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“A new opportunity is taking shape right now that’s like buying Disney in 1971…”

Checking out the latest teased "Roadrunner Stock" from Jim Fink

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, August 26, 2014

I’ve looked at the teasers ads for Jim Fink’s Roadrunner Stocks a few times over the couple years it’s been around, with middling results — he’s had one great pick, one that has gone down substantially, and a few “middling” picks that were in those teaser pitches. So is it worth trying out his latest idea?

Beats me. But it’s a compelling story, so it’s at least worth finding out what stock he’s talking about as being the “next Disney”.

Here’s the spiel that caught my attention, partly because I’ve had several of those “shoulda bought Disney (DIS)” moments over the years, including six months ago when we brought our little Gumshoes to Disney World (perhaps the most efficient money-hoovering operation on Earth as well as the “Happiest Place on Earth”):

“The Walt Disney Company is an epic stock market success story. Starting as cartoon maker in 1923, it’s now a $144 billion global entertainment and media enterprise with a vast array of TV, vacation, movie and music businesses. Mickey Mouse is as well known around the world as Coca-Cola.

“Just as Walt Disney built dreams for millions of children—and made the investors who followed him rich—this new stock I’ve discovered can power your own financial dreams.”

So that catches your eye, right? Here’s more:

“Since it opened Disney World in 1971, Disney stock is up a stunning 126 to 1. A mere $5,000 investment would now be worth an incredible $630,000.

“And now it’s happening all over again…

“A Florida-based company is in the second phase of an impressive plan to build the next generation of destination-based entertainment.

“The similarities to the Disney story are striking.

“Both companies were started by driven entrepreneurs who benefitted immensely from the success of their stock.

“Each CEO created products that appealed to young people at first, but which could eventually reach a wider audience. Their companies developed world-famous brand names and generated huge publicity.”

And no, they’re not teasing us about the reputation-clobbered SeaWorld (which is also a public company, ticker SEAS) or Merlin Entertainment’s Legoland (also public, MERL in London)… this is not quite so direct a comparison to the theme park world. Here are some clues about the company Fink is teasing:

“A new modern-day ‘Walt Disney World 2.0’ is going up in Daytona Beach, Florida, near the world’s most famous beach.

“Besides rides and shows, it includes 1.1 million square feet of world-class shopping, fine dining, hotel, theater and other entertainment just steps from the legendary Daytona International Speedway.

“It also has 2,500 movie theater seats, 660 hotel rooms and 1,350 residences.”

So that’s obviously a ridiculous comparison in terms of scale (Disney World has 30,000 hotel rooms on site and the Disney Orlando Empire covers some 43 square miles). But we can overlook it. How about some more clues?

“Massive Competitive Advantages—Our secret recommendation already operates 12 of the most popular entertainment venues in the United States, and has essentially created what Warren Buffett calls an economic moat. Its existing parks can handle more than one million visitors at a time. No one else in its industry comes close….

“Our pick enjoys lucrative marketing relationships with Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Coors Light, Ford, Goodyear, Nationwide Insurance, Sherwin Williams, Sprint, Toyota and UPS.”

OK, so that’s more than enough in the way of clues … but they keep piling it on, so in case you want some more of their pitch:

“This business is still owned and run by the family that founded it….

“Monopoly—The best type of business to own is a monopoly. Too bad they’re illegal. Of course, there is one huge exception: sports organizations….

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“… it’s trading just above book value. By evaluating takeovers of similar businesses over the past 10 years, we estimate it’s 30% undervalued right now.”

So who is it? OK, we know, you had it at “Daytona” … this is International Speedway (ISCA or ISCB), owner of the Daytona International Speedway and a dozen other motorsports tracks around the country that are mostly known for (and dedicated to) NASCAR events.

There are a couple other publicly traded speedway companies, Dover Motorsports (DVD), which owns two tracks, and Speedway Motorsports (TRK), which owns eight — but International Speedway is the big daddy, owning iconic tracks like Watkins Glen, Darlington and Talladega in addition to the Daytona International Speedway.

And yes, it’s their planned development around the Speedway in Daytona that has Fink’s attention here — they’re actually doing two things to try to boost traffic, tourism and spending there, the first is an expansion/redesign of the actual viewing areas at the Speedway, and the second is a 50/50 joint venture with a private developer to build a large mixed-use destination retail/entertainment area across the street. That second one, which is what Fink is teasing us about, is called One Daytona. So far it’s expected to have a Bass Pro Shops location, a big and uber-fancy movie theater, and a boutique hotel — with more presumably on the way.

It’s a big deal for Daytona, whether it becomes a big deal for ISCA in terms of growth and revenue is an open question — from my quick look today it seems more like a promise of future possibilities (turning their speedways into real destination resorts, encouraging longer stays and more spending) than it is a definitive “win” in the short term. The development has not yet broken ground, from what I can tell, but they are expecting to open the first phase in 2016.

