Back in 2000, as the tech bubble was popping, I made a fortune by shorting recent IPOs right as previously restricted shares were unlocked for sale. These companies came public with only a small percentage of the stock sold in the initial IPO in order to create scarcity and an overvalued stock price. 6 months later, a waterfall of stock would hit the market Read More

I have spent much of my career looking for strong macro trends that will drive the performance of individual companies. However, over the past few years, I’ve had much more success buying overreactions to bad news, as the makeup of the market has changed and short-term thinking pervades investment decisions. Often, large fund holders sell without even understanding what the news means. Instead, they’re Read More

On April 9, I wrote about how certain companies have death spiral financings in place and you could literally short them at will for almost risk free returns. Now, barely 7 weeks later, Dryships Inc (DRYS – USA) is already down by 90% since I wrote that piece. I’ve been shorting DRYS and a few others like it for quite some time and re-loading as Read More

About two decades ago, some unscrupulous hedge funds began tricking unsophisticated small cap companies into agreeing to “death spiral” converts (convertible debt). These were called “death spirals” as there was no set floor to the conversion price. Rather, they converted at some date in the future based on then market prices. Despite promising not to, these funds immediately began shorting shares with the goal Read More

Him: I think people are wrong. There are lots of instances where the Fed has raised rates and nothing bad has happened. Me: Name one time. Him: hmmm…. Oh crap!! Yea, we’re getting to that moment where people realize that rates may finally matter in a highly leveraged economy. My good friend Tal, made that point over a year ago.  I hope you took his warning and lightened up Read More

As I scour the world for opportunity, I’m usually looking at macro themes or misplaced pessimism or some other reason for an asset’s current undervaluation with an eventual catalyst. Sometimes, in that process, I simply stumble upon something that is unusually cheap. Normally I choose not to write about these, because being cheap tends to be boring—especially if there’s no added story. After some Read More

I like to invest in commodity sectors that are currently losing money but at an inflection point. The companies tend to be undergoing a winnowing process with lots of bankruptcy and dilution for existing shareholders. While this may sound terrifying for some investors, this process sets up the next bull market for that sector as it consolidates players, reduces capacity and often eliminates debt. Read More

I am writing to you from Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico, where the whole country is having a yuuuuge Donald Trump victory sale. Mexico is one of my favorite countries to visit. It combines a laid back attitude, friendly people and an outstanding culinary tradition. It also helps that it’s currently one of the cheapest places on the planet—one of many reasons that I’ve spent Read More

Back in August, I noted that oil looked to be making a right shoulder and that I was buying a basket of oil service companies as many of these companies, particularly in the offshore service, space traded at tiny fractions of NAV. Since then, most of my basket made new lows before rallying strongly in the past few weeks. The companies in my basket are now Read More