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The Business Brew

The Business Brew

By Bill Brewster

Welcome to The Business Brew

This podcast’s mission is to dig deep into the thought patterns and analysis of investors and business people. The podcast stemmed from Bill Brewster consistently feeling like he was listening to prepackaged material while listening to podcasts. Instead, he wanted long form, in depth, discussions about finance, capital allocation, and the psychology of investing/business.

Bill is a private investor. He cohosts the podcast Value: After Hours with Tobias Carlisle and Jake Taylor. Tobias, Jake and Bill met at a Berkshire Hathaway meeting and formed a lasting friendship. And, as it turns out, people really like the podcast.

While Bill tries to replicate Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s thought processes, he is heavily influenced by Bill Miller III, Stan Druckenmiller, and others. This podcast is his attempt to dig deeper into other investing/business philosophies and share the knowledge with the world.

We are interested in interviewing portfolio managers, Wall Street sell side analysts, buy side analysts, private investors, owner operators, and anyone that is willing to go in depth about running a company/division. So, if you are interested in participating please email us with the subject “Guest Appearance.”

Disclaimer: Bill manages a portfolio under the name of Sullimar Capital Group. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this podcast or on SullimarCapital.Group is investment advice. All information in this is opinion based, potentially biased, and requires verification.

Bill and his guests make no representation, warranty or undertaking, express or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness or reasonableness of the information contained in these podcasts. Any assumptions, opinions and estimates expressed constitute the participant’s judgment as of the date thereof and are subject to change without notice. Any projections contained in the information are based on a number of assumptions as to market conditions and there can be no guarantee that any projected outcomes will be achieved. This podcast does not accept any liability for any direct, consequential or other loss arising from reliance on the contents of this presentation.

This podcast series DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICIATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES MENTIONED OR DISCUSSED. Seek the your financial, tax, legal, accounting, or other advisor’s advice before making any investment decisions. We are not your fiduciary or advisor.
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Jobs Security and Growth (JSG) Investing

The Business BrewMar 31, 2022

00:00
01:31:36
Hedda Nadler - Repping The Legends

Hedda Nadler - Repping The Legends

Hedda Nadler, co-founder of Mount & Nadler, stops by The Business Brew to discuss her career as one of the leading marketing practitioners serving professional money managers. Mount & Nadler represents a broad range of clientele in the financial and investment spheres, with an emphasis on investment companies and money managers.  This conversation gives the perspective of one of the people behind the scenes of finance.


Under Hedda's direction, Mount & Nadler is known among mutual funds, money managers and the media as a firm that provides excellent and responsive services whether the news is positive or negative. During her 40+ year career, Hedda also has ably handled PR for shareholder activists and lift-outs, as well as crisis counseling. Throughout, she has advised clients sensibly and effectively when dealing with the media.

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations.

⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa's⁠⁠⁠⁠ data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.


Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.


Mar 07, 202457:51
Quick Drop: Wes Gray - Talking about BOXX, creating an ETF, and more

Quick Drop: Wes Gray - Talking about BOXX, creating an ETF, and more

Wes Gray, the Alpha Architect himself, stops by the Business Brew to discuss how he (a) created the ETF $BOXX, (b) helps people start their own ETFs, (c) why value and momentum work as factors, and much more.


This episode is a quick release after Corey Hoffstein's. It may or may not be the only episode we release for the next 13 days or so.


The release cadence is influenced by the amount of press BOXX has been getting. We hope to add to your understanding. As always, do your due diligence!

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations.

⁠⁠⁠Daloopa's⁠⁠⁠ data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.


Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

Mar 02, 202401:10:18
Corey Hoffstein - Get Stacked!

Corey Hoffstein - Get Stacked!

Corey Hoffstein, Founder and CEO of Returned Stacked Portfolio Solutions, stops by to discuss how he uses ETFs to leverage his investing assets. Corey and Bill discuss a concept that is not novel to institutional investors, but may benefit individuals today because of ETF innovations. Bill wanted to discuss how Corey came up with his idea, how he executes his idea, and what risks his strategy might have.


You can find more information at Return Stacked Portfolio Solutions.

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations.

⁠⁠Daloopa's⁠⁠ data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.


Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

Feb 29, 202401:29:10
Will Thomson On Lithium, Copper, And More

Will Thomson On Lithium, Copper, And More

Will Thomson of Massif Capital returns for his annual appearance. In this episode he teaches about the lithium and copper markets. The end of the episode is more general and worth hanging around for.


You can find Massif Cap's letters here. The Q4 letter discusses lithium on Page 7. Whole letter is worth a read.


Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations.

⁠Daloopa's⁠ data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.


Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.


Feb 22, 202401:21:48
Devin Martin - Finding Your Drive

Devin Martin - Finding Your Drive

Devin Martin, recommended by the one and only Tom Morgan, stops by the show to discuss how he helps high performing individuals hone in on what they truly want out of life. Devin primarily works with successful people who want to achieve something more/different.


In this episode we discuss his methodology. There is some discussion of ayahuasca and psychedelics so be prepared (shout out to one of the best songs in The Lion King).


As always, we hope you enjoy the show! Big shoutout to Daloopa for sponsoring the show.


Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations.

Daloopa's data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

Feb 08, 202401:43:31
The Pros and Cons of Being Public with Andrew Walker

The Pros and Cons of Being Public with Andrew Walker

Andrew Walker, friend of the pod, returns to discuss some of his reflections following the Spirit merger ruling going against him. Bill pinged Andrew following the ruling and asked whether he would want to come back on the podcast to discuss the pros and cons of publicly liking a stock idea that does not work out. For those that listened to the episode a few weeks ago, or remember Bill's Qurate days, you may glean a little more insight into why the Spirit merger caused Bill to think so much.


The episode then goes on to discuss Calumet Specialty Products Partners. You can go back to last week's episode for a SAF primer. And you can also subscribe to https://yetanothervaluepodcast.substack.com/ to find Andrew's research on that company.


As always, we hope you enjoy the show.

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

Detailed Show Notes

2:16 - That hot hot song


3:00 - Andrew's reflections on Spirit


15:40 - Bill's Qurate experience


18:00 - The double edged sword of being public


22:00 - What is the duty to vet guests?


24:50 - Binary bets vs. slow bleed bets


29:45 Being aware of being on tilt


32:00 - Calumet Specialty Products discussion

Feb 02, 202401:04:29
Sustainable Air Fuel - A Primer

Sustainable Air Fuel - A Primer

Kyle Mowery, Founder and Portfolio Manager at Grizzly Rock Captial, LLC, stops by the Business Brew to teach the audience about sustainable air fuel. Bill deviates the conversation *a bit* to renewable diesel at times, but SAF is the primary topic.


SAF is a potentially interesting investment topic because it is the only known way to decarbonize air travel. Importantly, there appears to be a shortage in the near term.


Companies discussed include Darling (DAR), Calumet (CLMT), LanzaJet (LNZA) and more. Here is a link to one of Darling's early investor presentations about Diamond Green Diesel: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/916540/000119312511081529/dex991.htm

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠Daloopa ⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

Jan 25, 202401:21:16
Some Thoughts And Things - Regular Pod Back Next Week

Some Thoughts And Things - Regular Pod Back Next Week

This is a brief message from Bill. Sent in the spirit of communication with the fans. After listening to it, it's about 85-90% accurate with some incomplete thoughts and some things that could have been said differently. But, the overall message and general feeling is accurate-ish.


Looking forward to dropping an episode next week.


Like, subscribe and rate. Please and thank you!

Jan 19, 202418:50
Todd Schwartz - Expanding Credit Access

Todd Schwartz - Expanding Credit Access

Todd Schwartz, Founder, CEO and Executive Chairman of OppFi, stops by The Business Brew to discuss how he expands credit access. OppFi was featured on this program when it was going public via SPAC. The company did not perform to expectations once it was public and Todd reengaged in order to right the ship.


This episode is about OppFi and Todd, but it is also about usury laws and policy. It is a company that has made Bill think a lot. We hope you find the conversation interesting.


Disclaimers: Bill owns an immaterial amount of warrants in the company. But, better to err on the side of disclosure.


Sponsor Info: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.



Dec 16, 202301:15:06
Ben Jenkins - On Mentorship, Being a Professional, and Allocating Capital

Ben Jenkins - On Mentorship, Being a Professional, and Allocating Capital

Ben Jenkins, President and Chief Investment Officer at Digital Bridge Group Inc, stops by The Business Brew to have a discussion about professional development, mentorship, and investing in digital infrastructure.  Digital Bridge (NYSE: DBRG) is a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure.  The firm has $75Bn of assets under management, 30+ portfolio companies, and over 100 digital infrastructure professionals (see https://ir.digitalbridge.com/static-files/0a038853-b7a3-43c0-93d3-c509ef638005).

