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Key Figures
EV/EBITDA: 0.50
Earnings Yield: 18.30%
Price-to-Cash Flow: 2.79
Price-to-Earnings: 5.31(forward)
Return on Equity: 28.9%
Return on Assets: 9.01%
I like CALL for a number of reasons other than it being extremely cheap. It occupies a
niche in home landlines and it offers its services at a price that calculates to less than
$2.50 a month. Compare that to Verizon, which charges more than $60 a month for the
same services covered by magicJack. At its currently stock price, CALL has an earnings
yield of 18% and a free cash flow yield of 19.5% (one of my favorite metrics). At this
beaten down price, this company is a ripe target for an activist investor or an acquirer
someone has to notice it is sitting on all of that cash and no debt. A natural buyer for
CALL would be a company like Amazon that wishes to expand its menu of products and
services. I have heard that Jeff Bezos would love to own a company like this this is a
guy that is using his excess cash to buy up print newspapers. Credit goes to the new
management team for taking several steps over the last couple of years that will make
CALL a much more attractive acquisition.
CALL is a voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone provider. The company sells the magicJack
line of devices which plug into a computers USB or a cable modem and to the phone,
giving customers a low-cost alternative to landline telephone service. The company also
provides a smartphone app, called magicAPP, available for Android and iPhone that
allows for free calls to anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. The company recently announced
its new small and medium business unit (including hotels) that will be expected to launch
in the 2nd quarter of 2016. Its acquisition of Broadsmart in the first quarter of 2016 will
complement this new business unit, which is expected to add $20 million to current
revenues and have double-digit year-over-year-growth. Currently, the company has four
major revenue streams. Devices accounted for approximately 40% of sales in 2015,
service renewals accounted for another 40%, prepaid international was another 8% and
the remaining revenue came from porting and changing fees. Even though the company is
incorporated in Israel, approximately 90% of the revenues originate in the United States.
The company has several promising avenues for growth. In the domestic market, the
company has implemented a new magicJack system, GO, that has lived up to its promise
of better quality and ease-of-use, along with the ability to use one number for both the
landline and smartphone. Management has remained optimistic that it will be able to
retain its major retail partners that include Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and Radio Shack.
In the 3Q last year, the company launched a texting service to any domestic cell number.
The company announced plans to launch a subsidiary targeting small and medium size
businesses including hotels and acquired Broadsmart in February 2016, a leading hosted
UCaaS provider for medium-to-large multi-location enterprises. Broadsmart has been
highly profitable with 30% operating margins and is expected to add another $20 million
in revenue growth over the next year. International sales offers the biggest growth
potential as the company has an agreement with Telefonica to provide services
throughout Central and South America. Additional international opportunities are
expected to develop in the next two years.
A Closer Look at the Thesis
The company is a prime target for activist investors. One way to make money on Wall
Street is to piggyback on activist investors investors who, in an effort to unlock a
companys value, buy a big stake and then pressure top execs to take steps to boost the
share price. By persuading management, other shareholders or both of the wisdom of
their approach, activists can force a company to cut costs, split in two, sell a lagging unit
or sell the entire business. A 2013 study by Columbia, Duke, and Harvard found that
companies targeted by an activist investor actually performed better as a business and
as a stock after an activist becomes involved. Other studies have shown that companies
targeted by activist investors tend to significantly outperform the market.
The stock is cheap based on any number of metrics. With a forward P/E of 5.31, this is
an incredibly cheap company. Subtract the cash and the P/E is around 3 a number
usually only seen with companies that are in financial distress. CALL is debt free and
cash flow positive and nowhere close to being in the territory of financially distressed.
CALLs current EV/EBITDA valuation is 0.54, which is half of what it was just six
months ago. Compared to companies of similar size and economic profile, it is a mere
fraction of what other companies trade at. I consider anything under 5 to be cheap and
worthy of a closer look. With an earnings yield of 18.3%, this company is cheap based on
every significant metric.
The stock is heavily shorted. As of March 31, 2016, close to 20% of the float is short.
Heavily shorted stocks tend to scare many value investors because they fear the short
seller may know more than they do. I have specifically targeted heavily shorted stocks in
the past because I know that short sellers, as smart as they are, sometimes get it wrong.
Some of my best performing stocks have been heavily shorted. The danger in shorting a
stock as cheap as CALL is that any one catalyst could suddenly send the stock soaring
and force the short sellers to cover their shares at higher prices. After Bill Ackman
announced his billion dollar short of Herbalife in December 2012, he was forced to cover
40% of his position when the stock doubled. Ackmans losses on Herbalife have been
some of his largest to date.
The new management team is smart and aggressive. The management team has been
in place for about two years. A majority of CALLs problems were related to the prior
management team. The former CEO (and company founder) had a poor reputation within
the industry, with customers, and with analysts covering the company. Fortunately for
shareholders, the old CEO is no longer able to meddle with the company operations. The
new management team has made many smart moves that have improved the companys
future prospects. Management wisely made the decision to expand into providing
services to small and medium businesses. Plans have been put in place to expand more
globally, including a deal with Telefonica. Management has wisely used its free cash to
make a smart acquisition with Broadsmart and to buy back shares when the stock was
cheap.
The company has zero debt and plenty of cash to buyback more shares. The
company has managed its balance sheet very well. With cash equal to nearly 50% of its
market cap, the company has the ability to fund new avenues of growth when the
opportunity arises. One of the advantages of not having any debt is the company can
focus its earnings on growing its business and not paying down debt. With a pristine
balance sheet the company always has the option of later taking on debt if it wants to
finance new growth or an add-on acquisition.
Many of the problems in the past have been fixed. Many of magicJacks problems,
such as spotty customer service, unsophisticated marketing, and poor web presence were
all tied to the former CEO. While there is always room for improvement, management
has made great strides in fixing those problems.
An enormous untapped global market. In the United States alone, there are over 70
million households with either landline telephone service or a bundled triple play of
TV, internet, and phone service from their cable company. While the number of people
that are cutting the cords on their landlines continues to grow, magicJacks 3.5 million
subscribers are only a drop in the bucket; there is ample room for growth even if the total
market shrinks over time. There is an large overseas market that management has begun
to address and take serious the individuals and businesses overseas that want the ability
to inexpensively make and receive calls in the United States and Canada.
Attractive economic characteristics. The company has consistently high operating
profit margins, low cap ex requirements, and free cash flow that consistently exceeds net
income. Combine that with the previously discussed zero debt and excess cash, and this is
a company that should be attractive to astute investors and acquirers.
Extraordinary value proposition for customers. With cheap prices for great services,
magicJack has created a loyal subscription based on its high number of renewals. With
services for just $2.50 a month, magicJack offers customers an extraordinary value
proposition. It is exponentially cheaper than what customers are currently paying for the
home phone line an average of $60 per month and customers are getting a great
service. Even though the company still has a lot of work to do when it comes to
improving customer service. The company continues to attract new subscribers despite
spending very little on advertising, a testament to its word-of-mouth and strong brand
name with current subscribers.
Management
Prior to 2015, there was significant executive turnover at the company and there is an
entirely new management team in place. The current CEO, Gerald Vento, was CEO at
CALLs predecessor YMax and has held numerous executive positions in his career.
CFO Jose Gordo joined the company in early 2013 and COO Tim McDonald joined in
late 2013. Management holds approximately 10% of the stock always a positive sign.
The executive team has done a good job of focusing on beefing up the companys
marketing message, technology upgrades, and pushing into international markets. They
deserve credit for maintaining the companys strong financial position and buying back
shares at opportune times. The next step should be to look for new ways to drive top and
bottom line growth.
Gerald Vento
Chief Executive Officer and President
Mr. Vento was appointed to the Company's Board upon the consummation of the Merger,
on July 16 2010, served as Chairman of the Companys Board from April 1, 2012 to
December 27, 2012 and appointed Chief Executive Officer and President on December
27, 2012. Mr. Vento has served as a director of YMax Corp since 2008. From 1996 to
2002, Mr. Vento served as the Chief Executive Officer of TelCorp PCS Inc. From 1993
to 1995, he served as the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sprint
Spectrum/American PCS, L.P., where he oversaw the development of the first PCS
network in the United States.
