Summary Braze is a relatively recent new issue. After a post IPO spike, its valuation has compressed materially along with the overall market for high-growth IT vendors. The company has achieved faster growth in recent quarters as the benefits of its platform become more widely known in the marketing community. The company is led by…
It’s a couple of days after a bit of sentiment reversal. So many names of various kinds including IT stocks had been hugely oversold, and perhaps over shorted. I get asked “is it over.” Usually, after this kind of precipitous sector rotation, most technicians expect to see at least some kind of retest. It isn’t…
We finally pulled the trigger on a portfolio rebalance, eliminating our position in the shares of Veeva, and adding to our holding of Upstart. Overall, the transaction reduced our margin balance by a minimal level of just over $600. Our margin balance is as high as I find comfortable given the vicissitudes that market has…
A bit of a mixed metaphor here-lumps of coal aren’t supposed to come until Christmas. But it feels like Christmas this wintry day in early December, so I decided to use the metaphor. Once again, the strong demand environment is fighting against valuation concerns and overall angst about inflation, interest rates and now the Omnicom…
This past week is one that I might wish to see blanked out on the calendar. The panic mentality that has ruled the market for high-growth IT names had its ups and downs over the course of the week. But investors continued to shun high-growth names. The casualty report from the stock market front has…
I have been asked by several subscribers what I am doing in this market implosion. Simply put-I don’t sell into panics. I didn’t sell back at the start of the pandemic, although that was pretty uncomfortable. I haven’t sold during other sector rotations. I don’t believe I am being stubborn. I simply try to invest…
Summary Shift4 is a leading payment processor in some high growth verticals including restaurants, hospitality, stadiums, gaming and specialty retailing. The company has been growing its user base by about 25%/year, and it has made a dramatic pivot to acquiring much larger users than was the case recently. The company has several key points of…
Yes, we did send out our weekly commentary just a little while ago. But the action of the market today. November 22, has impelled us to write an update for subscribers. The pullback today transcended the fintech space, although some commentators focused attention on the performance of those shares which retreated significantly. This was a…
While the headline averages such as Nasdaq traded with gains today, for the most part software shares were weak, and the IGV fell by about 1% and the Cloud Computing index fell by 1.25%. The IGV and the CLOU computing index have both been relatively weak so far this month, with the Cloud index down…
After falling dramatically last Wednesday, many high-growth names have recovered subsequently and made up lost ground. Of these 3 portfolio constituents, Affirm have shone the most brightly, rising 14% in the wake of earnings and making up the loss it had suffered in the wake of the share price implosion at Upstart. Shift4’s quarter was…