Become a Member

Angel’s “World’s First Trillionaires Will Come From THIS” pitch, detangled

What's Park Avenue Investment Club pitching as "The Leader of the $50 Trillion Deep Learning Revolution?"

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, March 20, 2018


This article was originally published on September 28, 2017. It has not been updated or revised. The stock teased, Xilinx, has been very volatile since the teaser pitch first circulated but has risen roughly 7%, just about in line with the broader market.

Charles Mizrahi has mostly pitched stocks that have a “value” bent in the past, but his latest ad for the Park Avenue Investment Club is much more “growthy” in nature. Here’s how it opens up:

“World’s First Trillionaires Will Come From THIS

“Google just started using it, and it made them an extra $9 BILLION in revenue…

“It’s expectd [sic] to be 18 times bigger than smartphones, tablets and PCs… COMBINED

“And it will unleash a $50 trillion new wave of wealth…”

The pitch is one of many that have quoted Mark Cuban’s sentiment that the first trillionaire will be an artificial intelligence entrepreneur, somehow harnessing the Internet of Things and Big Data and AI to create the next goliath… and that sentiment is widespread in the investing community, most experts I’ve heard talk about this echo that sentiment that deep learning and AI will be the basis for the next dominant silicon valley company (though they all tend to note that yes, Alphabet and Facebook and others who are investing heavily in AI will also benefit from this next wave of technology).

Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning can mean many things, but the basic investment premise is that computers that can “learn” from new data that they collect, without having to be reprogrammed or updated by a person or a new reprogrammed algorithm each time something changes. That gives the capability for computers to become exponentially more capable, and enables not only self-driving cars and image search within videos, which are some of the current core applications of AI (a car gets better at spotting bicyclists after the computer has seen ten million bicycles on the road that look and behave slightly differently, for example, not just because a programmer tells it what a bicycle looks like), but also great new and unforeseen capabilities in the future… particularly as the vast network of Internet of Things devices creates more and more data that can be processed by the next generation of deep learning machines.

Mizrahi also takes a moment, as pretty much all newsletter pitchmen do, to boast about a few of his greatest performers — including Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), which he did indeed feature in a teaser ad back in the fall of 2012 (it’s up 400% or so since then, and he says he still expects great things from that Naval contractor — that’s one of my “shoulda” companies that was appealing at the time but that I didn’t buy). So yes, like pretty much anyone in this business (or any investor, frankly) he has had some big winners.

I don’t know what his overall track record might be, but I do also own the stock he has pitched most aggressively over the past several years, Fairfax Financial (FFH.TO FRFHF), and I still like it… despite the fact that it has trailed the market pretty dramatically over the past year (and has been a mediocre stock for an extended period, returning roughly as much as the S&P 500 since the end of the financial crisis).

So that’s the big picture and a little background. What’s the actual investment that Mizrahi pitches as a play on this?

It’s some kind of chipmaker, and he compares this to investing in Intel before the personal computer revolution took hold (and to other successful semiconductor stocks, like NVIDIA)… but let’s dig some clues out of the ad so we can see what he’s talking about.

Here’s a taste:

“The Single Best Opportunity of the Next Decade

“Deep learning is the future of ALL technology.

“The time to get in is NOW.

“And at the nexus of it all is a tiny component made by a cutting-edge company that could hand early investors 10, 15, even 30 times their money.”

And, in case that isn’t tantalizing enough…

“… a remarkable โ€” yet, overlooked โ€” company is at the forefront of it all.

“If you were to make only ONE technology investment in the next decade, this company should be it.

“I have never been more certain about anything in my entire life.”

Every time I see language like that “I have never been more certain” bit, I have to remind myself that this is probably the ad copywriter talking, not the investment analyst. I’m sure Mizrahi isn’t putting all his assets into this one stock, which is what you would logically do if you were more certain about it than you had ever been about anything else in your entire life (choosing your spouse, loving your children, serving your country, whatever). Perhaps he has high conviction in this stock, even more conviction than he usually does about his investment ideas, I don’t know… but I find certainty to be elusive when it comes to investing, and probably more likely to lead to hubris and disappointment than to riches.

Are you getting our free Daily Update
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...


But anyway, what else do we get by way of clues regarding this “first trillionaire” stock?

First, a bit more of the background that Mizrahi trots out to explain his understanding of AI…

“… this breakthrough technology is already powering advancements in a whole host of industries. It’s being used to:

“Identify potential treatments for Ebola, multiple sclerosis, and various types of cancer.

