Stocks-in-Depth thoroughly examines the fundamentals of reasonably valued high-quality small and mid-cap growth companies. It is produced by GARP Research, a provider of equity research to institutions including many of the most well-known fund managers for over 20 years. GARP is known for its granular modelling of business lines and in-depth assessment of competition and served markets. Stocks-in-Depth searches for value and growth by researching stocks that may be out of favor, or where a ...
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Mitel has was long relegated to obscurity within the institutional investment community. However, the discussion in this series of episodes will broadly portray what we find are Mitel’s underappreciated competitive strengths. In episode 39, we first lay out how Mitel came to be a major, if little known, player in providing cloud telephony services …
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Realty Income has a diversified portfolio by sectors within the single parcel commercial property market. What are the risks of each sector, and how does management approach each?By Bill Baker, CFA
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Realty Income operates in a commoditized industry, the ownership of standalone real estate parcels used by certain commercial retail enterprises. In this podcast, we discuss how Realty Income structures its business to provide diversification and attempts to differentiate its offering.
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Demand for MEMS microphones increased greatly when Apple put four microphones into the iPhone7. What might further stimulate the worl's appetite for MEMS microphones? In this podcast, Stocks in Depth discusses potential for new technologies like the internet of things (think Alexa) and 5G networks (think machine-to-machine communications) that migh…
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Knowles two most important businesses, MEMS microphones and hearing aid components, share a common theme of eroding market dominance. But, management has devoted a large percentage of revenue into R&D that might address new developments. In Part 2 of this podcast on Knowles, we discuss how Knowles has positioned itself to capture new sources of dem…
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Knowles Corp. has suffered mightily since its spinoff from Dover Corp. in early 2014, mostly from the disastrous acquisition of Sound Solutions. MEMS penetration of smartphones, currently around 1.7 globally compared to 4 per iPhone, can continue to rise, since this statistic is nearer to one mike per phone outside of Apple. GARP Research has publi…
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SID 0033 Free Trade Doesn't Work - Part 4
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Donald Trump is about to be inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. As far as we can tell, every other country in the world advances a self-serving industrial policy, to the detriment of the United States, which embraces free trade. In this final episode of Stocks-in-Depth’s review of Ian Fletcher’s 2010-2011 book, Free Trade Doesn’…
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SID 0032 Free Trade Doesn't Work - Part 3
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Institutional investment strategists follow economic and market data closely, and tend to weave together a narrative that explains the current trend. Presently the US dollar is rising, like it has two times before in the last few decades. In this podcast, we sample the perspective of Brown Brothers Harriman currency strategist Marc Chandler, whom w…
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SID 0031 Free Trade Doesn't Work - Part 2
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The historical record shows that countries that rise to economic greatness did so through a strong industrial policy, which incorporates tariffs and non-trade barriers. Moreover, at their apex these powers tended to adopt free trade, some vainly thinking that in doing so they might change the world for the better, but nevertheless be able to kick a…
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SID 0030 Free Trade Doesn't Work - Part 1
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History is replete with unanticipated events: Pearl Harbor, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the 2008 credit meltdown, and now the improbable ascendance of Donald Trump to America’s highest office. Yet there are many who previse change, but whose ideas are so unorthodox that they are never see the light of day until after the fact. With this in …
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When we first examined the home standby generator market, we were struck by what seems to be a unanimity of opinion that tremendous secular growth would be driven by homeowners increasingly discovering the benefits of having an automated system to supply electric power in times of outages. It’s argued that penetration is low, and that loss of power…
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Generac astutely commandeered the clear leadership position in home standby generators during the late 1990s and after the start of the millennium. In so doing, it developed an expertise in engines optimized for burning natural gas or propane, such as its 2-cylinder OVHI 1,000 cc displacement engine that can deliver 16 kW of standby power, as well …
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For at least a decade, Generac's strategy has been to leverage off of its clear leadership in the home standby generator market to establish market share in portable generators, power washers, and commercial & industrial standby electricity generation markets. How successful has it been? How profitable can these adjacencies be? What other companies…
