Month: October 2018

Ascensus Financial Services, LLC. Fined by FINRA

31 October 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $35,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it conducted a securities business while failing to meet its net capital requirements.

10/31/201802/25/2021

Article: Dollarama shares drop after short-seller says ’broken growth story’ could tumble 40%

Dollarama shares drop after short-seller says ’broken growth story’ could tumble 40%

Svea Herbst-Bayliss, 31 October 2020

BOSTON — Spruce Point Capital Management, which focuses on in-depth research of companies’ vulnerabilities, sees room for Dollarama Inc’s stock price to tumble roughly 40 per cent after the Canadian retailer raised prices and fewer customers are shopping at its stores. “Spruce Point believes Dollarama is a ‘strong sell’ with an approximately 40 per cent downside risk,” Ben Axler, who runs the hedge fund, said at an investment conference on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with his presentation. He examined the company’s products, pricing and what he called “troublesome management and governance red flags.”
Continue reading “Article: Dollarama shares drop after short-seller says ’broken growth story’ could tumble 40%”

10/31/201802/25/2021

Article: Why Dollarama Is A Broken Growth Story And We See 40%+ Downside Risk

Why Dollarama Is A Broken Growth Story And We See 40%+ Downside Risk

Ben Axler, 31 October 2018

Spruce Point believes that Dollarama (TSX: DOL / OTC: OTC:DLMAF or “the Company”) is now a broken growth story that will fail to hit its lofty long-term growth targets, placing its industry-leading margins and valuation multiple at risk of material contraction. As a result, we see ~40% downside risk to C$24.60 per share.

Rising product prices, progressively saturated markets due to heightened competition, and increasingly stale stores out of touch with Millennials have caused per-store traffic to contract for several years as consumers realize it is no longer a true dollar store. The Company is on pace for its lowest new store count in years despite management’s continued efforts to expand the store base. Dollarama’s gross and EBITDA margins are inexplicably high relative to peers, and seem too good to be true. Management also claims to have never closed a store for performance reasons. We expect growth and profitability expectations to fall back to reasonable levels as a number of fundamental factors – tougher competition, wage increases, FX, and logistics costs, among others – pressure the business going forward.
Continue reading “Article: Why Dollarama Is A Broken Growth Story And We See 40%+ Downside Risk”

10/30/201803/08/2021

Article: Traders betting against FAANG stocks have made $5.5 billion during the brutal October sell-off (FB, AMZN, AAPL, NFLX, GOOG)

Traders betting against FAANG stocks have made $5.5 billion during the brutal October sell-off (FB, AMZN, AAPL, NFLX, GOOG)

Ethel Jiang, 30 October 2018

Betting against some of this year’s best-performing tech stocks — the FAANG basket — has been a money-making machine during the brutal tech sell-off in October. Short sellers of FAANG stocks, or those investors betting against these shares, have seen $5.52 billion in mark-to-market profits since the beginning of the month, a return of 17.14% on an average short position of $32.2 billion, according to data from S3 Partners, a financial-analytics firm.

Since that time, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index has plunged 12%, in large part because of the FAANG stocks — Facebook (-13%), Apple (-6%), Amazon (-24%), Netflix (-26%), and Google (-15%). Continue reading “Article: Traders betting against FAANG stocks have made $5.5 billion during the brutal October sell-off (FB, AMZN, AAPL, NFLX, GOOG)”

10/30/201803/01/2021

Article: Lakewood’s Anthony Bozza Recommended Shorting Three Pot Stocks at Robin Hood

Lakewood’s Anthony Bozza Recommended Shorting Three Pot Stocks at Robin Hood

Joshua Fineman, 30 October 2018

(Bloomberg) — Lakewood Capital Management LP’s Anthony Bozza recommended shorting Tilray Inc., Canopy Growth Corp., and Aurora Cannabis Inc. at the Robin Hood Investors Conference in New York City, according to a person with knowledge of the presentation. Two of these companies, Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis, were named new shorts by Lakewood in their fourth-quarter letter to clients in January.

