SumZero Headlines

In this week's episode, SumZero sits down with the CEO of Sandstorm Gold Royalties, Nolan Watson, and the Founder and Portfolio Manager of White Falcon Capital Management to talk about the Gold Royalties business, the investment case for SAND, and much more. Find more at www.sumzero.com 0:00 Introduction and Disclaimer 7:45 Stream vs. Royalty business models 14:34 How does Sandstorm construct its portfolio and evaluate projects? 19:22 Sandstorm's Deal history 34:00 How the price of Gold factors into Sandstorm 43:48 Sandstorm's discount to peers #smallcap #investment #midcapstocks #finance #stocks #stockmarket #gold #business #personalfinance

SumZero had the opportunity to sit down with David Bastian and Michael Cooper, co-founders of Kingdom Capital Advisors. KCA's#investment strategy is designed to provide investors access to their actively-managed portfolio of #smallcap and #microcap #equities. KCA concentrates its portfolio in a limited number of high-conviction value investments. For more in-depth research and analysis, join us on SumZero today. https://sumzero.com/apply#valueinvesting #smallcap #microcap #midcapstocks

SumZero had the opportunity to sit down with Christopher Godfrey, founder and managing partner of Headwaters Capital Management. HCM's #investment strategy is designed to deliver tax-efficient, long-term capital appreciation by focusing on high quality small and mid-capitalization #stocks that have the opportunity to generate durable revenue and earnings growth over a multi-year time period. For more in-depth research and analysis, join us on SumZero today. https://sumzero.com/apply#valueinvesting #smallcap #midcapstocks

00:46: Jan looks back on his ERII thesis 2:38: ERII revenue growth 5:07: Intro to Biovica 7:47: Biomarker test for cancer detection – it's importance and accuracy 9:51: Biovica Sales strategy 11:49: Biovica background and basics 13:05: Biovica potential 15:17: Discussion around any plans for fundraising 18:02: Vicore Pharma – background and opportunity 21:05: Best market comp / peer 22:15: Catalyst for Vicore 24:08: Jan on position sizing in his book 24:58: Risks to Biovica and Vicore opportunities

In this discussion, SumZero has the opportunity to sit down with Rajeev Agrawal, Fund Manager and Managing Partner of DoorDarshi India Fund. Rajeev chats through the broader opportunity in India and then breaks down his thoughts on two opportunities – Ujjivan Financial and CSB Bank.

Timestamps: 5:54: India Macro 7:30: Finding good management 8:33: Rajeev's advantage of investing in India, living in the US 9:14: CSB Bank background 11:43: Rajeev's anecdote re: Fairfax Financial meeting 12:15: Rajeev digs into the CSB thesis 16:20: Discussion around % of people with bank accounts in India 19:24: CSB Bank competitive landscape 21:35: CSB valuation 23:39: Affect of interest rates changes in India on CSB 27:52: Catalysts for CSB 31:09: Intro to Ujjivan thesis 32:52: Reverse merger with Ujjivan 36:13: Background on Ujjivan 38:27: Ujjivan loan book 42:22: Ujjivan and CSB Bank vs. larger cap names

In this interview, long-time short seller Ben Axler of Spruce Point outlines his thesis on $PERI.

Adam Wilk, CIO and Founder of Greystone Capital Management breaks down his investment thesis on one of his newest positions, Sylogist.

Chris McIntyre, CIO and Founder of McIntyre Partnerships – a small and mid cap focused value fund – walks through his theses on OneSpaWorld ($OSW) and Sphere Entertainment ($SPHR) and why he sees very asymmetric risk reward profiles on both investments.

In a wide ranging discussion with legendary value investor Mohnish Pabrai, we hear about his investments in Reysas, Brookfield, his thoughts on position sizing and concentration as well as Big Tech and how ChatGPT (and others) might disrupt the space. For more access to investment discussions and actionable investment research, join the SumZero investment community by starting your free trial today – www.sumzero.com/apply

Jeffrey Edell, former chairman of Myspace, is the CEO of MeWe, a social platform with over 20 million users worldwide. MeWe is in the process of transitioning to a decentralized model built on Polkadot and will soon be the world's largest social platform built on the blockchain. Rabia Iqbal is the founder of Nural Capital, a crypto-focused fund of funds. Her firm invested in the seed round of Aptos, a layer 1 blockchain which spun off of Meta blockchain team. She talks about trends she's seeing in Defi and other opportunities emerging post FTX collapse.

In this fascinating conversation, we learn from Roli Saxena, Founder of Drona Capital, how she finds companies that she can invest in and hold ... forever.

Drona Capital is a long-only equity fund, seeking to invest in high-quality businesses available at a discount to their intrinsic value. Investment decisions are based on the company's historical financial and operational performance and its sustained and defensible competitive advantage over a long period of time, often exceeding decades. A high emphasis is given to active avoidance of risk. A concentrated portfolio of

Balkar Sivia is the founder of White Falcon Capital Management. The fund's mission is to compound capital on a risk adjusted basis with a value investing philosophy drawing inspiration from the teachings of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. In this interview, Balkar discusses his zero management fee structure and goes in depth on Diversey Holdings, Ltd. (DSEY) and EPAM Systems, Inc. (EPAM). For more access to investment discussions and actionable investment research, join the SumZero investment community by starting your free trial today – www.sumzero.com/apply

*Originally recorded February 2023

In a wide ranging discussion with legendary value investor Guy Spier, we hear about his biggest mistake, why he is fascinated by rating agencies, his positions in India Energy Exchange and Care Ratings and his current thoughts on Credit Suisse. For more access to investment discussions and actionable investment research, join the SumZero investment community by starting your free trial today – www.sumzero.com/apply

*Initially recorded February 2023

SumZero recently sat down with Hugh Dyus of Navis Jockey fund to follow up on our conversation with him regarding investments in China from 7 months back.