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Generac has seen its sales and earnings decline for over two years. Four powerful storms swept across the U.S. in the 2011-2012 period, but ever since then electric power outages have been well below normal. In Part 1 of our discussion of Generac, we'll cover what businesses this company runs, and what management's strategy is. We will have to stop…
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SID 0025 Central Garden & Pet - Part 3
1:50:47
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Central Garden & Pet contains numerous distinct businesses within its two namesake segments. In part 3 of this podcast, we spend nearly two hours breaking down the pieces within these segments, and provide granularity so you can appreciate how various rivals compete in each niche. Along the way, we explode the myth that dog food market, in which Ce…
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SID 0024 Central Garden & Pet (CENT) - Part 2
1:11:24
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In Part 2 of the Central Garden & Pet podcast, we continue to review the operations of the company beginning with portions of the Pet segment, mainly Aquatics, Flea & Tick products, calming products, equine, and the professional and special ingredients businesses. We discuss the Garden segment, especially controls. Given some of the pieces of the G…
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SID 0023 Central Garden & Pet - Part 1
1:25:03
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In Part 1 of this three-part podcast, we start by presenting some background on Central Garden & Pet, and we discuss management changes over the last few years that have affected the company’s strategy. We draw comparisons in our analysis to other consumer product firms, and discuss management’s ability to achieve acceptable levels of ROI in its tw…
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SID 0022 Columbia Sportswear (COLM)
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In this podcast, we examine what has caused growth in outerwear, sportswear, and footwear to accelerate since the 2008 credit crisis for key players such as Columbia, North Face, and other brands. These leading firms have harnessed the opportunity to use outlet stores and e-commerce to redefine their relationship with their customers and retailers,…
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SID 0021 Power Integrations (POWI) - Part 2
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In Part 1 of our podcast of analysis of Power Integrations' stock, we laid out how we saw it fitting in to stock market trends we've seen in 2016, which have been changing from the pattern followed since the credit crisis of 2008-2009. This company has suffered from stagnant sales and compressed margins. However, our methodology is to consider long…
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SID 0020 Power Integrations - Part 1
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The last major milestone for Power Integrations was its release of LinkSwitch2 in late 2008 to early 2009. LinkSwitch, by our estimate, is the company's leading product family. However, management stopped reporting sales by product about five years ago. In this stock research podcast, GARP discusses a wide range of subjects pertaining to this niche…
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How much organic growth is really occurring at RealPage? Is the apartment rental market going to become swamped by capacity? How profitable is RealPage really, considering that it discusses its results with institutional holders in non-GAAP terms? What does it look like using more conventional yardsticks? Is there a large market waiting for it and …
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SID 0018 Vocera Communications (VCRA)
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Vocera Communications is dearly valued relative to its present level of sales and red ink has been flowing for several years. However, 2015 has been a transformational year. Sales have started to grow and the losses are attenuating. A few years back it was largely dependent upon communications "badges" largely worn by nurses in hospitals, and it wa…
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SID 0017 Taser International - Part 2
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Shares of Taser International (TASR) retreated dramatically ever since the riots in Ferguson, MO dominated the headlines in early 2015, about one year ago. Is the decline because of fundamental factors such as Motorola's decision to enter the body cam and evidence management business, or is it more from the passage of an unpleasant psychological mi…
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SID 0016: Taser International - Part 1
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In part 1 of our discussion of Taser International stock, we explore how there are two segments. Its conductive electronic weapons (CEWs) enjoy extraordinarily high profitability with mid-30's operating margins fully burdened, and competition barely exists. The other segment is Axon, which contains its emerging evidence.com cloud-based evidence man…
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In part 2 of this stock research podcast discussing Entellus Medical, we explore the rough an tumble world of how rivals in the medical device industry can vary from raising a hundred million dollars for companies that wind up having minimal revenues and fail, to the foibles of industry giants such as Johnson and Johnson, which can be outwitted by …