Ben's official bio reads as follows:
Ben Jenkins is President and Chief Investment Officer at DigitalBridge. Mr. Jenkins is also the Co-Founder of Digital Bridge Holdings and the former Chairman of Global Tower Partners.

Prior to forming Digital Bridge Holdings, Mr. Jenkins was a Senior Managing Director and head of the Hong Kong office for The Blackstone Group. During his 12 years at Blackstone, Mr. Jenkins led over a dozen private equity investments (including Global Tower Partners) across a range of industries and geographies, including telecommunications deals in developed and emerging markets.

Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Jenkins was an associate at Saunders, Karp and Megrue (now Apax) and a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley.

Mr. Jenkins received a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Stanford University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Disclaimer:  Bill is long Digital Bridge and has been since 2020.  This is a long term hold for him.


Sponsor Info: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.


Dec 07, 202301:38:02
Craig Moffett Returns

Craig Moffett Returns

Craig Moffett has covered the telecommunications industry – first as a management consultant and later as a Wall Street analyst – for more than thirty years. He has been elected to Institutional Investor Magazine’s All-American Research Team in the U.S. Telecom and/or Cable & Satellite sectors on seventeen separate occasions, including nine separate appearances as the #1 analyst in America in either U.S. Telecom and/or Cable & Satellite.

Craig returns to The Business Brew to give an update on his analysis of the US telecommunications ecosystem.  Craig is Co-Founder of MoffettNathanson (see https://www.moffettnathanson.com/), a research driven firm that focuses on sound analysis as opposed to the incentives that drive much of Wall Street Sell Side coverage.  Craig’s most divergent view is that cable companies may end up with an cost advantaged wireless business when compared Verzion, AT&T, and T Mobile’s business.  This is in large part because of postalized rates, which you will learn about in this episode.  We hope you enjoy this conversation.


Please see https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/william-brewster1/episodes/Craig-Moffett---A-True-Expert-e1qqks6/a-a8sd2uv for our conversation in November 2022.


For disclaimers - Bill held both Charter and Liberty Broadband shares until recently.  He sold after Charter’s most recent earnings report.  Bill has talked a lot about cable and felt like he needed to sell in order to be rational about the cable thesis.  We hope this conversation is as unbiased as possible. 

 A request from The Business Brew – PLEASE fill out the survey on Spotify (assuming you listen there) to indicate whether you are an institutional or retail investor.  The survey results will help this podcast immensely in sponsorship negotiations. 

 

Sponsor Info: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. 

⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.


Dec 01, 202301:07:46
Bill Chen - Is Now The Time for REITs

Bill Chen - Is Now The Time for REITs

Bill Chen, Managing Director at Rhizome Partners, stops by The Business Brew to share his thoughts on why publicly traded REITs are an attractive opportunity. Rhizome Partners is a private partnership targeting deep-value investments with a large margin of safety. In this episode Bill lays out his argument for why publicly traded REITs qualify for consideration now.


We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. Hopefully this provides some less controversial dinner table discussion!


As always, nothing in this show is investment advice. This show is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Please consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions. And do your own due diligence!!

Nov 23, 202301:55:52
Andrew McAfee - The Geek Way

Andrew McAfee - The Geek Way

Andrew McAfee (@amcafee) stops by The Business Brew to discuss his new book The Geek Wayhttps://www.amazon.com/Geek-Way-Radical-Mindset-Extraordinary/dp/B0C1DQW5FC/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Andrew+McAfee&qid=1700075448&s=audible&sr=1-1
Andrew is a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management, co-founder and co-director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, and the inaugural Visiting Fellow at the Technology and Society organization at Google. He studies how technological progress changes the world. His previous books includeMore from Less and, with Erik Brynjolfsson, The Second Machine Age.
McAfee has written for publications including Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He's talked about his work on CNN and 60 Minutes, at the World Economic Forum, TED, and the Aspen Ideas Festival, with Tom Friedman and Fareed Zakaria, and in front of many international and domestic audiences. He’s also advised many of the world’s largest corporations and organizations ranging from the IMF to the Boston Red Sox to the US Intelligence Community.
McAfee and his frequent coauthor Erik Brynjolfsson are only people named to both the Thinkers50 list of the world’s top management thinkers and the Politico 50 group of people transforming American politics.

Nov 16, 202301:08:56
Jeremy Raper Returns

Jeremy Raper Returns

Jeremy Raper returns to The Business Brew to discuss what he has been up to lately.  Jeremy is currently focused on smaller situations and being the catalyst for value realization.  We hope this episode is entertaining and informative.  We also implore you to do your own research and due diligence.
His bio can be found at 
https://rapercapital.com.  He describes himself as follows:
Australian born and raised, I majored in History at Harvard University (Class of ’08). I have 12+ years of buy- and sell-side experience in a variety of roles, and currently manage my personal account full-time. I tend to view the equity markets through a credit analyst’s lens (‘thinking like a creditor rather than an owner’); I try to consider the whole capital structure of an enterprise when I invest; and I believe sustainable free cash flow is the primary foundation of business value. I have little interest in purported growth stocks (unless on the short side if there is a balance sheet/restructuring angle).

Nov 10, 202301:51:30
Keith Smith - Looking At Unique Ideas

Keith Smith - Looking At Unique Ideas

Keith Smith stops by The Business Brew to discuss BDCs, auto dealers, and other ideas he has been looking at. Keith has been looking in areas that are less well covered.  Keith has over 20 years of business valuation experience as well as being trained as an engineer. In addition to managing the Bonhoeffer Fund’s portfolio, Keith serves as an advisor to Willow Oak Asset Management. He is a CFA charterholder and received his MBA from UCLA. He has held positions with Empire Valuation Consultants, PwC, Management Consulting & Research, and served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force. We hope the episode expands your thinking a bit.

Nov 02, 202302:09:46
Ryan O'Connor

Ryan O'Connor

Ryan O'Connor of Crossroads Capital stops by The Business Brew to discuss Nintendo, inflection investing, and much more.


You can find his piece on Google's potential antitrust risk here:  
https://assets.website-files.com/5fdcb736a43f592037fbd4b4/64f927a7f3a8d64b1a40ac64_21st%20Century%20Trust%20Busting%20and%20Tail%20Risks.pdf

Check this out as well!  https://twitter.com/aboveavgodds/status/1701620751210607072?s=46


Sponsor Info:
⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to ake the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.
Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠Daloopa ⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.
Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

Oct 26, 202302:18:47
Aaron Edelheit and Stuart Loren - Never Again

Aaron Edelheit and Stuart Loren - Never Again

This isn't a typical episode, but it's an important one.  We hope it leads to some important discussions.

Oct 19, 202350:46
Peter Mantas - The Potential Opportunity in Life Sciences

Peter Mantas - The Potential Opportunity in Life Sciences

Peter Mantas of Logos LP, https://www.logoslp.com/, stops by The Business Brew to discuss the state of the life sciences industry.  Life sciences is an industry that has produced many stocks that generated abnormal returns.  We hope to unpack some of the reasons behind those returns in this discussion.  For more information on how Peter invests, please see https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peter-mantas-logos-lp-portfolio-construction-biotechs/id1492171651?i=1000537962817 on Apple or https://open.spotify.com/episode/6r003LhN4REFSxYxogPWXH?si=7ApTcSdmRzepl5oW44friw on Spotify.  

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠⁠Daloopa⁠ ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to ake the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠Daloopa ⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

Thank you to all the fans.  Looking forward to being back and putting some good content in your ears. 

Oct 12, 202301:38:36
Andrew Walker - Yet Another Value Discussion!

Andrew Walker - Yet Another Value Discussion!

Andrew Walker, author of Yet Another Value Blog, host of Yet Another Value Podcast, stops by The Business Brew to chat. Andrew hosts one of the best financial podcasts out there, and is a great writer. We both hope you enjoy this conversation!

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to ake the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

 

Detailed Show Notes 6:00 - Microsoft Thought Exercise


14:00 - Quality vs. Price


22:00 - Delek


31:00 - Getting ideas from others


34:30 - What does the telco lead situation potentially mean for cable


39:00 - The potential for any investment to be a zero


43:00 - The bank thesis of May-ish


46:30 - Position sizing


49:30 - What's your edge?


