Musings
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Decrypting the Exit: Nubeva’s Patent Play
Back in February, I wrote about Nubeva’s painful pivot — a company that shed its TLS assets, downsized operations, and narrowed focus almost entirely to ransomware decryption. It seemed a survival move that came at the cost of scale, revenue, and investor confidence. Eight months later, Nubeva looks like a company quietly preparing to be… Continue reading
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Autumn Leaves
At its core, my strategy – The DTM5 – is about building and managing a concentrated portfolio — a handful of positions where each earns its place on Merit, Asymmetry, Timing and Price. Autumn is upon us and I thought I’d make a fast comment on what I have in the strategy and what things… Continue reading
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The Unshakeable Mind
On a misty morning on Ganryu Island, Japan’s most famous swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, was late. This was no ordinary appointment; it was a duel to the death against the esteemed Samurai Sasaki Kojiro. When Musashi finally arrived, unkempt and armed with a crude wooden oar he had carved on the boat ride over, he wasn’t… Continue reading
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Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire?
I’m always looking for connections. How things connect, if they connect, why they connect. During a recent night out, an old friend commented on Canadian Tire’s recently announced transformation strategy. And I started to ask a few questions. How big is Canadian Tire relative to their closest competitors? How is the share price performing? What… Continue reading
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Northstar Gaming ~ A Good BET?
In his famous paper, ‘Investing in the unknown and unknowable’, Richard Zeckhauser opens by telling the famous story of David Ricardo made his fortune: David Ricardo made a fortune buying bonds from the British government four days in advance of the Battle of Waterloo. He was not a military analyst, and even if he were,… Continue reading
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The Way Of No Way
Set patterns, incapable of adaptability, of pliability, only offer a better cage. Truth is outside of all patterns ~ Bruce Lee Bruce Lee was a martial artist, actor, philosopher, and the founder of a martial art style he named ‘Jeet Kune Do’. JKD was a hybridization of Bruce’s various martial, philosophical and athletic learnings, captured in the book… Continue reading
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What’s Next?
In a recent advisory board meeting, I took an assessment called the ‘six types of working genius,’ developed by Patrick M. Lencioni. This tool helps individuals and teams better understand their strengths and frustrations. For each person, it categorizes the six types of ‘genius’ into 3 areas – What they love doing in (working genius), … Continue reading
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All Who Wander Are Not Lost…..
I like to wander. I find interest in many things. I like my brain to be stimulated. I like to dive deep into things, but only after a thorough ‘circling of the field’ to make sure it will be a good, enjoyable or profitable use of my time. Continue reading
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Gaining Situational Awareness
I’m always looking at ways of improving my investing outcomes. I like to try to use different mindsets and mental processes, from outside the investing world, to keep me fresh and competent. Recently, I’ve been thinking about the way I approach research / due diligence. I’m finding the concept of ‘situational awareness’ very useful, in… Continue reading
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Thoughts on Nubeva Technologies
Nubeva Technologies (TSXV – NBVA) has the potential to be a great company. Its success will be based on the commercialization of it’s technology – A patented, novel software that intercepts and reverses ransomeware. Continue reading
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DTM5 Holdings Update and Commentary
The summer is almost gone, and it has been a heck of a year so far. Most of my holdings have been beaten down along with everything else. I’ve made some serious adjustments since the start of the year. As I commented on my ‘Results & Asset Allocation’ page as of Dec 31, 2021, for… Continue reading
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Recessions & Deflation
It is pretty clear, but not an absolute certainty, that a recession is imminent (if not upon us already). But deflation is something like a distant blip on the radar, or growl in the dark forest. Not many people are concerned with it. Yet. Both have implications for the DTM5 strategy. Readers of my blog… Continue reading
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Mid Week Musings
I’ve been deep into studying the economic environment. Inflation, war, Increasing interest rates, fiscal tightening, commodity madness, energy price shocks and real estate bubbles…..what a time to be an investor! Podcasts, blogs, interviews, conferences…..I’m deep down the rabbit hole. It is pretty clear that we are at a major economic and market inflection point (Duh!).… Continue reading
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Time For Some Timing
The financial industry is built upon separating you from your money and charging you a fee. It is in their interest to get that money invested, irrespective of the timing. Be careful. Timing DOES matter and improving it – making good, intelligent decisions about when to deploy / extract your hard earned capital into volatile… Continue reading
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The Winds of Change
We’ve all been living on a one way street for most of our adult lives. The power of declining rates and demographics have been a powerful winds at our backs. But the winds of change are blowing. Continue reading
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Optimistic Musings on the DTM5 Holdings
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so” Noam Chomsky Continue reading
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Screening for Prospects
Every month or so I go on what I call a ‘scouting mission’. I spend an afternoon running stock filters, reading through Sedar documents, perusing company websites, and researching company management using tools such as Google, linkedin, Sedi, etc. This past Sunday I was rooting around an old favorite stock screener available on the Globe… Continue reading
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Never Tell Me The Odds. The Han Solo Investing Philosophy
If there is one thing that differentiates the massively successful from the average, it is how they understand risk. The odds. How they calculate it. Or more importantly, how they don’t. Continue reading
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Getting Lucky With LUCK
When I look at Real Luck Group (TSX – LUCK) I think of baccarat. The odds might be slightly negative, but it looks like a fun place to make a bet. Continue reading
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Tightening, Omicron & Inflation
I’m not a market predictor. In fact, 80% of the time my holdings act independently of the market. But guess what? My holdings have suddenly have moved into lock step with Mr. Market as risk appetite dries up. That is telling me something. Read more on my Blog. Continue reading
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Saturday Musings ~ The Metaverse, eGaming, Cyber Security
The really fun part of investing is that is is a non-stop learning experience, a door opener to the world. Continue reading
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Double Dipping with QCCU
On Friday, QCCU – Quebec Copper and Gold was halted pending a news release which is almost certain to be their maiden resource estimate. It’s an exciting moment in the company’s development – the formal estimation of the size of QCCU’s resource base. I have been an investor in QCCU twice – First, building a… Continue reading
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Friday Musings….Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Seeing red on your screen is a normal and acceptable outcome of making excellent investments. You cannot control the markets, you cannot control what happens after you press the ‘buy’ button. If you’ve done good work in coming to your conclusions, let it play out. Continue reading
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My Journey With Sprott Inc.
Have you ever noticed that the longer you follow an investment, and the more familiar with it you become, the more you have a desire to own it – because you kind of understand its performance characteristics, how it operates, etc? Even though you know there are potentially more exciting options out there, you stick… Continue reading
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Mid Week Musings
Don’t believe the naysayers. Investing can be fun. One of the pleasures of being an investor in interesting things, is that there is always something to learn. As such, I’m always scanning my investment watchlist for developments, and surveying the sectors in which they exist. Even with only a few holdings, and a modest watch… Continue reading