In short: Named alongside Text SA as a company "bought not because I thought it was the highest quality, but because it was cheap" — and therefore, on the stated pattern, a mistake. No current position or fresh analysis; cited as evidence for the policy change.
In short: HOLD on the portfolio sheet — 17.9x forward against a 21.6x average, a 10.8% expected return, a $58.5 fair value against $53.8 (8.0% under), and the only portfolio row where the reverse DCF asks more than expected growth (7.0% against 6.0%). Worth noting the timing: the position was sold a week earlier on 29 January as "dead money," so the sheet is carrying a stale row.
In short: SOLD — 1,000 shares at a $54 limit against a $55.5 price, a position worth $55,470. "Our investment in OTC Markets has been 'dead money' since we bought it in October 2023. The only return we received was the yearly dividend yield of 4.8%." Three stated reasons, none of them valuation: (1) "Growth has stalled and it looks like it's a more structural problem than initially thought." (2) "Financial data are becoming more and more a commodity product and OTC Markets seems to be struggling from increased competition." (3) "The high level of Stock-Based Compensation (23.4% of Net Income) is also something I don't like." Execution is handled explicitly because of the float: "the liquidity in OTC Markets is limited. Hopefully we don't influence the stock price… If we do, I won't be in a hurry to sell. I want to sell at the right price." Closing verdict: "growth has stalled, competition is increasing, and the business model looks structurally challenged." Rated Hold with every valuation test passing seven days earlier.
OTC Markets runs the trading and data platform for American shares that are not listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, charging companies and brokers for listings, market data and compliance tools.
It has been owned since October 2023 and has gone nowhere. In twenty-seven months the only return was the 4.8% dividend — which Slegers calls, plainly, "dead money."
What makes this sale worth studying is that it is not made on the price. On every measure in the review a week earlier the shares were cheap: below their own five-year average multiple, clearing the return hurdle, and priced for less growth than expected. The reasons given are all about the business. Growth has stopped, and he now believes that is permanent rather than a soft patch. Financial data — the product — is becoming a commodity, which means competitors can offer the same thing and compete on price. And the company pays its staff in shares worth 23.4% of its profits, which is a large ongoing cost to existing owners.
A cheap price does not fix any of those. That is the difference between a bargain and a value trap, and this is the archive's clearest example of the distinction being acted on rather than described.
One practical detail worth copying: the stock barely trades, so rather than dumping 1,000 shares into a thin market, he sets a limit at $54 against a $55.5 price and says outright that if the selling moves the price he will simply wait. Announcing a sale in an illiquid stock to a large subscriber base is a genuine problem, and a limit order is the honest way to handle it.
In short: HOLD — and effectively a pre-announced sale. Weight 3.8%, performance +3.1% in more than two years. "OTC Markets is the company we own that I'm the least sure about. Why? Growth has stalled and it looks like it's a more structural problem than initially thought." The consolation is real but not enough: "Stock exchanges are one of the most profitable business models in the world. OTC Markets has a Net Profit Margin of 26.9% (!)… a shareholder yield of over 5%." Every valuation test passes — 19.6x forward against a 21.6x average ✅, Earnings Growth Model 11.9% ✅, reverse DCF needing 6.2% against 8.0% expected ✅ — and the verdict is still Hold: "How structural are the issues OTC Markets is facing? There might be better investment opportunities in the market today." Sold on 29 January.
OTC Markets runs the trading and data platform for American shares that are not listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, charging companies and brokers for listings, data and compliance tools.
This is the most interesting entry in the update because everything measurable says buy and the verdict is not. The shares are cheaper than their own five-year average, the return model clears the hurdle, and the price implies less growth than the company is expected to deliver. Profitability is excellent — 27 cents of every revenue dollar is profit — and more than 5% of the share price comes back each year in dividends and buybacks.
And Slegers writes: "OTC Markets is the company we own that I'm the least sure about… growth has stalled and it looks like it's a more structural problem than initially thought." A cheap price does not help if the earnings behind it stop growing permanently — the value trap in its purest form. His conclusion is about opportunity cost rather than valuation: "there might be better investment opportunities in the market today."
Seven days later he names one. The position is sold and the money goes into Zoetis.
In short: HOLD — the oldest position in the book (bought 14 October 2023, the fortnight the portfolio launched), 3.6% of the portfolio and roughly flat after more than two years. Four weeks later it is the name that gets sold, on exactly that observation — see 29 January.
OTC Markets runs the trading and data platform for American shares that are not listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, and charges companies and brokers for access, listings and compliance tools.
It is the oldest holding in the portfolio — bought in the fortnight the whole thing launched — and after more than two years it is roughly where it started. The rating is Hold, which in this sheet is the softest thing said about any position. Four weeks later it becomes the archive's first sale on grounds of stalled growth rather than a mistake in the original thesis, so read this row as the last time OTC Markets appears as a holding.
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Verbatim excerpts from the public transcripts (auto-pulled at each mention's timestamp, lightly cleaned). Timestamps link into the video; "source page" opens that commentator's full analysis at this row. Click a mention's header line to expand it (one open at a time). For personal study — not investment advice.