ISCA is a regional monopoly in areas where it operates, it is a huge partner of the most successful sporting organization in the country outside the NFL, and it is indeed family controlled. NASCAR is huge and popular. None of that means that ISCA is always a growing concern, partly because it’s also a business with a lot of variables and one that is tough to manage when you depend overwhelmingly on a small number of sporting events each year to drive revenue — particularly since those events are outdoors and attendance in the past has been heavily weather-dependent.

NASCAR events can be expensive to attend, like NFL games, but there’s not as much of a tradition of “season passes” or pre-bought tickets — these speedways often have well over 100,000 seats in the grandstands and can host tens of thousands more in the infield, so a big push for them in recent years has been to market more heavily and get more people to buy tickets in advance so they can have more stable, predictable attendance. Having attendance go up or down by a couple percent is a big deal for them on a national basis, and that depends a lot on the drivers and their appeal, weather, the state of competition at that point in the schedule, and lots of other stuff I’m probably not thinking about.

If you do like NASCAR, this is probably the pick — the France family that owns NASCAR also essentially controls ISCA, so you won’t get much say in how the company is run but they should be fairly safe in that their contracts to host NASCAR races and participate in those events probably is safe. And NASCAR has a new TV contract starting in 2015 that is apparently pretty good (TV brings in roughly half the revenue for ISCA), and they have already gotten commitments for most of their top tier sponsorships for next year (everything in NASCAR has a corporate sponsor), so that sets a pretty strong base for the company’s earnings. But whether they can post consistent growth in revenue after a few down years is probably more dependent on ticket sales and the average dollar spent by their track visitors… which probably depends as much on the health of the consumer in their regions as on the star appeal of the next generation of NASCAR drivers (Northern Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan were hit hard by the recession, which probably helped depress their results since many of their larger tracks are in those areas).

I’m of two minds about this one — they have some appealing projects, like the joint venture Hollywood Casino at their track in Kansas which is bringing in some nice cash flow, and their next TV deal starting next year is much better than the last one (TV networks are desperate for sports now)… but they’re also going to spend a LOT of money on the current redevelopment of Daytona and their planned One Daytona project, so there’s some risk in there if they hit a weak spot anywhere else in the business (they had some challenges this year, partly because of weather delays at the Daytona 500, and they seem to usually have at least one or two tracks that are struggling to hit ticket sale goals).

I might be jumping to attention to take that kind of risk if the stock were cheap, but it’s not all that cheap at 20X next year’s earnings without any meaningful growth expectations beyond that (at least, according to analysts — they see 3% annual growth), and the small dividend (less than 1%) isn’t quite enough to tantalize even though they’ve promised to grow it, so the one real “value” metric is that they trade right around book value — but so do other speedways, those are nice, big valuable assets and they get good depreciation, but no one’s going to break up the company and sell them for development.

May be worth taking a look, though, particularly if you’re an avid NASCAR fan who has confidence that the sport will spike again in audience appeal like it did in the early 2000s — higher growth expectations might make this an easy buy, but I’m worried the might have some rough years with their big capital expenditures before they turn those projects into real revenue growth to drive earnings.

So chime in, NASCAR fans — is the sport growing? Will there be popular showdowns at Daytona in the years to come that drive gate-busting ticket sales and push ISCA over the edge? Let us know with a comment below.

TRK
DVD
isca/iscb

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sportsbiz
August 26, 2014 9:20 am

Not only is the sport not growing but attendance and TV ratings have been dropping for the last three years before stabilizing somewhat this year. I haven’t seen much on the bids for the next TV contract. I suspect it will do alright if only because the only sure live programming these days is sports, so even niche sports are getting richer deals than ever before. There are also more networks than ever as each of the major broadcast nets now have their own dedicated sports cable outlet so the competition for original programming is fierce.

That said, the boom times In NASCAR are long gone and 20x earnings seems awfully rich for my blood.

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Beachbum One
Member
Beachbum One
August 26, 2014 9:59 am

I live just north of Daytona Beach, and go there for many reasons. Beyond the increasingly popular NASCAR, it has such a convergence of ingredients that will contribute to it’s success….immediate access just off Interstate 95, a convenient airport RIGHT behind the track, open land (and ALOT of it) just the other side 95 if they DID want to build a Disney-like venue, existing attractions like Nascar (those fans follow races everywhere!), the track itself is undergoing massive construction upgrades, Bike week and October Bike fest draw millions$$ and many thousands of bikers , it’s a big college town, let’s not forget the already famous Beach which is ripe for a renaissance (as some of it’s features are aged.)
The entire northern Florida coast is experiencing very positive growth, everyone I know is growing weary of the northeast where I came from 2 years ago, and hopes to move down here. Anything happening in this area will make money…in my humble opinion.

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Brad Young
Brad Young
August 26, 2014 1:27 pm

You’ve got a 20-year or so window to operate before rising sea levels obliterate all of southern Florida.