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Entellus Medical came public in January 2015 under the premise that it was the leader in office-based balloon sinus dilation, which was a small but increasingly preferred niche compares to FESS operations performed in hospitals. The investment research discussed in this podcast examines whether changes in medicare reimbursement may have been a setb…
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Institutional investors have heard the story that unified communications is under-penetrated, and that soon most businesses will want to buy Plantronics' headsets that incorporate software compatible with Microsoft's Skype for Business cloud-based platform for office workers. Why has penetration stalled at a fraction of where consultants thought it…
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SID 0012 Trimble Navigation - Part 2
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Three players are preeminent in the field of precision navigation: Trimble, Hexagon, and Topcon. Is the competitive dynamic stabilizing? How are managements dealing with slower revenue growth, and does this mean that end markets are much more penetrated than before? How rapidly can adoption of building information management (BIM) take place? What …
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SID 0011 Trimble Navigation - Part 1
1:03:20
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Trimble Navigation's high-margin geospatial business and its precision navigation systems for farm use have slumped as the dollar has pressured commodities markets. But the company continues to grow in building information modeling (BIM) software and in mobile solutions for truckers and other fleets and work forces. Management is seeking to improve…
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We described in Part 1 how Cree, Inc. ramped up its headcount in its LED fabrication operation during the major up-cycle that occurred from 2006 through 2010. Although fewer bodies have been added since then, there's "only" been a 10% reduction in corporate headcount since the all-time peak in fiscal 2014, and LED sales are now back to where they w…
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Shares of Cree, Inc. are trading at about the same price as they fetched a decade ago, but at this point in time demand for LEDs for use in commercial lighting applications is very robust. Other companies involved in this area have enjoyed a warm reception from investors, in stark contrast to Cree. In this stock research podcast, we explore in deta…
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Besides having a unique technology, cyrolipolysis, Zeltiq may be able to effectively use this revolutionary platform to address needs beyond the original intention to selectively reduce fat in a non-surgical way. In 2017, it plans to use CoolSculpting to treat grade 2 cellulite and acne. Grade 2 cellulite affects a large portion of women, while som…
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Zeltiq has single handedly created a new market for reducing fat that targets the moderately overweight segment. It has become the fastest growing aesthetic treatment, which was already notable for the tremendous demand for neuromodulators like Botox and hyaluronic acid fillers like Restylane and Juvaderm. In Part 1 of this podcast, we explore how …
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With the launch of its Roomba 980 vacuum in September 2015, iRobot has added cameras, sensors, and Wi-Fi connectivity. CEO Colin Angle explains why he feels a roving sensor platform aboard the Roomba places iRobot in a unique position to grab leadership in the connected home of the future, and why fixed-point sensor arrangements such as Nest and Dr…
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Out of the blue we've heard from some smart people interested in this obscure molecular diagnostics company. Yet it seems few really know what's going on in this space. All the focus is on the FDA clearance of Luminex's new platform, Aries, which was designed to appeal to hospitals that might otherwise send out complex molecular tests to academic c…
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In 1965 Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, made an astounding prediction that transistor density on chips would double roughly every two years. But few know that at the same time he warned chip fabricators would hit a wall when the geometries involved became as small as atoms or particles themselves. IN this podcast, Bill Baker, CFA, describes how …
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When Synaptics' stock price withered from over $100 per share this summer to the mid-60s, according to Bloomberg a state-backed buyer from China offered to pay $110 per share for the company, and was rebuffed. What did China see in Synaptics that institutional investors in the U.S. may have missed in this company? In this podcast, Bill Baker, CFA, …
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In Myriad's analyst day in NYC on September 14, 2015, management discussed the outlook for several new growth drivers, and it addressed challenges faced in its legacy BRCA1/2 hereditary cancer genetic testing franchise. We explore what's new, the ins and outs of each opportunity, and delve into the intricacies of companion diagnostics.…
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Monotype Imaging is regarded as having a unique and somewhat bullet-proof franchise, being a "toll collector" when companies use fonts anywhere from on a laser printer to cloud-based publishing in mobile ads. But why has there been margin erosion and deceleration of growth? We explore what's under the hood in this episode...…
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