Equity Analysts with 100% Return Predictions in 2021:  5 Picks 5 Home Runs

These 5 equity analysts made brilliant stock recommendations that returned over 100% to the investors that followed their advice in 2021.  These portfolio picks are the result of deep analysis of often overlooked stocks in a variety of industry sectors. 

The stock recommendations of Perficient, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRFT), Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG), Targa Resources  (NYSE:TRGP) and Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) deserve congratulations to these analysts for making 100% returns for their investors. 

Maggie Nolan, Equity Analyst, William Blair & Company

William Blair equity analyst Maggie Nolan gave her investors a home run in this April 2021 interview.

“TWST: Can you give us close at a few of your top-rated “strong buy” stocks, along with your investment thesis for these? Where is your strongest conviction?

Ms. Nolan: I’ll start with a small-cap name that I’ve been pretty interested in for a while now. It’s a company called Perficient (NASDAQ:PRFT). It has about a $2.2 billion market cap. 

They are a digital transformation consulting firm. They’re serving the Global 2000. The reason  I think they’re really interesting right now is that the company is picking up a lot of momentum.”

Following Ms. Nolan’s advice gave investors a run from $60 and change per share to well over $150 per share by November and this stock receommendation is still trading over $130 per share today.

https://www.twst.com/bio/nolan-maggie/

Peter Winter, Managing Director, Wedbush Securities

In the banking and finance sector, Peter Winter, a Managing Director at Wedbush Securities, identified Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) as a top pick in his July 2021 interview.

“The other bank that I like is Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI). 

The stock is trading at 1.28 times tangible book versus the group trading at 1.76 times. 

They were one of the largest federal PPP — Paycheck Protection Program — lenders in the country and they’ve got $300 million in unrealized fees that will be realized over the next 12 months. 

That will drive tangible book value up from $30 in the first quarter of 2021 to approximately $41 in the next 12 months. 

Using a multiple of 1.25 times tangible book at $41, that puts the stock price at $51. There’s 32% upside just with growth in tangible book value.

But in addition to that, they’ve got good levers for margin expansion by lowering deposit costs, they terminated a swap, and they see good loan growth because they’ve expanded into some specialty lending businesses that are more niche focused and not as competitive as traditional C&I — commercial and industrial — lending.  

Customers also has good organic growth and should generate solid appreciation in the tangible book value, which would drive the stock price higher…”

Investors who followed Peter Winters stock recommendation advice were rewarded with gains starting from $34 and change on July 19th.  CUBI is now trading at over $66 per share by the end of the same year.

https://www.twst.com/bio/winter-peter-j/

https://www.twst.com/interview/regional-banks-offer-attractive-dividend-yields-low-multiples

Noah Barrett, Research Analyst, Janus Henderson Investors

Back in his early February 2021 interview, Noah Barrett of Janus Henderson Investors declared that Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) would be his top pick for investors.  

“We regard management highly. I think they’re very conscious of the need to increase the value proposition to shareholders, particularly on the capital return side…

Diamondback has been a good operator. 

They’ve been able to deliver consistently strong well results. We think that’s a company that is well positioned and has meaningful leverage to higher oil prices. 

Every $5 or $10 move in the oil price significantly increases their free cash flow and their earnings. 

We also like Diamondback because we think they’re one of the low-cost producers in the basin. In a world where oil prices have pulled back from current levels and potentially stay rangebound, in a band of say, $40 to $60 WTI, we think that the company offers a solid value proposition. 

Unlike some of their peers, they don’t need higher oil prices to offer a compelling value proposition to investors.”

And unlike the stock recommendations of his energy analyst peers, this pick from Noah Barrett went from $58 per share in early February to $116 per share in December. 

https://www.twst.com/companies/NASDAQ-FANG

https://www.twst.com/bio/barrett-noah/

Sunil K. Sibal, Managing Director, Seaport Global Securities

Another energy sector pick, this one substantially downstream from production, is Targa Resources  (NYSE:TRGP) the midstream natural gas liquids distribution company.  This high performing security was recommended by Seaport Global Securities Sunil Sibal in his February 2021 interview.

This prescient pick set up his investors for success:

“TWST: What are your top investment recommendations right now and why?

Mr. Sibal: As I said, natural gas liquids, NGL, is a theme that I’m positive on. In that regard, I recently upgraded Targa (NYSE:TRGP), which is a premium NGL player. It’s second to Enterprise in terms of its footprint for its handling and exporting NGLs out of the U.S., and it has a pretty strong and integrated platform in the Permian.”

From $28 per share in February, this stock topped out at over $58 per share, and is still trading above $52 per share, along with a dividend.

https://www.twst.com/bio/sibal-sunil-k/

Adrienne Yih, Managing Director, Barclays

Our fifth analyst returning over 100% to investors is Adrienne Yih, a managing director at Barclay’s.  In her August 7 2020 interview with the Wall Street Transcript Ms. Yih braved the retail sector COVID meltdown to declare that

“…We love Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA). 

Again, some of these have transient issues right now. Right now, people aren’t wearing makeup as much as they work from home, and if they are going on Zoom calls, that’s a fraction of the time that they would be full time going to work wearing makeup every single day.

And so right now, Ulta Beauty is underperforming because makeup sales are not as robust. 

Also, when you’re wearing a mask, there’s not as much of your face to show. 

When you think about the drivers of why she’s not buying, when we recover from this, when we go back to the office, I can bet you every woman, girl, Millennial out there is putting a full face back on. 

You can see that happening.”

What investors who followed Ms. Yih’s advice saw happening was a stock that went from $200 per share at the beginning of August 2020 go to over $404 per share today.

https://www.twst.com/bio/yih-adrienne/

1000% Return Portfolio: 10 CEO Interviews Explain How It’s Done

A 1000% return on a stock portfolio is not a common occurrence.

These 10 Wall Street Transcript Interviews with the CEOs of companies that have achieved the rare 1000% return are an illustration of the results of hard work, perseverance and innovation.

Patrick Smith, CEO and Founder, Axon Enterprise [AXON]

TASER International, now known as Axon Enterprise [ticker: AXON] has been led by founder Patrick Smith who discusses his company in this interview published November 22, 2013. 

“While living in Europe, two of Mr. Smith’s high school friends were shot and killed in a road-rage incident in Arizona…in 1991, Mr. Smith set out to develop alternative technologies that would allow people to protect themselves, but without killing.…”

Many other Wall Street Transcript interviews with Mr. Smith are available which detail his strategy for achieving over a 1000% return for his investors. 

Andy Marsh, CEO, Plug Power [ticker symbol: PLUG]

Plug Power operates in the broadly defined “alternative energy” industry. This company creates warehouse mobility systems – forklifts and the like – using a proprietary hydrogen fuel cell technology. CEO Andy Marsh first interviewed with the Wall Street Transcript in June of 2009 when his company was trading at $10 per share. By February of 2013, the company was trading at 13 cents per share.  The increase to 1000% return and beyond began soon thereafter with a business model change.

In his Wall Street Transcript interview in February of 2014, Andy Marsh stated “Plug Power sells fuel cells, which power forklift trucks. And that’s what I’ve told you over the last three, four years, but the business has really expanded over the past six months where today we actually sell full turnkey solutions for distribution centers and manufacturers”.

