On Solidcore... While they ended June 2024 with $404M in debt, they also had $761M in cash, so their net cash position is over a quarter of today's market cap. Run-rate NOPAT (plugging in $2,600 gold) is ~$1 billion, so they are essentially trading at an EV/NOPAT of 1x, despite decades of reserves/resources remaining at their two mines (especially Kyzyl) and one of the best management teams out there (IMO at least). At $2,000 gold, they would be at an EV/NOPAT of 2x, so not exactly terrifying downside. Gold is not for everyone, but against the backdrop of sovereign debt bubbles, inflation and geopolitical turbulence as world continues its path back to multipolarity, a little gold exposure isn't such a bad thing. (I am long Solidcore full disclosure.)
Fantastic report on one of the most fascinating countries for investing - I particularly appreciate the intellectual honesty you show in saying "I assume" or similar, instead of declaring things to be true. Also for the shout out of my Kaspi write-up!
Just a little note on Kaspi - currently the dividend yield is over 8% and net income margin is something like 40%, or if you net interest expenses out of revenue, about 54% :)
Great stuff as always, Derek!
On Solidcore... While they ended June 2024 with $404M in debt, they also had $761M in cash, so their net cash position is over a quarter of today's market cap. Run-rate NOPAT (plugging in $2,600 gold) is ~$1 billion, so they are essentially trading at an EV/NOPAT of 1x, despite decades of reserves/resources remaining at their two mines (especially Kyzyl) and one of the best management teams out there (IMO at least). At $2,000 gold, they would be at an EV/NOPAT of 2x, so not exactly terrifying downside. Gold is not for everyone, but against the backdrop of sovereign debt bubbles, inflation and geopolitical turbulence as world continues its path back to multipolarity, a little gold exposure isn't such a bad thing. (I am long Solidcore full disclosure.)
Fantastic report on one of the most fascinating countries for investing - I particularly appreciate the intellectual honesty you show in saying "I assume" or similar, instead of declaring things to be true. Also for the shout out of my Kaspi write-up!
Just a little note on Kaspi - currently the dividend yield is over 8% and net income margin is something like 40%, or if you net interest expenses out of revenue, about 54% :)