Andrew Skatoff

Andrew Skatoff is a Columbia Business School graduate who spent over a decade managing public equities and direct private equity for a New York-based family office, starting just as the financial crisis hit in 2009. He developed a quantitative framework for identifying structurally advantaged business models, spun out to launch Bancreek Capital in early 2021, and has since brought two ETFs to market: BCUS (US large cap) and BCIL (international large cap).

On this episode of Behind the Ticker, Andrew talks with Brad about how information theory drives Bancreek's investment process, why his quant system is built for long-term compounding rather than short-term trading signals, and what makes the international opportunity set more interesting than most advisors realize.

A Quant System Built for Long-Term Compounding

Most quantitative strategies focus on short and medium-term opportunities, mining edge from momentum or market microstructure. Bancreek's approach goes in the opposite direction. Skatoff built a system that applies quantitative methods to long-term investing, searching for companies with durable competitive advantages that can compound capital over decades. The system ingests fundamental data that companies report alongside proprietary quantitative features developed internally. Their chief data scientist, Anton Yan, spent almost two decades at Lawrence Livermore National Labs and Lincoln Lab, specializing in modeling complex data systems. That background in analyzing massive, messy datasets for the government translates directly to the work of parsing corporate fundamentals at scale.

The engine ranks every company in the investable universe based on these fundamental and quantitative factors, then surfaces the top 30 or so businesses. Skatoff describes the companies it identifies as having a "historical growth engine," a proprietary metric that examines multiple rolling periods over time to determine a company's structural growth rate. They also screen for stability in that growth, looking for a less volatile path rather than boom-and-bust patterns. The system is fully quantitative now, with the team letting it run without imposing sector guardrails or overrides. When it flags a company, Skatoff says they know "there's something unique about it."

Inside BCUS and BCIL

BCUS, the US large cap fund, holds roughly 30 names refreshed monthly. Position sizes typically fall in the 3% to 4% range with no outsized bets. Skatoff notes that a fairly equal approach has yielded the most interesting results through their research, since significantly outsized positions lead to enhanced volatility without commensurate improvement in returns. The ETF currently carries a large exposure to industrials, which Skatoff points out is almost a catch-all sector where every company that doesn't have a clearly defined category gets lumped together. That means there isn't much overlap within their industrial holdings since they span different business models entirely.

BCIL follows the exact same framework applied to 22 developed international economies, excluding the US. The fund targets about 30 structurally advantaged businesses across Canada, Western Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. Skatoff makes a compelling case that the top echelon of international companies are right up there with US counterparts in terms of performance and business model quality. Some international companies even benefit from geography-specific advantages, holding 25-40% market share in their home country due to government positioning or language barriers, while still operating as global businesses selling products and services into every developed market. The international opportunity is often overlooked because advisors default to US equities, but Skatoff argues the valuation discount on many of these international names makes the risk-reward even more attractive than the domestic equivalents.

Data Visualization as a Public Good

Beyond the ETFs, Bancreek has invested heavily in data visualization tools built with Tableau. One of their partners spent significant time building transparency tools for the drug pricing industry before joining the firm. They've published free tools covering inflation (both CPI and PCE) and employment data on their website, and some of their work has been featured in the Financial Times and the Boston Globe. For Skatoff, this isn't a marketing gimmick. It's consistent with their broader thesis: everything at the firm is driven by data, and making that data accessible builds trust with advisors and allocators who want to understand the economic backdrop before making allocation decisions.

Key Takeaways

• BCUS and BCIL each hold roughly 30 names, refreshed monthly, with position sizes typically in the 3-4% range to minimize the volatility impact of concentrated bets.
• Bancreek's quant engine was built with a former Lawrence Livermore National Labs scientist and applies information theory to long-term investing rather than short-term trading signals.
• The system screens for "structurally advantaged business models" by analyzing multiple rolling periods of growth and stability, favoring companies with decades of operating history.
• BCIL covers 22 developed economies, and Skatoff argues the top international companies match US peers in quality while often trading at compressed multiples.
• Bancreek publishes free data visualization tools on inflation and employment, some of which have been cited by the Financial Times and the Boston Globe.

Listen to the full conversation on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.