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CTO is a publicly traded REIT based in the US. It owns and operates a portfolio of high quality, retail-based properties. The company focuses on fast-growing markets such as the Southeast and Southwest of the US. Its portfolio spans about 5.2 million square feet, as well as about 16% interest in Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. (PINE). Its business model is focused on strategic acquisitions, active asset management and opportunistic dispositions to maximize cash flow growth and portfolio quality. For instance, in 2024, CTO invested $330.8 million at a 9.3% weighted average cash yield. It raised about $165.2 million through its ATM program, as well as achieving 4% YoY growth in same-property NOI. These results demonstrate its operational strength. Below is a historical breakdown of its revenue per segment.
Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) (NEOE:UBER:CA) pioneered crowdsourced ride-hailing and has grown to become the world leader in the space. Since its founding in 2009 by Travis Kalanick, Uber has expanded into online food, grocery, parcel delivery, and freight forwarding services. Today, Uber operates in over 15,000 cities globally, generating ~$180bn in gross bookings per annum across 171 million monthly active platform customers (MAPCs). While Uber undoubtedly offers consumers excellent services, I previously believed that the company was not an attractive investment due to strong competition, low margins, and weak underlying unit economics. This is no longer the case. Over the last two years, Uber’s financial performance has improved remarkably. In 2023, the company turned profitable and has been steadily expanding its margins whilst growing the top line at 20% per annum, in turn taking market share, adding services, and driving product innovation for drivers and riders. Leading this impressive turnaround is CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Dara joined Uber in 2017 from Expedia, where he led the company as CEO for 12 years.
SentinelOne’s (NYSE:S) stock price hasn’t fared well since I last wrote about it as a buy recommendation on December 7, 2024, shortly after the company released its third quarter fiscal year (“FY”) 2025 report. Investors were unimpressed with weaker-than-expected full-year FY 2025 revenue guidance and with the company’s valuation reaching a level that was getting ahead of what the current fundamentals will support, and the stock had dropped after earnings to what I considered a fair valuation. That assessment was wrong. Since my buy recommendation, the stock has fallen 27% from where I recommended it, compared to the S&P 500’s (SPX) 7% decline.
The combination of a growing digital world and cyber threats asks for a scalable solution, which CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) offers with its Falcon platform making the company a pureplay cloud cybersecurity play. Cybersecurity is playing an increasingly important role as the world is becoming more and more digital. With more tasks being offloaded to artificial intelligence, more cloud adoption and data-driven decision making, the need for scalable security solutions is paramount. The current global tensions around the world also make it more important for enterprises and governments to bolster security against cyber warfare, which has become another axis of warfare.
At the end of last month, Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) reported Q1 2025 results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom line. Non-GAAP earnings of $0.60 were 13% better than anticipated and over 22% better than the same period last year. Net interest margin for the first quarter was 3.24%, 10 basis points better year-over-year. Even more impressive was the company’s report on its loan portfolio, in which only 0.42% of its loans were delinquent or non-performing. This was the lowest such rate for the bank in nearly 20 years.
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