At one point during 2021 PLUG traded over $63 per share, rewarding those investors who believed in this fuel cell pioneer, and Andy Marsh continues to interview with the Wall Street Transcript, most recently in 2020.

Peter Pascali, CEO, PyroGenesis [PYR

Another transformation from product to platform has driven the 1000% stock returns for PyroGenesis formerly the Pyr Energy Corporation. Originally a Canadian oil and gas exploration company, the CEO in 2001 explained his strategy in this August interview with the Wall Street Transcript.

By 2016 the CEO was Peter Pascali and this April interview from that year describes the continuing evolution of the company: “…a number of years ago, we were being slotted as a very successful environmental company basically servicing the U.S. military; however, we said we could bring our plasma expertise to other industries. 

We decided to see what other industries might benefit from the application of plasma processes. We looked at the oil and gas, mining and metallurgical, and 3D printing, which are things that are close to home, and lo and behold, we found that these industries had not really had the benefit of considering plasma solutions for various problems.”

By December of 2016 the company was trading at 16 cents per share. Today, the shares are over $3 per share and have traded well above $6 per share at certain points this year.

James Cline, CEO and President, Trex Company [TREX]

This company is creating global environmental benefits through technological innovation. In March of 2014, the Trex strategy of converting plastic bags to building materials was described as being based upon the “benefits of the high-performance composite, the second generation material, is that it’s scratch-, stain-, fade- and mold-resistant, and it includes a 25-year fade and stain warranty.”

By April of 2018, the CEO James Cline declared in this interview with the Wall Street Transcript that his management team “came to the conclusion that this is a consumer products company who happens to sell building products.”

From $8 per share in 2014, TREX is trading today at over $132 per share.

John Fieldly, CEO, Celsius Holdings [CELH]

Another consumer products company and a more recent new member to the 1000% return stock club is Celsius Holdings, whose CEO interviewed with the Wall Street Transcript in February of 2016 when the stock closed the trading day at $1.70/share.

More recently, CEO John Fieldly has guided his energy drink company to a value of over $100 per share as recently as November of 2021 and gave his strategy for future growth in this April, 2021 interview.

Richard Thompson, former CEO Freshpet [FRPT]

The pet industry has seen a sharp upturn over the last several years with many high return companies participating in this sector. In 2015, the CEO of Freshpet, Richard Thompson, declared in his Wall Street Transcript interview that his newly public company will “bring a completely different idea to the marketplace.”

By February of 2016, the stock price had declined to less than $6 per share and Mr. Thompson was out, replaced by the Board of Directors after an executive search in July of that year with William “Billy” Cyr. By April of 2021, the stock had passed $180 per share and still stands at about half that.  

William Doyle, Executive Chairman and former CEO, Novocure [NVCR]

Everyone loves a cure for cancer and a company that innovates an entirely new method of treatment is a good candidate for 1000% return stocks.

In July of 2016, William Doyle declared in his interview with the Wall Street Transcript that when Novocure “first went to the FDA, this was completely new and something that had never been thought of before. They had us start in the brain with patients who had failed existing therapies and had no hope.”

Currently the company has a run rate of over $500 million in revenue per year in revenues and the stock has gone from $8 per share to over $80.

Terry Gregg, former Executive Chairman and CEO, Dexcom [DXCM]

Diabetes has been an accelerating disease phenomenon globally. In the US alone, over 10% of the population is estimated to suffer from its effects.

In his June, 2014 interview with the Wall Street Transcript, Terry Gregg, the CEO of Dexcom remarked that “this isn’t my first time in a high-growth company. When I was the President and Chief Operating Officer of MiniMed, it went from $30 million in sales to close to $400 million, and we sold that business to Medtronic [ticker: MDT] for $3.4 billion back in 2001.”

The stock was trading at $40 per share. 

Terry Grigg transitioned to executive chairman that next January in 2015 and was replaced by Kevin Sayer who is still the CEO of Dexcom, which traded as high as $659 per share in 2021.

Anthony Makuch, CEO, Kirkland Lake Gold [ticker symbol: KL]

No list of 1000% return stocks would be complete without a gold mining company.  

In December of 2016, the President and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, Anthony Makuch, interviewed with the Wall Street Transcript: “I was born in the mining industry. My father worked in mines, and I grew up in the mining town in Timmins, and that’s what I did for summer jobs…in preparing me for my role, it’s been about 30 years of a variety of roles and at different mining operations.”

From $4 and change in December of 2016, Kirkland Lake reached well above $50 per share in 2020 and is currently trading well above $40 per share.

Paul Nahi, former CEO of Enphase [ENPH], current CEO Solidspac3

In January 2015, then CEO Paul Nahi stated that “the distributed generation of solar and energy management trends are a tidal wave that’s hitting the energy markets right now. Combine that with a proven Silicon Valley hardware model, investors should find Enphase attractive and interesting.” 

The stock price took a roundabout route to its 1000% return however, bottoming out as a penny stock in the spring and summer of 2017 and Mr. Nahi was replaced as CEO by Badri Kothandaraman by September of 2017. From that point on, Enphase has gone on a run and at one point in 2021 was over $280 per share

1000% return business strategies are detailed in the complete interviews with these CEOs and many more only at the Wall Street Transcript.

20 Highest Returning CEOs in 2021: Top Performing Stock Predictions for 2022

Interviews with the 20 best performing CEOs of 2021 have been gathered together in one report: the 20 Best CEO Interviews of 2021.

Several energy companies made the list.  Robert D. Bondurant serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ: MMLP), a US petroleum products transport and storage company operating primarily in the Gulf Coast region.  The stock is up over 90% on the year and looks to continue it’s turnaround in 2022.  You can read the entire 2,889 word interview for a more complete picture.

W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) is up well over 40% for the year for investors.  CEO and President Tracy Krohn and CFO Janet Yang explain how they got it done for this oil producer, also located in the Gulf of Mexico, in this 3,514 word interview.  Bottom line:  “Oil and gas companies are declining commodity businesses. So the three mantras are: you need to replace reserves; you need to increase production; and you need to increase cash flow. So those are the things that we focus on.”

Obsidian Energy (OTCMKTS:OBELF) is up a whopping 375% in 2021.  This Canadian oil producer is operating primarily in the Cardium region and CEO and New York University grad Stephen Loukas explains his strategy in this 2,959 word interview.

Robert Herlin of Evolution Petroleum (NYSEAMERICAN:EPM) insured that this company returned over 80% on stock appreciation in 2021 and also paid out a substantial dividend.  Mr. Herlin explains in this 3,858 word interview that EPM “is distinguished from its peers in the upstream energy business in that we focus on long-life reserves, conservative financial management and a belief that shareholders should be given a very substantial portion of the cash thrown off by its assets.”

Operating in Africa in not an easy management issue, yet the CEO of VAALCO Energy (NYSE:EGY) Cary Bounds has managed nearly a 70% return for his investors in 2021.  He explains how in this 3,189 word interview.

