---
title: "Venture Satellites: an offensive growth portfolio"
description: "Explore a 20-stock AI-led growth portfolio for 2027–2028: target weights, 2024–2026 backtest, rebalancing and risks. Free full PDF, no sign-in."
canonical: "https://investboard.com/knowledge/venture-satellites-portfolio"
language: "en"
published: "2026-11-15"
modified: "2026-11-15"
last_verified: "2026-11-15"
author: "David Bartas"
author_url: "https://investboard.com/about"
---

# Venture Satellites: an offensive growth portfolio

Twenty equities, an AI-led core and three speculative satellites. The opportunities for 2027–2028, the historical gains and the losses required to pursue them.

## In short

Venture Satellites is a hypothetical, unleveraged portfolio of 20 equities: 65% in the AI stack, 20% in other growth businesses and 15% split equally between Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile and IonQ. It explores growth opportunities for 2027–2028. The 2024–2026 backtest uses hindsight, quarterly rebalancing and modeled costs; it is not a live track record or a forecast.

- Every holding has a stated target weight, business role and reason to review it.
- The selected basket returned 147.14% in 2024, 72.87% in 2025 and 21.08% in 2026 through November 13, with substantial selection bias.
- The historical maximum closing drawdown was 32.83%. Losses beyond that remain possible.
- Quarterly rebalancing materially shaped the result; the complete report and download are public.

## The other side of the storm

[Weather the Storm](/knowledge/weather-the-storm-portfolio) asks how a portfolio can pursue growth with less dependence on the AI boom. Venture Satellites takes the offensive side: own the businesses building and monetizing that boom, then reserve a defined part of the capital for more uncertain breakthroughs.

The result is a hypothetical portfolio of twenty publicly listed equities. There are no bonds, gold, cash reserves or leveraged instruments. Its investment case looks toward 2027 and 2028; its backtest examines 2024, 2025 and 2026 through November 13. Those are different kinds of evidence.

The word “venture” describes three speculative positions, not a private-market fund. Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile and IonQ each start at 5%. The other 85% spans AI chips, infrastructure, platforms, healthcare, commerce and banking. All of it remains exposed to equity-market losses.

This is a research allocation, not a claim that the highest historical return reveals the best future portfolio. The stock choices use hindsight. Choosing this version after comparing nine candidates adds another layer of selection bias.

## Twenty equities, three capital allocations

| Allocation | Target capital | Intended job |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AI stack | 65% | Compute, memory, manufacturing, networking, cooling, cloud and enterprise software |
| Other growth | 20% | Commerce, healthcare and banking beyond hyperscaler capital spending |
| Venture satellites | 15% | Three 5% positions in space infrastructure, satellite communications and quantum technology |

These are capital weights, not measured risk contributions. Shopify also participates in AI-enabled commerce, and quantum technology can connect with AI infrastructure. The groups are editorial descriptions of business roles, not mutually independent economic factors.

| Company | Target | Allocation |
| --- | --- | --- |
| NVDA: NVIDIA | 10% | AI stack |
| AVGO: Broadcom | 8% | AI stack |
| TSM: Taiwan Semiconductor | 7% | AI stack |
| AMD: Advanced Micro Devices | 5% | AI stack |
| MU: Micron | 5% | AI stack |
| ASML: ASML | 5% | AI stack |
| ANET: Arista Networks | 6% | AI stack |
| VRT: Vertiv | 5% | AI stack |
| CRDO: Credo Technology | 4% | AI stack |
| MSFT: Microsoft | 3% | AI stack |
| GOOGL: Alphabet | 2% | AI stack |
| AMZN: Amazon | 3% | AI stack |
| PLTR: Palantir | 2% | AI stack |
| MELI: MercadoLibre | 6% | Other growth |
| LLY: Eli Lilly | 6% | Other growth |
| RKLB: Rocket Lab | 5% | Venture satellites |
| NU: Nu Holdings | 4% | Other growth |
| SHOP: Shopify | 4% | Other growth |
| ASTS: AST SpaceMobile | 5% | Venture satellites |
| IONQ: IonQ | 5% | Venture satellites |

NVIDIA is the largest initial position at 10%. Individual targets range from 2% to 10%. A target weight is not a continuously enforced limit: prices move between quarterly resets. In the historical simulation, the largest closing position reached 19.61%. A portfolio can become substantially more concentrated than its starting allocation suggests.

## The opportunities for 2027 and 2028

The AI allocation follows a chain of spending and monetization. NVIDIA and AMD supply accelerated computing. Broadcom adds custom silicon and networking. TSMC and ASML connect demand to fabrication and lithography; Micron supplies memory. Arista, Vertiv and Credo address the movement of data, power and cooling. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Palantir add routes from infrastructure investment to customer revenue.

Owning several links in that chain does not create independent demand. A small group of customers can finance many of them. If AI spending slows, chip orders, network deployments and infrastructure projects can weaken together. Strong business growth can also disappoint shareholders when the purchase price already assumes more.

The other-growth allocation gives capital different business jobs. MercadoLibre combines commerce and financial services; Lilly supplies healthcare innovation; Nu expands digital banking; Shopify supports merchants and payments. Consumer demand, credit quality, drug pricing, competition and currencies remain important. These stocks are growth exposures, not a defensive substitute for cash or bonds.

The three satellites make a more uncertain proposition:

- **Rocket Lab:** launch and space systems, with Neutron an explicit development milestone. Its [third-quarter filing](https://investors.rocketlabcorp.com/node/13516/ixbrl-viewer) moved the inaugural Neutron launch into 2027. A first flight would be a milestone, not proof of repeatable launch economics.
- **AST SpaceMobile:** satellite connectivity to ordinary mobile phones. The case depends on deployment, technical performance, regulatory permissions and a commercial service that earns returns on the capital required. Its [quarterly materials](https://investors.ast-science.com/quarterly-results) are the place to check those dependencies.
- **IonQ:** quantum systems and related technology. Its [third-quarter 2026 release](https://investors.ionq.com/news/news-details/2026/IonQ-Announces-Record-3Q26-Revenues-and-Raises-FY2026-Guidance-to-505---515-Million-as-Backlog-Grows-to-1-2-Billion/default.aspx) reported growth and additional funding, while reported net income included non-cash warrant revaluation. Accounting gains and financing proceeds do not establish durable operating profitability.

The question for 2027–2028 is whether progress turns into value **per share**. A company can grow rapidly while new equity issuance absorbs much of the benefit. A promising technology can also require more time and capital than a two-year investment case allows.

## What the backtest shows

The simulation starts at the December 29, 2023 close and ends at the November 13, 2026 close. It uses actual histories for every selected listing, without filling missing observations or inventing prices before a listing existed. Gross distributions are reinvested, and trading costs are modeled. Returns start from capital before entry costs, so the 2024 figure includes the initial purchase cost. The currency is USD.

**The holdings were not selected before 2024.** Current surviving listings, known past winners and comparison among variants materially bias the results. The 2026 figures are also retrospective, not an independent forward test or live account performance.

| Calendar period | Venture Satellites | SPY | QQQ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2024 | +147.14% | +24.76% | +25.45% |
| 2025 | +72.87% | +17.72% | +20.77% |
| 2026 through November 13 | +21.08% | +11.49% | +11.05% |

[Download the daily research values](/knowledge/downloads/venture-satellites-daily.csv)

Over the full selected sample, the model returned 417.31%, with annualized daily volatility of 38.53%. Its maximum closing drawdown was 32.83%, from the February 10, 2025 peak to the April 4 trough. The worst single day lost 10.39%. Positive calendar years do not make that path easy to hold.

