Mark Grammer SoftBank Corp 9984-JP COMMENT Jul 10, 2014

It owns positions in Alibaba and Sprint. They have a $100 billion VC fund, the most powerful anywhere apparently. World-class assets. (Analysts' price target: Yen 12568 )

They've invested in areas of tech that many are interested in. But can they truly achieve their objective? It's a holding company--you take arisk that over time they end up with a discount from NAV. Don't buy this, but invest in an area they are in that interests you instead.

(Past Top Pick, Oct. 11, 2017, Up 14%) This stock has lifted only in the past few months after being sideways or down. They have a $100-billion vision fund which is now $200 bilion, more than all that Silicon Valley has raised in two years. His catalyst was the spin-off that took a $1-billion investment. Since then, he invested in this and has been happy. There's more room to go.

Trying to become like Berkshire Hathaway, but in the tech space. Have a ton of debt. Everything they’re buying has a lot of risk. Red flag that they’re using strong stock price as currency to acquire. Doesn’t want to be in this space. Putting a lot of money into telecom, and won’t get a huge payback.

(A Top Pick Jul 11/18, Up 16%) It's loaded with debt and has invested in risky things, like WeWork and Uber. That Uber IPO this week didn't bode well for SoftBank. They recently launched a $5.5 billion share buyback. This stock is down because of Uber weakness. (There is IPO fatigue, and not Uber's fault.)

One issue they have is misallocating capital in stocks like Uber and WeWork, but not really thinking through their investing decisions and relying on gut feeling. Softbank also has trouble raising money, and there's basically just one person running the show here. Also, there are questions about their corporate governance. This isn't a good way to run a business and they will suffer. Look elsewhere.