A bittersweet episode as it's the conclusion of Yet Another Value Podcast. Thank you to everyone who read, watched, listened and engaged all these years. Meeting so many great people has been the highlight of the whole thing, so please stay in touch. And yes, my dog Penny, the MVP who sat at my feet for ~90% of these episodes, gets a farewell cameo.

Chapters:

(00:00) Signing off

(00:31) What's next

(00:50) Thank you, and please stay in touch

(01:27) One last Penny cameo

Nothing on this podcast should be considered investment advice. Guests or the hosts may have positions in any of the stocks mentioned during this podcast. Please do your own work and consult a financial advisor.

Links:

Yet Another Value Blog - https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com

See our legal disclaimer here: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/legal-and-disclaimer

Brizo Capital's Ben Isaac and I dig into the stuff we've bonded over for years: why the cavalry isn't coming to save value investors, the opportunity set in the UK, how investors can work with boards to improve governance and alignment, and whether relisting to the US actually creates value. We also get into how the analyst role is evolving as AI keeps improving.

This episode is sponsored by Trata: https://www.trata.com

Trata hosts anonymized calls between two buy-side investors on a stock they're thinking about, then publishes the transcript. If you like this podcast, you're going to like Trata.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro and Trata sponsor

(01:51) Welcome Ben Isaac

(02:04) Columbia, AI and the leg press problem

(07:13) Hiring analysts: compliance, Copilot and Claude

(10:46) Hallucinations and why AI expands demand for analysts

(15:09) Trade shows, scuttlebutt and the student superpower

(19:48) Load-bearing facts vs. the CFO's cat

(20:35) Corporate governance: the cavalry isn't coming

(23:13) Why the UK: global businesses at cheap prices

(27:25) Working behind the scenes with UK boards

(32:40) The US relisting debate

(38:52) What the data says on relistings

(40:39) Pushback: sugar high or buy back stock?

(42:45) Signal or selection bias? CRH and Trian

(45:10) The Walmart of Kenya and cost of equity

(50:00) Spread over the local cost of equity: Brazil and the Selic

(53:16) Are US markets really well functioning?

(56:36) UK take-privates and private equity

(1:00:03) South Korea: Japan 2.0?

Ben Isaac / Brizo Capital: https://www.brizocapital.com

Links:

Yet Another Value Blog - https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com

See our legal disclaimer here: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/legal-and-disclaimer

Starbucks and Chipotle might be the merger with the fewest synergies two companies in the same industry could possibly have: different supply chains, different kitchens, you can't even put them under one roof. The only synergy is one man. Brian Niccol ran Chipotle and now runs Starbucks, so the deal only makes sense if you think he is uniquely talented enough that both brands are worth more under him. I start with a brain teaser on SOLS (Solstice Advanced Materials): management announces a merger investors hate, the stock drops 20%, and then they call it off. Is that a management team willing to listen, or one whose capital allocation you can't trust anymore?

From there, state of the markets: the indices are up double digits, yet most of my friends are borderline despondent. Everything outside tech and energy is roughly flat on the year and the Russell 2000 is down about 8% since June 30th. I also revisit the old "the Russell is a broken index because it kicks out its winners" argument, and why that same feature helped it dodge SMCI's collapse and this year's AI peak.

Then unexpected competition. FICO pushed pricing and got a regulatory crackdown, IMAX locked up Dune 3 and Disney answered with Infinity Vision, and micro dramas (Quibi, just seven years early) are going after Netflix's screen time. I close on Oura pulling its IPO at a $15 billion valuation, the AI data premium on its wearables, and which businesses get a one-time AI windfall, with home builders like Lennar as my value investor answer.

The New York Times piece on micro dramas: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/magazine/microdramas-tv-shows-hollywood-entertainment.html

This episode is sponsored by Trata: https://www.trata.com. Trata takes anonymized calls where two buy-siders talk through a stock they're long or short, the opportunity, the risks and where the street is wrong, and lets you read the transcript. Whenever I start on a new company, my Claude agent's first step is pulling the Trata transcripts that mention it.

Chapters:

(00:00) What I'm rambling about this month

(03:36) Sponsor: Trata

(04:41) M&A brain teaser: SOLS calls off its merger

(08:48) Starbucks and Chipotle: a merger with zero synergies

(11:21) The only synergy is Brian Niccol

(12:30) SBUX and CMG since Niccol switched

(14:00) State of the markets: indices up, investors despondent

(15:55) A bloodbath underneath: everything but tech and energy

(17:13) Is the Russell a broken index?

(18:45) How the Russell dodged SMCI and the AI peak

(20:11) Unexpected competition: FICO's regulatory crackdown

(21:00) IMAX vs Disney's Infinity Vision

(23:11) Micro dramas, Quibi and the Netflix bear case

(27:20) Oura delays its IPO

(28:22) Oura's AI data premium

(29:04) What else gets more valuable with AI?

(30:12) Home builders and a one-time AI windfall

(32:01) HYROX and wrapping up

Links:

Yet Another Value Blog - https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com

See our legal disclaimer here: https://www.yetanothervalueblog.com/p/legal-and-disclaimer