Managing Partner, VRS (Valuation & Research Specialists)

VRS (Valuation & Research Specialists)

Managing Partner

Valuation & Research Specialists (VRS) is a boutique financial advisor with more than 17 years of experience in Corporate Valuation and Finance, and a diversified client base including some of the largest Companies in Greece.

Since 2002, VRS has completed more than 200 engagements in the areas of business valuation and financial analysis for more than 100 clients in a wide range of industries.

VRS has been honored to work with small and large private and publicly traded companies in Europe and overseas.

Boutique Financial Advisor

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>The re-emergence of AI as a topic of hype, caution and investment contains, in equal parts, the re-discovery of a pre-existing technology, but now on steroids, plus all the excitement of the race among the top 5 techs to invest enough in order to dominate the field .</li><li>The 2000 Dot.com boom involved hundreds of IPOs of start-ups, all with the word “internet” in their names, except now the AI boom involves mostly buying up existing startups by the big Techs.</li><li>The re emergence of AI will undoubtedly change a lot of the ways in which data are used and monetized, it will make Google search far more client-friendly and it will step up the capacity of software to program themselves. </li></ul>

The re-emergence of AI as a topic of hype, caution and investment contains, in equal parts, the re-discovery of a pre-existing technology, but now on steroids, plus all the excitement of the race among the top 5 techs to invest enough in order to dominate the field .The 2000 Dot.com boom involved hundreds of IPOs of start-ups, all with the word “internet” in their names, except now the AI boom involves mostly buying up existing startups by the big Techs.The re emergence of AI will undoubtedly change a lot of the ways in which data are used and monetized, it will make Google search far more client-friendly and it will step up the capacity of software to program themselves. 

The “ AI Revolution” : A Cautionary Tale and Its Investment Consequences

Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives, MBI Deep Dives

MBI Deep Dives

Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives

MBI is the abbreviation for “Mostly Borrowed Ideas”. Why “Mostly Borrowed Ideas?” As a generalist, I do not have a background in any particular sector. I enjoy navigating across industries, businesses, and countries to learn, understand, and connect the dots. In any case, most ideas and innovations are incremental in nature. Very few of us are smart enough to come up with truly original or groundbreaking ideas. I am Abdullah Al-Rezwan. I was born and brought up in Bangladesh. I went to University of Dhaka for my undergrad and majored in Finance. After working three and half years in Equity Research (Sell-side) covering Financial Sector in Bangladesh, I left Bangladesh to pursue my MBA in the US. I graduated within top 10% of the class from Cornell University's two-year MBA program and worked on the buy-side following my graduation. During my time at Cornell, I won two stock pitch competitions and also became finalists in four other competitions. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a generalist in the US large cap team at Madison Investments and covered a wide range of companies from UnitedHealth to Amazon and Boeing before US immigration reality paused my career in investment management. As my work authorization expired, I moved to Canada in January, 2021. Then in early 2022, I was able to return to the US.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Topline grew +9% FXN. While Google Services revenue growth was flat in 1Q’23, it was 5.5% YoY in 2Q’23, with growth re-accelerating in every component of Google Services.</li><li>Despite cost optimization efforts by customers, Google Cloud maintained its momentum with ~28% YoY growth (same as it was in 1Q’23).</li><li>So, on an apple-to-apple basis, Google Services margin would be slightly lower this quarter than reported (say, ~$500 Mn opex for Google Brain).</li></ul>

Topline grew +9% FXN. While Google Services revenue growth was flat in 1Q’23, it was 5.5% YoY in 2Q’23, with growth re-accelerating in every component of Google Services.Despite cost optimization efforts by customers, Google Cloud maintained its momentum with ~28% YoY growth (same as it was in 1Q’23).So, on an apple-to-apple basis, Google Services margin would be slightly lower this quarter than reported (say, ~$500 Mn opex for Google Brain).

Independent Investment Research & Investor, Maverick Equity Research

Maverick Equity Research

Independent Investment Research & Investor

Independent Investment Research & Investor: value, dividend and growth stocks. Risk management & hedging for an all weather portfolio.

