There is a short-focused online publication called StreetSweeper. I subscribe to its RSS feed, and in the past I’ve liked some of the work it has published. I have short-sold shares of companies brought to my attention by StreetSweeper articles. Unfortunately, yesterday StreetSweeper put out a very negative piece on GTT Communications (f/k/a GTLT) that … Read more →

I was recently interviewed by the investing website SumZero.com. If you enjoy this blog, you might enjoy the interview as well. On a separate note, I hope to begin writing here more frequently in the coming months. I’m not ready to promise anything, but I’ve made a few investments lately that I want to give the … Read more →

In the investment world you end up meeting a lot of management teams. On roadshows, at conferences, in 1-on-1 meetings, in hotel lobbies, etc. Over time it is only natural to notice patterns and similarities in their personalities and methods. In my experience the CEOs I meet tend to fall into the following groups:   … Read more →

I was going to title this post The Secret to Investing but I thought that would be cavalier. On a serious note though, this is the secret to investing: Only make great investments You are probably cursing me now. Rightfully so. My advice is patently moronic, akin to proclaiming that if you want to be … Read more →

Everybody knows insider buying has positive signaling properties. Executives own gobs of their companies’ stock through options grants, so just about the only reason for an executive to use after-tax salary dollars to buy even more company stock is because he or she believes the stock will go up. The executive could think this for … Read more →

Neither is heard, apparently. I say this because last week Glentel reported a third quarter profit that far surpassed any reasonable expectation, and yet the stock has barely budged. Glentel’s Canadian business, suffering under a recent regulatory change that caused many Canadian consumers to delay handset purchases and upgrades, generated EBITDA that was 55% greater … Read more →

Normalized Earnings I think we can finally start putting it all together and see where we come out. Here are my estimates, in broad strokes, for the next 2.5 years: The red numbers are hard inputs by me; everything else is either a formula or historical fact. The final figures differ very slightly from some … Read more →

Like most mobile markets, Australia’s is an oligopoly: Telstra sells its phones exclusively through stores that it operates itself. Historically, the other carriers have sold their phones partially through resellers, with Allphones being Australia’s largest such reseller. In 2013, however, Optus (which owns both the Optus and Virgin Mobile brands) elected to pull its phones … Read more →

The Canadian cell phone market is an oligopoly, with Rogers (34% market share), Bell (28.5% market share), and Telus (28.5%) together controlling 91% of the Canadian wireless market. In Canada the average monthly cell/data bill (“ARPU”) is around $58, which is amongst the highest in the world. Canadian regulators are unhappy about this situation. Recently … Read more →

The table below provides a high-level overview of Glentel’s four segments. The figures for the Canadian segment show store-level economics prior to the changed Canadian wireless laws and also prior to the opening of the 127 Target stores.  This table shows the basic financials for these segments. The final metric, EBITDA per store, is the … Read more →