Stockopedia Stockslam Report

I think I am attending too many investment webinars. Last week I fell asleep in one after ten minutes and missed most of the presentation. That can be a particular problem with evening events. But last night’s Stockslam event was lively enough to keep me awake.

These events are run by investment web site Stockopedia and consist of a number of presenters covering their favourite stocks in 3 minutes followed by a few questions. This was the first on-line version and it worked well. I’ll cover the companies presented briefly and add a few comments:

• Caledonian Mining. A gold miner based in Zimbabwe. All gold miners are very dependent on the price of gold and the other big factor to consider is the political stability of the country in which it operates, which was not mentioned. Looks cheap but needs to be.

• Unite. Provider of student accommodation. Has been hit by the Covid epidemic, particularly for foreign students. Will students want to return to use such accommodation as most of their education is now done on-line rather than working from home? I think I agree with the presenter that they will as I have a grandson who has just gone to university and is living in such accommodation in Oxford. Might be worthy of further research.

• RWS. Patent translation and other IP services. I used to hold these shares but I sold after they acquired SDL which I had also held in the past but never seemed to generate real profits. An expensive acquisition perhaps but the Chairman has a good track record.

• Braemar Shipping. This is a smaller shipping company apparently focused on tanker supply but the financial track record looks very unimpressive – declining or static revenue and profits for some years. Shipping companies are very susceptible to global shipping rates which they have no control over. Looks cheap on fundamentals but needs to be.

• Renold. Industrial chain supplier. Presenter argued that the management are reviving the business which otherwise looks very mature. I cannot see where growth is coming from although profits are forecast to rise short-term. Big pension deficit was mentioned. It looks like an “old technology” business to me.

• SDI. Acquirer of small technology businesses. Has been growing profits rapidly and share price has been rising by leaps and bounds as a result, driven by active CEO. As one of the two presenters said “You wouldn’t exactly say it is cheap!” As I hold the shares, I will say no more.

• Cake Box. A purveyor of personalised “celebration” cakes via a franchise network. An interesting company that is growing rapidly and has a good financial profile. May be worth a closer look if you are not put off any cake retailers by the failure of Patisserie.

• Gear4Music. On-line music equipment retailer. Looking at the recent share price trend, the epidemic seems to have helped them.

• Halfords. Car accessories/servicing and bike retailer. Have held this company in the past. Sold at 380p in 2016 – share price now 265p, which tells you a lot. Might have a relatively good year this year from the demand for leisure cycling in the lock-downs but surely otherwise operating in very mature markets. Return on capital has been low in recent years.

• Atalaya Mining. Copper mining in Spain. Demand for copper is rising due to electric cars etc. Low historic return on capital and lack of dividend mentioned. They are operating in a sector with some very large players, and like any miner are dependent on commodity prices over which they have no influence. Forecasts for next year does make it look cheap.

All the presenters and the host (Damian Cannon) spoke clearly although I think some presenters could have been clearer on the “USP” of their selected companies. For example why buy Atalaya Mining rather than one of the big copper miners?

But an interesting event overall which was oversubscribed and I shall try to attend the next one.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson  )

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