Standex International (NYSE:SXI) is a diversified manufacturing company based in the United States, the type of conglomerate that is not supposed to return almost 40% in a year to investors but this one does and pays a dividend as well.  Chairman, President and CEO David Dunbar explains how in this 3,118 word interview.

A diversified insurance company is a different animal from manufacturing and it requires a far different management strategy.  Rick Kahlbaugh of Tiptree (NASDAQ:TIPT) explains his in this 2,500 word interview for this dividend paying company that returned more than 168% in 2021:  “It’s our ability to complement underwriting revenue with fee revenue that changes the dynamic of the investment for shareholders — little safer, little outsized-return environment.”

The CEO of Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) William Meaney explains how another form of corporate insurance can also create a profitable business and high returns for investors in this 4,886 word interview. A 78% stock appreciation in 2021 and a nearly 5% dividend deserve some further study.

Digital transformation of existing companies drives returns and the company that devotes itself to consulting on these digital transformations, Perficient, returned nearly 170% on its stock in 2021. The CEO of Perficient (NASDAQ:PRFT), Jeff Davis, explains how he gets this done in this 3,335 word interview.

Almost the opposite of the advising on successful digital transformations is the study of corporate failures:  “The company built a reputation over the next few decades as a leader in failure analysis.”  Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) stock returned over 30% in 2021 under the leadership of Dr. Catherine Corrigan and this 3,451 word interview explains how the Harvard and MIT grad gets it done.

Transforming a Connecticut cigar manufacturer into an industrial warehouse real estate trust is a feat of magic.  The President and CEO of INDUS Realty Trust (NASDAQ:INDT) Michael Gamzon explains not only how he gets that done but also how it results in a 20+% return for investors in 2021 in this 3,719 word interview.

Another real estate play, this one in the real estate technology and data business, returned over 30% in 2021.  Hessam Nadji, the CEO, explains the long development of a sustainable competitive advantage for Marcus & Millichap (NYSE:MMI) in commercial real estate data in this 4,374 word interview.

Another niche real estate play returned over 11% in 2021 while paying nearly 5% in dividend income.  Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT) is a spin out from Windstream and as CEO Kenny Gunderman explains in his 2,763 word interview: “Our strategy is simple: It’s to buy and build mission-critical communications infrastructure with a heavy focus on fiber, and then to lease that fiber on a long-term basis to high-quality tenants.”

Another beneficiary of the transition from copper wires to wireless and fiber is Napco Security Technologies (NASDAQ:NSSC) led by Founder, President and CEO Richard Soloway.  “…You have 100 million residential buildings that are now going to have to be converted from copper wiring to cellular service.”  This 2,924 word interview from October 2020 explains how he achieved an 85% return on his company’s stock in 2021.

Bridging the world of technology and medicine, CEO Larry Jasinski is creating an assisted exoskeleton to enable disabled people to walk with Rewalk Robotics (NASDAQ:RWLK).  Read about it in this 2,582 word interview.

Another medical device manufacturer may have turned the investment corner with 90% returns in 2021.  Joseph Sardano leads Sensus Health Care (NASDAQ:SRTS) in developing Superficial Radiation Therapy devices.  Read about how they work and who they’re for in this 3,909 word interview.

If the Holy Grail of biotech startups is getting acquired for billions of dollars by a major pharmaceutical company, then Amit Munshi of Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARNA) which is being taken over by Pfizer is a true knight.  Read about how to get this done in this 3,089 word interview.

From a company already in the process of exiting successfully from being public traded to a company based on risky transactions.  Monarch Casino and Resorts (NASDAQ:MCRI) weathered the COVID 19 storm in 2021 with a 22% return.  Read this 2,492 word interview with David Farahi and find out how this was accomplished.

A nearly 40% 2021 stock market return would distinguish any consumer products company, let alone one operating in the hyper competitive energy drink marketplace.  Read this 3,229 word interview with CEO John Fieldly for his successful strategy implementation for Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ:CELH).

Dime Community (NASDAQ:DCOM) has been a New York based savings and loan institution since Abraham Lincoln’s re-election.  Read this 3,111 word interview to see how Kevin O’Connor has sucessfully navigated his bank to return over 40% to his shareholders in the first year of the Biden Presidency.

Dr. Catherine Corrigan, CEO of Exponent, ticker:EXPO

Robert Bondurant, President & CEO, Martin Midstream Partners, ticker: MMLP

David Dunbar, President & CEO of Standex, ticker:SXI

Amit Munshi, CEO, Arena Pharmaceuticals, ticker:ARNA

Steve Loukas, CEO, Obsidian Energy, ticker:OBELF

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA) Interview with CEO Amit Munshi

Amit Munshi, CEO, Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA)

Amit Munshi has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) since May 2016 and has been a member of the board of directors since June 2016.

Previously, Mr. Munshi was President and Chief Executive Officer of Epirus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. and Percivia LLC, a biotechnology company (sold to JNJ).

Prior to Epirus and Percivia, Mr. Munshi was a co-founder and served as Chief Business Officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., from 2005 to 2010 (sold $2.1B to AGN), and held multiple leadership positions at Amgen Inc. from 1997 to 2005, including General Manager, Nephrology Europe.

Amit Munshi received a B.S. in economics and a B.A. in history from the University of California, Riverside, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.

Mr. Munshi has 30 years of global biopharmaceutical industry experience in executive management, business development, product development and portfolio management.

Mr. Munshi currently serves on the boards of Pulmatrix, Inc. (Nasdaq:PULM), Enterprise Therapeutics Ltd, and Galecto, Inc.

In this 3,089 word interview, exclusively with the Wall Street Transcript, Amit Munshi details the turnaround business development and strategy that has led to the acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) by Pfizer Inc. (PFE).

“…We came in 2016 to reset the company. At that point, the company was about a $300 million market cap company. We focused heavily on the pipeline of products that had been generated over the last decade or decade and a half of discovery research at Arena. So, a large part of our success is in part due to the discovery research engine that Arena has had for going on almost 20 years.

When we came in 2016, we reset the board of directors, the management team, the capital structure of the company. We brought in large-scale institutional capital, and really on the back of a couple of compounds that we thought were very interesting and could make a real difference in the lives of patients.

The first compound we’d read out in 2017 was a drug called ralinepag. Ralinepag was for treatment of a disease called PAH, or pulmonary arterial hypertension, a devastating and fatal disease. We demonstrated a very strong clinical signal in that clinical program.

We eventually chose to sell that compound and licensed the compound to United Therapeutics, which we did in 2019. And that was on the back of a second data readout on the drug called etrasimod, which is our cornerstone compound today.

Etrasimod is an S1P1 modulator with a very precise pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile. It’s based on almost two decades of discovery research work here at Arena. And etrasimod has demonstrated a strong clinical signal in both ulcerative colitis, where we’re currently in a Phase III program, and in atopic dermatitis, where we’re planning a Phase III program.

So again, it’s moving forward in two Phase III programs in ulcerative colitis and in the planning stage for a Phase III program in atopic dermatitis. We also have ongoing programs or Phase II/III programs for etrasimod.”

Amit Munshi detailed the development of several trials for Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA):

“…We’re active in Phase III clinical trials, or the last stage of clinical trials.