“Recognize potentially threatening climate events.

“Help farmers detect crop disease BEFORE it spreads.

“And, heck, even predicting trends in the financial markets.

“And we’re just starting to scratch the surface of the potential applications…

“Experts say that there will be roughly 50 BILLION devices connected to the internet by 2020.

“And Iโ€™m not just talking about your smartphones, watches, or tablets, but also internet-enabled thermostats, light bulbs, fridges, baby monitors, toasters, windows, and more…

“The term for all these connected devices is called the Internet of Things, or IoT….

“Without deep learning, the $7 trillion Internet of Things canโ€™t reach its full potential.

“And Iโ€™m not just talking about Netflix giving you better movie recommendations or about Pandora giving you more songs that you like…

“By improving the speed and accuracy of data analysis, deep learning can optimize productivity (and profits) across nearly EVERY industry on the planet.”

What else?

He does note the vast amount of investment going into this sector… which, I’d note, should serve both to intrigue us, as Mizrahi intends, and to make us wary of the many, many other companies that are trying to fight for leadership of this market:

“CB Insights, a venture capital intelligence firm, reports that more than $18.4 BILLION has been invested into AI-related startups over the last five years.

“And investment continues to accelerate at a staggering pace.

“Hereโ€™s what it boils down to…

“The richest, smartest investors in America are loading up, and I suggest that you do the same โ€” immediately.”

OK, so we obviously can’t buy most of those venture companies that are getting that $18 billion in funding… and most of them will probably fail, anyway… but what is it that he thinks we should buy?

“Iโ€™ve found a much smaller company that is helping power Amazonโ€™s AI unit.

“And get this: It also happens to be Amazonโ€™s fastest-growing business segment!

“Sales for this firm have been growing for the past seven consecutive quarters with no slowdown in sight.”

OK, so it’s got sales growth and it’s working with Amazon. What else?

“… computer processors were NOT designed for deep learning. And itโ€™s shaking the entire microprocessor industry to its core.

“These new chips facilitate the growing wave of machine-to-machine communication for things like connected cars and smart appliances.

“Wired is calling it ‘a new breed of chip that could accelerate AI from inside smartphones and other devices.’

“And MarketWatch says that these chips ‘are the pickaxes and shovels in a potential robotic-car gold rush.’

“These supercharged chips will speed up deep learning in everything from tiny devices to massive data centers.

“So, to get in on the action, you will want to own stock in a company that makes these chips.”

Simple enough logic there, though we should probably ping our brains here for a moment to remind ourselves that there’s almost never “just one company” that makes the chips for a particular application. Newsletter copywriters excel in drawing that connection from a powerful trend to a single company, and usually instead of that one bold line we’re probably really looking at a giant web of connections between hundreds of companies and suppliers… particularly with a big trend like “deep learning” and AI.

So with that caveat, what other clues do we get from Mizrahi’s ad?

“Formed in Silicon Valley in the mid-’80s, this companyโ€™s CEO is a 35-year tech pioneer, and heโ€™s using his industry contacts to lock in some very impressive contracts.

“Investing in this Silicon Valley pioneer today will perfectly position you to enjoy a ride on the greatest wave of innovation that history has ever seen.

“In the past year, internet giants Amazon and Baidu have signed on to use this companyโ€™s unique chips. In fact, these chips are whatโ€™s powering Amazonโ€™s fastest-growing business unit.

“Electronic Design says that this companyโ€™s chip is a ‘jack-of-all-trades [and that] engineers can reprogram them to handle tricky computing jobs like speech and image recognition better than general-purpose computers sold by the likes of Intel.’

“In fact, this company is THE market leader when it comes to making the chips. And this also makes them one of the last great buyout targets in this explosive realm.”

Enough? Indeed. I had to move the leaf blower out of the way to get it cranked up on this chilly New England morning, but the Thinkolator did indeed fire up right away for me — and after shoveling in those clues, the answer came out nice and quick: This is Xilinx (XLNX).

Xilinx was indeed founded in the mid-80s (founded 1984, went public in 1989), and the company was created to commercialize the first field-progammable gate array (FPGA) chips — which are, essentially, chips that can be programmed to perform different tasks after they’re manufactured (instead of being manufactured for one particular set of processing tasks). FPGA chips are indeed being used to boost the artificial intelligence capabilities of data centers and in other applications, and Apple even surprisingly included one in the iPhone 7 last year that was widely seen as a possible “be ready for AI or virtual reality” placeholder.