52:00 - Activision and Microsoft


1:01:00 - Media overview


1:10:00 - Holdcos as an investment


1:18:00 - $RIDEQ

Jul 27, 202301:30:48
Charles Frischer and Asheef Lalani - Fairfax Is A "Fat Pitch"

Charles Frischer and Asheef Lalani - Fairfax Is A "Fat Pitch"

Charles Frischer and Asheef Lalani stop by The Business Brew to discuss why they like Fairfax as an investment. Quick reminder to do your own work!!!


Asheef Lalani as an independent director to the board of Sailfish Royalty Corp. Mr. Lalani graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics and Masters of Accounting, earned the CA/CPA designation in 2002 and is a CFA charterholder since 2003. Asheef first started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998 and went on to become a portfolio manager at UBS Securities. Currently, Mr. Lalani is the Chief Investment Officer at Berczy Park Capital – a private family office in Toronto, Canada. Charles Frischer is General Partner of LFF Partners, a family office based in Seattle. Mr. Frischer was a multi-family loan underwriter and originator at Capri Capital for 10 years. As a Principal at Zephyr for 4 years, he was responsible for the asset management of more than 5,000 multi-family units and all related financings of the portfolio. Frischer sits on the Board of Kingsway Financial and Altisource Asset Management. He attended his first Berkshire annual meeting in 1998, his first Market annual meeting in 1999 and his first Fairfax annual meeting in 2010. He holds an B.A. in Government from the College of Arts and Sciences from Cornell University.  

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to ake the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

 

Detailed Show Notes

4:24 - Backgrounds


9:01 - Fairfax gets interesting in Asheef's mind


11:43 - Pushback to the thesis


13:00 - Does Fairfax underwrite well?


17:00 - Why insurance companies shouldn't under reserve

25:00 - How good is Fairfax at investing in equities?


30:00 - The potential upside India brings to Fairfax


34:20 - Fairfax India background


42:55 - What people might not like about Fairfax India


45:40 - Fairfax's advantages


56:40 - What is the catalyst here?


62:00 - Does this pitch even need a catalyst?


64:00 - What does a bad outcome look like?


Jul 20, 202301:23:24
Arvind Sanger - The Sustainable Energy Transition

Arvind Sanger - The Sustainable Energy Transition

Arvind Sanger stops by The Business Brew to discuss his views on the world's sustainable energy transition. Mr. Sanger has a ton of experience and is a wealth of knowledge. He is the founder of Geosphere Capital, a global long-short fund manager currently investing in natural resources, new energy and Indian equities. Prior to that, between 2002 and 2007, Mr. Sanger was a Portfolio Manager at SAC Capital (his portfolio grew very quickly), running one of the largest equity portfolios and managing a global team based in New York and Singapore. Prior to his tenure at SAC, Mr. Sanger had a 15-year career as a top-ranked sell-side oil services & equipment analyst at a number of firms, including Deutsche Bank, DLJ and Kidder Peabody among others. Mr. Sanger graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, with a B.Tech in 1984 and received his MBA from Tulane University in 1987. Mr. Sanger is on the board of the Alexander Hamilton Society, Pratham USA and Pratham Educational Foundation in India.


Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to ake the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

 

Detailed Show Notes forthcoming.

Jul 14, 202301:17:09
Derek Pilecki - A Financials Specialist

Derek Pilecki - A Financials Specialist

Derek Pilecki stops by The Business Brew to discuss Financials.  Derek is a Financials specialist with a track record that speaks for itself.  See https://gatorcapital.com/ for more information. 

Derek currently manages a long/short financials strategy, long-only financials strategy, and various other individual portfolios. He has managed a private fund for 11 years. He also launched one mutual fund and took over management of another mutual fund.

From 2002 through 2008, Derek was a member of the Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) Growth Equity Team (Co-Chair of the Investment Committee for the Growth Team and a Portfolio Manager).

Prior to GSAM, Derek was an Analyst at Clover Capital Management in Rochester, NY and Burridge Growth Partners in Chicago, IL. He covered the Financials sector at both firms. Before entering graduate school, Derek worked at Fannie Mae providing interest rate risk analysis for the company’s mortgage investment portfolio.

Derek holds an MBA with honors in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago and a BA in Economics from Duke University. He is also a CFA® charterholder.

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to ake the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click.

Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

 

Detailed Show Notes:


3:38 – Derek’s background


6:54: - How Derek defines Financials


7:12 – Thoughts about Silicon Valley Bank


13:08 – Was it rational for regulators to ignore mark to market losses?


21:03 – What is going on with office and how big of a deal is this going to be?


25:08 – Is there an opportunity in regional banks?


29:45 – Mortgage REIT preferreds


33:15 – How much of a Financials analyst’s job is focusing on the consumer and macro?


36:35 – A discussion about First Republic’s failure


41:45 – Thinking about constructing a long/short portfolio within a sector


44:45 – Why Genworth, why now?


50:55 – Puerto Rican banks and the potential for regional oligopolies


54:10 – How building a business can impact investment outcomes


57:30 – Why does Derek run a mutual fund today?


1:05:10 – How to think about Banking as a Service and have traditional banks given up too much contact with the customer?


1:09:35 – Outlook for alt managers

Jul 06, 202301:15:23
Value Stock Geek - Geeking on Value

Value Stock Geek - Geeking on Value

ValueStockGeek (“VSG”) stops by The Business Brew to discuss his evolution as an investor.  VSG can be found on Twitter at @valuestockgeek, his portfolio can be found at https://portfoliocharts.com/portfolio/weird-portfolio/, and his blog is at https://www.securityanalysis.org/

 

We hope you enjoy the conversation.


The Business Brew will be off for a few weeks after this episode. We shall return.

Sponsor Info:

⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠⁠Daloopa’s ⁠⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠⁠Daloopa ⁠⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

 


Detailed Show Notes

4:40 – VSG’s Background

12:00 – Is value a macro bet?

17:00 – Are computers better suited to exploit the value factor than humans?

24:30 – Thoughts on dividends and whether they mitigate some bad management incentives

30:00 – Are quants bound to win and will computers take over the world?

32:22 – What VSG’s goals are for his substack

40:00 – The realization that “high multiple” doesn’t necessarily mean overpriced

43:45 – A potential blindspot that “value” might create

47:00 – Asset allocation discussion

54:00 – How Bill and VSG got into investing and some thoughts on trading

1:00:00 – The types of companies VSG owns

1:09:00 – Shareholder base characteristics

Jun 08, 202301:16:05
Ian Bezek - Emerging Value

Ian Bezek - Emerging Value

Ian Bezek stops by The Business Brew to discuss his thesis on why emerging markets, specifically Colombia and Mexico, might be extraordinary value today.  Ian is best known for his investment writing, which supports his day to day life. 

His primary focus is Latin America. So much so that he moved from New York to Guatemala. He now resides in Colombia, which gives him unique perspective on the political landscape in that country.

 

Mentioned in the episode:

John Hempton on “averaging down” - http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2017/01/when-do-you-average-down.html

Ian’s Twitter account - @irbezek

Ian’s Seeking Alpha Page - https://seekingalpha.com/author/ian-bezek

Sponsor Info:

⁠Daloopa ⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠Daloopa ⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. ⁠Daloopa ⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠Daloopa ⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. ⁠Daloopa’s ⁠Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how ⁠Daloopa ⁠can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.

 

Detailed Show Notes

4:40 – Ian’s background

5:23 – Why Ian moved to South America (specifically Guatemala)

11:30 – Are emerging markets inherently lower quality than the US?

13:40 – Why Colombia, why now?

25:40 – How Ian is thinking about specific companies in Colombia

30:30 – What is the Colombian banking market structure?

36:50 – Memories of March 2020

40:20 – Why Ian prefers the airports to the rest of aerospace

46:50 – Thoughts about Mexico as a market

51:50 – Home country bias

58:05 – What Ian’s writing enables for his investments

1:05:50 – In many ways Latin America might be what the US was after WW2

1:10:35 – More discussion on Zoom vs. Qurate

1:16:20 – How Ian and Bill have evolved as investors and then chit chat


Jun 01, 202301:35:06
Braden Dennis - Building ⁠Stratosphere.io

Braden Dennis - Building ⁠Stratosphere.io

Braden Dennis, founder of Stratosphere.io, stops by The Business Brew to discuss how he developed the product, running a startup, sales, investing, and much more.  The Business Brew is grateful for Stratosphere.io's sponsorship and can unequivocally state that this episode would run regardless of the sponsorship.  Bill has enjoyed getting to know Braden and the team and wishes them the best.
Detailed Show Notes:

  • 5:20 - Braden's background


  • 8:50 - Your product is useless if you wouldnt actually use it if you weren't the founder


  • 12:20 - How Braden is using AI in finance


  • 19:00 - Building FinChat.io


  • 25:20 - Working through entrepreneurial issues


  • 33:20 - How Braden invests


  • 38:30 - Have we learned the wrong lessons over the past 12 lessons?