We have two Phase III programs in ulcerative colitis. The first program has completed enrollment. That’s what we call our UC 52 or 52-weeks trial. And then the second program, which was called the UC 12, or the 12-week program, is currently enrolling.

We expect to have data readouts from both of those studies in the first quarter of 2022. We’re very excited to see that data. And again, we’re in late-stage development with the program.

Etrasimod also is a compound that actually has clinical utility, meaning the drug can be used in multiple diseases, multiple autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. So etrasimod has not only demonstrated strong Phase II data in ulcerative colitis, but it’s demonstrated a strong Phase II data in a second indication called atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis, more commonly known eczema, can be a very severe disease. Patients with atopic derm and severe atopic derm actually have a reduced life expectancy. So while we think of it as just a skin condition, it actually has quite profound manifestations in terms of comorbidities or other diseases that occur alongside atopic derm as well as a change in mortality rates in some studies.

We’ve demonstrated strong data in Phase II there in that setting. And we’re planning a Phase III program there.

Additionally, we’re in Phase II or Phase II/III programs in Crohn’s, also part of the IBD spectrum, another GI condition. We’re also up and running in eosinophilic esophagitis, another gastrointestinal condition, and in alopecia areata, another dermatologic condition.

So etrasimod currently is up and running in three gastrointestinal conditions, between Phase II and Phase III, and two dermatologic conditions. Etrasimod in and of itself is what we’ll call a pipeline in a drug where it’s got very broad utility, and will continue to explore additional indications over time.”

Amit Munshi notes that access to capital is a key factor for success for Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA):

“I think the recognition that while there’s quite a few biotech companies that are both public and privately traded, many companies are really science experiments.

They’re binary risk, single-asset companies that don’t have a lot of data behind them. They are platform companies. Again, they feel much more like a science experiment.

I think we’re in a unique situation where we have the ability to actually build a sustainable, durable company over the long term.

We’ve got a balance sheet of over $1.1 billion of cash. We’ve got a very experienced management team. And we’ve got a breadth and scope of portfolio that’s really unprecedented for a company our size.

We’ve got an active research collaboration with a group called Beacon Discovery, which is Arena’s historical discovery research engine where we’re looking for up to 12 immunology and inflammation targets. That’s a long-term research pipeline for us.

And all of that combined really sets us up to build something very meaningful over the next three to five years.”

Get the complete detail on how Amit Munshi guided Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) to success by reading the entire 3,089 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript.

Mike Kozak Recommends Trilogy Metals (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ) as a Small Cap Stock to Buy

In this 3,395 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript, Mike Kozak recommends Trilogy Metals (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ) and many other stocks.

Mike Kozak, Senior Equity Research Analyst, Cantor Fitzgerald

Mike Kozak  is an Equity Research Analyst and has been covering the Metals & Mining sector since 2007. He joined Cantor Fitzgerald in 2016. Mr. Kozak holds a BASc degree in Mining & Mineral Process Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and prior to joining the financial services sector, worked in various technical roles for Fording Canadian Coal, Teck Resources, and Barrick Gold. He introduces his Trilogy Metals (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ) recommendation in this interview:

“I can point you to some development-stage copper projects, or companies I should say, but they might be $300 million, $400 million market cap, not really that liquid, whereas for a large long-only fund or some macro fund or generalist fund, it might check all the boxes, but they can’t buy it because of its liquidity.

So you need some exposure to the large caps out there, like Freeport (NYSE:FCX) and First Quantum (OTCMKTS:FQVLF), given this macro setup.

BHP (NYSE:BHP) is the world’s largest diversified miner. It has a 12% dividend and is trading around 30% below its highs on the year.

But if you can buy and hold, and not think about it for a couple years, there’s one name that I cover, Trilogy Metals (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ). They have the Arctic Copper project up in Alaska.

It’s the highest-grade copper project in North America. And if I put my mining engineer hat on, it’s Tier 1 in terms of any metric or any KPI you’d throw at it. They already have a partner, South32 (OTCMKTS:SOUHY), which is a large-cap Australian producer.

So they have a large-cap joint venture partner that’s fronted them $150 million to the JV and will be paying 50% of the capital when the mine starts to be built.

And their second project, which is 15 miles away, is the second- or third-largest cobalt deposit in the United States, called bornite, which is a critical input for electric vehicles.

So, although it’s kind of a quiet one, if you look at the quality of those assets, where they are, there’s no scenario that doesn’t end without Trilogy Metals (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ) getting consolidated or taken out either by South32 or some other large-cap third party in the next two years or three years, in my opinion.”

Because of the green energy revolution, Mike Kozak recommends investing in the Uranium mining sector:

“Uranium is interesting. I’ve been covering metals and mining for almost 15 years now, starting in January of 2007 where I caught the last four months of speculative mania in uranium, when it spiked all the way to $137 per pound spot and then crashed, started moving higher again in 2009 and 2010, then Fukushima happened sending uraniums into the doldrums for years.

Then, in 2020, for most of the year I would get a lot of inbound calls from clients asking about the “green metals” — like for the electric vehicles, green infrastructure, clean tech, decarbonization and the metals they should be placing in that basket.

And the metals they were placing in that basket at that time were copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, rare earths, maybe platinum, and palladium to a lesser extent.

And then for whatever reason, in October 2020, uranium got added to that — put in that bucket.

So the narrative on uranium, specifically, it started to turn positive in October of last year. And in the last two months, it’s completely accelerated. And now you’re seeing all these accommodative measures being made by the United States, by a lot of countries in Europe, to bring nuclear back, because it’s become obvious that if we’re going to get to net zero carbon, uranium can’t go away.

Not only can it not go away, it has to be expanded.

And that’s because we can’t always rely on wind and solar. As great as they might be, there’s a weather effect. They’re not always reliable. And we’re still working on the technology to store those particular renewable energy sources over the long term.

Whereas uranium is clean, it’s zero carbon emitting.

The infrastructure is already there and it’s cheap. So it’s become obvious that uranium is here to stay.

And, yes, now you’ve got nuclear that’s getting subsidies from governments.

You’ve got France coming out and committing billions of dollars to small modular reactors, the U.S. extending its reactor fleet, Japan accelerating the pace of their re-starts, Finland lobbying to have nuclear labelled as sustainable energy, and so on. And on the uranium supply side we’ve been running a forty- or fifty-million-pound deficit for years. So the setup here for uraniums is excellent.”

That leads Mike Kozak to a specific uranium stock pick:

“They’re in a very comfortable spot. Number one, they have the tailwind of strengthening uranium prices.

So they have that backdrop working for them.

Number two, they already have a past producing in situ recovery uranium operation in Wyoming called Lost Creek. They’ve operated for a few years, so it has a proven history. It’s very low cost — the lowest cost uranium operation in the United States — but it’s been in care and maintenance, sitting there dormant for the last four or so years, waiting for higher uranium prices, which we’re seeing now.

So they can restart, at the quickest in about nine months, at the lowest cost of about $14 million and produce a million pounds of uranium per year at the lowest cost relative to any of its other peers in the United States.