The challenge, of course, is that Xilinx does not own the idea of the FPGA — they were the first to commercialize this concept and sell FPGA chips, and they are still the industry leader according to everything I’ve read, with roughly 50% market share, but lots of other semiconductor companies sell FPGA and other programmable semiconductors now. The second place player in this market is the particular concern, because that’s Altera, which was bought by Intel a couple years ago and thus enjoys Intel’s marketing and manufacturing might (Xilinx is a fabless semiconductor company, meaning they contract out to others to build the chips… in fact, they’re given credit for inventing “fabless” as a business model, which gives them great margins but somewhat less control). The other meaningful players are Microsemi (MSCC), QuickLogic (QUIK) and Lattice (LSCC) — Lattice has been in the news recently because the US government blocked their acquisition by a Chinese state-funded investment firm, and the other two have very teensy FPGA businesses compared to Xilinx and Intel/Altera.

Just to connect the dots on a few of those other clues, yes, Xilinx does provide chips to both Amazon Web Services and Baidu, and they have grown revenues for seven quarters in a row.

The growth is not particularly sexy, however, and though the trend has been toward growth their annual revenue has been in the same general neighborhood ($2-2.5 billion) for more than five years now. The financials actually paint an interesting picture, because this is a company that has not increased sales or improved margins or grown earnings meaningfully in at least three years… yet they’ve seen their PE ratio and their Price/Sales ratio grow dramatically.

Or to put it more bluntly, the company hasn’t gotten any better over the past three years, it has just gotten a higher valuation… at least, that’s how it looks in the raw numbers. That doesn’t incorporate the story at all, and it doesn’t incorporate this notion that FPGA’s and other advanced programmable chips will become more important as AI takes its place in more products (and in more data center applications), so if you want to like Xilinx, that’s where you have to find the reason: Are they going to continue to be a dominant provider of FPGA chips, and will that market grow dramatically over the next few years?

I can’t answer that, but I can say that the analyst forecasts are pretty underwhelming for a company that trades at Xilinx’s valuation. Xilinx at $70 is trading at at about 28X forward (FY2018) earnings, and those 2018 estimates represent 9% earnings growth over last year (XLNX is in Q2 of its fiscal 2018 right now). Further estimates are for 9% earnings growth in 2019 and 1% earnings growth in 2020 (though the 2020 estimates are from only three analysts, so perhaps they’re just the most cautious ones — the other years average about 15 analyst forecasts).

That’s not necessarily bad, and the analysts could be underestimating the potential for some kind of explosion in FPGA chip demand, but my initial reaction is that it’s not good enough for a company that’s trading at 28X earnings — that means you’re buying at a PEG ratio of about 3 (meaning, the PE ratio is about three times the expected earnings growth rate). That doesn’t usually work well unless the “G” turns out to be a lot better than expected, or unless it’s a really stable slow-growth industry where folks are happy to buy for the dividend and ignore the growth rate. Xilinx just started to pay a dividend last year, the yield is currently about 2%… and they do have the capacity to grow the dividend, it currently represents between 50-60% of earnings and they have a couple billion dollars in cash on the balance sheet so they’re certainly in no distress.

Having a high PEG ratio doesn’t mean the stock is guaranteed to fail, mostly because forward PE ratios can certainly be wrong if analysts are too cautious or are just missing something, or because investors sometimes get really excited about “future” stories whose earnings haven’t caught up to the stock yet… but it means the risks are pretty high because you’re paying a steep price relative to the consensus expectation about future growth rates.

I would say that the biggest reason for optimism is that Xilinx has been boring and up-and-down with its business for so many years, and FPGA has been predicted as the “next big thing” for so long without becoming a real mainstream story, that perhaps this means the analysts have gotten cynical and will miss the next big growth spurt — analysts don’t often get very far ahead of the news, and don’t typically want to overshoot on their earnings forecasts, so if there’s a big turn coming for Xilinx, as Mizrahi seems to expect, perhaps the analysts just don’t believe it yet.

