The Bear Cave #293
New Activist Reports, Recent Resignations, and Tweets of the Week
Welcome to The Bear Cave! Our last premium articles were “Problems at Gogo (GOGO)” and “Problems at DraftKings (DKNG)” and our next special investigation comes out this Thursday, October 2.
New Activist Reports
Morpheus Research published a 14,222-word report on Brunello Cucinelli (Milan: BC — EUR5.67 billion), a luxury Italian clothing brand. Morpheus largely alleged that Brunello Cucinelli was violating EU sanctions on the sale of luxury goods to Russia based on import data, interviews with former executives, and photos from secret shoppers showing the company’s active presence in Russia.
Morpheus also said that Brunello Cucinelli “has resorted to aggressive discounting to manage bloated inventory” and “trades at ~46x next year’s earnings, a higher multiple than any luxury peer, despite slowing revenue growth, average operating margins, and rising competition.”
Blue Orca Capital published on Aya Gold & Silver (Toronto: AYA — CAD$2.08 billion), a Canadian silver mining company with operations in Morocco. Blue Orca alleged that “there is overwhelming evidence that Aya inflated its silver resource at Zgounder, its only producing asset, by over 100%, potentially reflecting as many as 50+ million phantom ounces.” Blue Orca specifically raised concerns about the legitimacy of a bullish December 2021 resource estimate report for the company’s mine. Blue Orca alleged that the resource estimate was “created by a conflicted geologist who appears to be a close business partner of the CEO” and had other anomalies which suggest the report data was manipulated to show artificially inflated silver reserves.
Jehoshaphat Research published a 54-page report on goeasy (Toronto: GSY — CAD$2.80 billion), a Canadian subprime lender. Jehoshaphat alleged the company “is sitting on ~$300m worth of improperly delayed credit losses and unreported serious delinquencies that have been buried in the balance sheet like dead bodies in the snow.” Jehoshaphat highlighted that the company has recently “changed its accounting rules for charge-offs, credit risk scoring, and expense recognition,” which has “pushed hundreds of millions worth of bad debt and other expenses into the future.” Jehoshaphat also raised concerns about the recent departures of the company’s CEO and CFO, as well as high insider selling by company executives.
Fugazi Research published on Brera Holdings (NASDAQ: BREA — $75 million), an Irish holding company that owns four association soccer clubs and one volleyball club. Fugazi raised concerns about the company’s recent pivot to a “digital asset treasury” model that would likely lead to high levels of shareholder dilution.
BMF Reports published on US Gold Corp (NASDAQ: USAU — $233 million), a Nevada-based gold miner that BMF alleged is engaged in paid stock promotion and has “heavy dilution risk ahead.”
Recent Resignations
Notable executive departures disclosed in the past week include:
CEO of Portillo’s (NASDAQ: PTLO — $476 million) “departed the company as President and CEO and as a member of the Board of Directors” with immediate effect after seven years. In June 2024, the company’s Chief Operating Officer departed after three years. The company is down ~85% since its October 2021 IPO.
Ms. Safra Catz, who served as CEO and CFO of Oracle (NYSE: ORCL — $806 billion), “will take on a new role as Executive Vice Chair of the Board” after 11 years of leadership. Oracle stock rose by over 600% during her tenure.
Board member of XCF Global (NASDAQ: SAFX — $221 million), Ms. Anne Anderson, resigned effective immediately after just three months “for personal reasons.” The sustainable aviation fuel company is down ~85% since its June 2025 SPAC merger.
Chair of S&T Bancorp (NASDAQ: STBA — $1.47 billion) resigned after seven years following “her confirmation as an ambassador to Sweden by the United States Senate.”
Data for this section is provided by VerityData from VerityPlatform.com
News of the Week
“Idea Brunch with Steven Grey of Grey Value Management” (Sunday’s Idea Brunch)
“Prior to launching Grey Value Management in 2010 and the Fund in 2014, Steven served as the Chief Investment Officer of a single family office based in Alexandria, VA. Before that he was Managing Director of Risk at Albright Capital Management, a firm he helped launch with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.”
“Unusual Trading Ahead of Crypto-Treasury Deals Draws Scrutiny From U.S. Regulators” (WSJ)
“In their outreach, SEC officials have warned companies about potential violations of Regulation Fair Disclosure, some of the people said. Known as Reg FD, the rule prohibits public companies from selectively disclosing material, nonpublic information to investors, analysts and other market participants who might trade on the information.”
“Fishback Admits Sharing Confidential Greenlight Information” (Bloomberg)
“James Fishback, a former analyst at David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, admitted sharing confidential information and agreed to pay the hedge fund’s costs to resolve a lawsuit it filed against him.
According to an agreement filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, Fishback, who worked at Greenlight between 2021 and 2023, said he violated the terms of his employment by sending to a personal email account summaries of the fund’s positions and strategies as well as a document showing its entire portfolio. He also said he had an undisclosed personal trading account that invested in the same instruments as Greenlight at around the same time.”
Tweets of the Week
Until Thursday,
The Bear Cave