So it’s best positioned to capitalize on the strengthening uranium price we’ve seen in the last couple months. It’s also arguably best positioned to win new long-term contracts, in my opinion. The company has $40 million in cash, so it’s close to, if not fully, financed to go back into production. So low risk, good backdrop and low cost.”

To get the full detail on Trilogy Metals (NYSEAMERICAN:TMQ) from Mike Kozak as well as many other mining stock picks, read the entire 3,395 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript.

HSBC Securities Analyst Predicts Copper Consumption Will Drive These Stocks to New Highs by 2024

Jonathan Brandt, Senior Equity Research Analyst, HSBC Securities

Jonathan L. Brandt, CFA, is a Senior Equity Research Analyst covering Global Metals & Mining, as well as the LatAm Pulp & Paper sector, at HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. He was previously head of HSBC’s LatAm cement, construction and real estate equity research team. He joined HSBC in February 2010 as a LatAm metals and mining analyst, before transitioning to the pulp and paper sector in March 2013. Previously, Mr. Brandt was a buy-side analyst for six years at a major U.S. investment firm, covering commodity companies in LatAm and EMEA.

In this 2,689 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcription, an experienced metals and mining analyst from HSBC Securities analyst details his prediction for copper consumption and which stocks will benefit.

“The name we like there is Grupo Mexico (OTCMKTS:GMBXF). So their main copper exposure comes through their 90% holding in Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO), which is a Peruvian and Mexican copper miner.

The demand for copper is coming from a variety of things. And copper is seen as the global bellwether, in that the better global GDP does, typically the better copper does.

Specifically, the uptick in manufacturing that we’ve seen not only in China, but in other parts of the world, the uptick that we’ve seen in manufacturing capacity, the increase that we’re seeing in some residential and real estate construction is all helpful.

And the continued investment in things like EVs, because EVs tend to use somewhere between four to five times more copper than traditional ICE.

And the increase in renewable power is certainly beneficial. If you look at power-generation companies — coal and traditional power companies — they’re using maybe 1 to 2 tons of copper per megawatt. But if you look at something like offshore wind farms, those can use 15 tons to 17 tons of copper.

So, as the renewable power base increases, that is very beneficial for copper consumption. And certainly, we see that expanding not just in China, but really globally, across Europe, the U.S., in emerging markets. So, we think that trend will continue, and that’s all very positive for copper.

But certainly there are headwinds. From the supply side, the Latin America countries, Peru and Chile, account for about 40% of copper production. They have had a variety of potential political and regulatory changes that could make it more costly to produce copper and have caused some concern over whether or not supply growth will continue from there, or certainly cause some concern over the timing of it.

So I think from a supply/demand standpoint, the market continues to look pretty tight.

We’re expecting the market to be in deficit for the next couple of years.

We do see some supply growth coming to meet the incremental demand [for copper consumption] that we’re forecasting. But if you look out five, six years, the market is going to need more projects. And the projects are becoming more and more difficult to bring online.

They’re costing more, so that the incentivized price for copper continues to rise. So from our standpoint, copper is one of the preferred metals that we think investors should be exposed to.”

HSBC Securities has a bit more counterintuitive prediction about mining companies with low ESG scores, not only in copper consumption.

“So there’s potentially more opportunity in a company that has poor ESG scores, if you believe that the board and management are making changes in order to improve their score. It’s better for the environment if they can improve, and typically it’s better for alpha generation as well.

So to highlight, obviously, there have been some issues at a company like Vale (NYSE:VALE), where I know some of the scores from independent and third-party ESG companies — they don’t score very well. But they have put a significant amount of emphasis on improving their ESG score.

Certainly, they’ve done it over the past four or five years from the governance side. And we think they’re doing it now on the “E” and the “S” side. And that’s everything from building backup structures along their dams — they have moved primarily away from tailings dams and to dry processing.

They are creating new iron ore products that are less CO2 intensive in the blast furnace. So there are a variety of different things that they’re doing.

The other thing to highlight is they have discussed their Scope 3 emissions targets, which very few companies have done.

So I think that even though they’re coming from a lower base than their peers, they’re putting a lot more emphasis on ESG and I think that there’s value in something like that.”

The HSBC Securities analyst likes the risk/reward for some specific names, particularly those exposed to copper consumption:

“Obviously, the Chinese economy is slowing, which given 50% to 60% of metals end up in China, that’s obviously a concern.

Now, our team in China is expecting some targeted stimulus, so that we don’t see a collapse and they’re able to keep GDP growing. But it’s always a risk — what China is doing from a macro standpoint and a policy standpoint.

…You take Grupo Mexico and their exposure to copper from their Southern Copper assets, they will produce at $0.70, $0.75 per pound.

Even if you include SG&A and freight and everything else, they still have 50%, 60% margins. So even if copper prices were to go from spot of $4.50 or $4.60, or even if they dropped to $3, they’re still making very, very good margins, great cash flow.

It would be less cash flow than what they were making before, and the share price would obviously correct in a lower copper price environment, but because of their ability to repair balance sheets — and I think this goes for pretty much all of my coverage, because balance sheets have been significantly repaired from just five or six years ago — the likelihood of a company having to sell assets to survive bankruptcy is very, very low at this point.”

Get all the details for these and other stock recommendations from HSBC Securities particularly with regards to copper consumption by reading the entire 2,689 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcription.

Chairman of the Advisory Board Bruce Linton for Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF) is the First Mover in Magic Mushrooms

Bruce Linton, Chairman, Advisory Board, Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF)

Bruce Linton is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Red Light Holland Corporation (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF).

Mr. Linton has a passion for entrepreneurship and making a positive difference in the world.

He brings a wealth of experience in building strong technology-driven companies, developing world-class teams, and positioning his companies in sectors driven by waves of public policy change.

Mr. Linton is Founder and served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canopy Growth Corporation (Nasdaq:CGC/TMX:WEED). As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canopy Growth Corporation, Mr. Linton led the Company through 31 acquisitions, and over 16 rounds of financing, $6 billion of capital raises, including a $5 billion investment by Constellation Brands, the largest beer import company in the United States.

In addition to his role as Chairman of the Advisory Board for Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE:TRIP), Mr. Linton is Co‐Founder and Chair of the Board and acting CEO of Fat Llama (formally Ruckify Inc.), and Executive Chairman of Gage Growth Corp. (CSE:GAGE).

He is Co-Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer of Martello Technologies Group (TSX-V:MTLO), Co-Founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Óskare Capital, Advisor with Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH), and Above Foods and an active investor with Slang Worldwide Inc. (CSE:SLNG) and with OG DNA Genetics Inc.

In September 2021, Mr. Linton stepped down from the board of Mind Medicine Inc. (NEO:MMED), where he was a founding Board of Director member and Chairman of the Governance and Compensation Committee.

Mr. Linton also sits on the Board of the Canadian Olympic Foundation and is a member of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation, Campaign Executive Committee.

Mr. Linton was also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Collective Growth Corporation; a special purpose acquisition company that went public on NASDAQ on May 1, 2020, and completed its business combination transaction with Innoviz Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:INVZ) in April 2021.

