The Shares Researcher

Today, we are going to look back and talk about some potential changes in the stocks discussed since the beginning of 2020. Due to the very benign stock market after the initial COVID-19 shock, most of the shares discussed on here have done rather well, some even extremely well. After such a huge recovery, it might be wise to quickly check the initial investment thesis and potentially make some changes where the stocks have reached the estimated intrinsic value. Let’s go over the potential changes one-by-one: -La Doria: Having hugely benefited from the crisis, it seems that the valuation is now closer to intrinsic value. Reminder: The price per share was below €9 when initially discussed on here and trades now at around €17. Although there is no doubt that the company will operate well in the months and years to come, it might be prudent to lock in some or all of the profits. All in all, the stock has advanced roughly 88% in local currency, not including dividends. -K-Bro Linen...

Intro Spice Private Equity is a Swiss stock market listed investment company focused on global private equity investments. The portfolio is split into the following categories/companies (‘fair market’ value as of end of 2020 in brackets): Leon Restaurants ($33m)   Bravo Brio ($26m)   G2D Investments ($18m)   Rimini Street ($13m)   Legacy Portfolio ($12m)   Cash and other current assets ($24m) In sum, the portfolio is valued at ~$126m in the company’s books and with 5.4m shares outstanding this translates into a book value (NAV) of ~$23 per share since there is literally no debt in the company. A word of caution for Spice Private Equity: trading liquidity is rather limited and might be too low for certain investors (largest shareholder holds around 60% of the shares). Further, although listed in Switzerland, the shares are trading in US dollars. Valuation The stock is currently trading at $9.25 – compared with an NAV of $23 at the end of 2020, a hug...

Intro Basler Kantonalbank is a mid-sized Swiss bank with deep roots in the Canton of Basel, where it was founded in 1899. The bank is fully owned by the Canton Basel City, however, has listed participation certificates listed on the Swiss stock market. The bank enjoys a very strong balance sheet with a total capital ratio of around 19% (vs. a minimum of 12%) and leverage ratio of above 10% (vs. a minimum of 3%). Historically, Basler Kantonalbank was strongly focused on its own Canton, as is the case with almost all cantonal banks in Switzerland. For a few years however, the bank has been pushing the roll out of its ‘online-bank’ under a separate entity called Bank Cler, which is not tied to specific locations anymore and potentially shows good growth potential as more and more bank clients use easy to use apps on their smartphones.   Valuation The capital of the owners is basically split into two categories: The first is the endowment capital, which is fully held by the C...