  • 45:10 - Some lessons from Bill's losses


  • 51:10 - The costs of discussing ideas publicly


  • 53:20 - Some chit chat about Bill
May 25, 202301:06:42
Meb Faber Returns!

Meb Faber Returns!

Meb Faber, CIO and CEO of Cambira Investments returns to The Business Brew.   Bill wanted to chat with Meb about the global diversified portfolio and Meb agreed to come on.  The conversation also discusses drawdown emotions, the merits of ETS vs mutual funs, Meb's thoughts on marketing, and much more. Meb is a great thinker, entrepreneur, and podcast host. He's also one cool dude.


You can find Meb's writing here.

You can find his podcast on Apple here and on Spotify here.


Other links mentioned:

Ray Dalio Book: Principles for Dealing with a Changing World Order

Bridgewater All Weather Paper.

A Tweet of Meb's about Global stocks ex-US

Recent Jesse Livermore tweet RE: P/Es CAPE, etc

Sponsor Info:

Daloopa is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. Daloopa offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time. Daloopa scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. Daloopa captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. Daloopa’s Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit ⁠Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew⁠ to create a free account and learn more about how Daloopa can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.


Detailed Show Notes 

Conversation starts with Berkshire weekend and Buffett discussion

4:55 – Meb’s take on global diversification

7:50 – The best compliment you can give someone

10:05 – Drawdowns are like a Ricther Scale

14:00 – The single biggest investing myth right now

39:30 – Meb’s thoughts on marketing

45:00 - Sell criteria

47:50 - What you need to launch an ETF

52:00 - Mutual Fund to ETF conversions

55:00 - Tax minimization

58:00 - More cases for foreign stocks

1:03:00 - The merits of private/angel investing

1:07:50 - Why Russia might not be "a zero"


May 19, 202301:25:31
Dave Waters - Searching Nooks and Crannies

Dave Waters - Searching Nooks and Crannies

Dave Waters of Alluvial Capital Management, LLC stops by The Business Brew to discuss how he approaches investing.  You can find all his letters, partnership info, etc., at https://alluvialcapital.com/
Dave primarily focuses on investments that you probably haven't heard of.  He invests in illiquid securities, foreign securities, companies coming out of bankruptcy, and more.  His portfolio is as unique as his path to investing.
We hope you enjoy the conversation.
Sponsor Info:
Daloopa is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. Daloopa offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time.
Daloopa scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. Daloopa captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. Daloopa’s Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date.

Visit Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew to create a free account and learn more about how Daloopa can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.
Detailed Show Notes:
6:45 – Why Dave likes to look at obscure areas of the market
10:30 – When Dave found P10 Holdings
15:30 – Why your threshold for buying needs to be higher in microcap
21:15 – Rebuttable presumptions against microcap companies and the need for cheapness
23:00 – How Dave got interested in Garrett Motion
35:30 – Assessing incentives
41:50 – Community Development Financial Institutions
43:40 – What got Dave interested in investing
54:00 – Are microcaps destined to underperform?
59:30 – Potential risks and rewards around international investing
1:08:00 – Using subsidies to your benefit
1:10:40 – SPV banter
1:19:00 – Where Dave sees himself in 10 years

May 11, 202301:22:19
Josh Clarkson - Alternative Credit

Josh Clarkson - Alternative Credit

Josh Clarkson stops by The Business Brew to discuss alternative credit investments. Josh is a managing director at financial communications firm Prosek Partners, stops by The Business Brew to discuss communications, branding and marketing for alternative asset managers and his passion for working with clients in the private credit space.  Josh has over a decade advising a wide range of financial sector and corporate clients on matters from corporate narrative building, positioning and profile raising to activism, M&A and contentious restructurings. Currently, he focuses on working with credit-oriented alternative asset managers to help them better compete for capital, deals and talent by better utilizing communications, branding and marketing.

 

In addition to taking a deep dive on the current private credit landscape and how managers benefit from developing and effectively communicating a differentiated narrative, we also take a trip down memory lane and discuss some of Josh’s prior work in shareholder activism, which, as with many things in Josh’s life, intersects with his interest in private credit.

 

Josh’s full biography can be found here: https://www.prosek.com/people/joshua-clarkson/ along with more information about Prosek Partners and how they work with leading alternative and traditional asset managers to achieve their business goals.

 

We hope you enjoy this conversation.



Sponsorship Note

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Daloopa⁠. ⁠Daloopa ⁠is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. ⁠Daloopa ⁠offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time.

 

⁠Daloopa ⁠scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. ⁠Daloopa ⁠captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. Daloopa’s Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting ⁠Daloopa ⁠for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date. Visit Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew to create a free account and learn more about how Daloopa can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.


May 04, 202301:10:12
Kristof Gliech - Choosing Managers

Kristof Gliech - Choosing Managers

Kritof Gleich, President and CIO of Harbor Capital Advisors, stops by The Business Brew to discuss his views on picking managers.  Kristof has over 20 years of investment experience with stints at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and BlueCove Asset Management (which Ares purchased a stake in).  Harbor Capital Advisors spcializes in partnering with boutique investment managers in an effort to create superior investment outcomes.

Kristof has spent a lot of time developing a “factor framework” for evaluating a managers’ skill. You’ll hear Kristof say that our starting premise/hypothesis is to assume all managers’ historical excess return is due to luck and then look to reject that hypothesis (or not) by using deep analytical rigor. This stems from his physicist background to continue to understand subjects more deeply. Recently Kristof has been overseeing Harbor’s expansion from a factor framework to introducing “behavioral analytics”.

We hope you enjoy this conversation.

 

Sponsorship Note

This episode is sponsored by Daloopa. Daloopa is founded by a former hedge fund analyst to bring simplicity into the investment process. Daloopa offers an AI driven single source for all company reported data, and allows for investment teams to make the most informed decisions in the shortest amount of time.

 

Daloopa scales the velocity of an investment team’s idea gen. Analysts spend less time locating and manually inputting meaningful disclosures into Excel and more time synthesizing in the minutes after the print. Daloopa captures data from all company reported sources, including from footnotes, MD&As, and investor presentations. Our data sheets include GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, guidance, and all company specific KPIs. Each datapoint is auditable to the source for easy verification and accuracy. Daloopa’s Excel plugin can also update your existing models for the latest quarter in just a single click. Bulge-bracket banks and major multi-managers are trusting Daloopa for use in initiating coverage, building and maintaining industry dashboards, and keeping their models up to date. Visit Daloopa.com/BusinessBrew to create a free account and learn more about how Daloopa can help increase your team’s speed to differentiated insight.


Detailed Show Notes

5:52 – Kritof’s background


11:55 – Picking managers that can handle scale


18:55 – What Kristof is doing to transform Harbor


30:10 – A discussion about banks


42:52 – Passive vs ETF and why they might be different


47:40 – Will the 60/40 portfolio do well going forward?


52:40 – A case study about providing an inflation “solution” and some of the complications investors can run into with commodities


1:07:10 – Picking good managers


1:22:05 – Behavioral finance based investing

 

Apr 29, 202301:33:53
Mario Cibelli - Seeing Value in SMID

Mario Cibelli - Seeing Value in SMID

Mario Cibelli stops by the Business Brew to discuss his views of the world as it exists today. Mr. Cibelli is the CIO and Managing Partner at Marathon Partners Equity Management, LLC. This conversation covers why SMID caps might be an interesting opportunity at the moment, when companies should and should not be public, how Mario does his research, being involved and adding value to management teams, and much more.


Shout out to Stratosphere.io for sponsoring the show. It was a pleasure to pitch your product. Keep up the good work!


Thank you to @mathewpassy and the team at The Podcast Consultant for producing the show.

Detailed Show Notes 3:45 - Mario's background


10:45 - Why is today exciting in SMID caps


22:00 - What types of companies "should not be public?"


38:30 - How Mario cracked the code on Netflix vs. Blockbuster back in the day


42:20 - Adding value to management teams


50:30 - Did Zuck start a trend in Silicon Valley?


53:37 - What might be a tough place to invest in over the next 3 years.


57:30 - How Mario thinks about investing in Uber


1:09:10 - How low share prices may end up driving business improvement


1:12:20 - "Your normal is someone else's nightmare"


1:16:40 - Is there opportunity to invest alongside Mario Gabelli?