In this extensive 5,733 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript, the Advisory Board Chairman of the Red Light Holland Corporation (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF) Bruce Linton describes his business strategy and the prospects for investors.

“I had known [Red Light (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF) Co-Founder, CEO and Director] Todd Shapiro casually for many years. In fact, I knew him for two years before he knew me.

And the reason I did is I used to own businesses in Toronto, and I don’t live in that city. So every time I would go down there, as soon as I got into the radio zone of a station called 102.1 the Edge, if it was the morning, I would always tune to that station and listen to it. And the reason is, they had three hosts. Two of them were adults and one of them was Todd.

And they constantly got up to shenanigans.

Like Todd was be sent to attend a press briefing for something and he would be told when he went that if they didn’t kick him out of the press briefing he was not allowed to come back to work — he was fired. So he’d have to do these outlandish things and he seemed so entertaining and he stuck in my head.

And so about two years or three years after that, someone that hired an MC to host our first huge long concert at the headquarters of the cannabis company and they wanted me to approve giving this person like 20,000 options, and I’m super skimpy on understanding — like if you deserve them I’ll give you 200,000; if you don’t, I don’t want to give you any. And so I want to meet this guy — I’ve got to know who this person is.

And my kids were there.

And it turned out it was this guy Todd from the show and my boys were so embarrassed because they said, “Dad, that’s the most excited we’ve ever seen you to meet a celebrity. And it’s a guy who used to be on the radio.”

And over the years as I meet Snoop and Jay Z, I still think I was the most excited to meet Todd and the reason was he was clever and crafty and did a great job at our event.

So that was Todd.

The second was that I think psychedelics writ large have better science and worse governance than cannabis.

What I mean by that is that the broad range of things — from psilocybin through all of them to ibogaine — have therapeutic applications in our brain and our perspective that are much more powerful and diverse than you can achieve with cannabinoids.

The rules are still more prohibitive. And for the most part, most of them have been shown that they don’t have a toxicity that results in mortality or morbidity, but they also have science that says why. But they’re still stuck in this place where it’s, how can you use them?

And so Red Light Holland (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF) was looking at and saying: Some people like these recreationally — why shouldn’t they be prepared, packaged and presented in a very professional way where it’s not illegal?

And that thesis makes a lot of sense to me, because it’s not like we’re inventing any of this stuff — it already exists.”

The Red Light Holland Advisory Board Chairman (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF) Bruce Linton has a development strategy for legal recreational psychedelic drug distribution:

“Public policy towards cannabinoids has evolved super rapidly over the last six years that it’s almost ubiquitously tolerated or embraced.

So I don’t care if you’re going from California to Germany, Canada to Poland, they have regulatory frameworks for people to have access — if not always at the federal level — to have access to cannabis.

So the broad market is much bigger, and it’s evolved much more rapidly. And it’s really a simple thing. In most people’s mind a cannabis plant is a cannabis plant, despite the fact there are many variants.

Psychedelics public policy still is, at best, stuck. And what I mean by that is that Oregon is the only state in the U.S., and certainly federally, which has adopted an advanced perspective towards what can be done.

There were other opportunities on a purely medical basis in a few places, including Canada, but they’re highly restricted. So I would relate them to how cannabis was governed in about 2012 to where we are with, I’ll call it broadly, psychedelics. And it’s just such a restrictive access.

The bigger difference is in places like Switzerland and a number of other jurisdictions, scientists have been actively working to figure out new and more about psychedelics and how they work.

Well, I would say that the number of scientists working on cannabinoid — very, very few globally up until the last three years — the amount we actually know about cannabinoids I would argue is much, much less than what we know about psychedelics, but we restrict them more despite the knowledge saying they shouldn’t be restricted.

I’m not advocating because I use them — probably I should — but it’s an irrational response to — it’s essentially bias people have adopted because of their grandfather’s perspective.”

The Red Light Holland Advisory Board Chairman (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF) Bruce Linton is rolling out a strategy to become first mover in the magic mushroom business:

“…To be totally clear, Red Light operates in domains where it is not illegal — that is different than somebody going to the effort to fully regulate and say this is 100% exactly how we want to do it. This is the government structure.

That means it’s regulated. We operate in that zone which says that it is permitted, but not actively in every way fully regulated. And that is still a fully legal operation; it just means it’s not a fully defined and regulated. So that’s, in part, why the bottom portion of the mushroom, and it being the portion that gets used in some geographies…

And what Red Light’s been able to do is buy into companies that are actually experts and leverage their knowledge from other fungi growing businesses into this one — and distribution businesses.

So we have a company, which is kind of the number-one distributor in a smart shop and have other gear related to psilocybin — we own them.

So that opens both revenue and doors to people who are selling other products.

You start to see a portfolio coming together and what that portfolio should do is stabilize revenue and expand the basis upon which you can actually get new clients.”

Get the full detail by reading the entire 5,733 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript, with Bruce Linton, Advisory Board Chairman of the Red Light Holland Corporation (CSE:TRIP), (OTCMKTS:TRUFF) exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript.

Grown Rogue International (OTCMKTS:GRUSF) CEO Interview: Making Money with Michigan Marijuana

Obie Strickler, CEO, Grown Rogue International (OTCMKTS:GRUSF)

Obie Strickler is the CEO of Grown Rogue International Inc. (OTCMKTS:GRUSF).

He founded Canopy Management, LLC in 2015 to consolidate the three medical facilities he had operated since 2006 within one company.

Mr. Strickler formed Grown Rogue (OTCMKTS:GRUSF) in late 2016 and entered the Oregon recreational cannabis market with a plan to build a multi-national cannabis brand.

Mr. Strickler was successful in building a profitable medical cannabis company and used that foundation to build Grown Rogue where he has led a team that now has operations in three states with over 20 licenses.

Mr. Strickler has a B.S. in Geology from Southern Oregon University and is also an Oregon Professional Geologist. During the time he was financing and overseeing Canopy’s growth he was also the regional manager for a large multi-service natural resource company before starting his own business in 2011 to provide management services to large natural resource companies primarily in the mining sector.

In this role, he was responsible for building and integrating complex technical teams to advance large, world-class, multi-billion-dollar mining projects from exploration through feasibility primarily in base and precious metals.

In 2014, Mr. Strickler teamed with aerospace engineers to form HyperSciences, Inc., a platform technology company focused on commercializing hypervelocity technology into a variety of industrial applications.

Mr. Strickler helped secure a large contract with one of the world’s larger oil and gas providers to solve deep drilling challenges and moved this project through proof of concept before departing to focus on the opportunities in cannabis full time. Mr. Strickler is taking his production and product innovation experience in the cannabis industry and his integration and execution experience from the natural resource industry to build Grown Rogue (OTCMKTS:GRUSF). into a premier cannabis company.

In this 2,582 word interview, the Grown Rogue CEO Obie Strickler details his company’s growth prospects and strategic vision.

“There were three reasons we decided to jump into it full bore in 2016.

The first was, like anytime you start a business, you hope that there’s some sort of financial opportunity.

Secondly, we wanted to change the stigmas and the perception of cannabis as this stoner, non-reputable type of product that only the dregs of society used.