Mike barnett
Mike barnett
August 26, 2014 1:49 pm
Reply to  Brad Young

I hope you are just being sarcastic about the sea levels.

carbon bigfoot
Guest
carbon bigfoot
August 26, 2014 3:59 pm
Reply to  Brad Young

You are so brainwashed its pathetic. Recent studies by NOAA indicates that this myth is an “Inconvenient Untruth”. Suggest http://www.wattsupwiththat.com scientific blog–best on the web 3 years running for your information instead of Huff Post, WAPO, NYT, or other liberal rags.

tyhub
September 4, 2014 1:23 am
Reply to  carbon bigfoot

Just stick around and we’ll see who’s right and who’s wrong!!
I’m sure you don’t believe that the ice is melting away at the North and South poles either!!
Hope you have a good boat! You better buy it now because your going to be broke when your house goes under!! LMAO!!!

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arch1
September 4, 2014 2:41 am
Reply to  tyhub

If you are not averse to real scientific data sponsored by NASA and NOAA check this link

sidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

Please notice that the Northwest passage never opened this year and arctic ice will soon be increasing as daylight lessens. Antarctic ice has had record ice cover this year 2014.

👍 7797
Lighteredknot
Member
August 26, 2014 5:03 pm
Reply to  Brad Young

Yeah: Jimmy Carter spoke from the Whitehouse fireside chats in Jan 1977 said ” world will run out of fossil fuel in 20 Years”. Now he’s calling all Anti-Global Warming people Nutcases. I ask you ; who is the nut(s)?

Bob
Guest
Bob
August 27, 2014 11:02 am
Reply to  Brad Young

You might want to check a map. Daytona is in northern Florida.

arch1
September 4, 2014 2:43 am
Reply to  Brad Young

Yes that is what they said in 1980,,,,,,how is that working for you?

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Jeff T.
Member
Jeff T.
August 26, 2014 2:38 pm

Travis… I am a huge sports fan and NASCAR is not one of them. NASCAR fans are like the people who slow down to view the carnage of an auto accident on a major freeway… there are plenty of them. 20 X’s earnings is way too rich to compete and little children are not likely aroused by loud noise and car wrecks. Disney wins.

C. K. Walter
Guest
C. K. Walter
August 26, 2014 3:34 pm

As a fan of NASCAR, I become concerned when I see lots and lots of empty seats in more and more televised races. The analysts who speak in terms of “increasingly popular NASCAR” are the same ones who refer to the fans as Bubba and Billy Bob, with no further understanding of this market. I’ll hold on to my Disney stock and someday buy a NASCAR ticket but I’ll let others buy the shares. P/E of 20? Time for a pit stop.

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Akron Dave
Guest
Akron Dave
August 26, 2014 5:23 pm

I don’t think the fan base is going to get any bigger than it is now…maybe even slow down a bit. “Hillbilly Hypnosis” has never piqued my interest even though I used to work where they made the tires for NASCAR….too many other distractions that catch my interest. I’ll take my investment dollars elsewhere.

Quincy Adams
Guest
Quincy Adams
August 26, 2014 7:40 pm

As an investor, I note that DIS stock has tripled over the past three years and it’s one that I regret missing. As a tourist, I have found Daytona Beach far preferable to nearby Disney World lately. The Disney parks have lost much of their charm since the time I took my children there many years ago to the time I took my grandchildren there last year. It didn’t help that our “premium hotel” was under sorely needed renovation, the pricey food mediocre and the service abysmal. Perhaps they should change the words of their legacy song to “it’s the cash flow after all”.

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5971
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Paul Zillhardt
Guest
Paul Zillhardt
August 26, 2014 9:55 pm

Real Gasolene created without using oil! They are turning Natural gas into gasolene that will sell for $1.71/ gal.
Dave Fessler and Sean Broderick
Oxford Resource Explorer 8-26-14 $49

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Dave
Member
Dave
August 27, 2014 3:38 am
Reply to  Paul Zillhardt

Is this a request for a Gumshoe expose?

hipockets
August 27, 2014 6:50 pm
Reply to  Dave

All of Travis’s articles on teasers are expose’s, areb’t they?

👍 1224
it
Member
it
August 27, 2014 11:46 am
Reply to  Paul Zillhardt

I think it is SSL, and I’m watching it. Projected earnings start to grow – i’m in.

dunnydame
dunnydame
September 4, 2014 2:59 am
Reply to  it

Since 3/07 I’ve been a contented owner of SSL. Just wish I could reinvest the dividends.

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bj
Member
August 27, 2014 9:25 pm
Reply to  Paul Zillhardt

Oil & gasoline are bot n sold internationally so prices will be set INTERNATIONALLY. Gas will NEVER be $1.71 per gal.

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359
Rhody
Guest
January 12, 2015 5:24 pm
Reply to  bj

Hey bj, what was that about gas prices, thats what i just paid….

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