Monday, January 6, 2020

STRI Isn't Done Yet

Almost 3 years ago I wrote up STRI with the stock was at $0.18 and a market cap of $3.5M.  It was a net-net with about $15M in cash.  The stock doubled in two years then dropped all the way to $0.07 before recovering to the low teens.  Latest closing price is $0.12.

The story now is much the same.  We have a small company struggling to stay alive and I'm still waiting for the turnaround.  I read every filing with excitement.  "Maybe today is the day" I tell myself.  They closed operations in China.  They are leaving India.  The Malaysian facility was sold.  They started into a new business in Europe while cutting costs to keep the lights on.

I stick around for the potential amongst the carnage.  Three weeks ago they announced the sale of their old Malaysian facility was completed for over twice the market cap.  A $5M per quarter contract was announced which would be a 300% increase!

Below are numbers and the chart over the past 3 years:




The table shows you all the negativity and risk you need to hear.  Cash has been cut by 2/3rds.  They took on debt.  Book value is down 60%.  Their main business was solar panel encapsulants and it has not gone well.  This has been an operational falling knife and it might continue all the way to zero.

But then again STRI has a lot of what I look for.  The stock price is low and at the bottom of the chart.  Share structure is clean with only common.  They are trying for a turnaround and you know I'm a sucker for turnarounds.  They have $4.9M in cash, double the market cap.  A few weeks ago they announced the Malaysian facility sold for a net for $5.3M which will make it $10.2M total cash.  

A few years ago the company saw the dark future and made a change.  From the 2017 CEO's letter, "We are very pleased to report that in September 2017, our board of directors approved a significant investment in our Spanish entity, STR España, S.A. (“STRE”), to enter the large and growing high-end food packaging business."  This sort of thing is what I look for.  Pulling out of a weak business while moving into something with potential.  Change is here and change is what I want.  Give me potential, not stagnation.  The company is trying to get away from death, though recent numbers show they are swimming upstream.

Several years ago their solar operations were in China.  Losses forced their hand so they shifted to India which suffered a similar fate.  They have collected from their India partner and sold the Malaysian operation.

This is what survival looks like.  Cut off the dead branches and plant new saplings.  Put that cash to work.

Long term the stock will be a big winner if the food packaging business is a home run.  Some commentary from the most recent CEO letter (I recommend you read the whole letter):
we have made a major investment in the food packaging business at STR Spain. More specifically, we have invested approximately €5 million in new equipment and facilities upgrades to allow us to participate in the high-barrier, multi-layer film market for food packaging.

We made this investment believing that (i) solar encapsulant manufacturing will continue to decline in Europe, (ii) our facilities, systems, supplier relationships and know-how are very well suited for plastics manufacturing, (iii) the high-barrier films market in Europe will continue to grow for the foreseeable future, (iv) demand for our products will support our installed capacity and, (v) the return on investment will be strongest at the high-tech end of the product spectrum where we have chosen to enter.

BRC certification requires clean manufacturing practices, special provisions and procedures for avoiding contamination, proactive pest control, certain material handling requirements and other measures important to ensure food-safe production. We have been operating our facility in what we believe to be BRC-compliant mode since 1Q19. Our goal is to clear this important BRC certification hurdle by year-end by having an audit as soon as practicable after we have been able to develop sufficient production records.
I don't know anything about the food packaging business.  I can only trust they know what they're doing and think about the possibilities.  It won't take much to move this stock with only a $2.4M market cap.  Imagine what happens if their BRC certification comes through and they start getting orders.  Anything has got to be better than what they've been doing and the stock will respond.

The main reason I'm excited about STRI right now though is the $5M per quarter solar encapsulant contract they announced in Aug 2019 and commented on in the CEO letter.
Based upon current pricing, which is subject to adjustment, the Company anticipates that the minimum revenue it will receive under the Supply Agreement, if the Purchaser purchases its minimum requirements under this contract, will be approximately $5.0 million per quarter.

The term of the Supply Agreement is for a period of three years from commercial commencement of the new production capacity

The term of the Supply Agreement renews annually for additional one-year periods unless cancelled by either Party

We anticipate that such capacity will be operational during the first half of 2020, that the material will pass their requirements and that production-scale sales will commence under the supply agreement (the “Agreement”) mid-year 2020
STR will now be in a long-term supply relationship with the opportunity to grow our solar encapsulant business with recurring revenue and profitable sales over the three-year supply agreement period and potentially beyond
Man that sounds good!  STRI is a company with latest quarterly revenue of $1.2M and TTM sales of $6.8M.  Here comes a $20M per year contract.  They estimate it'll cost $3M to get the line running and we don't know what margins will be, but they're going to report some insane revenue growth when this kicks in.  That press release alone could cause a big stock spike.  What if they actually turn a profit?