Professionals use it as well — doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, and so on.

And lastly, the community we’re in has been known for cannabis production and operations for a long time. We wanted to make sure it was built properly in our region. We are both from this area and we have three kids, so we’re very entrenched in our community.

We wanted to make sure it was built in a way that we can be proud of and that the community can be proud of.”

Grown Rogue (OTCMKTS:GRUSF) has developed a significant growth opportunity in Michigan:

“Our current business model is flower only.

We’re about to launch pre-rolls in the Michigan market, but it’s basically flower only — high quality, low cost of production in both states, indoor and outdoor production methodology.

Our reason for that is that we decided to really focus in on a simpler business model and get really good. Then we can build additional product lines from that strong foundation, like we’re doing in Michigan with the pre-roll launch that we expect to come out in the next month or two.

The reason we can do that is because at one point in the beginning of the company, we had every product type in the industry.

We had cartridges, concentrates, edibles, pre-rolls, multiple brands, and we got really spread out.

So we’ve simplified the business to become stronger and more efficient. We’ll look to expand with additional product lines as we continue to grow…

Michigan fit our model for timing. We like to target states that are transitioning from medical to recreational legalization and regulatory structure.

Michigan was right in that time band where we see the real opportunity to serve a broader range of customers.

Medical is great, but when recreational opens up, you get a lot more customers and consumers and we’re able to spread our messaging and our products to a broader base.”

Grown Rogue (OTCMKTS:GRUSF) is navigating the start up cannabis industry adroitly under the leadership of Obie Strickler:

“We continue to grab market share.

One of the big things we’ve seen is that Oregon has had slightly declining sales, yet our sales have been increasing.

We are actually swimming against the tide when it comes to grabbing more market share in a compressing state. Same thing in Michigan. I think we’re a top 12 producer at this stage, and we’re not one of the biggest volumes, we just have really strong demand for our products with some of the innovation we bring, like our nitrogen sealed jars.

We’ve really created a brand that the consumers can trust and rely upon for transparency, education, and reliability. So that’s how we separate ourselves from our competitors, who are much more focused on just more internally rather than externally.

…We’ve seen several things in Oregon creating some supply/demand pressure. 2020 was a really strong year.

The surge from COVID caused a little bit less supply in the marketplace because of the previous year’s oversupply. So now we’re seeing a little bit more supply in the market. That’s one problem, but again, part of that is we’re producing more at this point, but we’re still able to sell it.

So that’s been a little bit of pressure on pricing.

The state grew 40% from 2019 to 2020 and expecting that to continue into 2021 was unrealistic.

Part of the decline is just the speed at which a market can grow isn’t infinite.

Cannabis at this point, ultimately as a commodity, is going to get supply/demand fluctuations, and that normally impacts price.

We’re going through another little piece of that right now, but it’s not unexpected and we’ll manage through it, tighten our belts a little bit as we get into maybe a little bit of a margin pressure.

But our business is so efficient, with good cost of production, that we can weather quite a bit of compression and still be very secure in our economic position.”

Get the inside scoop from Obie Strickler of Grown Rogue International (OTCMKTS:GRUSF) by reading the entire 2,582 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript.

Planet 13 Holdings (CSE:PLTH) CEO Robert Groesbeck: “Once in a Lifetime”

Robert Groesbeck, Co-CEO, Planet 13 (CSE:PLTH)

Robert Groesbeck is the Co-CEO of Planet 13 Holdings, a publicly traded (CSE:PLTH) (OTCQB:PLNHF) vertically integrated national cannabis company based in Nevada.

The company’s 112,000-square-foot Las Vegas dispensary is the largest world’s largest cannabis superstore and entertainment complex. Planet 13 has award-winning cultivation, production and dispensary operations in Las Vegas and dispensary operations in Orange County, California.

Mr. Groesbeck has been in the Las Vegas area for the majority of his life. He has been a long-time entrepreneur, starting and/or assisting in the creation of a number of businesses.

Mr. Groesbeck was designated as one of the top forty Southern Nevada Business Executives under the age of forty, on the basis of his professional achievement and community service by the Las Vegas Business Press.

Mr. Groesbeck has extensive experience in the legal field. He has practiced law for over 25 years and has knowledge about multiple aspects of the law.

He also served as the Mayor of the City of Henderson from 1993 to 1997.

Mr. Groesbeck earned his B.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada, an MBA from National University and a J.D. from Western Michigan University.

In this 2,991 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript, the Planet 13 (CSE:PLTH) executtive Mr. Groesbeck details the start up and strategic positioning of the modern marijuana public company.

“We looked at it like Nevada in the 1930s when gambling became legal. It was something that only happens once in a lifetime.

Same with alcohol when it came off prohibition. And there were a lot of challenges. It was new for everybody, but similar to cannabis.

And we thought, “Hey, let’s give it a shot.” And if we’re going to do it, we’re going to go all the way and do something special…We didn’t know pesky things like 280E of the Internal Revenue Code and the banking challenges of running a cash business — none of that was on our radar screen back then.”

The Planet 13 (CSE:PLTH) CEO Robert Groesbeck describes his company’s capabilities:

“…We’re an integrated cannabis company.

So we specialize in all things marijuana. And as a vertical operator, we grow products.

We have a large manufacturing facility. And through that facility, we sell all types of products, including vape pens, shatters, infused drinks, infused chocolates, and gummies.

So pretty much anything that can be infused with cannabis, we’re interested in taking a look at.

If it’s something that our customers and the customers that we wholesale to enjoy and like, we try to make a product that fits with their desire.”

Planet 13 has a lead product that Robert Groesbeck describes:

“It’s a peanut butter-infused chocolate square and we knew from our R&D and all the testing we did internally that we had something special, because one of the things with THC products, infused products in particular, there’s a tendency to have a pretty strong aftertaste.

And this particular product line has none. And our customers really enjoy that. It’s a high-quality chocolate and peanut butter.

And again, no aftertaste. So it’s really been received well by the public.”

The COVID 19 pandemic created an early challenge for Planet 13 (CSE:PLTH) and Mr. Groesbeck responded:

“…It was March of 2020 — we were basically given 24 hours to shut the facility down.

And to give you an idea, at our superstore in Las Vegas, at the time probably 85% of our customers were tourists. And so literally overnight that market went away.

The storefront was closed, and we were fortunate that in Nevada, we were deemed an essential business and that allowed us initially limited opportunities to do delivery and then later, curbside pickup. But without that delivery option, we would have been forced to shut down completely.

It was dramatic.

Prior to COVID, I think we had three delivery vehicles. It was a very limited operation. So during the shutdown, we went out and secured an additional 30 vehicles, and built up a very robust delivery platform within about 45 days to the point we were serving upwards of 1,000 customers a day through delivery only.

So it was a really stark pivot for us to go from a retail storefront to a delivery-only platform.

That was a true testament to our team and the desire to adapt and make it happen.

The other alternative for us would have been just to close the doors and reopen when the markets improved, but that wasn’t an option.

We had several hundred employees on payroll, and we wanted everybody employed during the pandemic, and we did.”

