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Tag: semiconductors

US Economy Too Strong for Fed, Where to Invest Now (Szn 6, Epsd 10)Podcast episode cover art feat guest Leo Schmidt, River Eddy Capital

US Economy Too Strong for Fed, Where to Invest Now (Szn 6, Epsd 10)

Published June 14, 2024

With Leo Schmidt, River Eddy Capital

Leo Schmidt, founder of family office River Eddy Capital, rejoins the podcast to discuss his views on economy, markets, and where to invest capital in what may be a ‘stagflation lite’ environment.

  • “Labor markets are way too hot.” There will be “no landing” (1:48);
  • Non-farm payrolls came out much stronger than anticipated. What this says about the labor market (4:59);
  • ‘Stagflation lite’ (8:31);
  • Our views of credit creation are outdated. The shadow banking system has replaced commercial banks as the primary source of credit. What this means (11:59);
  • The Federal Reserve probably needs to raise rates. Could they? Probably not — this year (22:21);
  • What does an investor do now? First up: Stocks that are AI/Nvidia (NVDA) plays. Celestica (CLS), Flex (FLEX), Sanmina (SANM), Jabil (JBL) (27:51);
  • Pharma spin-outs: Haleon (HLN), Kenvue (KVUE), Organon (OGN), Viatris (VTRS) (31:54);
  • Dollar stores, especially Dollar Tree (DLTR), are poised to outperform once there is an economic slowdown (39:07);
  • The bullish case for pipeline companies (46:59).

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The Search for ‘Undiscovered’ AI Chip Stocks

Published May 21, 2024

This blog post was originally published as part of today’s Daily Contrarian.

Recent market activity shows investors don’t want to wait for Nvidia (NVDA) earnings tomorrow to bid up AI chip stocks. Marvell Technology (MRVL) was one of the biggest winners yesterday. Smaller AI names like Soundhound AI (SOUN) also put in rallies, as did the usual suspects AMD (AMD), Micron (MU), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Broadcom (AVGO), and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM).

AI bull

Here’s an idea for an ETF: small AI hardware names. Limit it at, say $5 billion market cap companies. The focus on hardware would (presumably) allow for a margin of safety. It would also weed out names like the aforementioned Soundhound, C3.ai (AI), FARO Technologies (FARO), and others including companies that just plaster the term ‘AI’ all over their marketing materials to attract attention.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t leave much. The Contrarian did a preliminary search and found just a few such companies, almost all of them suppliers to the semiconductor industry. Of course, ‘undiscovered’ is a bit of a misnomer here. Investors have picked through any and every stock even remotely related to AI. Still, it’s fair to say these securities are certainly under-covered by Wall Street.

Names include ACM Research (ACMR), Camtek (CAMT), FormFactor (FORM), Ichor Holdings (ICHR), Kulicke and Soffa Industries (KLIC), Photronics (PLAB), Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT), and Veeco Instruments (VECO).

It’s likely the AI hype story is already priced in to these stocks (didn’t check). But it may be worth putting these names in an index to track them, to the extent that somebody hasn’t done it yet. If nothing else this could give us an idea of stocks to buy when (if) there is a pullback in AI chip names.

There are obviously private companies as well, including Anthropic (OpenAI rival), Graphcore, Cerebras, SambaNova, Groq.

The Contrarian does not hold any of these stocks.

Update June 4, 2024: ACM Research will be removed from this list as the company does most of its business in China.

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3 Stock Picks, the Case for Investing in Malaysia: Aaron Pek (Szn 5, Epsd 10)

Published April 25, 2023

This podcast episode brought to you by Covey — Covey is designed to find, reward, and train the next top investment managers —from any background—that anyone can copy, so everyone can win. To track a partial portfolio of Value Investing Substack, click here.

Aaron Pek of Value Investing Substack joins the podcast to discuss his bullish outlook on three individual stocks and more generally the investment case for Malaysia.

Content Highlights

  • First idea: Intel (INTC) and why it can compete with Samsung (SSNLF) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) (2:33);
  • Some additional background on Intel and its business case (4:49);
  • Bears say INTC has years until it can catch up to TSMC, but Intel has the necessary machinery to bridge the gap sooner (10:10);
  • Second idea: Occidental Petroleum (OXY), a unique oil play beloved by Warren Buffett (15:23);
  • Background on the guest (23:57);
  • Third idea: Hibiscus Petroleum (HIPEF), whose management team the guest views as the Warren Buffett management team of southeast Asian oil and gas (28:13);
  • The case for Malaysia: a view from the ground (32:29);
  • There is an ETF, iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM) which tracks Malaysian stocks. Discussion of Malaysia’s geopolitical place between China and the US (34:39);
  • China’s lost decade (44:11).

Not investment advice! Do your own research, make your own decisions.

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