Jose Gordo
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Gordo has over 15 years of experience in finance, operations, business
management, SEC matters, corporate law and tax. He joined magicJack in early 2013. In
2011, he co-founded Southcap Partners, a managing general partnership with investments
in medium-sized companies. Prior to that, Mr. Gordo was a Managing Director of a
private equity firm and was a partner at the national law firm of Akerman Senterfitt,
where he specialized in corporate law matters; advising public and private companies and
investment firms on mergers & acquisitions and capital markets transactions. He received
a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. degree from the
University of Miami
Dr. Yuen Wah Sing
President, TigerJet Networks, Inc.
Dr. Sing was appointed to the Company's Board upon the consummation of the Merger,
on July 16, 2010. Dr. Sing is the President of TigerJet Networks, Inc. ("TigerJet"), a
wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. Dr. Sing brings more than 30 years of
semiconductor and VolP communication industry experience to the Company. He was
appointed as a director of YMax in 2008 and Chairmanof YMax in October 2009. Prior
to its acquisition by YMax in 2008, from 1998 to 2008, Dr. Sing founded and was the
Chief Executive Offcer of TigerJet. Prior to founding Tigerjet, Dr. Sing was the founder
of 8x8 Inc/Packet 8, a video conferencing and VolP company and served as Executive
Vice President and Vice Chairman from 1987 to 1997. Dr. Sing received a PhD and MS
degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Financial Strength
The companys financial health is one of its strongest points. The company carries over
$40 million in cash (and ZERO debt) and this is after it paid $38 million in cash to
acquire Broadsmart. Its net cash position is nearly 50% of its market cap, which is
practically unheard of these days. The company has a consistent history of strong free
cash flow, even during periods of net losses. Additionally, the company has a substantial
amount of net operating losses available for tax write-off. This strong financial position
will help the company finance its continued expansion efforts. With its available cash and
no debt, this expands the companys available to unlock shareholder value. Some of these
options include issuing a dividend, thereby increasing the pool of possible shareholders.
Or the company could continue buying back stock, it bought more than $20 million in
shares in 2015, and increase its earnings per share. Another advantage of having a strong
financial position with solid cash flow would be the ability to take on debt to finance
further acquisitions to grow the companys revenue base.
Competitive Position
CALL competes against traditional landline carriers and cell phone providers. More
competition is emerging from several tech and telecom companies competing in the VoIP
market. Microsofts Skype, Google Voice, and Apples FaceTime are all VoIP offerings.
Almost all of the big cable companies (including Comcast and Time Warner) offer VoIP
plans bundled with television and internet plans. And then there is Vonage. Despite all of
this competition, CALL still manages to stand out for several reasons. One, all of the
other services require both users on the call to use the product, only magicJack allows
calls to any number in the U.S. or Canada. Two, magicJacks price at just $30 a year
gives it a huge competitive advantage over the bigger competitors. With its new
expanded product lines, CALL continues to expand its competitive advantage.
Risks
As with any deep value investment opportunity, there is risk involved. My thesis is eventdriven I believe that CALL would make an attractive target for one or more activist
investors for a number of reasons previously listed. An activist investor would push for
one or more changes that could serve as a catalyst and cause a sudden unlocking of
shareholder value. In the event no activist investors step forward to shine a light on
CALLs prospects, the stock could continue to languish in obscurity. The other primary
concern is high profile competition. App-to-app or device-to-device calls are already free
for FaceTime or Skype users. Cable operators are able to bundle services and can easily
integrate VoIP service into existing packages. In order to succeed, the company will have
to offer a unique service to differentiate itself from the competition. The company is only
recently profitable after having several years of net losses. This is a high risk, high
reward deep value opportunity and investors should be fully aware of the risks before
investing.
Disclosure
The management of Deep Value Insight, LLC does currently own shares of CALL.
Management does not anticipate buying or selling any shares in the foreseeable
future.
