Malaysia’s most powerful Islamist party has cut ties with a former electoral ally, blowing open a bitter feud within the country’s main opposition bloc as several key elections loom. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) president Abdul Hadi Awang announced late on Monday that the party’s central working committee had decided to “terminate political cooperation with Bersatu”, endorsing an earlier deci...
Malaysia’s most powerful Islamist party has cut ties with a former electoral ally, blowing open a bitter feud within the country’s main opposition bloc as several key elections loom. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) president Abdul Hadi Awang announced late on Monday that the party’s central working committee had decided to “terminate political cooperation with Bersatu”, endorsing an earlier decision by its Syura Council, the party’s highest religious decision-making body. The partnership had...
years/iStock via Getty Images Thesis We were the first ones to cover the Militia Long/Short Equity ETF ( ORR ) on the Seeking Alpha platform back in 2025, when we highlighted for retail investors the exciting long/short hedge fund that had been packaged in the ETF format. In that article, we talked about the founder and main portfolio manager, his philosophy and track record, as well as the portfo...
years/iStock via Getty Images Thesis We were the first ones to cover the Militia Long/Short Equity ETF ( ORR ) on the Seeking Alpha platform back in 2025, when we highlighted for retail investors the exciting long/short hedge fund that had been packaged in the ETF format. In that article, we talked about the founder and main portfolio manager, his philosophy and track record, as well as the portfolio construction for ORR and its very high expense ratio, which had a quirk. After a year of public data being available, we are going to revisit ORR (which is one of our portfolio holdings as well), and articulate why we are downgrading this ETF to 'Hold' and our updated view. 'Hedge-Fund' Light ETFs Are a Very Special Breed For investors who are new to the field, 'hedge-fund' vehicles are basically funds with very wide mandates. In terms of the legal aspect and funds incorporated as hedge funds, some of them do have specific areas of focus in the capital markets and are disclosed as such (fixed income versus equity hedge funds, etc.). When it comes to the ETF product, a 'hedge fund' type ETF basically has an open mandate. ORR states the following on their website: The Militia Long/Short Equity ETF pursues a higher turnover, fundamental long-short global stock selection strategy. This is as open as one can get in terms of objectives. In fact, ORR pursues a total return strategy, where it tries effectively to make as much money as possible for investors. If the manager feels the S&P 500 ( SPX ) is a good bet, they can go long the index. Conversely, if the manager feels the S&P index is overvalued, he can short it. These types of vehicles are very hard to analyze, and investors should mostly rely on analytics and follow the development of an ETF and their trading style. Having owned this name since last year and having kept a close tab, we are going to talk about what we see. Current Portfolio The current portfolio has kept the same theme from last year, namely being at the ...
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images At a glance Performance The Portfolio returned -4.62% (gro S s) and the S&P 500® Index returned -4.33%. Contributors/detractors Stock selection in the consumer discretionary and healthcare sectors detracted from relative performance. Stock selection in the information technology and industrials sectors contributed. Outlook Our differentiated investment approach ai...
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images At a glance Performance The Portfolio returned -4.62% (gro S s) and the S&P 500® Index returned -4.33%. Contributors/detractors Stock selection in the consumer discretionary and healthcare sectors detracted from relative performance. Stock selection in the information technology and industrials sectors contributed. Outlook Our differentiated investment approach aims to provide equity diversification for clients, along with returns not tied to an index or the broader economy. Portfolio review We remain excited about opportunities around AI, and our conversations with companies across the ecosystem have reinforced our view that demand for AI compute will continue to exceed supply for the foreseeable future. This should fuel ongoing capital investment and opportunities for companies, especially those operating in critical bottlenecks around infrastructure, memory, optical, and power. Such companies include Vertiv Holdings, a top relative contributor for the first quarter. Vertiv is an essential supplier of cooling, power management, and rack systems to AI data centers. It has delivered strong earnings growth, with its orders backlog more than doubling on a year-over-year basis. It has continued to expand its market reach and capabilities through strategic investments, especially in liquid cooling technologies, and it announced a new partnership with NVIDIA ( NVDA ) to develop advanced solutions to support high-density data centers. Shares rose further on news that Vertiv's stock will be added to the S&P 500 Index, which may draw additional investor attention to the stock. Lumentum ( LITE ) Holdings, another outperformer, is a leading supplier of optical components critical to AI-driven data center networking. The company has several avenues for revenue growth, including sales of optical transceivers, which support the transmission of data through optic cables by transmitting electrical signals into light. It also has a strong foothold ...
