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Sunday, November 1, 2026

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@StableBread

Fajasy on X

First Solar $FSLR trades at 6.7x TTM EBITDA and 10.4x TTM net income, while TOYO Co., Ltd $TOYO trades at just 0.9x and 2.0x. At $3.83/share, $TOYO has a market cap of $163.6M and an EV of $137.2M ($163.6M + $25.7M of bank loans + $51.4M owed to VSUN, an affiliate - $103.5M of cash). It trades at 0.9x TTM EBITDA of $156.4M, 2.0x TTM net income of $80.5M, and 0.78x its $209.8M of book value. Since 80.7% of its H1 revenue came from U.S. end customers, $TOYO’s closest comps are four other listed solar manufacturers selling into the U.S. (TTM multiples as of the October 26 close): → First Solar $FSLR (U.S. thin-film panel maker): 6.7x EV/EBITDA, 10.4x P/E, 1.75x P/B, and down 47.2% from its 2026 high. → Canadian Solar $CSIQ (panel and battery storage maker): 18.8x EV/EBITDA, a net loss, 0.22x P/B, and down 65.2%. → JinkoSolar $JKS (China-based panel maker): A net loss, 0.19x P/B, and down 72.7%. → T1 Energy $TE (Texas panel assembler building a U.S. cell plant): Negative EBITDA, a net loss, 2.95x P/B, and down 82.4%. So the market prices $TOYO’s earnings at 0.9x EBITDA, less than a seventh of First Solar’s 6.7x, a multiple that only makes sense if the four U.S. trade actions on its Ethiopian cells wipe out most of those earnings. Only $TE has fallen further from its 2026 high. I was originally going to write up T1 Energy until I found $TOYO, which offers a more attractive setup mainly because (1) it’s profitable, with $80.5M of TTM net income vs. T1’s $367.8M net loss, (2) it trades at 0.78x book vs. T1’s 2.95x, and (3) it has $26.4M of net cash vs. T1’s $629.2M of net debt.
@leevalueroach

Lee Roach on X

Monroe $MNRO is selling off on a weak Q2, down around 9% premarket. I think most of the market is reading the headline and missing what's buried in the new credit agreement. The Oct 23 refinancing with Ares ($250M term loan + $125M revolver, EX-10.23) runs well over 100 pages. Deep in the definitions is a "Permitted Change of Control" clause, and it's very specific: - One sale to a private-equity sponsor can happen without triggering a default - It must happen by Oct 23, 2027, a 12-month window - The sponsor needs $1.5B+ AUM, can't be on a disqualified-firm list that Ares and Monro pre-agreed, and must be in an approved jurisdiction - Pro forma lease-adjusted leverage must be 5.50x or less - Sponsor equity must be at least equal to all funded debt, including finance leases - Lenders get a 0.50% fee, and the sponsor can add back up to $2M/yr of management fees Lenders don't negotiate a provision this detailed (a named AUM floor, a pre-agreed blacklist, a fixed window) for a scenario nobody is considering. Meanwhile the board's strategic review, which includes a possible sale, has been open since May. None of this means a deal is coming. No transaction has been announced, and the same agreement also restricts the dividend and adds real interest cost. But headline-driven selling is pricing Monro as a standalone story. The credit agreement says the lenders are planning for a sale to PE and that deal is close.
@StableBread

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.

Investor Letters

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BMBL 2026-10-21

Bumble is being taken private

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BMBL $788M
Modern Value Investing 8 clicks
VITL · long

Vital Farms INC

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Value Investors Club

LXS.DE: a 2028 sale it can force

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Build-A-Bear: A Narrower Path

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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

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