I was reflecting on a past GeoWire Weekly post from November 2022 where I addressed some factors that made Ufp Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT) a standout case study in what can happen when company management values maintaining the integrity of capital structure while growing revenue and EPS organically and through acquisitions - UFPT, a designer and custom manufacturer of components, subassemblies, products and packaging utilizing highly specialized foams, films, and plastics primarily for the medical market, made eight acquisitions since 1993. The company relied on its strong balance sheet to minimally increase its share count as EPS trended higher from 2004, when its bottom line went positive, to 2022, the first time its adjusted EPS broke $3 per share.

In this Weekly Wrapup, we’re taking a break from our usual subject matter to bring you some material on the Silicon Valley Bank failure debacle to help you understand some different perspectives related to the developing story. “Silicon Valley Bank structured its loans with the understanding that startups do not earn revenue immediately, managing risk based on their business model. The bank's main strategy was collecting deposits from businesses financed through venture capital.” In the end, this event is just another unwinding of the 15 year speculative bubble that will give more credence to stock picking taking precedence over a buy anything strategy. We continue to be very bullish on buying traditional boring growth plus value microcap stock set-ups. Yesterday night, financial regulators declared that depositors of Silicon Valley Bank, which failed on Friday, will be able to access their full deposits beginning on March 13th. They also unveiled new measures to ensure that deposit withdrawals can be backed up throughout the banking system, in response to concerns about contagion following SVB's unexpected collapse last week.

I no longer avoid investing in Canada based companies. When you screen for stocks to buy, you might have a desired set of criteria on a quantitative, qualitative and geographical basis. If you isolate your screen to Canada, natural resource companies will dominate your list. If you love to invest in these types of companies, many of which are in the early stages of development and specialize in mineral and oil exploration and extraction, you’d be in luck. Canada is one of the most resource-rich countries in the world as the global leader in potash production and a top five global producer of diamonds, gemstones, gold, indium, niobium, platinum group metals, titanium concentrate and uranium. Canada is also the world's fourth-largest primary aluminum producer, and has the third-largest oil deposits after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.