Bozza said that it’s not a matter of if, but when these pot stocks collapse. Tilray shares have reversed about 9 percent for the day’s peak, turning negative around the same time that Bozza was scheduled to present at RobinHood.
Continue reading “Article: Lakewood’s Anthony Bozza Recommended Shorting Three Pot Stocks at Robin Hood”

10/27/201803/03/2021

Article: (SEC) Meeting with Representatives of Overstock.com, DowLohnes Government Strategies and Haverford Group

(SEC) Meeting with Representatives of Overstock.com, DowLohnes Government Strategies and Haverford Group

basserdan, 27 October 2018

On September 8, 2008, Jonathan Johnson of Overstock.com, Kenneth Salomon of DowLohnes Government Strategies LLC, and John Wellborn of the Haverford Group met with Commissioner Aguilar and his counsel, Cyndi Rodriguez. They discussed issues related to the amendments to Regulation SHO, Rel. No. 56213 (S7-19-07) and the Emergency Order, Rel. Nos. 58166 and 58190 (S7-20-08) and issues related to data on the volume of failures to deliver. Continue reading “Article: (SEC) Meeting with Representatives of Overstock.com, DowLohnes Government Strategies and Haverford Group”

10/26/201805/13/2020

Fined: Investment Placement Group Fined by FINRA

Investment Placement Group Fined by FINRA

26 October 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $10,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it made payments of approximately $3.85 million in commissions earned by registered representatives to unregistered entities instead of directly to the representatives. The findings stated that each representative was a co-owner of the entity to which the firm paid the commissions.

10/25/201805/13/2020

Fined: Avalon Investment & Securities Group, Inc. Fined by FINRA

Avalon Investment & Securities Group, Inc. Fined by FINRA

25 October 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $12,000, ordered to pay $1,515, plus interest, in restitution to customers and required to retain an independent consultant to conduct a comprehensive review of the adequacy of the firm’s policies, systems and procedures (written and otherwise) and training relating to the violations identified in the AWC.

10/22/201803/09/2021

Article: Overstock Subsidiary Medici Ventures Invests in Minds, Patrick Byrne to Join Board

Overstock Subsidiary Medici Ventures Invests in Minds, Patrick Byrne to Join Board

JD Alois, 22 October 2018

Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK), via subsidiary Medici Ventures, has invested in Minds, Inc. a cryptocurrency social network. The investment will be joined by Overstock founder and CEO Patrick Byrne joining the board of directors of Mind. Details on the amount invested were not disclosed.

Patrick M. Byrne, a huge blockchain proponent, commented that Minds’ work employing blockchain technology as a social media application is the “next great innovation toward mainstream use of this world-changing technology.” Continue reading “Article: Overstock Subsidiary Medici Ventures Invests in Minds, Patrick Byrne to Join Board”

10/19/201805/13/2020

Fined: Maxim Group LLC Fined by FINRA

Maxim Group LLC Fined by FINRA

19 October 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $65,000, ordered to pay $167,780.49, plus interest, in restitution to customers and required to review and revise, as necessary, its systems, policies and procedures (written and otherwise) and training with respect to the sale of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system, and establish, maintain and enforce WSPs, reasonably designed to detect and prevent unsuitable short-term trading in UITs.

10/18/201805/13/2020

Fined: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC Fined by FINRA

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC Fined by FINRA

October 18, 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined a total of $56,000, of which $8,000 is payable to FINRA. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to take reasonable steps to establish that intermarket sweep orders (ISOs) it had routed met the definitional requirements set forth in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Rule 600(b)(30) of Regulation NMS primarily due to systems issues. The findings stated that as a result of the systems issues, the firm routed ISOs to multiple markets, which potentially traded through protected quotations in NMS stocks.

10/18/201805/13/2020

Fined: MBSC Securities Corporation Fined by FINRA

MBSC Securities Corporation Fined by FINRA

18 October 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and ordered to pay $971,289.07, plus interest of $242,955.64, in restitution to customers. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system and Written Supervisory Procedures (WSPs) reasonably designed to monitor the transmittal of funds from customer accounts to third parties.

10/18/201805/13/2020

Fined: Lenox Financial Services, Inc. Fined by FINRA

Lenox Financial Services, Inc. Fined by FINRA

18 October 2018

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $15,000. A lower fine was imposed after considering, among other things, the firm’s revenue and financial resources. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to make required financial interest and beneficial ownership disclosures in research reports.

10/13/201802/25/2021

Article: Manulife faces backlash from investors over failure to disclose court case