Early on in my career I had the opportunity to work with a highly successful real estate developer with a
30-year plus track record of delivering consistently high returns to his investors. He had a reputation for
picking the right deals and making very few mistakes. Working with him was a real learning experience; I
learned how to analyze real estate, structure deals and raise capital from investors. Many of the lessons I
learned from him carried over into my development as a value investor and stock picker. Probably the most
valuable idea I learned from him was the use of a checklist. I had once asked him what he thought was the
most important thing he did that helped him avoid bad deals. His response was his use of checklists when
analyzing potential investment. If the opportunity did not meet all of the requirements of his checklist, he
would pass on the opportunity. He told me that over the years, his strict adherence to his checklist sometimes
caused him to miss out on what turned out to be big wins, but he also avoided big losses.
This influenced me to start developing my own checklist for stock picking. Over the last decade I have
continued to refine my checklist, modifying certain metrics or adding or subtracting others altogether. The
end result has been a checklist that I am confident has helped me to consistently find stocks that beat the
market. A large part of my checklist has to do with asking questions about the company and key financial
metrics. I have noticed that when I strictly adhere to my checklist, the results have been outstanding in that
I find stocks that have the potential to double or triple in a few years. It has also helped me avoid value
traps, stocks that are cheap and continue remain cheap for many years. When I deviate from my checklist,
the results are not as good.
In 2009, Dr. Atul Gawande wrote an excellent book, The Checklist Manifesto, on the importance of using
checklists to avoid making mistakes. As a surgeon and Harvard Medical School professor, Dr. Gawande
understands the importance of avoiding mistakes. Reading Dr. Gawandes book backed up everything I had
known to be true from experience checklists work when used properly. What Dr. Gawande discovered is
that a good checklist is short but not too short. If the list is long, none of the items are taken seriously. It is
easy to persuade people to agree to things when you ask them to mechanically tick their way through a long
list of questions. Consider the lack of attention people give to the many privacy questions asked by websites
or forms. Research studies show that it is easy to trick people into declaring their involvement in genocide
or their intention to subvert the Constitution by inserting the relevant question in a long list of immigration
questions when all of the answers are expected to be yes.
Activities such as flying a plane or open-heart surgery lend themselves to using checklists because there is
a large element of routine and because the consequences of mistakes can be life or death. The first factor
makes it necessary to compile a checklist, the second factor makes it imperative to actually use it. Dr.
Gawandes most important discovery was the power of the checklist came from a less obvious source. The
list empowers members of the team to monitor each others actions. Adhering to the list enables the copilot to correct the pilot or the nurse to review the surgeon. A checklist used by a family on vacation is more
likely to be a team endeavor rather than an individual effort.
I am hardly the only value investor that uses a checklist. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger keep it simple
and have their own checklists that are the result of six decades of experience. Value investors such as Guy
Spier and Mohnish Pabrai have written extensively on their uses of checklists. In 2001, Buffett was asked
how he evaluated new business ideas and he responded he has four basic criteria:
If all of the answers are positive then Buffett is willing to write a check. I do not have Buffetts 60 years of
experience to rely on when I evaluate companies, therefore my checklist is much longer and more involved.
This is my step-by-step checklist for how I find and evaluate opportunities. I have not included the range
of values that I look for with each company somethings I have to keep to myself. Keep in mind that each
step includes more in-depth questions that I will answer before I move on to the next step. Altogether it is
a time intensive process, but experience has taught me it is well worth the effort. I have even found that
using checklists in other areas of my life helps keep me in track.
As a final note, I highly recommend reading The Checklist Manifesto.
-christopher
christopher@deepvalueinsight.com
Deep Value Insight Checklist
Low price-to-earnings
Low EV/EBITDA
Low price-to-cash flow
Low price-to-book
High earnings yield
High free cash flow yield
Return on assets
Return on invested capital
Return on equity
Growth margin growth
Growth margin stability
Current profitability
Liquidity
Leverage
Operation improvements
Quality management
Investor relations team
Competitive advantage
Buyback announcement
Spin-off or restructuring
Activist investor or institutional buyer
Takeover candidate
Short interest
Price
52-w High
52-w Low
P/E
Market Cap
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