Independent Research, US Dominant Players, Investment Talk

Investment Talk

Independent Research, US Dominant Players

Investment Talk is for readers who wish to learn about companies that are potentially outside of their own circle of research, as well as those who are longing to become part of a community of like-minded investors and learn more about investment research. I would describe myself as a long-term investor who typically takes a 3Y to 5Y outlook, before reassessing once that period matures. I follow the adage that one should research, reach a conclusion, and then verify and continue to hold so long as the thesis remains intact. My own investing style is one that seeks to find dominant players within their respective market who have shown signs of monopoly or oligopolistic behaviour, unlikely to be disrupted, in tandem with discovering market disruptors who have a high likelihood of disrupting their respective market. Equally (and weighted accordingly) I seek to discover more nuanced, misunderstood, situations with a shorter time frame.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>During the First World War, then referred to simply as “the Great War”, battles were fought with boots on the ground.</li><li>Despite the modest presence of air and sea, WWI became synonymous with artillery and trench warfare.</li><li>The Great War would bear witness to the creation of the tank in 1916, which would play a peripheral role due to its slow speed, unreliability, and tactical limitations.</li></ul>

During the First World War, then referred to simply as “the Great War”, battles were fought with boots on the ground.Despite the modest presence of air and sea, WWI became synonymous with artillery and trench warfare.The Great War would bear witness to the creation of the tank in 1916, which would play a peripheral role due to its slow speed, unreliability, and tactical limitations.

<ul><li>I assume most independent investors seldom think about the ebbs and flows of the foreign exchange market when conducting their financial affairs.</li><li>For the average individual, the most common interaction with foreign exchange (FX) rates comes from travel, when they want to see how much ‘bang’ they can get for their ‘buck’, pound, euro, yen, or whatever.</li><li>It’s the kind of thing that’s quickly forgotten upon returning home to the sanctity of domestic currency.</li></ul>

I assume most independent investors seldom think about the ebbs and flows of the foreign exchange market when conducting their financial affairs.For the average individual, the most common interaction with foreign exchange (FX) rates comes from travel, when they want to see how much ‘bang’ they can get for their ‘buck’, pound, euro, yen, or whatever.It’s the kind of thing that’s quickly forgotten upon returning home to the sanctity of domestic currency.

<ul><li>In the words of the controversial financier, George Soros, “I haven’t given up the illusion that I have something important and original to say”.</li><li>On October 30th, 2025, I was perusing my Twitter feed— a once enjoyable experience that has sadly decayed over the last few years.</li><li>That is not the subject of today’s prose, however.</li></ul>

In the words of the controversial financier, George Soros, “I haven’t given up the illusion that I have something important and original to say”.On October 30th, 2025, I was perusing my Twitter feed— a once enjoyable experience that has sadly decayed over the last few years.That is not the subject of today’s prose, however.

<ul><li>A while ago I wrote a piece about share cannibals and where to find them. Since we introduced the ability to screen for share cannibals at Koyfin (the screener I use, if interested) I have been exploring aggressive share repurchasers more often.</li><li>Evident to me, is the disparity in attitudes towards share repurchases between US and European stocks.</li><li>When casting a wide geographical net in the screener and searching for the loftiest reduction in share count (as a %), the US companies proliferate the output.</li></ul>

A while ago I wrote a piece about share cannibals and where to find them. Since we introduced the ability to screen for share cannibals at Koyfin (the screener I use, if interested) I have been exploring aggressive share repurchasers more often.Evident to me, is the disparity in attitudes towards share repurchases between US and European stocks.When casting a wide geographical net in the screener and searching for the loftiest reduction in share count (as a %), the US companies proliferate the output.

Companies That are Fixated on Buying Back Stock

Equity Bottom-Up

Kura Sushi USA, Inc. operates as a restaurant. The Company prepares various types of seafood products such as sweet shrimp, octopus, squid, salmon, tuna, snow crab, conch, toro, and other related dishes. Kura Sushi USA serves customers worldwide.

<ul><li>It’s a playbook Kura Sushi has performed numerous times before to shore up the balance sheet. In 2021, the company issued 1.1 million shares of stock at $45 netting proceeds of ~$47 million of which $17 million was used to erase the line of credit extended to them during the pandemic from the parent company.</li><li>The rest was used for CapEx and operating costs. In 2023, the company issued a further 1.3 million shares at $54 per share, netting ~$65 million in proceeds for CapEx and operating costs.</li><li>Following the Q4 earnings in November 2024, an announcement to raise (at $85 per share) a further $64.6 million in proceeds surfaced; once again for CapEx and operating costs.</li></ul>

It’s a playbook Kura Sushi has performed numerous times before to shore up the balance sheet. In 2021, the company issued 1.1 million shares of stock at $45 netting proceeds of ~$47 million of which $17 million was used to erase the line of credit extended to them during the pandemic from the parent company.The rest was used for CapEx and operating costs. In 2023, the company issued a further 1.3 million shares at $54 per share, netting ~$65 million in proceeds for CapEx and operating costs.Following the Q4 earnings in November 2024, an announcement to raise (at $85 per share) a further $64.6 million in proceeds surfaced; once again for CapEx and operating costs.

I am a 27-year-old who grew up in Germany & England before migrating back to my homeland of Scotland. I have worked since the age of 14, spent five years as a student of economics, and have served in various roles across the fintech and start-up landscape. I am currently a product manager and head of partnerships at Koyfin, and have been writing consistently since 2020. Investment Talk was my first newsletter, and I later started writing NTS. Investment Talk is where I write articles about the stock market, the companies within it, and human behaviour. I focus on writing about what I find interesting, in a way that will be both enjoyable and informative to the reader.