We did see some constructive activity in the last week. SmartStop Self Storage $SMA priced in the range at $30 and traded up modestly from there. We had an inexplicable listing of Newsmax $NMAX which went ballistic thanks to a small float and retail "demand" or boredom. After cresting $250/share, NMAX is back down to $48. FWIW they lose a lot of money running an ultraconservative media business. No doubt the Daily Wire is watching this and wondering "why not us?"
The sudden move in CoreWeave $CRWV seems to be tied to the new $40B in funding OpenAI has from Softbank. That pays for a lot of GPU hosting. Google is also taking on some services from CoreWeave, and the company is touting new high-water AI processing benchmarks using the latest chips from Nvidia $NVDA. No real change in terms of our view on the stock.
On the filings front: Circle $CRCL added to the "legit" IPO pipeline with eToro $ETOR, StubHub $STUB, Klarna $KLAR and Hinge Health $HNGE. There are still quite a few "underground" IPO filings of tiny deals, and more SPAC funds are trickling out.
Spinoffs Remain on Track
This is a space to watch this year as some major transactions are on the horizon. Honeywell $HON is one of the biggest and if they do half as well as $GE did with its plan there will be plenty of "unlocked value" for investors. It's still several months away but it's a good idea to buy now in taxable accounts.
Microcap Toro Corp $TORO is spinning off the "Handysize Tanker" business in the form of Robin Energy to make an even more microcap name. TORO already has a negative EV with a huge pile of cash and 4 LNG tankers. I'd expect a fresh buyback to be announced shortly after the spinoff. The record date is set for April 7 with the shares distributed on or about April 15. TORO holders get one Robin share for every 8 they own. No sizzle here but these deals are worth watching for the simple reason that nobody else is. The business has lots of leverage linked to utilization rates and average pricing.
IAC completed the spin-off of long-term failure Angie's List, which now goes by "Angi" and is still trading as $ANGI. That said the company is still generating $1B in revenue and is quite profitable with a solid balance sheet. The EV of $850M is on projected adjusted EBITDA in 2025 of $135-$150M. Construction materials are hit hard by tariffs on Canada so we may be looking at the low end of that range.
Other companies we are tracking with upcoming spinoffs: Dupont $DD, Becton Dickinson $BDX, Aptive $APTV, FedEx $FDX, Continental AG, Middleby $MIDD, and Unilever.
