The Shares Researcher

Intro Vopak stores oil, gas as well as chemicals and operates a global network of terminals worldwide. Its end markets are from the energy, manufacturing or food and agriculture sectors. The single biggest shareholder of Vopak is Hal Trust with 48.15%, a company also listed on Amsterdam’s stock market.    Valuation From 2017 to 2021, the lowest adjusted EPS achieved by Vopak was EUR 2.25 (high at EUR 2.80) demonstrating a very robust business model. At current prices, this translates into a P/E of below 10x, which doesn’t seem expensive. The company is paying a progressive dividend, which currently stands at EUR 1.25 per share, yielding 5.6%.   What’s next? After a more than 50% drop from spring 2020, it seems the shareholders that wanted to get out of Vopak are out to a large degree. The question is, what’s in the mind of the majority shareholder Hal Trust? If they still like Vopak, they might be inclined to make an offer for the entire company. Alternati...

Intro I have to warn you. Compared to almost all other companies mentioned on this blog, Agios is not generating any meaningful cash flow at the moment and, as you may have guessed, is in the “risky” biopharmaceutical business. Do I have any special knowledge in this sector? No. So why bother? Without going into any details in terms of their products or clinical pipeline which consists of programs in alpha- and beta-thalassemia or sickle cell disease where I certainly cannot add any value, I will try to focus on what I better understand: its financial position. At the end of 2020, Agios sold its oncology business for up to $2 billion plus royalties. The proceeds will and have been used to advance its pipeline and to buy back roughly $1.2 billion worth of its own shares.   Valuation At the end of March 2022, Agios had cash and marketable securities worth almost $1.2 billion and pretty much no financial liabilities. There are currently 71 million shares outstanding which ...

In June 2021, this blog mentioned the possibility to sell put options – for example the Jan23 2P @$0.18 per option (or 18$ per option contract) – on Gamestop as underlying. After a bit less than one year, the prices of the options above have come down significantly. Though the position could still be kept open, it seems prudent to close the trade early and buy back the options sold @$0.18 per option for only @$0.06 per option. This results in a profit of $0.12 per option for only delivering margin! Current Price Jan23 2P @$0.06 per option (or $6 per option contract)

Intro Fuchs Petrolub develops, produces and distributes lubricants and related specialties. The product program comprises more than 10,000 products and the company has more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Founded in 1931 as a family business in Germany, the company employs almost 6,000 employees in 50 countries today and is the world's largest provider among the independent lubricant manufacturers. Fuchs has two share classes: ordinary and preference shares. The preference share enjoys higher trading liquidity and some advantages regarding the dividend. The Fuchs family still owns 55% of the business through the ordinary shares with voting rights. In the following, we focus on the less liquid ordinary shares (yes, you got it, more bang for your buck!).   Valuation In 2021, Fuchs showed an increase of revenues of 21% to €2.9bn and a net profit of approx. €250m. Compared with the current market cap of around €3.6bn, the P/E stands at around 14x. Due to geopolitical tens...

Over a bit more than two years ago, while the world was still “normal”, Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp was discussed on this blog. After a quick dip and the reduction of the dividend, the company has rebounded strongly. Although generally higher recent volatility, Pizza Pizza’s stock price increased further, supported by good news to increase the dividend and solid operational progress. The stock price has come close to fair value and especially due to the big drop of many other stocks, it seems like there may be better ways to deploy capital and this position can be reduced or sold altogether. Compared to the stock price in January 2020, a capital gain of C$3.45 and dividends of C$1.47 per share resulted in a total gross return of 49%! Current Price C$13.42

Intro Kyndryl is a leading technology services company and the largest infrastructure services provider in the world, serving as a partner to more than 4,000 blue-chip customers in over 100 countries. Prior to November 2021, Kyndryl was wholly owned by IBM, which retained 19.9% of the shares. IBM intends to dispose of any retained common stock in the year 2022. Kyndryl is a world leader in designing, building, managing and modernizing mission-critical information systems spanning the digital transformation journey. Due to the separation, Kyndryl enjoys new freedom to invest for growth while expanding its ecosystem of strategic partners as well as service capabilities and enhancing customers' access to a wider range of technology solutions. As a standalone company, Kyndryl is expected to generate around $19bn in annuity-like annual revenues with EBITDA margins of approx. 15%. Valuation In 2020, Kyndryl indicated its free cash flow to be around $0.7bn, which is a bit difficult to rep...