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the broader semiconductor sector recovered from a sharp selloff during the previous trading session.
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the broader semiconductor sector recovered from a sharp selloff during the previous trading session.
wabeno/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Gencor Industries ( GENC ), which has been in existence for 58 years, is a US-based company that produces certain heavy machinery and equipment that is used primarily in highway construction and environmental control. To get more specific, its product portfolio (which is manufactured by different operating subsidiaries (see image above) such as Gencor, B...
wabeno/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Gencor Industries ( GENC ), which has been in existence for 58 years, is a US-based company that produces certain heavy machinery and equipment that is used primarily in highway construction and environmental control. To get more specific, its product portfolio (which is manufactured by different operating subsidiaries (see image above) such as Gencor, Bituma, Hy-Way, Blaw-Knox, etc.) includes the likes of asphalt pavers, hot mix asphalt plants, combustion systems, and fluid heat transfer systems, all of which are manufactured in the US alone (across 3 separate facilities in Iowa, Florida, and Pennsylvania) and sold primarily across North America (revenue outside the US and Canada accounted for less than 0.15% of last year’s sales). Subsidiary logos (Gencor) The GENC stock, which has a market cap of over $200M (which puts it in the micro-cap category), has experienced quite a subdued performance over the past year. For context, while other micro-caps (represented by the IWC ETF) have expanded by nearly 50% (on average), and other industrial stocks (represented by the VIS ETF) have expanded by a healthy threshold of 25% (on average), GENC has not even managed mid-single-digit returns. So should prospective investors take a cue from this damp performance over the past year and stay away, or is there potential for a comeback of sorts? Price return comparison (Seeking Alpha) Inadequate Internal Controls and Irregular Financial Reporting Serve as Uncomfortable Red Flags Before I dive into the nitty-gritty of GENC’s industrial and business landscape, it’s particularly important for prospective investors to note that this is a business that continues to face challenges in maintaining adequate internal controls over its financial reporting (linked particularly to ineffective IT general controls and inadequate risk assessment). In fact, if one peruses its latest 10K (the company subscribes to a September-ending fiscal), you’ll see ...
Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT) has secured a landmark agreement with NHS England for Microsoft 365 Copilot. The rollout will cover 505,000 clinicians and support staff across the NHS England workforce. The deployment includes Copilot Studio and agent governance tools for AI-powered productivity in a regulated healthcare setting. This NHS England deal positions Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT) at the center of...
Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT) has secured a landmark agreement with NHS England for Microsoft 365 Copilot. The rollout will cover 505,000 clinicians and support staff across the NHS England workforce. The deployment includes Copilot Studio and agent governance tools for AI-powered productivity in a regulated healthcare setting. This NHS England deal positions Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT) at the center of one of the largest real world deployments of generative AI in healthcare. For investors...
If you are wondering whether QUALCOMM's current share price still offers value after a strong run, the next sections will walk through what the numbers are really saying about the stock. The share price sits at US$217.77 after a mixed stretch, with the stock down 4.9% over the past week and 0.6% over the past month, yet still up 25.9% year to date and 43.1% over the last year. Recent coverage has ...
If you are wondering whether QUALCOMM's current share price still offers value after a strong run, the next sections will walk through what the numbers are really saying about the stock. The share price sits at US$217.77 after a mixed stretch, with the stock down 4.9% over the past week and 0.6% over the past month, yet still up 25.9% year to date and 43.1% over the last year. Recent coverage has focused on QUALCOMM's role in key technology themes and how that positions the company within...