QAV America (free feed)

QAV_RAW_CODE:Free Podcast ArchivesTranscription QAV America 73 [00:00:00] Cameron: Welcome to QAV American Edition, Tony, episode 73. It is the 6th of October, 2026. We were just talking off air about portfolios and Tony Kynaston: Mm-hmm Cameron: all of that kind of stuff. Um, normally I start the show with a bit of news. I didn’t […]

This week we dig into Smart Sand (SND), the last frac sand company standing on the US exchanges, and try to figure out why a business that sells 500-million-year-old Wisconsin quartz to oil drillers has tripled its share price in under a year. Tony also shares some sharp thinking on why double market is basically the speed of light for investment returns, and we open with the usual chaos: Iran, oi...

This week we dive into a Pulled Pork on Crescent Energy (CRGY), a US onshore oil and gas roll-up play with KKR pulling the strings behind the scenes, and a compensation structure that would make Charlie Munger raise an eyebrow. We also run through portfolio updates, the Jackson Hole Symposium, fresh US sanctions on Iran and Canada, and a quick scorecard on 65 stocks covered since March 2025, with...

This week we dig into Slide Insurance Holdings (SLDE), a Florida home insurer that went from zero customers to half a million policies in a few years, and is somehow posting combined ratios that make every other insurer in the state look asleep at the wheel. We also cover Berkshire Hathaway's latest 13F, which shows Greg Abel going heavy into US housing, bond yields creeping up, oil back above $80...

This week we dig into Republic Airways Holdings (RJET), a regional airline contractor that flies for United, American, and Delta under their livery while keeping a remarkably low profile. Cameron runs through the full QAV numbers, which come out strong despite a company history packed with bankruptcies, pilot shortages, disk-wiping CFOs, and a former CEO who is now running the FAA. The portfolios...

This week Cameron does a full Pulled Pork on F&G Annuities and Life (ticker: FG), a Des Moines-based annuities and retirement income company that’s been through four owners in 25 years, had its share price smashed 44% from peak, and is now sitting at a QAV score of 0.862. Tony brings the context on why annuities businesses are genuinely complex to run, the tailwinds from baby boomer ret...

This week we dig into Kohl’s (KSS), the mid-range American department store chain that fired its CEO after just 15 weeks on the job for running a secret sweetheart deal with a former romantic partner. Tony and Cam work through the QAV scorecard, weigh up the enormous real estate portfolio sitting beneath the struggling retail business, and debate whether a Gordon Gekko moment is coming. Plus...

This week we dig into Carter Bankshares (CARE), a tiny Virginia community bank that got itself tangled up with a billionaire US senator, a Cold War bunker resort, and nearly $800 million in dodgy loans, then somehow came out the other side with $80 million in cash and a story worthy of HBO. We also cover Alan Greenspan’s passing at 100, the SpaceX float wobble, the Iran sanctions waiver, and...

This week we dig into the SpaceX IPO numbers and they are genuinely terrifying: a Pr/OpCaf of 1,750 times, a $4.9 billion net loss, and a total addressable market pulled straight from a science fiction novel. We also cover the US-Iran deal tanking oil prices and forcing a bunch of sells across the portfolios, then Cameron does a Pulled Pork on Aeromexico (AERO), Mexico’s national airline, fr...

  Episode Overview This week we sit down with Tobias Carlisle to dig into his new book, “Soldier of Fortune: Warren Buffett, Sun Tzu, and the Ancient Art of Risk-Taking.” Tobias walks us through three of Berkshire Hathaway’s most misunderstood deals (General Re, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and the Japanese Sogo Shosha trades), explaining why each looked wrong at the time a...

This week we dig into why our US portfolios have taken a hit over the past month, with oil and shipping stocks giving back their war-premium gains as Middle East ceasefire hopes bleed the disruption out of the market. We also take a hard look at the US economy, the AI bubble eating 45% of the S&P’s market cap, and the arrival of Kevin Warsh at the Fed. Then Cameron does a Pulled Pork on...

This week Cameron (with guest co-host Phil Muscatello from Shares For Beginners )  runs a full QAV deep dive on Magna International (MGA), the Canadian-born automotive giant that quietly makes everything from your car door to the entire vehicle itself. He covers the wild founder story of Frank “Straw Mattress” Stronach, the EV overreach that cost the company over a billion dollars in w...

This week we do a full deep dive on BWLPG (ticker: BWLP), one of the world’s biggest LPG shippers, and why the Strait of Hormuz closure is sending their spot charter rates into the stratosphere. We also cover the bond market’s grim verdict on Trump’s economic record, oil heading toward $140 a barrel, and the fascinating story of Y.K. Pao, the banking clerk who built the largest p...

On this episode we run through the dummy portfolio , which is crushing the S&P at 125% time-weighted return, and dig into this week’s Pulled Pork: TriMas (TRS), a Michigan-based maker of hand pumps, dispensers, and packaging components that’s been quietly dumping divisions and sitting on a billion dollars in cash. The numbers look great on paper until Cameron and Tony notice the o...

This week we run through a stack of Pulled Pork results that are absolutely cooking — Pitney Bowes up 40%, Eastman Kodak up 81%, and the US dummy portfolio now sitting at 110% since inception versus the S&P’s 62%. Then Cam does a deep dive on Deutsche Bank — 156 years old, scandal-ridden, and somehow posting their best year ever. Plus Spirit Airlines collapses, the Iran War drags into i...

On this episode we hit episode 50 and celebrate with a portfolio update showing we’re nearly double the S&P 500 all-time, before diving deep into Millrose Properties (MRP) — a brand new REIT spun out of home builder Lennar that had the AIs screaming “stay away.” We dig into the weird world of land banking, shadow banking, private credit, and why a company can show $3.6 billi...

On this episode we run through our latest portfolio numbers — the QAV dummy portfolio is up 115% since inception versus the S&P’s 60%, and some individual picks like Kodak and Scripps are going absolutely bananas. We dig into the week’s big news including the Iran war’s economic ripple effects, the tariff refund mess, and the Cal-Maine antitrust saga. Then Cameron does a ful...