Tag: efl

Availability Bias and financial markets

Seemingly half of the economy (tourism, restaurants, entertainment/sports, etc.) have been taken away with the onset of COVID-19.

So what else can people do when they are locked away in their basements? Invest in Bitcoin.

Because I mentioned Bitcoin, I will show you a chart on how much you’ve missed out:

Do you feel jealous? Resentful that others are making money while you’re not?

Just because I brought up the issue, it went into your attention and naturally you gravitate towards an availability bias – it is on your attention so it is of higher concern.

Here’s another issue.

Back on November 27th, you could have picked 9, 15, 35, 41, 42, 45, 46 on the Lotto MAX and claimed $55 million! You missed out! Feel regret? You can take solace in the fact that others did not win on the missed fortune that was available.

Or perhaps Trillium Therpeutics (TSX: TRIL) or AcuityAds (TSX: AT)?

You’re missing out!

What about Galaxy Digital (TSX: GLXY) or Electrovaya (TSX: EFL)?

Are you feeling resentful you’re not making these 500% gains in the markets?

I hope you see where I am getting at here – there are 1,340 securities on the TSX (common stock, preferred shares, warrants) that are trading. 617 of them had a positive price return. 413 of them had a price return of 10% or greater. Likewise, 416 of them had a price return of -10% or lower.

Everybody likes to talk about the grand slam home run that won the world series (here is a video for you Toronto people, albeit one away from a grand slam), but few talk about the hitter that can hit a consistent 0.300, or even worse, the person that gets called up from the minor leagues and gets 1 hit for 28 at-bats before the person he replaced got off the disabled list and said person got sent back down again.

While Bitcoin and Telsa are highly entertaining, they suck up attention in a manner that breeds resentment. Minimize the human psychology behind it by thinking about the feasibility of predicting the next Lotto MAX numbers (and all the more power to you if you can crack that algorithm!).

TSX Bargain Hunting – Stock Screen Results

I’ve been doing some shotgun approaches to seeing what’s been trashed in the Canadian equity markets. Here is a sample screen:

1. Down between 99% to 50% in the past year;
2. Market cap of at least $50 million (want to exclude the true trash of the trash with this screen)
3. Minimum revenues of $10 million (this will exclude most biotech blowups that discover their only Phase 3 clinical candidate is the world’s most expensive placebo)

We don’t get a lot. Here’s the list:

September 1, 2017 TSX - Underperformers

1-Year performance -99% to -50%
Minimum Market Cap $50M
Minimum Revenues $10M
#CompanySymbolYTD (%)1 Year (%)3 Year (%)5 Year (%)
1Aimia Inc.AIM-T-74.89-72.74-86.9-84.6
2Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc.ARZ-T-73.77-76.19-56.6
3Asanko Gold Inc.AKG-T-62.86-71.4-38.8-58.1
4Black Diamond GroupBDI-T-58.41-56.78-93.7-91.4
5Cardinal Energy Ltd.CJ-T-60.91-51.8-79.7
6Concordia InternationalCXR-T-42.81-85.24-95.6-69.2
7Crescent Point EnergyCPG-T-53.04-56.72-80.8-79.1
8Dundee Corp.DC.A-T-51.6-51.76-84.7-87.4
9Electrovaya Inc.EFL-T-42.72-61.8822201.2
10Home Capital GroupHCG-T-55.42-52.16-74.3-45.2
11Jaguar MiningJAG-T-54.31-62.14-55.8-99.7
12Mandalay Resources CorpMND-T-53.75-66.36-65.7-52.6
13Newalta CorpNAL-T-56.9-59.68-95.5-92.7
14Painted Pony EnergyPONY-T-64.97-60.94-77.4-65.9
15Pengrowth EnergyPGF-T-60.62-59.57-88.9-88.6
16Redknee SolutionsRKN-T-51.92-64.95-78.2-41.4
17Tahoe ResourcesTHO-T-53.04-66.27-78.2-66.9
18Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl.VRX-T-15.25-56.68-87.4-67.3
19Western Energy ServicesWRG-T-61.61-55.09-88.6-82.7

Now we try to find some explanations why this group of companies are so badly underperforming – is the price action warranted?

1, 8, 10 and 18 are companies with well-known issues that have either been explored on this site or obvious elsewhere (e.g. Valeant).

2 is interesting – they clearly are bleeding cash selling drugs, they have a serious amount of long-term debt, but they have received a favorable ruling in a patent lawsuit against (a much deeper-pocketed) Mylan. There could be value here, and will dump this into the more detailed research bin.

3, 11, 12 and 17 Are avoids for reasons I won’t get into here that relate to the typical issues that concern most Canadian-incorporated companies operating foreign gold mines, although 12 appears to be better than 3 and 11. 17 has had huge issues with the foreign government not allowing them to operate their primary silver mine.

4, 13 and 19 are fossil fuel service companies.

5, 7, 14 and 15 are established fossil fuel extraction companies with their own unique issues in terms of financing, profitability and solvency – if you ever predicted a rise in crude oil pricing, a rising tide will lift all boats, but they will lift some more than others (specifically those that are on the brink will rise more than those that are not). 14 is different than the other three in that it is mostly natural gas revenue-based (northeast BC) which makes it slightly different than the other three which warrants attention.

6 If you could take a company that clearly makes a lot of money, and drown it in long-term debt, this would be your most prime example. It just so happens they sell pharmaceuticals. Sadly their debt isn’t publicly traded but if it was, I’d be interested in seeing quotations.

9 A cash-starved company selling a novel lithium-ceramic battery at negative gross margins would explain the price drop. Looks like dilution forever!

16 Lots of financial drama here in this technology company. They went through a debt recapitalization where a prior takeover was interrupted by a superior bid. Control was virtually given at this point and the new acquirer is using the company for strategic purposes that do not seem to be in line with minority shareholder interests. A rights offering has been recently conducted that will bring some cash back into the balance sheet, but the underlying issue is that the financials suggest that they aren’t making money, which would be desirable for all involved.