1:25:10 - Large companies have really big marketcaps. Can they justify those going forward?


1:33:40 - Bechle and tequila


Apr 20, 202301:36:59
Dr. Luke Benoit - Grip It and Ryp It

Dr. Luke Benoit - Grip It and Ryp It

Bill and Dr. Luke Benoit talk about Luke's invention, the RypStick.  This is a golf specific episode.  Luke Benoit founded RypStick, a product Bill uses and enjoys.  RypStick helps golfers add distance to their game and Bill wanted to feature Luke because he respects what Luke created.
Normal episode will be back next week.

Apr 15, 202334:56
Mathew Passy - THE Podcast Consultant

Mathew Passy - THE Podcast Consultant

Note - This podcast has some advice that may be able to help you think about marketing your firm and/or yourself. Should you need a host, reach out to Bill. Should you need an editor, reach out to Mathew.


Mathew Passy (@mathewpassy on Twitter), founder/owner of The Podcast Consultant stops by The Business Brew to discuss his career, how he started his business and became the person behind your favorite finance podcasts, the podcast industry generally, tips for appearing on podcasts, the business of podcasting, and much more. As you should know by now, Mathew produces this show. The Business Brew, and the listening base, owes him a big thank you for how this podcast sounds.


This episode is sponsored by ⁠Stratosphere.io⁠.  ⁠Stratosphere.io⁠ is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is ⁠Stratosphere.io⁠’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.

Head over to ⁠Stratosphere.io⁠ for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.


Detailed Show Notes - 

3:52 - How Mathew became The Podcast Consultant


13:30 - Why did the Wall Street Journal kill its first podcast network


22:00 - Starting a business


27:50 - What was the podcast business like in 2019


31:45 - How is the podcasting ecosystem evolving?


39:50 - Different monetization strategies of podcasting


48:15 - How have Mathew's thoughts about podcasting changed?


50:30 - What makes successful podcasters?


54:30 - Some advice Bill thinks is worth thinking about


1:00:00 - Meta dicussion


1:05:00 - Some advice on how to start a podcast


1:11:00 - Podcasts as internal communication


1:13:00 - What do the different hosting services offer?


1:18:30 - Onboarding with The Podcast Consultant


Apr 06, 202301:24:48
Ian Cassel - A Micro Perspective

Ian Cassel - A Micro Perspective

Ian Cassel stops back by The Business Brew to check in.  As you may remember, Ian is a full-time microcap investor and founder of MicroCapClub. Ian started investing as a teenager and learned from losing his money over and over again. Today he is a full-time private investor that supports himself and his family by investing in microcaps.  He is also the author of two books:


Intelligent Fanatics Project: How Great Leaders Build https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Fanatics-Project-Sustainable-Businesses/dp/0997576502/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=7vP7f&content-id=amzn1.sym.22f5776b-4878-4918-9222-7bb79ff649f4&pf_rd_p=22f5776b-4878-4918-9222-7bb79ff649f4&pf_rd_r=140-2211477-9010244&pd_rd_wg=oufjI&pd_rd_r=438a9be9-ba2c-44c0-a800-30367bc020a7&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk


Intelligent Fanatics: Standing On The Shoulders of Giants https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Fanatics-Standing-Shoulders-Giants/dp/0997576537/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=7vP7f&content-id=amzn1.sym.22f5776b-4878-4918-9222-7bb79ff649f4&pf_rd_p=22f5776b-4878-4918-9222-7bb79ff649f4&pf_rd_r=140-2211477-9010244&pd_rd_wg=oufjI&pd_rd_r=438a9be9-ba2c-44c0-a800-30367bc020a7&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk


Ian and Bill chatted because there was some noise about small and microcaps being cheap.  Then Bill said “Come on the show.”  And Ian said “Sure.”  And then they had this conversation.  And now you are listening.  We hope you enjoy!

 

This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.

Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Thank you to the team at ⁠thepodcastconsultant.com⁠ for producing the show.

Detailed Show Notes - 


2:50 - Staying patient in illiquid ideas


6:28 - The MicrocapClub conference


10:20 - Findings a micro cap worthy of holding


12:03 - Fallen angels vs rising stars


18:50 - Quality vs value


25:50 - What is Ian looking for in investments


28:20 - Look global for microcaps


30:20 - Why it is easier to raise money internationally than in the US


35:50 - SPAC talk


47:50 - Cogstate


1:00:30 - How microcap changed over the past year


1:05:50 - Training LPs, and yourself, to handle volatility


1:06:50 - Why the first discovery is powerful


1:11:30 - How Ian started MicroCapClub


1:13:05 - Some briefy therapy


1:15:30 - Concluding conversation

Mar 30, 202301:24:37
Devin Anderson - Exploiting Behavioral Biases

Devin Anderson - Exploiting Behavioral Biases

Devin Anderson, CEO and co-founder of Convexitas, stops by The Business Brew to discuss his firm's approach to risk management via options strategies. In short, Convexitas seeks to exploit structural options mispricing resulting from market participant's biases. What does that mean in plain English? Well, there are people that sell financial yield strategies that involve selling puts and selling covered calls. If enough of the market does that there is a chance the front month option pricing is not high enough. In that case, Convexitas might consider purchasing some of those options.


Why is Devin worth listening to? Before Convexitas, he was at Deutsche Bank for 15 years where he most recently was Managing Director and Head of Solutions in the Americas leading the structuring and sales teams which designed and distributed the risk premia, retail structured product, and the fund derivative businesses. His Deutsche Bank experience also includes covering institutional clients for listed options and OTC derivatives. Prior to the financial services industry, Devin had a previous career in technology where he held both engineering and sales roles at two early stage internet service & datacenter hosting providers, and former search engine Lycos. He holds a Bachelor of Finance from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon, where he also guest lectures on options and option market micro-structure.

In short, the guy is smart and you can learn something.


Enjoy the episode. Hope you enjoyed this show note!


This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.


Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.


Thank you to the team at thepodcastconsultant.com for producing the show.

Detailed Show Notes - 

2:00 - Devin's background


6:25 - Convexitas is a very risk focused firm


12:00 - The decision to reduce risk vs. manage risk


15:15 - What Convexitas is very good at


19:40 - Why an options thesis should start with the behavioral biases of the options market


24:50 - An options position should be better than a resized cash position


27:30 - If at any time short options strategies are changing your lifestyle then you should probably do less of it


35:00 - What about options counterparty risk?


37:30 - A discussion of one day options and why they exist (hint: they are a great business for market makers)


41:50 - How was Convexitas started?


45:10 - Does AI help Convexitas and/or is it a risk?


53:00 - It's not actually the risk, but how you manage to the risk


57:40 - The difference between financial products and investment products


1:01:25 - Performance under pressure and mindfulness


Mar 23, 202301:19:50
Michael Batnick - The Not So Irrelevant Investor

Michael Batnick - The Not So Irrelevant Investor

Michael Batnick, author of The Irrelevant Investor blog (https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/) and Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments (https://www.amazon.com/Big-Mistakes-Investors-Investments-Bloomberg/dp/1119366550) and Co Host of The Compound and Friends (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-compound-and-friends/id1456467014 for Apple and https://open.spotify.com/show/5VKsKPZUtwVylxslLie36k on Spotify) stops by The Business Brew for a quick chat.


In this episode Bill and Michael discuss Michael's book, his early days breaking into finance, his early investing style, and how he looks at the world now. They also touch on some personal chit chat at the end. Please note this episode was recorded before Bill's episode with Tom Gayner. Bill talks about Tom searching for ideas on the 52 Week High list. That part of the conversation is somewhat inaccurate and you should listen to Tom's episode for clarification.


This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.
Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off. Detailed Show Notes


4:50 - Mark Twain as an investor


7:00 Mike's background and building an online presence


13:00 - How Mike got through a bad first job


18:00 - Dealing with emotions while investing


19:00 - How Future Proof started


21:00 - How Mike approaches The Compound and Friends


24:30 - Helping Clients


28:00 - Why people should consider buying stocks that have gone up


35:00 - Stock chit chat


37:00 - Writing Big Mistakes

Mar 20, 202344:04
Dan Zwirn - Unconstrained Opportunities

Dan Zwirn - Unconstrained Opportunities

Dan Zwirn, CEO and CIO of Arena Investors, stops by The Business Brew to discuss his investing strategy.  Arena Investors, LP is a registered investment advisor that originates investments (generally below $50 million) with borrowers and other counterparties who need access to financing and are otherwise not able to access conventional sources.  They have complete mandate flexibility across industry, product, and geography.   