In situations like this I think about how could I lose and how I could win.  Same reason I look at a chart and buy when it's at the bottom, I want more room to go up than down.  With STRI I see a few ways it could win big and they have the pieces in place to at least give it a shot.  What more can you ask for.

I bet the stock would've already taken off if they reported some good food packaging contracts.  Maybe one of these days...


--Dan
disclosure: long STRI

35 comments:

  1. Great writing, thanks for this Dan!

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  2. Very interesting! My firend is buying some

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  3. Do you think that mobile payment platforms could be something interesting? UMT United Mobility Technology develops fintech app software mainly for the German public. The company develops mobile payment apps and loyalty program apps and related software. The main business is the mobile payment app/platform.(I personally dont like the stock but it looks cheap)
    https://www.umt.ag/en/

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    1. certainly could be interesting. I'm not into German listed stocks though

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    2. I think global stocks are cheaper compared to U.S. stocks, see e.g. here:
      https://www.gurufocus.com/global-market-valuation.php
      Actually, a correction could be overdue after 10 years of a bull market. But of course this remains a big gamble.

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  4. Are you holding on to SLGD? The has gone up sharply (I bought it for usd 1 or so) and has become considerably more expensive. The market capitalization (28 Mio) is rather high now and the business is not as exiting.

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    1. Yes I'm still holding. I also bought around $1 as well as other prices on the way down. I'm just watching and waiting

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  5. hmm, another great pick was ESCC, which did go up by close to 100% today, as it will be acquired for 1.19. (I sold it a little fast for 1.13 - before I saw the announcement).

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    1. Yes I saw that. Unfortunately I didn't have any shares as I sold out long ago. I did buy some today for the arb

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  6. Hi Dan,
    Thank you very much for your blog and for your enterviews on twitter. Enjoy very much with both of them. I thought this investment aproach was death, so discover your blog is like fresh air for me.

    STRI looks like they are reaching the life buoy but the distance is still huge:
    We don´t know nothing about the Spanish investment; the malaysian sale is done, but they haven´t the cash yet, and the new 20M$/year contract has to be materialized in cash flows.

    In spite of all this things I think it´s a fantastic idea.

    Just two questions:
    1. Didn´t found Q3 2019, could you please tell me very to find it.
    2. Do you have idea of the insiders ownership?

    Thank you very much for your time, your blog and the way you invest.

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    1. Hi David. Glad you like my blog and interviews. STRI has de-registered from the SEC so no longer have to file reports in public. I don't know if they will keep communicating or disappear. So the story has changed a bit since I wrote this. Also with COVID-19 I don't know how things are going. I'd bet a lot of their operations are affected and who knows what happens to the 5M/month contract.

      Inside ownership is in the DEF14, last filed in summer 2019. https://www.otcmarkets.com/filing/html?id=13596779&guid=Q5_HUnf_5YrYvth

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  7. Dan hi, how do you know if a company canceled SEC registration, is it displayed somewhere on www.otcmarkets.com?
    In this way, when canceling the registration of a company save money?

    I apologize for my English. I am not from an English-speaking country.

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    1. a company files form 15-12b with the SEC when they de-register and yes you can find that in the disclosures tab of the STRI otcmarkets page.

      yes it saves them money

      you can read all about dark stocks, de-registering, the SEC, otcmarkets, and brokerages here: http://www.nonamestocks.com/p/dark-companies.html

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  8. Dan when you research , do you analyze dark companies? because one thing is when stocks have already been bought and the company has become dark and the other when knowing that it is dark to buy it.

    thanks for the link be sure to read

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    1. for sure I look at dark companies. there's less competition

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  9. Dan when researching for companies, you look primarily at companies with a gray market and pink, and only then otcqx, otcqb?

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    1. I look at all exchanges. I don't really have a preference.

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  10. Have you heard anything about the status of the company? There have been no news releases since the deregistration announcement on February 7th. There obviously should have been developments on the solar encapsulant supply contract and the European food packaging businesses since then. If you try calling the company (860-272-4235), the call goes directly to voicemail and the mailbox is full. Thanks.

