🐻The Bear Cave #11 + Marc Cohodes Interview🐔

An Exclusive Interview with Marc Cohodes, New Activist Reports, and More

Apr 27, 2020

Welcome to The Bear Cave — your weekly source of short-seller news. Feedback and sharing are always appreciated. If you are new, you can join our email list here.

Marc Cohodes Interview

This week I interviewed legendary short-seller Marc Cohodes. Listen to the interview on PodBean or watch it on YouTube below:

Interview Timeline: Intro (0:00), MiMedx saga, FOIA lawsuit, and Joe Nocera (1:00) Long Camping World (20:00), Subprime & Credit Acceptance (29:15), Short Trex (30:40), Short Align (33:35), Activist short sellers (37:55), Research process & coronavirus themes (42:10), Favorite journalists & outlets (52:45), Closing remarks (56:15)

Follow Marc Cohodes on Twitter @AlderLaneEggs or visit his websites petiteparkerthebarker.com and joenocerror.com

New Activist Reports

Hindenburg Research announced it was short Canadian silver mining company New Pacific Metals (OTC: NUPMF — $584 million) and Silvercorp Metals (NYSE: SVM — $640 million). Hindenburg wrote,

“Since acquiring its Bolivian assets, [New Pacific] stock has surged almost 400%. We believe the sharp move higher has been largely fueled by grandiose claims in newsletters and paid promotion campaigns targeted toward retail investors… All told, we see 90%+ downside for shares of New Pacific and 25%-45% downside for shares of related Silvercorp, which owns almost a 29% stake in the company.”

Hindenburg also shared an audio presentation of his idea.

Citron Research tweeted about Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX — $1.02 billion):

Citron Research @CitronResearch

As much as Citron wants a vaccine $NVAX is a serial promise and non deliver on every virus. Insiders sold most holding 85% lower last year. Bal sheet upside down and $$ is needed for NanoFlu. Expect secondary soon and stock back to $15. Retail mania!!

Kerrisdale Capital released a critical report on Mirati Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MRTX — $3.71 billion).

Quintessential Capital Management announced it was short the European streaming company Akazoo (NASDAQ: SONG — $58 million).

Wolfpack Research published a critical report on Inspire Medical Systems (NYSE: INSP — $1.91 billion).

White Diamond Research questioned how much BioSig Technologies (NASDAQ: BSGM — $226 million) would benefit from the coronavirus pandemic. The stock is up 200% in the last six weeks.

What to Read

“Large, Troubled Companies Got Bailout Money in Small-Business Loan Program” (NYT)

“A company in Georgia paid $6.5 million to resolve a Justice Department investigation — and, two weeks later, received a $10 million federally backed loan to help it survive the coronavirus crisis.”

“At Least 13 Public Companies Give Back $170 Million in Small-Business Stimulus Money. Others Say They’ll Keep It.” (WSJ)

“On Friday, AutoNation Inc., the nation’s largest car-dealership chain with a $3 billion market capitalization, gave back $77 million it received in forgivable loans.”

“Pump-and-dump stock trading needs new rules for the digital age” (Financial Times article by Marc Cohodes)

“The idea is simple: if both longs and shorts are required to hold open a position they have advocated for 10 days, the market is given an opportunity to evaluate the quality and credibility of the information. If the promoter is worried that the price might crash back to earth within 10 days, they should not be touting the stock to begin with.”

“The 20 Minutes That Broke the U.S. Oil Market” (Bloomberg)

“Yet on April 15, CME offered clients the ability to test their systems to prepare for negativity. That’s when the market really woke up to the idea that this could actually happen...”