Planet 13 has identified a new growth market and Robert Groesbeck has aggressive plans:

“I think Florida is a huge market. It’s got some medical market only now, but you’ve got probably close to 600,000 card holders.

You have a state with a population of a little over 21 million people and then you’ve got well over 100 million tourists coming through the state, whether that’s in Orlando metro, Miami metro, or over into Tampa.

So there’s a huge upside for tourism. So it’s a natural fit for what we want to do.

And in Florida, of course, cannabis companies are required to be vertically integrated, which we’re very comfortable with, because we do a lot of growing and manufacturing.

We thought it made perfect sense for us to go in there and really build out a retail platform that right now is non-superstore, more of our neighborhood concept like our Medizin dispensary in Las Vegas.

And we’ll identify sites that are appropriate for superstores when Florida transitions to adult use.”

Robert Groesbeck identifies the “Superstore” as a key Planet 13 differentiation:

“Originally, we were just a superstore model; we were a single-store operator.

Now we’ve moved into California. We’ll be in Florida as you mentioned earlier. We’ll be in Illinois too.

Originally our goal was just to do superstores and do a handful of those throughout the country in large, urban, metro areas that have large tourist draws.

We’re going to continue to push the superstore brand, but we’re also going to go into these select markets with a more of what we call a neighborhood or a traditional dispensary store, smaller footprint, in that 2,500-square-foot range. So that’s our plan.

It’s worked well.

That’s really what differentiates us, though, from most of the competition. We’re really the only operator in the space that really built facilities of this magnitude.

And I’m sure there will be others that will follow and that’s to be expected, but we’re going to continue to focus on what we do best.”

Get the complete Planet 13 Holdings (CSE:PLTH) growth strategy by reading the entire 2,991 word interview with Robert Groesbeck, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript.

John Buckingham Portfolio Manager of Kovitz Wants You to Buy Dividend Stocks

John Buckingham, Principal and Portfolio Manager, Kovitz

John Buckingham is Principal and Portfolio Manager at Kovitz. He began working at AFAM Capital in 1987 and Kovitz in 2018, as part of the Kovitz acquisition of AFAM.

He has more than 30 years of investment management experience and is Editor of The Prudent Speculator. He chairs the California Investment Team.

In this 4,608 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript, John Buckingham details his investing philosophy and top stock picks for the rest of 2021 and into 2022.

“Kovitz is a wealth management firm providing asset management, financial planning, retirement projections — pretty much the full gamut of anything that a high net worth client would need. The firm has more than $7 billion of assets under management.

My operation is based in Orange County, California. We oversee about $875 million of the firm-wide assets. Our strategies are value oriented. We’ve been implementing them since 1990 — so, more than three decades.

And the principles, if you will, that we follow are espoused in The Prudent Speculator investment newsletter.

…We are very much value driven. We strive to find investments, of course, that will appreciate in value over time.

We try to buy stocks at a discount to what we perceive to be their true worth. We take a very long-term view of things. We’re looking at three years to five years or longer in our holding period.

We are not market timers.

We don’t try to navigate the ups and downs by making significant asset allocation shifts. We do not believe that investors can time the market and we think it’s far better to have portfolios positioned across asset allocation mixes properly, in advance of the inevitable volatility that folks will see.”

John Buckingham is a bull on dividend stocks in the current economy:

“…We think that dividends are extraordinarily attractive in the current low interest rate environment. And we like that our portfolios are yielding, in some instances, more than what you could get on a fixed-income strategy.

And of course, with fixed income, the definition is sort of fixed, meaning your coupon payments are not likely to change over time. But the nice thing with dividends — no guarantees of course — is that dividends have historically grown over time.

And so, we very much think that dividend-paying stocks are extraordinarily attractive, especially in this environment.”

John Buckingham details some of his dividend stock picks.

“…On the dividend theme, is inexpensive names with dividend yields in excess of the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury, of course, is a benchmark that many people will compare their yields or income opportunities to. So the 10-year is at 1.6% or so, and the 30-year is higher than that at 2.1%. So, we have dividend payers that are yielding well in excess of 2% and have reasonable valuations. I’ll give you those.

One is the health care provider CVS Health (NYSE:CVS). There, we have a forward, that is, next-12-months — NTM — p/e of 11 and a dividend yield of 2.4%. And with all of these names, we think earnings are likely to grow over time.

It’s not like we’re buying something that we’re not expecting the “E” portion of the p/e to be stagnant. We expect it to grow. And obviously, if the “E” grows and the “P” doesn’t grow, then your p/e becomes lower.

But if the “P” grows along with the “E,” then your 11 multiple can stay 11 and you can still do well. We think it deserves to trade for more than 11 times earnings. So we think we will get a p/e expansion out of some of these stocks in addition to the “E” continuing to grow. And by the way, we get a nice dividend yield too.

Another name in that theme is Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR), which is the big appliance maker. They are trading at a forward p/e of 8 and a 2.8% dividend yield. And obviously, there are supply chain issues going on right now with most companies, as they manufacture things and need parts and components.

So again, we think earnings are likely to grow over time with Whirlpool from where they have been recently.

Another name is the insurance giant MetLife (NYSE:MET). Here’s a NTM p/e of 9 and a 3% dividend yield. And then finally, the advertising heavyweight Omnicom (NYSE:OMC).

There you have a forward p/e of 12 and dividend yield of 3.7%. So that’s the inexpensive names with generous dividend yields above the current yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury.”

Kovitz portfolio manager John Buckingham has many stock picks for investors:

“…We believe in broad diversification amongst our names, but also amongst market capitalizations. We’re equal opportunity stock pickers. So we don’t mind if a company has a large cap or a small cap, and we will go where the bargains are. These days, there are some small-cap companies in our mind that are also very attractive.

First name is a specialty retailer Big Lots (NYSE:BIG). There your NTM p/e is 9, 2.6% dividend yield. The stock has come down considerably.

The nice thing about Big Lots, in addition to being highly profitable these days, is management is buying back a mountain of stock — a significant portion of the shares outstanding has been retired and is likely to continue to be retired. And the balance sheet is in very good shape and, again, a single-digit forward p/e ratio.

Next company is the homebuilder MDC Holdings (NYSE:MDC).

We know that housing has gone through the roof, no pun intended.

But we still think that there is upside to be had in homebuilders here. Believe it or not, MDC is trading for a forward p/e ratio of 5 and the dividend yield is 3.3%.

We think MDC is a conservatively managed builder, not highly speculative. They generally cater more towards first-time buyers, as opposed to luxury buyers, and we think that, as the economy rebounds as we come out of COVID, there is going to be substantial demand for the folks buying their first home.

Next name would be a chip equipment maker, Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC). They make semiconductor capital equipment.

That space has done very well, but Kulicke and Soffa has retreated from over $70 down to around $50. And frankly, there really hasn’t been anything to account for that, aside from investors souring a bit on the semiconductor space.

So Kulicke’s forward p/e is 8 and there you get a 1.1% dividend yield.

So again, a smaller-cap name that might be overlooked and that we think will deliver substantial earnings growth for the next few years.”

Get many more stock picks from John Buckingham of Kovitz by reading the entire 4,608 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript.