{"podcast":{"title":"Preferred Shares Podcast","slug":"preferred-shares-podcast-6594967","podcast_index_feed_id":6594967,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1908337.rss","website_url":"https://www.preferredsharespodcast.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/1908337/e73d940b2a7f9e66dbfaaa377d07d0a4.jpg","author":"Preferred Shares Podcast","episode_count":35,"summary":"Business, history, and business history.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-12T22:18:20.663831+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/preferred-shares-podcast-6594967"},"episode":{"title":"The Ferguson Water Thesis with Todd Wenning","slug":"the-ferguson-water-thesis-with-todd-wenning","published_at":"2026-04-16T23:04:31+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/preferred-shares-podcast-6594967/the-ferguson-water-thesis-with-todd-wenning","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/preferred-shares-podcast-6594967","url":"https://www.preferredsharespodcast.com/p/the-ferguson-water-thesis-with-todd","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/192131377/49dd3c8a7cc8b54acc9a977cab6dbe93.mp3","summary":"Welcome to Episode 32 of the Preferred Shares Podcast. In this episode, we explore the water thesis behind Ferguson Enterprises , a leading distributor of HVAC and plumbing solutions. To help walk us through the intricacies of the thesis, we are joined by Todd Wenning. Todd is a prior contributor at The Motley Fool, previously covered companies on the sell-side for Morningstar and the buy-side for Johnson Investment Counsel and Ensemble Capital Management. He’s a busy guy! He runs KNA Capital Management, LLC , an Ohio-registered investment advisor, and is the founder and editor of the newsletter Flyover Stocks . He is also currently teaching Portfolio Management at the University of Dayton. In This Episode The history of Ferguson — Its founding and early focus. The water thesis — Why now is the right time. The distributor model — How Ferguson’s position in the value chain makes it a prime beneficiary of the water thesis. Full scope — The expansive SKU listings, inventory management, and diversified suppliers and customer bases that work with Ferguson. The market — A look at market share and how competition has evolved. Capital Allocation — How Ferguson redeploys capital across organic investments, bolt-on acquisitions, and capital returns to shareholders. Reciprocity — How the HVAC and water sides of the business assist one another, creating a system greater than the sum of its parts. Management — Exploring compensation, alignment, and horizon. Risks — What could go wrong. Closing Thoughts — The key things to focus on, and, taking the other side to the risks, what could go ‘more right.’ Additional Reading & Listening Curious to see what else we’ve been working on? Check out some of the interesting things we’ve done recently: Douglas Ott ( Andvari Associates and @yesand…","meta_description":"Welcome to Episode 32 of the Preferred Shares Podcast. In this episode, we explore the water thesis behind Ferguson Enterprises , a leading distributor of…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2705,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/preferred-shares-podcast-6594967/episodes/the-ferguson-water-thesis-with-todd-wenning/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/preferred-shares-podcast-6594967/the-ferguson-water-thesis-with-todd-wenning.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}