$GPIQ $SPY $GLD
The indices have stagnated or barely budged for 2 decades despite trillions of $$$ of credit supporting the Financial markets.
Priced in #GOLD, we the Uglystocks hunters would be picking up bargain stocks left and right.
It is not too late, keep hunting and searching globally.
https://t.co/trZu63ingy
@DeepakRao27@realMaalouf Copts do not come from the Pharaohs. That’s comical. Copts simply means “ Christians”. Ethnically they are no different than their Muslims brethren. The Coptic language is a dead language beside some lithurgical influence. They speak Arabs!
$WEN
Bob Wright is the right fit to revamp WEN -11.72% and salvage one of America’s most recognizable fast-casual restaurants.
His selection aligns with the company’s founder ethos of simplicity, customer focus, quality, affordability, and premium service. More importantly, Bob Wright was brought back to re-engineer his successful turnaround of Potbelly at Wendy’s.
His career trajectory, including multiple leadership roles at Wendy’s and stints at Charleys Philly Steaks, Checkers, Domino’s, and Potbelly, shows a consistent focus on executional excellence.
At Potbelly, he completely rebuilt the management team and the organization to deliver industry-leading results.
He delivered approximately 785% total shareholder returns over 5 years, resulting in the company’s sale for $17.12 per share. He grew market capitalization from $50M to $566M in that same 5-year period.
He would be joined in his effort to revitalize the company by Steve Cirulis, Potbelly’s CFO, with whom he successfully steered the company out of near bankruptcy.
Bob Wright is a winner, but more importantly, a decent human principled floor general. And that’s exactly what Wendy needs.
https://t.co/C7YY8arxHc
You are spouting a load of nonsense my friend.
He is a public figure with a huge influence in the capital market; he knew better than publicly expose his investment thesis knowing darn well that many retail investors will follow suit and buy the stock.
Whether or not he directly own shares or has protected himself through engineered financial products does not change the fact that he has failed, not the first time either, as a trustee of capital.
$HTZ
Recent price action is a yet another proof of the necessity of independent analysis and of entrepreneurial mindset when dealing with financial securities.
I wonder how many “ retail” investors followed his recommendations and invested along.
Granted, things might well work out in the long run, but how many people blindly invested along with zero due diligence ?
Think for yourself and eat your own cooking!
We began accumulating shares in @Hertz late last year, and as of today, we have a 19.8% stake in the company comprised of outright share ownership and total return swaps.
Hertz can be thought of as an operating company combined with a highly leveraged portfolio of automobiles. A misstep years ago with respect to the company’s purchase of Teslas created operating issues, some customer demand issues, and exposed the company to an unanticipated reduction in residual values when @Tesla dramatically reduced the price of its cars, leading to large operating losses.
We believe that a combination of: (1) an improving industry structure and more rational competitive behavior, (2) the near resolution of the company’s over exposure to Teslas, (3) a successful operational turnaround plan under a new management team with a track record of success in an adjacent industry, and (4) the company’s leveraged capital structure will enable Hertz shareholders to generate a highly attractive return on investment.
The U.S. car rental industry operates as an oligopoly where @Enterprise, @Avis, and Hertz account for nearly 95% of the market. The industry’s pricing discipline has improved since the pandemic. Enterprise’s high profit margins (we believe +20%) – currently, the best managed industry player – demonstrate that the car rental business can be very profitable.
We believe that the improvements that CEO Gil West and his management team are making by rotating Hertz’s fleet, increasing unit revenues, and reducing operating costs will significantly improve profit margins over the next several years. Hertz has already made meaningful progress in rotating out higher cost vehicles that had temporarily elevated depreciation expense, which should meaningfully lower vehicle depreciation going forward.
While Hertz has a highly leveraged balance sheet today, the substantial majority of the company’s debt does not mature until 2028 and 2029. Hertz has ample liquidity – including cash on hand, available revolver capacity, and
debt capacity within its asset-backed securitization facilities – to support its fleet rotation, and to address maturities and other financial liabilities.
