commodities – Page 6 – The Contrarian Investor Podcast

Shares of Akazoo, Silvercorp Sell Off On Reports From Inaugural Contrarian Investor Virtual Podcast

Published April 21, 2020

The Contrarian Investor Podcast, in partnership with ValueWalk, hosted the inaugural virtual conference before market open on Monday, April 20. A recording of the event is available on our new YouTube channel (and viewable at the bottom of this page).

Shares of Akazoo sold off sharply after the presentation from Gabriele Grego of Quintessential Capital Management that kicked off the event. “We believe Akazoo is a scheme orchestrated by management to profit while egregiously deceiving investors,” Grego said during the presentation. “We see signs of very suspicious accounting manipulation,” including cash inconsistencies and “a total lack of income taxes.”

Update: On May 21, an Akazoo special committee of independent directors announced that management and associates “participated in sophisticated multi-year fraud.”

Silvercorp Metals also sold off in the pre-market after the presentation by Nathan Anderson of Hindenburg Research.

Maj Soueidan of GeoInvesting LLC, a previous guest on this podcast, said he was bullish on shares of Intouch Insight. The customer experience company’s stock has sold off after coronavirus, which Soueidan says is an opportunity to build a position. He has a target of about $3 for the stock, which was trading around 27 cents a share at the time of his presentation.

Matt Zabloski, another guest on the podcast, gave the final presentation of the event, saying he was long shares of Vale, a Brazilian iron ore producer.

Season 2, Episode 11: Bargain Hunting in Frontier Markets, With Hedi Ben Mlouka of FIM Partners

Published April 7, 2020

Frontier markets are at greater risk of coronavirus fallout, but there are opportunities

Hedi Ben Mlouka joins the podcast to discuss his views of frontier markets in light of the coronavirus crisis.

Ben Mlouka has been investing in frontier markets for more than a decade as CIO and CEO of Dubai-based FIM Partners. He sees the asset class in general as being at greater risk of being impacted by fallout from the COVID-19 epidemic. The political risks are particularly vexxing.

Content segments timestamp:

Is this a good time to be investing in frontier markets? (6:03)
The first part of the equation: Frontier markets are less prepared for the coronavirus than developed markets (7:05)
The impact will be larger from a healthcare perspective while the policy response can be expected to be weaker, especially in fragile economies (9:56)
The crisis will expose the “downside of globalization,” precluding a “V-shaped” recovery (11:30)
Where are the opportunities? Oil importers like Pakistan and Egypt can benefit (15:26)
Speaking oil, forget about the demand shock for now. Oil prices should recover to $50 or $60 per barrel (18:57)
Beyond the macro picture, industries with access to capital are preferred. Avoid travel, hospitality, banks. (21:07)
Healthcare, education, retail, and consumer discretionary companies should recover over the long term (23:56)
Political risk is a major concern for many countries in frontier markets. Who’s most vulnerable? (31:09)

Highlights From Our YouTube Channel

More information on the guest:

FIM Partners website
LinkedIn

Not intended as investment advice.

Season 2, Episode 7: Oil Sell-Off Special Edition

Published March 10, 2020

Inside The Saudi-Russia Supply Standoff, With Kirill Zadov, Political Analyst, RUSA Radio

Kirill Zadov, political analyst at Russian-language radio station RUSA Radio, joins the podcast in this special episode to discuss the recent sell-off in oil prices.

Zadov has some unique insights into the Russian oil economy and the political economy of the Middle East. His prediction: Saudi Arabia and Russia will have to come together to agree to output cuts, and soon. How low will oil go in the interim? Here too Zadov has some views.

Segment time stamps:

What’s motivating Russia on their decision to not cut output? (4:02)
Why Russia and Saudi Arabia need to cut output, and soon (7:07)
What other countries in the region are affected by this? (9:19)
How long will it take for Russia and Saudi Arabia to agree to cuts? (10:28)
Background on the guest (11:35)
How low will oil prices go? (13:26)

For more information on the guest: