A Look at Crowding and Business Services Sentiment into Prints

Research evidence excerpt

A Look at Crowding and Business Services Sentiment into Prints

Global Research

22 July 2026ab

US Business Services Equities

AmericasA Look at Crowding and Business Services

Sentiment into Prints Industrial Services

Joshua Chan, CFA

Analyst

joshua.chan@ubs.com

Most Crowded Longs - FIX, ARMK, IT; Most Crowded Shorts - WSC, ULS, XMTR +1-212-713 9957

As of the end of June, FIX, ARMK, and IT are the most crowded longs in our Karandeep Singhania

coverage. The most crowded shorts in our coverage are WSC, ULS, and XMTR. Associate Analyst

karandeep.singhania@ubs.com

Relative to May, the biggest one-month positive crowding score changes were for

+1-212-713 4211

UNF, ROL, and UPWK. ROL returned to being slightly long crowded after entering

short crowding territory in May. The biggest negative crowding score changes this Brianna Kamdoum

month were APG, ULS, and CTAS, which we think aligns well with recent rotation Associate Analyst

brianna.kamdoum@ubs.com

away from high quality compounders (though we suspect CTAS' strong FQ4 report

+1-212-882 5027

in mid-July likely changed the narrative).

Nicolo Menez

Crowding is defined as a high percentage of eligible funds holding similar Analyst

positions in a stock. A positive crowding score is associated with long-crowding nicolo.menez@ubs.com

whereas a negative crowding score is associated with short-crowding. See charts +1-212-713 3183

and historical data starting on page 3.

Thoughts on Crowding Data and Recent Investor Sentiment

FIX: Despite being the most long-crowded stock in our coverage at the end of

June, we think sentiment has shifted more cautiously as we approach earnings,

reflecting 1) the more mixed broader market sentiment around AI, and

2) increasing recognition that Q2 book-to-bill may not be as strong as investors