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    1. STRI is not inspiring hope right now. Another shareholder told me he contacted them asking for financials and was denied. I have not tried myself

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    2. I did the same thing a few months ago (called the company number and couldn't leave a message). Bizarre. Have they gone BK and dissolved??? How can you not have a working phone #? I also find the ownership structure weird, with this large Chinese holder, yet the CEO continues to collect an extremely large annual comp - in other words, why is the large investor tolerating this? I don't get it.

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  11. It seems that there is also a risk that a broker does not accept STRI stocks anymore. E.g. I tried to transfer STRI stocks to Interactive Brokers (IB). They refused the transfer, even though the stock is still tradable at IB.

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    1. many brokerages will not allow transfers of OTC stocks: http://www.nonamestocks.com/2016/10/brokerage-firms-otc-markets-and-dark.html

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  12. STRI's assets have been sold.
    https://www.accesswire.com/626059/
    I was hoping for the past months that the STRE packaging business was still alive and well, but it seems they have filed for bankruptcy a few months ago.

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    1. saw that. hard to say if it's a good deal for shareholders without some more info on liabilities and what is actually changing hands

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  13. More details are provided in the Notice of Stockholder Action. H.B. Fuller acquired all of the assets of the U.S.-based solar encapsulant business, and assumed certain liabilities related to business. The purchase price was $6.245 million (after working capital adjustments) in cash plus a contingent payment of up to $1.7 million. $800,000 of the base purchase price was held back to satisfy any potential indemnification obligations. The contingent payment depends on Fuller receiving at least one payment from a certain customer with respect to the sale of certain products before February 15, 2022. The contingent payment is reduced by $340,000 each month after October 15, 2021 that the contingency isn't met. Yorgensen will apparently receive a severance payment of $950,000.

    http://ir.strsolar.com/static-files/bc646ed2-0407-4ff7-bc8d-439a41f3ccc0

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    1. thanks. I was just thinking I need to see more info on liabilities before knowing if I should buy more

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    2. Yes. The lack of disclosure is frustrating. Also need to know how much of the ~$10 million in cash that they had at the end of 2019 remains and confirmation that the Spanish government doesn't have a claim on STRI assets for the €4.6 million in loans to STRE (I don't think so.) It seems like the accounts payable and accrued expenses of the US encapsulation business were assumed by HB Fuller under the working capital adjustment.

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  14. the stock did go up by 100% today. Since the stocks are very illiquid, that doesn't mean much. Nevertheless, it is encouraging.

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  15. Hey Dan, love the blog and been following for a few years. Was wondering what you think the upside for this situation is right now?

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    1. Hard to say and I haven't put in enough time to have much confidence. They announced $6.3M - 8M sale price which would be $0.31 - $0.40 per share. But then they'll pay executives something and I don't know what happens to liabilities. What will they do with the cash? That's using their last reported share count but they haven't talked in a while so I don't know what's happened since.

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  16. An update from the H.B. Fuller 10-K filed on January 25th. The contingent pay meant of $1.7 million was made on November 27, 2021. The total purchase price was $7.945 million:

    On January 13, 2021, we acquired certain assets of STR Holdings, Inc. ("STR") for a base purchase price of $5,445 which was funded through existing cash. The agreement requires us to pay an additional $800 on the first anniversary of the acquisition and contingent consideration of up to $1,700 based on certain agreement provisions. STR, headquartered in Enfield, Connecticut, is a manufacturer of encapsulant products used in the solar industry. The acquisition fairvalue measurement, which includes intangible assets of $6,700 and other net assets of $1,245, was final as of November 27, 2021. As of November 27, 2021, the agreement provisions for the contingent consideration were met, and as a result, the $1,700 was paid.

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  17. STRI published an update on the wind-down. Still claiming $0-$5 million in proceeds. Not sure how after a year of winding down the business there isn't a more accurate estimate. Also curious why that range is below the asset sale proceeds. I don't trust Yorgensen who set to receive a $950K severance payment. They are targeting a distribution prior to the end of 2023. What is going take another 1+ year?

    https://www.strsolar.com/Assets/Files/2022.07.26%20Press%20Release%20-%20Update%20on%20Wind-Down.pdf

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  18. Looks like the wind down is finally happening. Symbol is gone as of mid Oct and my account shows my position in an escrow account, something about "liquidation pending future"

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    1. company still says 0-5m will be distributed. https://www.strsolar.com/Assets/Files/Oct%206,%202023%20-%20Filing%20of%20Certificate%20of%20Dissolution.pdf

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