So by all means, go forth and research Xilinx — see if you can find a reason why the earnings will grow much faster than analysts anticipate, or if you think there’s a likelihood of a premium buyout offer. Those are the two things that would make it reasonable to pay $70 for the stock, in my opinion, and I don’t see them in my 20-minute tour through their numbers… but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

If you’re looking for optimism about FPGA’s, and the kind of chips that Xilinx makes, start out with this Wired story from last year or this story about Amazon’s XLNX partnership and the possibilities it might bring… or check out the recent piece about Google’s new Tensor Processing chips here (Google’s new chips, which have sometimes been talked up as “data center killers,” aren’t FPGA’s, but in part address the same issues caused by increasing demands on AI processing from data centers).

Notwithstanding the interesting possibilities of those stories, I don’t know enough to be confident in them yet. Xilinx is a good company, with a strong business, good leadership, a long history of dominance in their sector, and a decent 2% dividend… but my initial sentiment is that it’s too expensive. What say you? Throw your wisdom on us with a comment below.

Irregulars Quick Take

Paid members get a quick summary of the stocks teased and our thoughts here. Join as a Stock Gumshoe Irregular today (already a member? Log in)
guest

12345

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

35 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
3mikes
3mikes
September 28, 2017 2:49 pm

intel looks gooder and gooder

Add a Topic
2390
3mikes
3mikes
September 28, 2017 3:05 pm

INTC’s Bill Krzanich ,says intel invested 1 billion in AI trough.Mighty AI,Data Robot & Luminata .Maybe they will pay off.Just a shot in the dark?

Add a Topic
2390
Add a Topic
372
bluesharpbob
September 28, 2017 3:37 pm

Took a position in Intel in 2010, up about 77% as of today. I can find nothing all that compelling about XLNX to convince me to jump in at these prices.

Add a Topic
2815
๐Ÿ‘ 120
PU subscriber
Guest
PU subscriber
September 28, 2017 3:51 pm

already a run up for XLNX. PE is over 30 which is relatively high historically. At $70 the various indicators are in overbought zones. Maybe on a pull back worth looking at again.

Add a Topic
2815
vivian
September 28, 2017 4:40 pm

chips are being turned out cheap all around the world. we just bought a fab in Texas which is not American in ownership, Tower Semi, also called Tower Jazz, TSEM. It is Israeli and makes new low-voltage 5V 65nm power processors based on a Japanese platform which is being marketed in emerging markets and for autos (self driving as well as regular).

norm
Member
norm
September 28, 2017 4:58 pm

Good info-doubtful XLNX will be a 1000% winner anytime soon. it’s already run up the mountain!

edski
Irregular
September 29, 2017 7:03 am

Maybe the world’s first Trillionaire will come from shorting this.

๐Ÿ‘ 1073
๐Ÿ‘ 21715
gamos4
November 11, 2017 1:23 pm

Travis, when I click on “click here to join. this comment thread,” I get “can’t find this page. Any suggestions?

๐Ÿ‘ -1
thinairmony
Member
September 29, 2017 11:54 am

MacMillian Dictionary – DL (Deep Learning) a form of machine learning composed of algorithms that permit software to train itself to perform tasks by exposing multilayered neural networks to vast amounts of data. Google’s new translation system was build using a technique known as deep learning , which uses networks of math functions loosely inspired by studies of mammalian brains submitted from United Kingdom ( September 29, 2016) Could’n find Deep learning in the updated New World Dictionary of American English third college edition. It did have AI (Artificial Intelligence) The capability of computers or programs to operate in ways believed to mimic human thought processes, such as reasoning and learning. I myself think like IOT that it is a multitude of things when refering to AI/DL just my 2cent.

thinairmony
September 29, 2017 12:11 pm
Reply to  thinairmony

Ever time I come SGS from email it doesn’t have me logged in but I can see everything and post and says guest. Minus signs are a reflection of bio site manners like- $ before every symbol and a bunch of more rules. Beware if you go there. Just a heads up

๐Ÿ‘ -191
Griffin
Griffin
September 30, 2017 5:36 pm

Travis, Since your portfolio seems to be part of the Friday File. Could you comment on eCobalt Solutions which is the portfolio. The release of their revised Feasibility Study this week appears to have have caused the share price to drop $.20. I read the study but about all I can make out of it is that they will 400% profit per pound of Cobalt. I would think the only real questions is how quick you can finish building the hopefully financing will allow for a 24/7 build schedule. Any comments?