The broad equity benchmarks fell less at their worst points: SPY’s maximum drawdown was 18.76%, and QQQ’s was 22.77%. Venture Satellites pursued a larger gain by accepting a different concentration and loss profile. The historical drawdown is not a ceiling on future losses, and daily closes do not capture intraday extremes.

## The rule that shaped the result

The model restores every position to its target at the **first trading close of each new quarter**. There is no discretionary market-timing signal or automatic stop-loss. Initial purchases and each dollar bought or sold cost 0.10%, funded from the portfolio. Fractional shares and closing-price execution are assumed.

Rebalancing is central to this particular historical result:

| Implementation on the same selected sample | Annualized return | Maximum closing drawdown |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Quarterly target resets | 77.13% | −32.83% |
| Monthly target resets | 71.93% | −32.65% |
| Annual target resets | 66.52% | −32.54% |
| Buy and hold | 60.67% | −44.04% |

These are alternative simulations of the same basket and period. They do not prove quarterly rebalancing will win in future. They show that buying the tickers and ignoring the weights would not have reproduced the stated result. Selling winners, adding to laggards, taxes and actual execution all deserve attention before treating a rule as implementable.

The venture positions also show why a full-period result can conceal reversals. In 2026 through November 13, AST SpaceMobile lost 55.11% and IonQ lost 35.64% on their individual total-return series. The combined portfolio still gained because other positions contributed positively. Satellite diversification did not remove the possibility of deep losses in an individual business.

## Potential gains, explicit assumptions

The forward case is built from business progress and the valuation investors pay for it. The following figures are **conditional sensitivities**, cumulative from the November 13, 2026 close. They are not analyst price targets, expected returns or independently established fair values.

| Horizon from the reference close | Bear sensitivity | Base sensitivity | Bull sensitivity |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Through end-2027 | −35.4% | +21.0% | +59.6% |
| Through end-2028 | −54.8% | +43.6% | +144.1% |

Each holding starts with a normalized per-share fundamental, then combines assumed growth with an assumed valuation change. Most established holdings use earnings or free cash flow per share. The more speculative Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile and IonQ cases use revenue per share. Growth assumptions must already reflect dilution.

The base case assumes sustained operating growth, with generally lower ending valuation multiples. The bull case requires ambitious execution; it is not a probability-weighted expectation. The bear case combines weaker fundamentals with lower multiples, and losses beyond it remain possible. No probabilities have been assigned.

This terminal sensitivity holds the initial capital weights without rebalancing and excludes dividends, fees and taxes. The historical backtest instead models a daily total-return path with quarterly trades. The full PDF lists every growth and valuation input so the forward arithmetic can be challenged rather than mistaken for a forecast.

## What can break the thesis

The immediate company risks matter as much as the long-term opportunity. NVIDIA’s [November 12 CEO-transition announcement](https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-ceo-transition) adds a management review point alongside its scheduled November 17 earnings. That event is not assumed resolved in this edition. Rocket Lab’s development schedule, AST SpaceMobile’s deployment economics and IonQ’s commercialization and funding remain live dependencies.

Common funding and supply chains connect the AI positions. Export restrictions, Taiwan disruption, changing customer budgets and higher financing costs can hit several holdings together. A smaller portfolio weight does not remove a supplier’s dependence on the same end customer.

The satellites have defined **starting capital**, not defined maximum losses for the whole portfolio. If the three 5% positions each lost 80% immediately at target weights while everything else stayed flat, they would cost 12% of starting portfolio value. If the other holdings also fell 40%, the combined loss would be 46%. This is an assumed shock, not a prediction or worst-case bound.

There is also investor-currency risk. All return figures here are in USD. Listing an ADR in dollars does not remove its underlying country and currency exposures, and an investor spending in euros can experience a different result. The model excludes withholding, investor taxes, ADR fees and currency hedging.

