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Wednesday, October 28, 2026

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Fajasy on X

I compared the 8-K on Quantum’s $QMCO CFO firing to the one on its chief accounting officer’s exit in August. $QMCO terminated William White as CFO on October 9, 2026, effective immediately, eight months after appointing him on February 2, 2026. When I first wrote up $QMCO on May 6, White was its newly appointed CFO, after the seat had been empty since August 2025. The 8-K gives no reason, and I found no press release about the firing on $QMCO’s investor relations site. Instead, the 8-K says $QMCO expects to file its September-quarter 10-Q on time. The filing also says $QMCO expects to meet or exceed its guidance for the quarter, even though it was still “early in its financial closing process.” Chief accounting officer Hiral Patel took over as principal financial officer, so she now signs off on $QMCO’s financial statements with the CEO. Patel only joined $QMCO on September 1, after the company decided on August 11 to replace Laura Nash as chief accounting officer. The 8-K on Nash says there are “no disagreements” between her and the company, but the one on White doesn’t say either way. So within two months, $QMCO replaced both of its top finance officers. $QMCO’s June-quarter 10-Q still reports material weaknesses (the most serious kind of gap in a company’s financial reporting controls) in revenue recognition, inventory, and income taxes. It also says $QMCO “lacked sufficiently qualified staff or resources to perform control activities.” None of the weaknesses has led to a material misstatement, but $QMCO has restated its financial statements before, in May 2024 and again in August 2025. In my May 6 write-up, I listed restatements as a risk that could break the story, and wrote that a third “would be a serious credibility hit.” $QMCO expected to fix one of its three revenue weaknesses, the schedules that set when service revenue is recognized, by the end of the September quarter. Its June-quarter 10-Q was also officially filed on August 11, a day after its 40-day deadline, and its FY2026 10-K needed a notice of late filing in June. So with open material weaknesses, a history of restatements, and a 10-Q filed a day late in August, I’d rather see the September-quarter 10-Q, due November 9, before taking $QMCO at its word.
@StableBread

Fajasy on X

A tape library maker fired its CFO on October 9, 2026, without giving a reason, and its stock is now down 41.3% from its October 2 peak. Within two months, it replaced both of its top finance officers. Yet it still expects to meet or exceed its September-quarter guidance. That company is Quantum $QMCO, which makes tape libraries that companies use to archive data for years. $QMCO has fallen to $20.25/share, down 22.4% since my August update, but still more than double the $9.42 investors paid in its June private placement (PIPE). Worth mentioning that the larger hard drive and flash memory stocks have fallen from their 2026 highs as well, through the October 27 close: → SanDisk $SNDK: Down 44.1% to $1,304.84/share. → Seagate $STX: Down 39.0% to $667.85/share. → Western Digital $WDC: Down 49.0% to $380.88/share. So $QMCO fell about as far as the group, but in under four weeks instead of four months, and mostly after the CFO was fired. Besides the firing, three accounting issues hang over $QMCO’s September-quarter 10-Q, due November 9: 1) Material weaknesses: $QMCO’s June-quarter 10-Q still reports material weaknesses (the most serious kind of gap in a company’s financial reporting controls) in revenue recognition, inventory, and income taxes. 2) Restatements: None of the weaknesses has led to a material misstatement, but $QMCO has restated its financial statements before, in May 2024 and again in August 2025. 3) Late filings: Its June-quarter 10-Q was officially filed on August 11, a day after its 40-day deadline, and its FY2026 10-K needed a notice of late filing in June. Still, tape demand is growing, and no $QMCO insider has sold since my August update: → Tape: Secondary storage, which $QMCO’s 10-K describes as “primarily tape storage systems,” doubled from a year earlier to $37.0M in the June quarter, 46% of total revenue, up from 29%. → Industry: The LTO Program, the group of $HPE, $IBM, and $QMCO that sets the LTO tape standard, reported on September 1, 2026 that tape capacity shipped in Q1 2026 rose 57% from Q1 2025. → Supply: By CEO Hugues Meyrath’s account, $IBM’s drive supply, not demand, limits how much $QMCO can sell for now. → Insiders: No $QMCO insider has bought or sold shares in the open market since my August update, including Dialectic, the activist fund managed by director John Fichthorn. $QMCO’s EV is $825.3M, counting its warrants, options, and RSUs. That’s 2.8x TTM revenue, down from 4.9x at the October 2 peak, but still 34.4x the September quarter’s $6M ±$1M of adjusted EBITDA guidance, annualized. So is $QMCO’s drop a pullback worth buying, or a warning about the numbers? That’s what I answer in my new update on $QMCO, including my bear, base, and bull cases.
@StableBread

