And we continue relentlessly with another 15 randomly chosen Norwegian stocks. As this time, an “old good friend of mine” is within the choice, possibly an attention-grabbing aspect:
Once I bought my first Norwegian stock in 2014, the trading price was NOK 8.21 per euro. Of late, Norway is stronger than ever and Europe is limping along with it. However, the exchange price at the moment is 10.92 NOK/EUR, which suggests that the NOK has lost -25% for more than 8 years. Pretty shocking if you only take a look at this from the surface. And possibly the Euro is not so weak in spite of everything.
61. Autoliners Hoegh
Höegh is a “world’s leading provider of Roll On Roll Off Transport Providers” with a market capitalization of EUR 1.15 billion, working with a fleet of around 40 Pure Automotive and Truck Carriers. The corporate IPO was done in late 2020, but compared to other classic 2021 IPOs, Höegh investors are quite proud that the stake has gone up three times since the IPO.
The company appears to have a relatively short monetary history. Due to supply chain disruptions, incorporation fees are at multi-decade highs. The market believes that these rates should not be as sustainable, otherwise the inventory would not be trading at a P/E of 3.5:
Not being a fan of wildly cyclical companies, I’m going to “move”
62. Diagnosis of gentian
Gentian is a €62 million company that “researches, develops and produces biochemical reagents for use in medical diagnostics and analysis in Europe, Asia and the US”. The company has optimistic gross sales and gross margins, but has never generated operating income. “Go”.
63. Xplora experience
Xplora is a €38 million market capitalization company that “is a platform and service company and head of business available for smartwatches for kids. Xplora was built to give children a safe onboarding into digital life and greater stability between screen time and physical exercise.”
As a 2020 IPO, the company first emerged during the post-covid craze before now trading at around 50% of IPO value. The company continues to grow decently at around 20% yoy, but shows a diseconomy of scale with increasingly unfavorable margins. “Go”.
64. Huddlestock Fintech
As the name implies, this €30 million company is a Fintech that “develops unique software as a service options to digitize work processes for custodial banks, asset managers and retail venues.” From what I understand, their main products are white-label inventory buying and selling apps for financial establishments.
This sounds striking. Like other 2020 IPOs, the stock skyrocketed, but it is now selling at least at the IPO stage. Compared to other Norwegian IPOs, there appear to be some economies of scale at work, although the company is still making a loss.
They have also acquired a company through an asset transaction from a company that has now become the largest investor. “Look”.
65. Kyoto Group
Kyoto is another Norwegian cleantech company with a market capitalization of €20 million that “plans to operate and sell HeatCube thermal batteries, enabling industrial consumption of low-cost heat from more photovoltaic and wind power.” As a sizzling 2021 IPO, the stock lost ~2/3 of its IPO price, which means things shouldn’t be going so well. They have a flowery presentation to investors, 8 CEOs but no income. They seem to be trying to raise capital. Good luck, “move”.
66. Norske Skog
Norske Skog is a paper producer with a market capitalization of €640 million that focuses on newsprint and magazines and went public in 2019. TIKR says the company is extremely low cost at 3.5x P/E and 4xEV/EBIT, but 2022 only seems to be the third 12 months out of the previous 6 that have been profitable. There are paper mills in Europe as well as one in Tasmania (!!). Also, they seem to be turning a factory into manufacturing cardboard for packaging, which may have a better future than newspapers and magazines. Total, not my cup of tea, “move”.
67. DNO
DNO is an oil company with a market capitalization of €1.1 billion that has its major asset in the Kurdistan area of Iraq. DNO’s share value is a bit unstable, from over NOK 20 before Covid, to NOK three in 2020 and now back to NOK 13.
According to TIKR, the inventory could be very low cost at around 3x P/E. The company owns some oil wells near Norway and appears to have bought assets in West Africa, but 80% of production comes from Kurdistan. As I am not a connoisseur of oil corporations and even know much less about the state of affairs in Kurdistan, I am going to “move” one more time.
68. Life Care
Lifecare is a €28 million market capitalization company that appears to be developing exemplary medical sensors for glucose ranges. The company has been public since the time of the dot.com and seems to be advertised every five years or so. As far as I can see they never made any revenue and only few sales. “Go”.
69. Arritec
Arrimatec is a €26 million market capitalization software and consulting company headquartered in Oslo that provides post-modern post-modern ERP: Response as a Service (SolaaS) globally. The stock seems to have had its year in solar in 2007. Somehow it has some selling, but as anticipated, the company is making a loss and has raised capital in 2020 and 2022. “Go”.
70. Bouvet ASA
Bouvet is a Norwegian IT consultancy that I found accidentally in 2014 and staffed ever since with the only regret that it started as a medium place and never filled it as much as a full place.
The €560m market cap company has since quadrupled its EPS and, at a current P/E of 20, it won’t be cheap, but it won’t be expensive for the standard offering either. Margins and returns have been increasing steadily and it looks like they will obviously continue to evolve organically. For me it is clearly a “keep”.
71. Icelandic salmon
Icelandic Salmon is a €440 million fish farm and is majority owned by the “biggest fish” Salmar. Despite being listed in Norway, the company is definitely located in Iceland, where they farm…salmon.
Interestingly, on their home page, they still appear under their old name Arnarlax, which is now just the working version. The company is currently doing very well, but I must confess that I don’t like Salmon or understand the KPIs of this company. From what I perceive, the margins are currently quite a bit higher than normal. “Go”.
72.elopak
Elopak is a €580 million market capitalization company that went public in 2021 and offers “sustainable packaging”. These appear to be mainly paper containers for milk and other liquids. With a P/E of 13, the stock looks cheap, but performance has been weak in the years leading up to the IPO.
The share price is just below the IPO and margins have deteriorated in 2022, likely as a result of excessive energy costs. Part of that is due to points with a Russian subsidiary that they needed to deconsolidate. its third quarter report comprises some extreme “graphic crimes”:
The company also has quite a bit of debt. Overall, it doesn’t look very interesting. “Go”.
73. Q-Free
Q-Free is a €61 million market capitalization “world’s leading provider of ITS (Intelligent Transportation Programs) products and options.” Inventory seemed to have peaked in 2005 and purchases and sales have slowed for about the last 18 years.
The company is stagnant and barely worth it. “Go”.
74. Komplett Financial Institution
Komplett Bank is a €100 million market capitalization buyer’s bank that provides “unsecured financing to private individuals in the Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish and German markets.” It offers deposit products, buyer loans, bank cards, and retail level financing products.
The company took a huge loss in 2021 after having demonstrated a very high ROE through 2018. Not surprisingly, the share value has lost -75% since 2018. There seems to be NPL issues, a CEO change on additional writedowns . “Go”.
75. Panoro Power
Panoro is an independent exploration and manufacturing company with a market capitalization of €300 million, engaged in the exploration, upgrading and manufacturing of oil and gasoline in Africa. The company has assets in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Tunisia, South Africa and Nigeria.
In response to TIKR, Panoro is equally low cost as a DNO with a P/E of three. The stock is round for a while and has rebounded from its lows a couple of years ago, but still at just 50% of IPO value in 2010.
It seems to be that the primary goods seem to have been bought only in 2021. Maybe that is something to risk looking for oil consultants, but I will. “move“.
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