## Make the next decision reviewable

Before any implementation, record why the allocation belongs beside your other assets, what loss you can carry and when this capital may be needed. A 2027–2028 research horizon does not guarantee a profitable exit when a personal expense becomes due.

Review the company evidence after each quarterly release. For the AI stack, examine customer demand, margins, financing and cash conversion. For the satellites, examine milestones, cash requirements and changes in diluted shares. A rising price is not proof that the business case improved; a falling price is not by itself proof that it failed.

Keep any change in holdings or target weights in a new, dated decision record. Prospective measurement can begin only after the allocation and rules are frozen. Retrospective 2026 results must not become a claim of a live track record.

## Build your own portfolio, then take the research

Storm and Venture Satellites start from different mandates. The useful step is to connect an allocation to your own goals, capital needs and capacity for loss. Portfolio Builder helps turn that brief into concrete holdings and target weights for inspection.

### Build a portfolio around your goals.

Give your money a purpose, a time horizon and a risk budget. Portfolio Builder turns your brief into a hypothetical portfolio with concrete holdings and target weights, so you can examine the choices before deciding.

[Explore Portfolio Builder](/portfolio-builder)

Prepare your brief for free. Review the one-time purchase before creating your portfolio.

[Download the full Venture Satellites PDF](/knowledge/downloads/investboard-venture-satellites-en.pdf)

Free public research. No account, email form, subscription or Portfolio Builder purchase required. English edition / November 15, 2026.

*First research edition: November 15, 2026. Prices through November 13. Educational, retrospective portfolio research; not a personal recommendation or a guarantee of future performance.*

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Venture Satellites a venture-capital fund?

No. It is an educational model of 20 publicly listed equities, with no leverage. The venture satellites are three 5% target positions: Rocket Lab, AST SpaceMobile and IonQ. The name describes their speculative business role; it does not describe a private-market fund or legal product structure.

### Does the backtest predict returns in 2027 or 2028?

No. The holdings and the selected variant were chosen with historical knowledge. The retrospective comparison covers 2024, 2025 and 2026 through November 13. Forward sensitivities use subjective business-growth and valuation assumptions; neither those scenarios nor the historical returns are forecasts or guarantees.

### Why does quarterly rebalancing matter?

The model restores target weights at the first trading close of each new quarter. Its historical annualized return was 77.13% with quarterly resets and 60.67% with buy-and-hold. These figures describe one selected sample. Taxes, fees and future return paths can change the comparison.

### Can I download the full report without an account?

Yes. The complete English research PDF is free and available through a direct public download. No account, email form, subscription or Portfolio Builder purchase is required.

## Sources

- [Frozen daily research values and closing drawdowns](https://investboard.com/knowledge/downloads/venture-satellites-daily.csv) · Investboard calculations using Yahoo Finance prices and distributions
- [Complete Venture Satellites research report](https://investboard.com/knowledge/downloads/investboard-venture-satellites-en.pdf) · Investboard
- [CEO transition and next earnings date](https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-ceo-transition) · NVIDIA
- [Third-quarter 2026 filing and Neutron development update](https://investors.rocketlabcorp.com/node/13516/ixbrl-viewer) · Rocket Lab
- [Quarterly results and satellite deployment materials](https://investors.ast-science.com/quarterly-results) · AST SpaceMobile
- [Third-quarter 2026 results, funding and warrant revaluation](https://investors.ionq.com/news/news-details/2026/IonQ-Announces-Record-3Q26-Revenues-and-Raises-FY2026-Guidance-to-505---515-Million-as-Backlog-Grows-to-1-2-Billion/default.aspx) · IonQ

## Related reading

- [Investboard: Weather the Storm Portfolio](/knowledge/weather-the-storm-portfolio)
- [Is this time different?](/knowledge/is-this-time-different-ai-bubble)
- [How to build a portfolio: a plan before the products](/knowledge/how-to-build-a-portfolio)
- [Investment Policy Statement for private investors: your mandate](/knowledge/investment-policy-statement)