<ul><li>1st chart shows us the 2023 % returns &amp; the holdings weightings while the 2nd table is a return attribution analysis which tells us exactly that 10.25% (1025 b.p basis points) are due to just 7 stocks, the M7 (Magnificent Seven) tech stocks: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Meta/Facebook &amp; Google/Alphabet. Let that sink in!</li><li>The laggard are the following top 7 stocks: their weight is small in the index, but note the individual returns which are materially negative in 2023</li><li>To continues smoothly here, the S&amp;P 500 with the stocks above their 52-week lows &amp; below their 52-week highs: tech, AI, semiconductors and consumer discretionary are leading and hot, while energy, cruises &amp; travel cooled off in the last year</li></ul>

1st chart shows us the 2023 % returns &amp; the holdings weightings while the 2nd table is a return attribution analysis which tells us exactly that 10.25% (1025 b.p basis points) are due to just 7 stocks, the M7 (Magnificent Seven) tech stocks: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Meta/Facebook &amp; Google/Alphabet. Let that sink in!The laggard are the following top 7 stocks: their weight is small in the index, but note the individual returns which are materially negative in 2023To continues smoothly here, the S&amp;P 500 with the stocks above their 52-week lows &amp; below their 52-week highs: tech, AI, semiconductors and consumer discretionary are leading and hot, while energy, cruises &amp; travel cooled off in the last year

The S&P 500 Report: Performance, Profitability, Valuation & Key Metrics - Ed #2

High Quality Stock Setups, Weekly Stock Bull Finder

Weekly Stock Bull Finder

High Quality Stock Setups

Finding high potential stock setups on quality companies

<ul><li>“Big Infrastructure”- Under the Surface Megatrend Continues While AI/semiconductors and related Big Tech names such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Alphabet, etc. capture significant attention within the business media today, secular growth pockets in the infrastructure space don’t seem to be gathering as much attention as it probably should deserve in the infrastructure space.</li><li>As shown in recent legislation, one of the few areas of agreement within a divided US Congress is infrastructure investment and spending.</li><li>Passed in November 2021, the the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act unleashed $550 billion in new spending for things like roads and bridges ($110B), power grid modernization ($65B), railroads ($66B), water infrastructure ($55B), airports ($25B), etc.</li></ul>

“Big Infrastructure”- Under the Surface Megatrend Continues While AI/semiconductors and related Big Tech names such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Alphabet, etc. capture significant attention within the business media today, secular growth pockets in the infrastructure space don’t seem to be gathering as much attention as it probably should deserve in the infrastructure space.As shown in recent legislation, one of the few areas of agreement within a divided US Congress is infrastructure investment and spending.Passed in November 2021, the the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act unleashed $550 billion in new spending for things like roads and bridges ($110B), power grid modernization ($65B), railroads ($66B), water infrastructure ($55B), airports ($25B), etc.

<ul><li>Earnings Season Thus Far- Meanwhile Mixed Economic Messages Earnings season picks up this week with the technology heavyweights like Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are all set to report their results.</li><li>During the upcoming week, 180 S&amp;P 500 companies (including 14 Dow 30 components) are scheduled to report results for the first quarter.</li><li>Overall, 18% of the companies in the S&amp;P 500 have reported actual results for Q1 2023 to date.</li></ul>

Earnings Season Thus Far- Meanwhile Mixed Economic Messages Earnings season picks up this week with the technology heavyweights like Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are all set to report their results.During the upcoming week, 180 S&amp;P 500 companies (including 14 Dow 30 components) are scheduled to report results for the first quarter.Overall, 18% of the companies in the S&amp;P 500 have reported actual results for Q1 2023 to date.

United States

Alphabet Inc. operates as a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides web-based search, advertisements, maps, software applications, mobile operating systems, consumer content, enterprise solutions, commerce, and hardware products.

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Alphabet (GOOGL US)

The “ AI Revolution” : A Cautionary Tale and Its Investment Consequences

The re-emergence of AI as a topic of hype, caution and investment contains, in equal parts, the re-discovery of a pre-existing technology, but now...

VRS (Valuation & Research Specialists)

Alphabet 2Q'23 Earnings Update

Topline grew +9% FXN. While Google Services revenue growth was flat in 1Q’23, it was 5.5% YoY in 2Q’23, with growth re-accelerating in every...

MBI Deep Dives

The S&P 500 Report: Performance, Profitability, Valuation & Key Metrics - Ed #2

The laggard are the following top 7 stocks: their weight is small in the index, but note the individual returns which are materially negative in 2023

Maverick Equity Research

Weekly Stock Bullfinder - Week of 6/12

As shown in recent legislation, one of the few areas of agreement within a divided US Congress is infrastructure investment and spending.

Weekly Stock Bull Finder

Weekly Stock Bullfinder - Week of 4/24

During the upcoming week, 180 S&P 500 companies (including 14 Dow 30 components) are scheduled to report results for the first quarter.

Weekly Stock Bull Finder

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