Scouting Reports
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The Trojan Horse in Canaccord’s Business Strategy
Today, Canaccord is a significantly larger and better company than in 2023 when management attempted to take it private in 2023 with a low ball offer Continue reading
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Scouting Brilaroxazine
I love basketball. One of my favorite pastimes is looking at college players’ statistics and attributes and trying to project whether they can make the jump to the NBA. Making that projection is both an art and a science. There are measurable facts — points, rebounds, shooting percentage, height, wingspan and speed — and then… Continue reading
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A Monster In The Deep
I’m in deep. As an investor in Reviva Pharmaceuticals (OTC: RVPH), I follow the company and its scientific progress very closely. So imagine my surprise when my research on Reviva’s patents stirred up something I consider very important — something that, as far as I can tell, hasn’t yet been meaningfully discussed or analyzed. There is a… Continue reading
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Maplight Therapeutics – Engineering Probability in CNS Drug Development
CNS drug development is often viewed in terms of binary outcomes. In actuality, they also are probabilistic, and those probabilities can be influenced by design. The distinction between a typical Phase 2 program and a ‘better engineered’ one is often subtle, but it matters. MapLight Therapeutics – which trades as MPLT on Nasdaq – appears to have built… Continue reading
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Boostrun and Investing in the Unknown and Unknowable
Richard Zeckhauser’s essay Investing in the Unknown and Unknowable (U&U) explores how exceptional returns can be achieved in situations where both outcomes and their probabilities are unknowable—by applying strategic reasoning, recognizing asymmetries, and leveraging complementary skills. Most investors prefer scenarios where probabilities can be assigned, models can be built, and ranges can be bounded. Zeckhauser… Continue reading
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Unlocking IRR: Playtech’s Strategic Impact on NorthStar Gaming
When businesses make investments in other businesses, a key metric they consider is Internal Rate of Return. In simple terms, the IRR represents the expected total compounded annual returns on an investment, and a higher IRR indicates a more profitable investment. Hence, if the IRR of a project exceeds the opportunity cost of capital, it… Continue reading
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A Horse With No Name
In early 2023, Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (TSX: CF) became the subject of a management-led proposal to take the company private. At the time, from this author’s perspective, the bid felt opportunistic and somewhat ham-fisted — arriving in the midst of a capital markets downturn when CF’s valuation was depressed, and offering a modest premium… 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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Nubeva: Pioneering Ransomware Decryption Solutions
Nubeva Technologies is an early-stage cybersecurity company based in San Jose, California. Nubeva is developing a novel, breakthrough end-point ransomware decryption solution that enables the interception and complete reversal of ransomware infections. The benefit and economics of Nubeva’s solution are compelling. Their software is an inexpensive, lightweight and scalable endpoint technology. By quickly intercepting,… 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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Achieve Life Sciences, Asymmetry and Position Size
I’m building a position in Achieve Life Sciences (ACHV-NASDAQ). It is a simple thesis. They have a drug candidate, Cytisinicline, in final P3 confirmatory testing for smoking cessation. They’ve also begun P2 testing on the drug for Vaping cessation. Results from Initial P3 testing for smoking cessation are excellent. The drug demonstrated a high degree… Continue reading
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Improving Outcomes With Reviva Pharmaceuticals
I’ve been scouting for prospects. While doing research on a different pharmaceutical company, I discovered Reviva Pharmaceuticals (RVPH: NASDAQ). From the Reviva website: Reviva is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and seeks to commercialize next-generation therapeutics for diseases representing significant unmet medical needs and burden to society, patients, and their families.” Of particular interest… 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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Unlocking Plurilock
The Canadian Microcap market is full of many interesting, earlier stage companies with novel technologies they are trying to commercialize. Robotics, Software, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Technology….the list goes on. They all have one thing in common – A great story. The art and science of investing in this space is to identify which stories have a… Continue reading
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Nubeva and the DTM5 Equation
Nubeva has developed novel software technology that dramatically improves encryption / decryption processes, and have expanded it into ransomware reversal and decryption. 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
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Ether Capital – Scouting Report
There aren’t many businesses whose shares are truly backed 1:1 by the currency of one of the world’s leading emergent technological platforms. And who have multiple potential streams of revenue from staking, consulting, and other engagements coming on line. Continue reading
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Sunday Small Cap Comment – Skylight Health Group
I spent some time this weekend digging into Skylight Health Group (TSX: SHG) Skylight Health is an interesting company. Based in Canada, it is an early stage consolidator of US primary care medical practices. Its business model is to acquire individual and regional primary care medical practices at a private company valuation (3-7x EBIT), get… Continue reading
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RF Capital Group – Scouting Report
Did you watch the Battlestar Galactica Reboot a few years back? It was some really good science fiction. Vipers, Cylons, Starbuck, and of course the Battlestar Galactica….An analog ship in a digital world. Its lack of being internally and externally networked to the colonial fleet saved it during the initial Cylon assault, and launches the… Continue reading
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Bear hunting with QC Copper and Gold
Investors dream of making an investment that goes up in value 10x or more. Some call it a unicorn. I call it a bear. And bear hunting is what the DTM5 does. I know what you’re thinking. It isn’t rational or intelligent to think that this is possible. DTM, I thought you were a serious… Continue reading
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Harvest Blockchain Technologies ETF – Creating an ETF On-Ramp For Investors
I noted in a previous post that finding ways to invest in the rapidly growing Blockchain / DeFi ecosphere is tough. It is early days in an emerging sector that has a ton of opportunity. But most participants aren’t easily understood, profitable or transparent by way of available research. At the top end of the… Continue reading
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Galaxy Digital Holdings in the DTM5
I admit it. I’m a sucker for an asset management company. Maybe it was my time in the 90s working as an advisor at a firm that was repeatedly acquired for what seemed ridiculous amounts of money. Maybe it was having a front row seat to watching the baby boom generation pour their savings into… Continue reading
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Sleuthing Amongst the Microcaps and Orefinders Resources
DTM5 is all about small caps & microcaps. For the sake of clarity, a small cap is any company with a market capitalization of less than 500m. And a Micro cap any company with a market cap of less than 50m. Now, that’s not to say the DTM5 won’t partake in larger companies (or really… Continue reading
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DTM5 Investment: Hive Blockchain Technologies
One of the DTM5’s current holdings is Hive Blockchain Technologies which trades on the TSX Venture exchange with the Symbol HIVE. Some background > After identifying ‘Crypto’ as a primary sector for the DTM5, I started rooting around different markets, attempting to find publicly traded companies, ETFs, etc. participating in the space. To my surprise,… Continue reading