In Dan's words, "The real beauty of our approach, to me, is that there’s no ceiling on the creativity we can use to shape alignment for our clients, our partners and ourselves. If someone needs capital and there’s any way to do it that makes sense for all parties, we will find that way."


Bill enjoyed this conversation very much and hopes you will as well.   


Arena's Website: https://www.arenaco.com


Dan's Investor Letter: https://www.arenaco.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Arena_Investors_Letter_YE_2022.pdf   


Dan's Official Bio: https://www.arenaco.com/team/daniel-zwirn/


This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.
Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.


Detailed Show Notes  


What Arena does - 3:30 


How big money invests at times - 6:30 


Process oriented vs. security selection - 9:30 


Financial Products vs. Investment Products - 13:10 


Why Arena has invested in servicing - 19:30 


The incentives to not see what is going on - 22:10 


Where are we in a credit/business/fiscal cycle - 25:00 


How Arena thinks about opportunity - 32:30 


How Arena thinks about LTVs - 39:05 


"We are at a casino and there has never been more gamblers" - 44:00 


Are defaults bad? - 48:00 


Does diversification solve all problems? 52:30 


A CLO discussion - 56:50 


What is going on with the job market - 1:03:30

Mar 16, 202301:15:60
Mike and Eli - Chasing Scratch and Podcasting

Mike and Eli - Chasing Scratch and Podcasting

Mike and Eli, hosts of Chasing Scratch: A Golf Podcast, join The Business Brew to discuss their podcast, how they monetize podcasts, what they were trying to accomplish when they started podcasting, and, yes, golf.
Bill is a huge fan of the podcast they have put together.  Check it out on your favorite podcast player!
Apple: 
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chasing-scratch-a-golf-podcast/id1281285953
Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/2W77oe7Nw7G8RzKkhsMi5E


This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.
Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Mar 08, 202301:04:31
Tom Gayner - A Discussion with Markel's CEO

Tom Gayner - A Discussion with Markel's CEO

Tom Gayner stops by The Business Brew to discuss a number of things. You can see the detailed show notes for specifics, below the stratosphere.io sponsor copy. In summation, Bill has wanted to interview Tom for a long time but didn’t know how to make the interview unique. We think this interview covers some topics Tom has not discussed elsewhere.

Please consider attending Markel’s annual meeting. On Wednesday, May 17th, from 9-10:30 the good folks at Robotti and Co. are hosting an investor panel. There will be 8-12 “best ideas” presented. The Markel annual meeting will follow that event. Food, music, and beer will follow the Markel annual meeting.

We hope you enjoy this podcast episode.

This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.

Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Thank you to the team at thepodcastconsultant.com for producing the show.

Detailed Show Notes -


5:00 – The goal of the Markel annual event


7:30 – Tom’s background


9:35 – Blue capital and orange capital


17:05 – Creating dealflow and how long that takes


20:10 – Learning how to delegate


24:55 – What happened with the ILS transactions


33:20 – Searching New Highs and New Lows


38:40 – How investing at Markel does or does not impact Tom’s investing style


34:20 – The intertwining of Berkshire, Markel, and The Davis Funds


43:50 – The importance of relationships


48:40 – The Big Lebowski


49:10 – What traveling to India has taught Tom


56:25 – Decisions in March 2020 and how being at Markel impacted Tom


1:02:20 – How was the transition from Co-CEO to CEO


1:05:40 – How to be a deserving spouse


Book Mention:

The Way We Live Now

https://www.amazon.com/Way-Live-Now-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140433929/ref=asc_df_0140433929/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=475771750252&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16689022937612321338&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011844&hvtargid=pla-469518675534&psc=1

Mar 02, 202301:09:12
Adam Wyden - Discussing The Etymology of Returns

Adam Wyden - Discussing The Etymology of Returns

Adam Wyden, founder of ADW Capital, stops by The Business Brew to share his investing philosophy, discuss some ideas, and talk about lessons learned.  ADW is a concentrated, long biased investment partnership founded in 2010.  In this episode Adam cautions against idol worship, talks about how he monitors positions and companies, shares his thoughts on management character, and much more.  Bill's favorite line from this episode is "Invest with people that have more to lose than you do."

We hope you enjoy the show.

This episode is sponsored by 
Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.

Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Thank you to the team at thepodcastconsultant.com for producing the show.

Detailed Show Notes -

8:00 – Meeting Joel Greenblatt

14:45 – Lessons from Fiat

22:30 – How Ferrari could grow faster

30:30 – Adam’s background as an investor

40:40 – Pivoting to better businesses

43:00 – Being proud of admitting mistakes quickly

44:30 – Takeaways from 2022

48:00 – Where to hunt

51:50 – What is the etymology of a return?

54:00 – Monitoring a position over time

59:30 – Watch out for idol worship

1:10:00 – The biggest risk is (a) investing with sociopaths and (b) becoming one

1:18:15 – Further discussion about APi Group

1:30:30 – The comfort of owning assets with honorable managers

Feb 24, 202301:39:26
Arnaud Cosserat and Rick Mercado - Researching Resilience

Arnaud Cosserat and Rick Mercado - Researching Resilience

Arnaud Cosserat, CEO of Comgest, and Rick Mercado, PM at Comgest stop by The Business Brew to discuss quality growth investing.  Comgest is an independent, international asset management group, which since its creation in 1985, has pursued a long-term ‘Quality Growth’ and responsible investment style.

Arnaud is a long-standing Analyst and Portfolio Manager specialising in European equities. He started his career in 1989 as an Analyst at Banque Paribas, before joining Société de Bourse Oddo and then Generali as a Portfolio Manager.

He holds a Master of Science degree from the ESSEC business school (France) and is a member of the French Society of Financial Analysts (SFAF, Société Française des Analystes Financiers).

Before joining Comgest, Rick worked in London as a Portfolio Manager responsible for a North American equities fund with USS Investment Management and prior to that, as a Global Equities Portfolio Manager with F&C Investments. From 2001-2008 he worked in Australia, with Capital Partners as an Investment Analyst and with AMP Capital Investors as an Investment Strategist.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of New South Wales. He is also a CFA® charterholder.

This episode is sponsored by 
Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.

Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Big shoutout to @mathewpassy and the team at The Podcast Consultant.


Detailed Show Notes:

4:10 - Comgest's philosophy and focus on culture

8:10 - Fighting the ABCs (arrogance, bureaucracy, and complacency) of decay

12:05 - How to appraise culture

18:48 - Handicapping quality among high quality companies

24:05 - How does Comgest consider valuation risk of the portfolio?

33:35 - Comgest's 80/20 rule and how they hold companies with higher valuations

39:20 - Why recessions are great from an investment perspective

46:20 - What inflation might do to quality companies

53:30 - When to exit an investment (and how to stay in)

1:00:00 - How macro events impact Comgest's analysis

Feb 16, 202301:13:22
Randy Baron - International Truffle Hunting

Randy Baron - International Truffle Hunting

Randy Baron, lead Portfolio Manager for Pinnacle Associates Ltd's various international products, joins The Business Brew to discuss his investing philosophy.  Randy is best known for international value investing and for publicly discussing Amyris.  Amyris is an unprofitable company with a CEO that has a controversial reputation.  But, it is a very interesting company backed by some very real investors.

Bill and Randy have spoken a few times over the past 2 years and Bill likes how Randy looks at the world.  Bill was also curious about Amyris and how Randy's public support of the company has or has not influenced Randy's analysis.  Randy is open and transparent on this podcast and it is a very entertaining, and informative, listen.  We hope you enjoy.

Randy's official bio can be found at 
https://www.pinnacle-associates.com/team/randolph-baron

This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.
Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Detailed Show Notes:
4:15 - Intro

10:15 - Long term investing and international valuations

15:10 - Why US companies are listing in the UK

19:25 - What is Wandisco

22:25 - Randy’s idea of where returns will come from

23:50 - A discussion on Amyris

36:23 - A socially responsible investing tangent

38:23 - Back to Amyris

43:43 - Why every CEO should promote their stock

45:23 - When the price of a stock price matters

49:33 - Why explaining why you own something is important to investors

57:23 - How to act

1:05:20 - Renalytix; potentially solving a big problem

1:09:20 - Sizing early stage bets

1:11:30 - Looking to EM for cheap, good ideas

Feb 09, 202301:24:16
Whit Clay – Crafting Communications

Whit Clay – Crafting Communications

Whit Clay stops by The Business Brew to discuss his role in the financial ecosystem.  Whit sits at the intersection of investor relations and public relations.  He works with a wide variety of companies.  We hope you enjoy the conversation!