Mr. Dyus is a Partner of Navis focused on listed equity investment and fund management activities. He is the Portfolio Manager and an Investment Committee member for Navis’ listed equity funds. He joined Navis in 2015 to establish a new investment strategy focused on investing in Asian private equity backed companies through the listed equity markets.

Prior to joining Navis, Mr. Dyus was Head of Asia at Macquarie Investment Management for their private equity fund, co-investment and secondary investment activities. He has also worked across the Asia Pacific region as a private equity investment professional and as a M&A investment banker.

This week, we are joined by Andy Woltman and Chip Hodgkins, co-founders of Statera Capital, to discuss their private approach to commercial litigation finance. As previously covered on SumZero Headlines, litigation finance is a mature industry in Western Europe and Australia and growing rapidly in the US. With only 25% penetration in the US and over $10B raised over the last five years, litigation finance has produced outsize returns for the small cadre of funds currently involved. Statera Capital invests directly in small to mid-size commercial claims, providing working capital and access to justice for litigants who need it most. 

Ben Griffith of Miri Capital Management covers names you have probably never heard of in regions most investors shy away from. Over years of refining his strategy, Griffith has developed his own brand of friendly activist investing for emerging markets like Turkey, Bangladesh, Poland, and Vietnam to name a few. Where most investors see deficiencies, Griffith sees opportunities to correct international perception, craft a marketing narrative (often for the first time), refine the business model, and integrate ESG standards with his portfolio companies. In this week's episode, Griffith joins us to discuss his EM strategy, the reasons value becomes obfuscated outside of developed markets, and several case studies. 

This week, we are excited to share a conversation with Warren Fisher, Founder/PM of Manole Capital Management on the digital payment tools and digital asset exchanges reshaping the commerce and banking landscapes. Contactless payment, online shopping, and buy-now-pay-later are all fintech concepts that exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic with no signs of slowing down. Payment providers like Venmo and merchant acquirers like Square are consistently stealing market share from traditional banks, who will have to adapt to stay relevant. In this episode, we also touch on the growth of cryptocurrencies and exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken. 

This week, we sat down with Eric Gregg, founder/PM of Four Tree Island Advisory to get into the nuts and bolts of semiconductors and wafer fabrication equipment (WFE). Although WFE is less followed and certainly less research, Gregg encourages active investors to pay attention to these underlying semi components and their manufacturers. Increased computation, memory, and storage needs in every industry from automotive to telecommunications to military technology will mean increased demand for semiconductors. WFE is the number one capital expenditure for all major chipmakers and the WFE industry is largely US-centric. Wafers are a critical piece of the semiconductor supply chain, which according to Gregg has become as nationally important as oil. Please find Gregg's original research on Applied Materials and Lam Research on SumZero and the Four Tree Island Advisory profile on our Cap Intro platform.

This week, we sat down with Scott Preston, founder and CEO of Maven Group LLC, to dissect the GameStop saga and provide the fundamentally-driven narrative not being covered by major media outlets. According to Preston, who has held GME intermittently over the past decade, GameStop is a sound business with several growth opportunities and innovative leadership. In the last several years, management has moved to reshape the business model and consumer experience for modern day gaming. GameStop is no longer reliant on console cycles but actively expanding into eSports, direct-to-consumer marketing, social gaming, and rewards programs that promise substantial runway for recapitalization. The retail investor phenomenon and associated press have certainly helped raise GME's profile but they have not changed the fundamental value drivers that investors like Preston observe.

This week, we are pleased to share a conversation on the uranium opportunity with SumZero's #2 Energy Analyst, Will Thomson. Prior to founding Massif Capital in 2016, Thomson worked as a strategic adviser for NATO in Afghanistan and earned his Masters in Government from Harvard. In today's conversation, we discuss the political, environmental, and economic considerations in the nuclear debate and what role uranium should play in global efforts towards decarbonization. Thomson also shares key insights on the short-term effects of COVID-19 on uranium supply and Kazatomprom, his firm's core holding in the space.

This week, SumZero is excited to offer our very first corporate access event featuring Ken Londoner, CEO of BioSig Technologies (NASDAQ: BSGM). Londoner is a former buyside investor and entrepreneur, who founded BioSig in 2009 after years of analyzing early-stage growth companies in the medtech space. BioSig has patented its core product, Pure EP™ which provides bioelectronic signal processing technology to hospitals and innovation centers in their treatment of arrythmia. Londoner sheds light on the $5B electrophysiology market, BioSig's strategic partnership with the Mayo Clinic, and the far-reaching software applications for Pure EP™ beyond cardiac ablation. 

Last week, we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of Bitcoin with crypto funds, Permian Capital Management and WealthMark LLC.  Josh Kernan and Ian Del Balso of Permian Capital introduce several other digital assets & technologies including Basic Attention Token (BAT) and the Brave browser, which sits atop the Ethereum blockchain. With over 10M monthly active users, Brave experienced a 19% surge in usership between October and November '19. Next, Ben Esget of WealthMark walks us through the "stock to flow" valuation framework for Bitcoin, citing increasingly low interest rates and the Bitcoin halving process as growth catalysts.

Peter Galgay, CIO of Amitell Capital, joins us to take up the other side of the ongoing Burford Capital debate. Galgay and his team have spent years researching litigation finance as an asset class and are invested in a close competitor, IMF Bentham. Galgay draws comparisons between IMF and Burford and outlines investors' discomfort with Burford accounting methods among other insights.