preferred performance fees and why the income statement is cleaner

45:30 Alignment: insiders own 85%+

48:00 Permanent capital vs six-year "permanent" capital at the alts

49:40 50 employees at $PSCM vs 2,200 at Carlyle

52:00 Keyman risk on Bill and Ryan Israel's role

58:30 What's next: $UMG, Vincent Bolloré, and Spark as the vehicle

1:02:00 Wrap

Links:Yet Another Value Blog - https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com

See our legal disclaimer here: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/legal-and-disclaimer

Production and editing by The Podcast Consultant - https://thepodcastconsultant.com/

Driven Brands ($DRVN) puked on a February accounting restatement. Kyle Mowery (GrizzlyRock Capital) walks through why Take 5 remains a crown jewel and could be worth the entire EV of the company (making the franchise and autoglass businesses a free option). We also dig into how the April and May 8-Ks took the scary left-tail risks off the table, why Roark Capital (65% owner) might run a sale process later this year, and the bear case (corporate cost bloat, weakness in the non-Take-5 brands).

disclaimer: Andrew is long DRVN

Kyle's late 2024 DRVN podcast: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/grizzlyrock-capitals-kyle-mowery?utm_source=publication-search

[00:00:00] Intro and disclosures

[00:03:23] What is Driven Brands today

[00:05:14] Why the car wash divestiture sold so cheap

[00:09:19] Why Take 5 is the crown jewel

[00:11:15] EV risk and the US ICE car park

[00:13:21] Franchisee demand and unit growth

[00:15:31] Take 5 vs. Valvoline[00:18:13] The addbacks problem

[00:20:57] Inside the accounting restatement

[00:23:22] The cash adjustment

[00:28:50] The ATI revenue recognition issue

[00:30:12] Reading the April and May 8-Ks

[00:32:40] Debating adjusted EBITDA

[00:34:55] Corporate cost bloat

[00:37:54] Is this fraud? No

[00:39:49] Weakness in the non-Take-5 brands

[00:43:45] Sum-of-the-parts: Take 5 covers the debt

[00:46:30] Why public markets misprice the franchise brands

[00:48:04] Durability of franchise cash flows[00:50:14] Timing the resolution

[00:53:26] Roark Capital's strategic options

[00:57:40] Labor Day or Halloween?

[01:00:00] Capital cycle stories Kyle's watching

[01:03:02] Chinese supply pressure on industrials

Links:

Yet Another Value Blog - https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com

See our legal disclaimer here: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/legal-and-disclaimer

Production and editing by The Podcast Consultant - https://thepodcastconsultant.com/