Whit Clay is a Co-Chief Executive Officer with Sloane & Company and has been with the firm for more than 21 years. Beyond day-to-day leadership and management of the firm, he leads its financial and crisis communications practice with a focus across multiple sectors and clients.


Whit has worked on complex transactions, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, litigation and numerous other special situations. He provides strategic counsel to the C-suite and taps his deep relationships with the media, business and financial community to achieve successful outcomes.


Clients of note across a range of industries include: Archer Aviation, Bloom Energy, Centrus Energy, Fortis, Francisco Partners, IMAX, Liberty Media, NOVA Infrastructure, Paladin Capital and Stagwell, Inc. among others.


Whit joined Sloane & Company in 1999 after more than three years working with Edelman Financial Worldwide, the financial communications and investor relations division of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. Prior to that, he worked in Washington, DC for Capitoline, the U.S. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms and the American Trucking Associations.

This episode is sponsored by 
Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.


Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Detailed Show Notes (Time Stamps)

2:45  - What is Sloane & Company?

4:04 – How much does narrative matter over the intermediate term?

6:30 – How management teams can create value through messaging

13:15 – How 5 year projections can cause value destruction

20:00 – What is Whit’s role in the financial ecosystem

22:20 – Whit’s background

29:08 – Whit takes some career risk in the late 90s

37:30 – What happened to Sloan’s client mix in 07-08

40:18 – Do CEOs know when bubbles are occurring or do they get just as caught up as the rest of us?  And, what traits make CEOs good at navigating bubbles?

50:30 – Which clients are good matches for Slone & Company

56:00 – How has social media influenced corporate communications?

1:06:00 – How has being exposed to CEOs rubbed off on Whit as a leader?

1:10:00 – Sloane & Company’s values

Jan 27, 202301:20:07
Will Thomson - Real Assets Are Like Hansel (So Hot Right Now)

Will Thomson - Real Assets Are Like Hansel (So Hot Right Now)

Will Thomson stops by The Business Brew to discuss his approach to real asset investing.  Will focuses on companies that happen to produce commodities and/or real assets.  That said, he is looking to exploit company/project specific opportunities rather than making commodity calls.  In this episode, he describes hi s process and explains how an investor could use publicly disclosed information to see a company's business plan (See: a 4301 document in Canada). 

Will is the Founder and Managing Partner of Massif Capital, LLC.

He has experience in private equity and credit/political risk insurance, in addition to having served as a strategic and economic adviser to NATO/ISAF in Afghanistan. Before starting Massif Capital, Will worked in the New York office of Chaucer, a Lloyd’s of London insurance syndicate, serving as the co-portfolio manager for a $750 million portfolio of credit and political risk insurance policies. He is a Graduate of Trinity College and holds a Masters in Government from Harvard University.

This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.

Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.

A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.

Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc. Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.

Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.


Detailed Show Notes:


5:00 - Will's take on oil


8:00 - What is the Lassonde Curve 


11:38 - How a filing can help an investor underwrite mining companies.


14:00 - How Will thinks of comparing his DCF to market prices 


15:00 - Will discusses how he thinks about investing

 

19:50 - How will thinks about placing commodity bets on equities


22:00 - The risk reward of majors vs minors in mining


27:50 - "Are you buying well or are you buying good things?"


31:00 - A discussion about Lithium Americas


36:10 - Don't fall in love with the assets


40:33 - The difference between processed commodities and depleting commodities and what it means for margins


45:14 - Some Inflation Reduction Act discussion


51:00 - Sometimes change creates opportunities in the things that don't change


1:05:00 - Chesterson's fence and then discussion

Jan 20, 202301:19:10
Thomas Ricketts, CFA - Investing in Innovation

Thomas Ricketts, CFA - Investing in Innovation

Thomas Ricketts, CFA, joins the pod to discuss his investment philosophy.  This episode focuses on an investment style that, according to Bill's perception, seeks to identify change and innovation before the market identifies it.  Bill was initially a little skeptical of doing an "innovation episode" given how the term has been used in the financial community.  However, after diligencing Tom, Bill felt comfortable having Tom on the pod.  This conversation adds value to The Business Brew library.  Thank you to Tom for joining the show!

This episode is sponsored by 
Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.
Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Tom's Bio
Thomas Ricketts, CFA, founder of Evolutionary Tree Capital Management (see https://evolutionarytree.com), serves as Chief Investment Officer, Portfolio Manager, and Research Analyst. Over his 27-year investment career, he developed significant expertise in portfolio management, investment research, and executive management. Prior to founding Evolutionary Tree, Mr. Ricketts was a Sr. Portfolio Manager on Sands Capital’s flagship Select Growth strategy, a $20+ billion concentrated strategy of high-quality, sustainable growth businesses. Mr. Ricketts was one of the longest-tenured investment professionals at Sands Capital. Over the years, he contributed to building and leading the research team and attracting and retaining a broad client base of institutional and high-net-worth clients.
Mr. Ricketts joined Sands Capital in 1994 as the Assistant to the President. He worked closely with founder Frank Sands, Sr. during the startup phase and early years of the firm, helping to grow the firm from less than $100 million in assets under management to approximately $40 billion in assets 22 years later. In 2008, Mr. Ricketts assumed the role of Sr. Portfolio Manager on the Sands US Large-Cap Growth strategy, working as a Co-PM to oversee the $20 billion strategy, and was a decision maker on that strategy for eight years. 

Detailed Show Notes

The paper Tom mentions can be found here.

5:00 - Background

13:00 - Valuation as part of the process

18:00 - 2022's biotech opportunity

20:50 - Maintenance vs. growth spend

29:20 - nCino as an example

34:00 - Why Salesforce has an incentive not to push too hard with Force.com

39:00 - Ingredients of a successful investment

52:20 - Avoiding hype

59:30 - Risk Reducers

1:13:50 - Why to exit before maturity

1:18:52 - Lessons from Frank Sands (bet best ideas, quality will out itself eventually, invest in solutions, think long term, look for long term growth in earnings power)


Jan 12, 202301:41:44
Henry Reardon - Asymmetric Contrarian

Henry Reardon - Asymmetric Contrarian

Henry Reardon, aka @integrity4mkts on Twitter, joins the podcast to discuss his investment philosophy. The conversation starts by discussing his Carvana short thesis then goes into his general investing philosophy. The conversation is a bit shorter than normal but packs a punch.

This episode is sponsored by 
Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.
Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Dec 29, 202252:60
Jake Taylor - Improve Your Decisions

Jake Taylor - Improve Your Decisions

Jake Taylor stops by The Business Brew to discuss his new product Journalytic.  Journalytic is a software designed to help investors improve their process and decision making.  Clear thinking and decision making has been a passion of Jake’s for a very long time.  Now, he is releasing the culmination of years of hard work to us, the public, FOR FREE.  You can sign up at https://journalytic.com/.
This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.ioStratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc.  A key differentiator is Stratosphere.io’s segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy.  Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.
Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial.  Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

Detailed Show Notes
4:30 – What is Journalytic
8:40 – What you need to get the most out of Journalytic
17:30 – Getting reps and calibrating
21:00 – How is Journalytic encrypted
26:00 – You can control process
29:00 – Why Jake wants feedback
38:30 – When you write you cannot rewrite what you were thinking
42:00 – Monitoring position sizing and whether it helps
46:30 – The End of The World is Just The Beginning
Chit Chat

Dec 22, 202201:22:05
John McClain - Opportunities in Credit

John McClain - Opportunities in Credit

John McClain, CFA stops by The Business Brew for a discussion about credit. John serves as a portfolio manager for the Brandywine Global’s High Yield and Corporate Credit Strategies. In this episode John makes the case for why high yield credit is a good bet after a bad year, discusses how corporate finance departments are more professional now (vs pre GFC), talks about companies adding value by buying back debt, and much more.  

Before joining Brandywine Global, John was a Senior Vice President - Credit at Standard Life Investments from 2010 to 2014. From 2007 to 2010, he was with Nationwide Mutual Insurance as a Management Associate in the Financial Leadership Rotation Program and then an Investment Analyst in Distressed Debt. John is a CFA charterholder and earned a Master of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and has a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics from University of Kentucky (magna cum laude).

BrandywineGlobal’s High Yield Fund has earned a 5 star rating from Morningstar. Morningstar gives the fund above average ratings for Process and People. In the words of Morningstar, “the strategy’s distinctive, value-oriented approach exploits price inefficiencies that often materialize across smaller high-yield issuers. It earns an Above Average Process rating…Comanagers Bill Zox and John McClain execute a disciplined value approach: They buy issues when their market prices are lower than the team's estimate of intrinsic business value and sell them when their initial thesis has played out or when there are better opportunities in the market.”