Fajasy on X

By my numbers, Magna Mining $MGMNF (TSX: $NICU) is worth CAD$0.88-3.08/share before restart capital, depending mostly on Levack, its flagship mine. Here’s what the stock is worth under four Levack outcomes at Q2 margins, before restart capital (the upfront spending to rebuild and reopen the mine): 1) Levack worth nothing: CAD$0.88-1.09/share from cash, McCreedy West (the producing mine), and Crean Hill (the permitted nickel mine), 45-56% below the CAD$1.98 share price (October 23 close). 2) Levack at McCreedy West’s scale: 17M lbs/year is worth ~US$114M, which makes the stock worth CAD$1.35-1.56/share, 21-32% below CAD$1.98. 3) Levack at its study’s plan: The October 7 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) plans 36.8M lbs/year from mid-2028 to 2035, worth ~US$246M, which makes the stock worth CAD$1.90-2.12/share, 4% below to 7% above CAD$1.98. 4) Levack at the top of CEO Jason Jessup’s range (3x McCreedy West): 54M lbs/year is worth ~US$361M, which makes the stock worth ~CAD$2.59/share (+31%) with McCreedy West and Crean Hill at the top of my ranges. With a 10% higher realized price, Levack rises to ~US$479M and the stock to ~CAD$3.08 (+56%). The PEA’s CAD$70.1M of initial capital would take ~CAD$0.21/share off the last three cases, but pre-commercial cash flow and tax credits cut the net funding need to CAD$8.6M (~CAD$0.03/share). On the upside, SCP Resource Finance, a mining-focused investment bank, put a CAD$5.10 target on the stock (+158%) in its April 14 note, before Alpayana, a Peruvian mining group, bought 62.4M new shares at CAD$2.25. Canaccord Genuity $CCORF, a Canadian investment bank, and Desjardins, a Quebec-based financial cooperative, also cover the stock, and both advised Magna on the Alpayana deal. Reaching SCP’s CAD$5.10 would demand ~US$964M from Levack and the rest, ~3.9x Levack’s value at the PEA’s output and Q2 margins. Getting there takes (1) ore from R2, a high-grade zone at Levack, (2) higher metal prices, (3) better margins at Levack than at McCreedy West, or a strong mix of the three.

Investor Letters

All letters
BMBL 2026-10-21

Bumble is being taken private

Bumble agreed to a $6.05-per-share cash sale to Ithaca Holdings, 136% above its October 2 share price.

BMBL $788M
Modern Value Investing 8 clicks

LXS.DE: a 2028 sale it can force

Lanxess can force Advent to buy at least half its Envalior stake in April 2028, potentially raising about €745 million to reduce net debt.

LPTH $578M
Trade Ideas Flow 21 clicks

Build-A-Bear: A Narrower Path

Build-A-Bear's push into prestuffed toys and broader retail distribution tests brand stretchability, but recent results warrant caution.

BBW $327M
TSOH Investment Research 18 clicks

TSOH Weekly Roundup (10/16/2026)

Bumble agreed to a $1.3 billion take-private deal, while Netflix cut about 1,000 jobs and Meta discussed its Muse superintelligence models.

BMBL $788M
TSOH Investment Research 12 clicks
SRTA · long

Strata Critical Medical INC

Strata Critical Medical, SRTA, supplies organ-transport products tied to U.S. transplant growth.

SRTA $427M
Value Investors Club 3 clicks

Late August 2026 Random Ramblings

Higher rates could compress equity multiples and raise AI data center lease costs, while UWMC and Cogent raise questions about CEO-driven…

CCOI $397M
Yet Another Value Podcast 13 clicks

The Verra Sneerer (NASDAQ:VRRM)

Verra Mobility renewed Hertz tolling management for five years. AutoKinex lets rental customers buy tolling, fuel and protection products…

VRRM $505M
The Oak Bloke 6 clicks

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