XPEL Inc. - XPEL
Another service picks up on the story
While this post is ostensibly about XPEL, if you’re either a free subscriber or new to me, please read on through to the end.
I don’t always point out when another service picks up on an idea of mine, but since this distribution method is rather new to me and I picked up a few subscribers that are new to my work, I thought I would make another exception. Earlier this week Jehoshaphat Research picked up on my RCM story, while today Culper Research picked up on XPEL. The link to the Culper XPEL story is here. While I have no real way of knowing whether or not switching to this distribution method is responsible for some higher visibility research and activist services to pick off some of my idea flow, and in a way I do welcome the additional scrutiny, but a couple in a single week does make me wonder.
This isn’t the first time this has happened, of course. Just looking at names on my current interest list (which I updated last week) and maybe last couple of years, there have been around a dozen names of mine that have found fertile ground elsewhere. Aside from XPEL and RCM this list includes APLD, FNGR, GSHD, IONQ, FCUV, OTRK, SGLY, CDXC, GBOX, ZYXI, INS, LOOP, and possibly others I don’t ordinarily see or track. And this list is only for names in the past 2-3 years. If you go back further there would be dozens of names added to the list.
On the other hand, I always make it a point of trying not to overlap research coverage from any other service. The caveat, of course, being I have to have seen it or at least know about it. I don’t subscribe to Off Wall Street and I no longer have a Bloomberg sitting on my desk to point out the other names I don’t track, so if there is some overlap, it’s completely unintended. My screening process tends to screen out most of the potentially popular names, all of which I have documented in the “about” section of this blog.
Why does any of this matter? Well, on the long side, the service that has the best timing and tells you to buy something at the absolute bottom is going to be the hero, regardless of where they are in the pack. The short side has other considerations, with timing being secondary to borrow, and having that little edge on a compelling story just might make it all worthwhile. Now, having other people along for the ride doesn’t necessarily make the timing for a story any better, and I am in no way making any recommendations across the board; I am only pointing things out that should be fairly obvious.
A quick note to my “free” subscribers. If you were referred to this blog by a current or former client of mine, please reach out to me with whoever referred you and I will upgrade you to a free 3-month trial so you can see whether or not this is something you wish to support. I don’t plan on making a bunch of “free” posts in the future, but have opened up some past ideas so folks at least have a taste of what I do. If I recognize the firm name in the email I will do it automatically, but some Yahoo or Gmail addresses are tougher to figure out. I originally had this set as an invite-only service, but was told some folks were hesitant to reach out so I have at least temporarily removed that restriction.
So send me a quick note to msvanda@protonmail.com and I’m happy to upgrade you.