value and opportunity

When I saw the GM & Nikola announcement my first though was: This looks like Theranos and Walgreen back in 2016. Hindenburg Research is of the very same opinion: Nikola is a fraud. And yes, that’s what SPAC’s are really good for…

Great stuff: Bessemer Ventures has posted some of their internal investment memos including Wix (2007) and Shopify (2010)

The Brooklyn investor has a first look at Warren Buffett’s Japanese stock basket

Preis and Wert blog has a great write up on JDC Group (in German, the other parts of the insurance broker series are highly recommended, too)

Very interesting feature on Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix

Great deep dive on Uber’s business model

A good reminder: Even the best companies see deep draw downs in their stock prices at one point

 

Even Seth Klarman’s Baupost seems to have lost it with investors

Must read: Dan McCrum summarizes the Wirecard story (so far) in the FT including many new interesting details

FT Alphaville thinks that ESG darling Tomra is wildly overvalued

The event industry is having its “Napster moment”

According to rumors, Softbank has been buying Tech stock options like crazy

Good advice: Save like a pessimist, invest like an optimist

Fred Wilson from AVC has some interesting thoughts on SPACs

Prof. Damodaran with a comprehensive market update

Softbank backed Finance company Greensill is part of some “interesting” financing shenanigans structures

The UK Value Investor with a nice write up on Jupiter Asset Management

“Uncle Warren” Buffett has significantly reshuffled his bank holdings

An interesting article on how Apple tries to force Apps/Companies to enable in-app purchases in order to get their 30% cut

A great inside story on stock trading app Robinhood

FTAlphaville on why stock splits can actually matter

 

Broyhill likes Emerging Market Airports as counter cyclical investments

Good to remember: Stock splits are only “paper shuffling” 

Fortnite maker Epic (owned by Tencent) is suing Apple and Google on app store monopoly

Great post on the almost forgotten bicycle stock bubble of the late 1890s

David Einhorn still seems to be long stuff that goes down and short stocks that go up 

Half Year letter TGV Intrinsic (Mercado Libre, FEMSA)

IAC reveals a 12% stake in MGM Resorts International and explains why

 

Fellow blogger Wexboy with his 6M portfolio review

Overstock looks like a good candidate to short

Must read: The LT3000 blog on structural market inefficiencies (and Hongkong Land)

The unbelievablee Government assisted “pump” of the Kodak share 

Unlike other multinational chains, Starbucks is really struggling through the pandemic

Nice write up on Vertiv from GreenWood

“Next generation Buffett wannabe”Sardar Biglari has seen better times

 

RV Capital’s half year letter (New position: Prosus)

A deep dive into the structural fraud culture of Chinese Companies

A more positive take on SPACs from a VC perspective

And a more negative opinion on SPACs from a value investor perspective

And finally a deep dive into Bill Ackman’s recent 4 bn “super SPAC”

Fantastic story about a “Stock market oracle toad” during the 80s Japanese Stock frenzy

Good write-up on UK based Headlam as a potential counter cyclical opportunity

Must read: Morgan Housel trying to make sense of today’s world via five stories

Rob Vinall’s take on Wirecard

Some smart thoughts if and what type of “value investing” might work in the future

TGV Partners 6M 2020 report (DCC, TGS Nopec & others)

TGV Rubicon Stockpicker 6M 2020 report

Very good write-up/update on UK ad company System1

Interesting Freudian approach trying to explain the adversity of Americans to face masks

 

Interesting interview (Video) with Barry Diller (Expedia, Match.com etc..) on Covid-19 impacts

Undervalued Shares with a nice intro to Poland and its stock market

Great story on the current status of the financial system

The stock market as a gigantic carry trade

Good background article on the new breed of “David Portnoy” like retail speculators

FtAlphaville is sceptical about current SaaS company valuations (me Too…)

Some surprisingly positive facts on Japan (Video)

A great interview with Marc Andreessen on how to schedule workdays and other stuff

The inspiring story of how coach Juergen Klopp transformed the Liverpool FC

Highly recommended: The UK Value Investor with a very nice post on how to calculate and judge the quality of growth of a company

Activist hedge funds are increasingly targeting companies that try to do “greenwashing”

Very interesting story on Joe Granville, the “original” David Portnoy like “stock market entertainer”

Volatility strategies have really been killed during the Covid-19 crisis

And finally a Wirecard link: Dan McCrumm tells his story (and don’t worry, there will be a Wirecard follow up post soon):