Well, we did it. We launched Buy on Pullback Portfolio #14 (BOP) with two names on Monday, November 10: Acorn Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACFN) and Leatt Corp. (OTCQB:LEAT). Two more names, Burnham Holdings, Inc. (OOTC:BURCA) and Koil Energy Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB:KLNG), were added during our November Open Forum on Tuesday, with additional candidates now under review.

The Open Forum covered a wide range of updates, including new management briefing events, model portfolio performance stats, and early work toward what may become a dedicated Defense Sector Screen. I will provide a recap on this weekly, but the full replay is already up on the portal.

By the way, you can access all the slides of our open forms at this link, if you’re logged in. Also, you can see all of our archived morning emails here.

Last week, the microcap earnings season officially began, with most companies we follow posting impressive results. However, many of these reports got “lost” in a week where the stock market pulled back, amid fears of an AI bubble.

Highlights in this weekly:

Q3 reports from Crawford United Corporation (OOTC:CRAWA), Bk Technologies Corporation (NYSE:BKTI), First Acceptance Corp. (OTC:FACO), Equator Beverage Company (OOTC:MOJO), Acorn Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACFN), Fuel Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTEK), Power Solutions International, (NASDAQ:PSIX), Cipher Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC:CPHRF) (TSX:CPH)
An awesome MUST WATCH investor insight skull session with Quant investor Yuval Taylor (@yuvaltaylor).
Latest “You Make the Call” Fireside Chat, Wesley J. Bolsen, CEO of General Enterprise Ventures Inc (OOTC:GEVI).
Our in-depth take on ACFN 39% Pullback during the week.
Our quick take on PSIX 23% Pullback during the week.

As we are now on the hunt to launch Buy On Pullback #14 (BOP) this week, we will be assessing if any of these pullbacks are good candidates for inclusion in the portfolio.

Right off the bat, I want to say thanks for all who attended live. At our peak, we had 76 attendees.  Given that we only “marketed” the event for about a week, I thought this was a great turnout and are confident that the next one will yield an even better presence as people begin to see the value and information arbitrage that results from the presentations from handpicked companies and Q&A exchanges.

This week’s update centers around the theme of turnarounds, including our refreshed Restructure/Turnaround Screen spotlighting three companies. We also published a Geoinvesting subscriber’s bullish write-up on Mistras Group Inc (NYSE:MG) and its shift toward data-centric asset monitoring. Finally, we recapped momentum from Asp Isotopes Inc. (NASDAQ:ASPI) following new supply agreements, and growing traction in Cca Industries, Inc. (OOTC:CAWW) turnaround story. Some of the most compelling opportunities start out overlooked, even dismissed. These “ugly ducklings” are exactly the kinds of companies where quality often forms beneath the surface before it shows up in the numbers.

We started the forum with something that’s been on my mind a lot lately: being thankful for all the great ideas from the Geoinvesting community. Lately, we’ve seen a string of big wins from our contributors:

This week’s update features a skull session with the CTO of Qualstar Corp. (OOTC:QBAK), the addition of Mistras Group Inc (NYSE:MG) to our Data Center Screen, and updates on Kingstone Companies, Inc (NASDAQ:KINS) guidance and a look into a messy form 8K filed by Konatel, Inc. (OTCQB:KTEL).

Jeff Sengpiehl, the newly appointed CTO of Qualstar Corp. (OOTC:QBAK), walked us through the company’s turnaround plan and why tape storage (yes, tape) is back in the spotlight. With deep experience from Disney/ABC and involvement in major media productions like Game of Thrones and American Idol, Jeff offered a unique lens into how data storage needs are evolving in the AI era, no just in technology land. More on this later. By the way, I will be having an update skull session with both the CEO, Steve Bronson, and Jeff in a few weeks. Put your name on this list if you are not a premium subscriber to Geoinvesting and want to be notified.

We also added Mistras Group Inc (NYSE:MG), a company that provides asset-protection, inspection & integrity services, to our Data Center Screen after comments surfaced through the NEW InfoArb Tearsheets platform. MG has traditionally been known for its inspection services across sectors like oil and gas and aerospace, but it’s now beginning to talk more openly about opportunities in less cyclical markets like the data center and AI infrastructure space.

We’re excited to announce our next Skull Session Event! This Monday 2PM Eastern Time, we’ll be hosting a Fireside Chat with the new CTO of Qualstar Corp. (OOTC:QBAK). I am extremely excited about this one. The company is sitting in the center of a growth trend that we haven’t covered in the data center and AI world yet: off cloud storage solutions.

Speaking of events, last week, we hosted a Skull Session with Adrian Courtenay (@ACourtenEye, LinkedIn) of GA-Courtenay Special Situations Fund, who shared his framework for identifying special situations and catalyst-driven opportunities, especially when it comes to merger arbitrage. By the way, Adrian has just published a book titled The Super Organisation Secret on the subject, which you can check out here. 

You know that we are big on information arbitrage, so this chat really resonated with me. I came across Adrian while perusing interviews at Sunday’s Idea Brunch Substack.