CafeB

12/22/21: CAMP - CalAmp -- telematics -- also PWFL - PowerFleet, which is near its own low EPAC - Enerpac Tool Group (formerly Actuant) -- new CEO (JBT, ITW) as of October 2021

Agreed. He might be the archetype.

Well put. A visionary investing in visionaries makes it even more interesting.

Among those in S&P 500 within 10% of 52-week low: Packaging: IP (27% from high), PKG (16%), WRK (30%) Chemicals: DOW (24%), LYB (25%)

Can one be a visionary without a Vision Fund?

12/21/21: FSTR -- L.B. Foster -- rail and track components -- no lift from infrastructure spending?

ROP, for example -- as much or more technology as industrial. Other notable examples?

12/20/21: ATR - AptarGroup BWXT - BWX Technologies -- renewed attention to nuclear FTK - Flotek Industries GROW - U.S. Global Investors -- JETS ETF VNT - Vontier

AMBP -- beverage can pure-play -- significant growth investments with attractive returns MDT -- pipeline delays limit near-term catalysts -- time arbitrage? MSM

Hadn't thought to include moving average. Interesting. Thanks

ATVI: -32% YTD / -33% over 6 mo. / -41% from 52-week high ... feeling ESG heat ... will bad press for bad behavior affect player engagement? ... if there is such a thing as a metaverse, are the mechanics of video games likely to be part of it? FIS: -23% YTD / -25% over 6 mo. / -31% from 52-week high MRCY: -40% YTD / -24% over 6 mo. / -43% from 52-week high ... built by acquisition, now in need of integration/"transformation" Health Care GRFS: -41% YTD / -37% over 6 mo. / -46% from 52-week high MDT: -13% YTD / -18% over 6 mo. / -26% from 52-week high ... recent regulatory concerns ... per Barron's Roundtable in July, with stock price ~25% higher than today's: "Because of Covid, many elective surgeries requiring medical devices were postponed in the past year. There will be a step-up in sales of Medtronic products in the coming year." PHG: -37% YTD / -31% over 6 mo. / -43% from 52-week high ... voluntary recall and related FDA inspection "broken IPO" DNB (IPO July 2020 at 22): -20% YTD / -7% over 6 mo. / -30% from 52-week high DSEY (IPO March 2021 at 15; follow-on November 2021 at 15): -17% YTD / -30% over 6 mo. / -33% from 52-week high Others of interest?

12/17/21: AMBP - Ardagh Metal Packaging -- Gores-sponsored SPAC COOK - Traeger -- "broken IPO", as is WEBR - Weber, which is near its own low DSEY - Diversey -- "broken IPO"

iRobot was a name I hadn't heard in a while. Automation is certainly sexy. IRBT a small component of BOTZ (~1%) and ROBO (~1%) ETFs.

12/16/21: CTLP - Cantaloupe (formerly USA Technologies) -- vending technology -- recall the name from Artko Capital investor letters -- Hudson Executive Capital 10+% owner and on board IRBT - iRobot -- Roomba -- per 12/9/21 investor day, shift from hardware to software? UPLD - Upland -- software roll-up WWW - Wolverine World Wide -- Others of interest?

MDT, PHG. Extremely small positions. Both have regulatory concerns. Risk or uncertainty?

Posted at valueforum.com and received several thoughtful responses. I will summarize and elaborate, because VF does not allow cutting and pasting. ----Illiquidity -- current price and yield might not be indicative ----Preferred as a percentage of equity -- MIND is obviously "top-heavy"

Setting aside Fannie and Freddie and bank preferreds, what factors to consider for preferred stock? As an example, MIND is unprofitable and has been funding its operations in part by selling preferred stock, MINDP, through ATM programs and a recent underwritten offering. MINDP closed at $24.24 on November 8, with ~1.22 million shares outstanding. On November 9, ~0.43 million shares priced at $24.25. MINDP pays a cumulative dividend of $2.25 per year. At $18, Friday's close, yield 12.5%; at around $20, as it was for much of the past week, 11.25%. The company has no debt. Damodaran has described preferred stock as "more debt than equity, and very expensive debt at that, since it does not provide a tax deduction." First, what can be inferred from a company's choice of preferred over debt that is cheaper? Second, does the current price and yield indicate that the market will not bear further issuance?

The position is really only a placeholder. I am interested in learning more about investing in Mexico and Latin America. For now I defer to Cook & Bynum [ https://www.cookandbynum.com/wp-content/uploads/Cook-Bynum-03.31.21-Semi-Annual-Report-FINAL.pdf ]: "Using current market prices/values for its Heineken and Coca-Cola FEMSA stakes (which are themselves modestly undervalued), FEMSA’s retail stub currently trades at 9x 2021 enterprise value-to-EBITDA and 16x 2021 enterprise value-to-EBIT. This is an attractive valuation for a retailer that is largely immune from e-commerce and has the potential to grow earnings well into the double digits for the next ten years at high returns on capital."

Convenience stores can be good businesses and can be even better in developing markets, to the extent that they have greater "strategic importance" than they would have in developed markets--as elaborated by www.notboring.co/p/femsa . Strong family ownership provides stewardship in a part of the world that I don't know much about.

"initial lot" of FMX. I don't understand why they have been buying U.S. distributors and what that might say about re-investment opportunities in Mexico and Latin America. MSM FIS, FISV

Hadn't looked at Henkel for a couple of years, when I made the mistake of selling HB Fuller. Thanks for the heads-up. There seem to be some real gems in chemicals for DIY like Henkel's Loctite and RPM's Rust-Oleum.

"initial lot" of Kerry Group, as supplement to small positions in Givaudan, IFF, etc. For what it's worth, price now at or below where it was in June before company announced of sale of consumer foods business to focus on "Taste & Nutrition" business. (Just saw that a VIC write-up dated August 2021 has recently become visible to guests: Value Investors Club / KERRY GROUP PLC (KYGA ID))

FIS and FISV, per In both cases, averaging down. In both cases, smaller positions that I plan to make larger, gradually, with possible benefits from tax-loss selling through year-end.

MSM, as a complement--given its strong bias toward metalworking--to a much larger, longstanding position in FAST. Of course time will tell whether I have deworsified among industrial distributors.

Thank you, RedLion. It makes sense that lower volume might produce opportunity for weakness to intensify. I should also have noted the potential effects of buybacks over that same period. On 3Q21 earnings call (11/4), FIS management declared interest in buying back aggressively and described current valuation as a "generational buying opportunity". There does not appear to be a topic for FIS; I will plan to start a new one in order not to interrupt "What are you buying today?" any further.