Hertz is uniquely well-positioned in the current tariff environment, where auto tariffs are likely to cause used car prices to rise. Hertz owns a fleet of over 500,000 vehicles valued at approximately $12 billion. A 10% increase in used car prices would equate to a $1.2 billion gain on its auto assets – equivalent to approximately half of the company’s current market capitalization.
The company finalized its 2025 model year purchases with OEMs earlier this year on attractive terms prior to the tariffs being enacted, ensuring a favorable basis in the replacement fleet.
Valuation
Using management’s nearer term targets of $1,500 revenue per unit (RPU), low $30s/day vehicle operating expenses, and ~$300 depreciation per unit (DPU), and assuming modest increases by 2029, including an increase in fleet utilization from 80% to 85%, we estimate that Hertz could generate approximately $2 billion of Adjusted EBITDA (a metric which is net of auto depreciation and interest expense for the company’s fleet and asset-backed financing).
At 7.5 times EBITDA, a valuation that we believe to be conservative in light of improvements in the competitive posture of the industry, we estimate that Hertz will be worth ~$30 per share by 2029.
While the tariff announcements have created a near-term cloud over the travel industry – we have low expectations for Hertz’s Q1 and r first half results – we believe that over the intermediate term, the company will generate sustainably higher profitability.
Now for a fun thought experiment:
What if UBER partnered with Hertz on an AV fleet roll out over time?
Hertz’s large installed fleet of 500k vehicles, its expertise in vehicle maintenance and servicing, and the significant scope and scale of its thousands of locations (11,200 globally) and other difficult to replace at scale physical infrastructure make it an ideal partner for @Uber, a partnership which could greatly improve the utilization and profitability of Hertz’s vehicle fleet.
Come to think of it, I am going to call @dkhos.
Investing is risky. There are no guarantees of a successful outcome. Caveat emptor.
The Wendy’s Company ( $WEN ) is an “uglystock.” It is down -65% in 5yrs and pays a fat #dividend!!
I have looked into the company’s financials.
High debt, falling margins, questionable reputation, and low trust.
At the mean time, the company’s historical legacy and brand equity are effective.
Customers are looking for a return to their cherished brand, and only a team of execs familiar with the company’s history and culture can potentially deliver.
Many customers would pay a little more to get their “ childhood” Wendy’s experience back!
The stock is statistically cheap enough to warrant a consideration, albeit speculative.
But driving catalyst has nothing to do with company’s fundamentals.
With a EV/EBITDA of 15.5 and close to 18.6% FCF Yield, the company is not a complete clunker despite its $4B debt load.
I believe that the return of CEO Bob Wright is built around a few basic assumptions:
Cleaning house, refurbishing the brand, and reassessing the company’s value for an up-sale.
Selecting bob is not a vote of confidence for the long run but a vote and a mission directive for a rapid strategic sump of the part re-evaluation.
Nelson Peltz believe the stock is extremely undervalued, who better to lead to re-rating than Bob Wright?
Wendy’s current EV value is around $6B, but a bulk of its value is due to its huge debt load.
A radical deleverage policy will certainly drive the execs decision in the near future + lots of goodwill recapture attempts.
Bob Wright earned a good reputation for “ cleaning up” potbelly, which led to its sale to RaceTrac.
He would be pressured to proceed equally with $WEN.
Outside of the “ stonkers” meme drive, Wendy’s could potentially double in value on pure executive’s balance sheet restructuring and rebranding efforts.
Rating: Risky speculative acquisition asymmetry that might take at least 2 years to workout.
Risk: stock could easily crash below current value before the workout is completed.
So, if you are going to buy, be ready to wait for the new exec team to put its plan forward.
Meme driven euphoria is unbecoming of serious speculators. 2 years minimum or you are wasting your time trying to guess the direction of the wind.
@StealthQE4 Stop “ thinking” and start appraising.
The masses can’t afford their car payments but the stock market goes up ad-infinitum.
Put two and two together.