Add a Topic
5243
Add a Topic
1113
๐Ÿ‘ 3700
Ken
Member
Ken
October 3, 2017 12:45 pm

Geez I remember my friend’s MOTHER recommending this stock 15 years ago! I never bought it

Add a Topic
5971
Playfulhair
Member
Playfulhair
November 21, 2017 9:37 pm

Travis, I know you know what this is, Iโ€™m wondering
How I can find it. Itโ€™s from Oxford. โ€œ The greatest
Innovation in History!โ€ 7 ties bigger than computers, cellphones, and tablets. They claim the
Chip can fit many on the head of a pin. If you know of this, could you please email it to me?
haroldh472@gmail.com Happy Thanksgiving Travis!
Harold Hansen

๐Ÿ‘ 12
Richard Russelburg
Guest
Richard Russelburg
March 20, 2018 11:21 pm
Reply to  Playfulhair

Did you get an answer from Travis on this?

Playfulhair
Member
Playfulhair
November 21, 2017 9:43 pm

Travis, sorry. I think it was Mampilly, it was now sup
Plement to Oxford, it may be in Banyan Hill now.
Iโ€™m sure you picked this apart, but I canโ€™t seem to find it. Thanks Again! H

Add a Topic
5563
๐Ÿ‘ 12
SoGiAm
November 21, 2017 9:46 pm
Reply to  Playfulhair

Outsider Club Oxford: Dear Reader,
An emerging technology is currently setting the world on fire.

A report by the premier consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) sees it as โ€œthe biggest commercial opportunity in today’s fast changing economy…โ€

Itโ€™s projected to add a stunning $15.7 trillion in new wealth to the global economy over the next decade.

To put that in perspective, this is roughly:

13 times the size of Australiaโ€™s GDP.
19 times Appleโ€™s market cap.
186 times Bill Gatesโ€™ net worth.
4,132 times the cost of building the One World Trade Center.
For you and me, it means a once-in-a-lifetime chance at riding this monstrous wave of wealth creation.
Click here for the details.
Sincerely,
Brian Hicks Signature
Brian Hicks
Publisher, Park Avenue Investment Club

Add a Topic
3371
Add a Topic
630
Add a Topic
80
๐Ÿ‘ 11604
Rudy
Member
Rudy
November 22, 2017 4:47 pm
Reply to  SoGiAm

Where are the details?

saint stephen
November 23, 2017 11:30 am
Reply to  SoGiAm

This is the worst spot of all to print a teaser like this. It made me laugh, though, so I appreciate it.

๐Ÿ‘ 341
Brian Johnston
Guest
Brian Johnston
December 22, 2017 5:33 am
Reply to  SoGiAm

Did you mean 186 times Gates worth or 186 times Microsoft

emcee833
Member
diezorocket
Member
diezorocket
December 2, 2017 12:12 pm

looking at that piece about Google’s TPU unit seems like the better bet if only they sold this chip! the article says it is many times faster than FPGA chips as it is ASIC and design for the specific of deep neural networks while FPGA is on par with GPU chips

๐Ÿ‘ 1
stancole
stancole
December 14, 2017 3:40 pm

The CEO sold 188,000 of his 270,000 shares in the past few months. If the company was about to make the kinds of gains this knucklehead is predicting… the only guy who’s a bigger knucklehead is the CEO… sounds like just another pump and dump to me

๐Ÿ‘ 5
Hazel
Guest
January 3, 2018 3:53 am

Interesting I think Charles is absolutely correct, artificial intelligence is the way of the future there’s no going back.

Durwood
Guest
January 9, 2018 5:12 pm

Clearly Xilinx will not be moving significantly until it announces its new blockchain technology integration.

Add a Topic
6001
mike
Guest
mike
February 24, 2018 2:05 am

wow. I didnt know anything about this topic before readings this. Fantastic explanation. Spot on. Now I know everything ๐Ÿ™‚

StockMidas
March 21, 2018 11:23 am

In keeping with Travisโ€™s recent post we are starting a discussion group for sharing stock market recommendations / picks / tips. This is specifically directed at the novice / part time investor. If you are interested in joining send an e-mail to trader709@yahoo.com

Add a Topic
5971
๐Ÿ‘ 260
Butch
Guest
Butch
April 1, 2018 8:14 pm

I have very little money to invest but a while back I saw a 60 minutes interview with the guy who runs alibaba and went to my 401 k and bought 100 shares on a whim. Next time I looked at my 401k it had made $11k.now interested in mkt but everything I buy loses money. Are these investment advisors selling books just the new version of the nothing down real estate dudes in the80โ€™s& 9oโ€™s

Add a Topic
4097
Add a Topic
409

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies.

More Info  
55
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x