This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a web based terminal that has financial data, KPIs, links to filings, hedge fund letters, etc. Stratosphere.io provides clean data for segment data and KPIs, which are triple checked for accuracy. Stratosphere saves users time, enables easy comparisons between companies, and offers company specific metrics such as subscriber counts, numbers of locations, etc.

Head over to Stratosphere.io for a free trial. Should you want to sign up for a paid offering please use the promo code BREW for 15% off.

NOTE: Investing carries the risk of loss. Brandywine Global’s past performance is not indicative of future results.

Detailed Show Notes

5:32 – How to think about credit generally

7:18 – What is a bond shell?

8:13 – The case for active management with credit

11:55 – How liquidity creates a cost of capital advantage for some companies

13:00 – Why high yield is no longer “junk”

15:45 – Company finance departments are better run than they were pre GFC

20:00 - Borrowing against assets and how professional it has gotten

22:35 - What The Fed cares about

27:30 - How retiring debt can help EV

30:00 - Some of the best capital allocators are in high yield

33:55 - How companies can manage our deleveraging cycle

34:50 - Why high yield hasn’t had back to back down years

38:00 - How the improvement in energy has benefitted high yield

41:45 - How Brandywine manages the quality of portfolio companies.

45:00 - How 2020/2021’s tech darlings can take advantage of today’s debt markets

46:30 - John’s take on private credit

49:30 - How tech could hurt private credit returns

54:30 - Long CEOs/short politicians

58:30 - How Brandywine manages their liquidity while running a open end fund

1:01:17 - How ETF transparency can create opportunities

1:03:00 - What type of investor is right for high yield

1:11:00 - How transparency can hurt liquidity

1:15:00 - Illiquidity and what it’s doing to the market

Dec 15, 202201:17:46
Bob Robotti - Searching For Improving Industries

Bob Robotti - Searching For Improving Industries

Bob stops by The Business Brew to discuss his early career, what he has learned over his career, investing in cyclical businesses/industries, and his biggest investment "loser."  This conversation is filled with good lessons and we hope you enjoy.

Robert Robotti is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Robotti & Company. Prior to forming Robotti & Company, Incorporated in 1983, Bob was a vice president and shareholder of Gabelli & Company, Inc. He worked in public accounting before coming to Wall Street and is currently an inactive CPA. Bob holds a BS from Bucknell University and an MBA in Accounting from Pace University. Some of Bob's areas of coverage include Special Situations, Energy Industry and Home Building. Bob is the principal of the managing member or general partner of several investment vehicles.

Bob currently serves on the Board of Directors of a NYSE-listed real estate company, AMREP Corporation, located in Germantown, PA; as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pulse Seismic Inc., a seismic data licensing business located in Calgary, Alberta; as an Independent Director of PrairieSky Royalty, a Toronto Stock Exchange listed company located in Calgary, Alberta, having one of the largest portfolios of sub-surface mineral rights in western Canada; as a recently elected Director of NYSE-listed Tidewater, Inc. which owns and operates one of the largest fleets of OSVs (Offshore Support Vessels) in the industry; and was previously on the Board of Directors of BMC Building Materials Holding Corporation, prior to the completion of its merger with Stock Building Supply Holdings, Inc. on December 1, 2015; and Bob had served on the Board of Panhandle Oil & Gas Company, a NYSE-listed diversified mineral company located in Oklahoma City through May 1, 2020.

In addition, he serves on the Boards of many non-profit organizations where he generously donates his time and expertise. Previously, Bob was a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies, established to examine the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other aspects of the federal securities law.

This episode is sponsored by Stratosphere.io.  Stratosphere.io is a fantastic web based research terminal for company specific metrics like KPIs and segment revenues.  Head over to Stratosphere.io to try the product for free OR use the promo code BREW for 15% off Stratosphere's premium product.

Detailed Show Notes Below:

3:20 - Bob’s early career

6:35 - How Bob ended up as CFO of Gabelli and Company

10:25 - Bob’s evolution as an investor

14:25 - How tough times create better businesses and Builder’s FirstSource discussion

18:20 - Holding equities and Bob’s biggest loser

29:50 - Why earnings drive liquidity

31:20 - How Bob implements his takeaways from his biggest loser

33:20 - Why Bob got excited about the Revenge of the Old Economy in 2020

35:20 - The case for Olin Corp

43:50 - How Bob’s “margin of safety” comes from his portfolio company’s asset bases

45:50 - Bob’s energy outlook; this is an around the world oil discussion that lasts ~11 minutes

1:02:20 - Why reshoring makes sense

1:04:30 - Did Volker really succeed?

1:05:20 - Why China is no longer deflationary

1:09:20 - The nuance of selling

1:11:20 - The potential perils of linear thinking

Dec 08, 202201:14:54
Cullen Roche - Why Macro Matters

Cullen Roche - Why Macro Matters

Cullen Roche is the Founder of Discipline Funds. Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory and asset management firm. Prior to establishing his own business, Mr. Roche founded his own investment partnership in 2005 after working at Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management where he helped oversee $500MM+ in assets under management. During the the 7 years running the partnership he was able to guide the small business to high risk adjusted returns with no negative full year returns during one of the most turbulent periods in stock market history.

Mr. Roche's primary areas of expertise include global macro portfolio construction, quantitative risk management, behavioral finance and monetary theory.

He is regularly cited in the Wall Street Journal, on CNBC and in the Financial Times. Mr. Roche is a Georgetown University alumnus, growing up in the DC area and now living in San Diego, California with his fiancée Erica and their problem child, Cal, an Australian Shepherd.

You can find Cullen's bio here: 
https://www.pragcap.com/meet-cullen-roche/

Detailed Show Notes:

1:34 - The fully loaded cost of housing


4:23 - Japanese real estate and what it may mean for real estate in the US

5:54 - Housing as a central component not just to the economy, but to everyone’s balance sheet

8:16 - Housing in other countries whose Central Banks are more aggressive

16:32 - How consumers act in the beginning of economic slowdowns

17:43 - The Fed is worryied about the short term inflation rate

20:41 - The likelihood or more fiscal stimulus in a big downturn

23:08 - How banking operates in panics

32:33 - How Quantitative Easing works

47:36 - The Buffett approach in investing

52:40 - Focusing on investor behavior

54:07 - The inter-temporal (mismatched time horizons) conundrum

1:02:39 - Behavioral problems in a 60/40 portfolio

1:06:17 - Thoughts on diversification

1:15:20 - The biggest benefit of understanding macro finance

Nov 24, 202201:21:33
Craig Moffett - A True Expert

Craig Moffett - A True Expert

Craig Moffett has covered the telecommunications industry – first as a management consultant and later as a Wall Street analyst – for more than thirty years. He has been elected to Institutional Investor Magazine’s All-American Research Team in the U.S. Telecom and/or Cable & Satellite sectors on seventeen separate occasions, including nine separate appearances as the #1 analyst in America in either U.S. Telecom and/or Cable & Satellite.

Prior to founding MoffettNathanson, Mr. Moffett spent more than ten years at Sanford Bernstein & Co., LLC as a senior research analyst. He was previously the President and founder of the e-commerce business at Sotheby’s Holdings, the venerable auction house, where, in 1999, he led
Sothebys.com to what was then the highest first year sales of any consumer website ever launched. Mr. Moffett spent more than eleven years at The Boston Consulting Group, where he was a Partner and Vice President specializing in telecommunications. He was the leader of BCG’s global Telecommunications practice from 1996 to 1999. While at BCG, he led client initiatives in the U.S. local, long distance, and wireless sectors, in both consumer and commercial services, and advised companies outside the U.S. in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Mr. Moffett graduated from Harvard Business School with Honors in 1989. He received a BA from Brown University, where he was magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in 1984.

Detailed Show Notes -

5:41 - Why Silicon Valley Bank is a good fit for MoffettNathanson

6:50 - Why telecom is a hard business

7:40 - The history of US telecom

10:10 - How cable incubated an industry under AT&T/telecom's business

15:52 - How does cable compete with fiber going forward?

17:47 - High splits, node splits, who gives a split?

22:50 - Cable strategy and why high splits are the current strategy

29:09 - Wireless vs. broadband going forward

35:00 - The physics of wireless

46:00 - Verizon's big strategic decision was correct but implementation left something lacking

51:10 - Cable's wireless offering and how it fits into the competitive set

58:44 - What does broadband's growth runway look like?

1:03:45 - How do fiber overbuilders factor into the future?

1:08:00 - The fiber bubble will burst.  Then some Altice discussion.

Nov 16, 202201:17:01