Boring is Weird
In a world drunk on narratives, the boring has become fringe.
I returned from NYC late last night after spending the entire day listening to the ‘weirdest’ investment opportunities from around the world.
This was the last stop of the Weird Shit Investing Conference that my good friend Swen Lorenz has been putting on for the past three years.
In addition to my presentation (more on that soon), I heard about unique asymmetric investments that included:
A network of undervalued cellphone towers across Africa ripe for a major acquisition
A copper miner in Europe with major reserves, and a pending legal settlement with Poland that could be more than the entire market cap of the company
A crash course on why insider buying and stock buybacks (from Yet Another Value Blog) could actually be negative indicators
And many more…
Having attended this conference in the past, there was one thing that stuck out more this year than any other: some things are really cheap.
But you wouldn’t think that if you were just looking at the AI trend and listening to mainstream commentary.
As my friend and fellow presenter, Wyatt Sparks, said: “Boring is weird.”
Value Trap Anonymous
I started my presentation with a joke that everyone at the conference was delusional about the value based companies they thought were great investments.
The joke wasn’t so much about all of the attendees, but more about the state of the market.
The reality is that many of the most valuable companies in the world are trading with valuations that just don’t make sense.
Meanwhile, companies that have been around for decades, and are nearly guaranteed to be around for many more, are trading like they’re about to die.
But that’s just how markets go.
Narratives can grab hold of investor’s minds to create momentum that seems unstoppable… Until it stops.
Make sure, in these times of intoxicating narratives, you are exposing yourself to those who challenge the mainstream trend.
This is not a call to be contrarian for the sake of being different, but instead for the sake of safety.
Next week I’ll share my “Weird Shit Investing” presentation. It involves the Cali Cartel, a CEO shot in the head, and a 40 year dynasty that is being catalyzed by Mayor Mamdani.