Investment Write-ups

U-Haul: An Underfollowed Compounder

U-Haul (UHAL) is one of those rare class-defining brands, like a Google, Kleenex, Band-aid, etc., where even the competition is often referred to as “renting a U-Haul.” This brand recognition stems from the fact that UHAL basically built the do-it-yourself (DIY) moving market from scratch back in 1945 and subsequently over decades of aggressively signing...

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Ocado: Stock update

Ocado Group PLC (OCDDY) is our worst performing (in price terms) position so far this year. However, even while Ocado’s stock has fallen, our conviction that the underlying business continues to create real shareholder value has only increased. As a result,  we recently increased our position at these lower price levels. As a brief reminder,...

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Ocado (OCDDY): Automating the Really Difficult Stuff

We at Globescan mainly invest in US-based companies for fairly straightforward reasons: the regulatory environment is strong, the business environment friendly, there is a culture of entrepreneurship, and some of the most exciting companies in the world are US domiciled. That being said, there are occasions when we find companies overseas that offer something...

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GFL Environmental: From Trash to Treasure

During the first quarter 2021, we initiated a new position in GFL Environmental – a waste disposal company based in Canada. The Industry The waste industry has historically been characterized by high barriers to entry (land use regulations on landfills as well as scale economics due to route density), stable non-cyclical demand, exceptional pricing power, and...

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Process Case Study: Crown Castle (CCI)

Step 1. Identifying a Long-term Inexorable Trend  Wherever possible, we prefer investments that benefit from an inexorable trend – the sort of long-term trend that cannot be disrupted by geopolitics, elections, pandemics, wars, etc., the sort of trend that we can be confident will continue for decades into the future, and the sort of trend...

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Equinix Inc. (EQIX): Connecting the World

The internet is fundamentally a network of networks. For example, this website that you are reading is stored on a server somewhere which is connected to a network that is likely different from the network you are using to read it. At some point, these different networks (Charter, Comcast, AT&T, etc) need to communicate...

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Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG): A Tollbooth on Global Travel Growth

Business Description Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) is the largest online travel booking platform in the world. The company facilitates transactions between travelers and everything they might need such as: hotels, vacation rentals, airlines, rental car services, restaurants, etc. They own brands such as Booking, Priceline, Agoda, Kayak, Rentalcars, Open Table; as well as significant investments...

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