SoftBank Corp (9984-JP)

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.

(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.)

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.

(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.

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.

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 )

One of the world's biggest tech investors, based in Japan. Stock has been so-so lately. They have $100 billion invested in innovations like self-driving cars and AI. A great name. His only concern is they're heavily indebted, but are trying to create income streams from an insurance business they want to partner with.

This company is like owning a venture capital firm with investments in Uber and others. The company may make investments in 20 ventures, hoping one really hits.

A Japanese conglomerate, well known multinational Telecommunications/Internet sitting in Japan. Trading at a huge discount to its underlying holdings. Trades at around $99-$100 billion market cap, and at a 40% discount to some of the names they own. They just bought an investment in Matchbox, which is an open-source mapping technology for every single device in the world. A good way to play some of the underlying names like Ali Baba (BABA-N) and Nvidia (NVDA-Q). Dividend yield of 0.7%. (Analysts’ price target is ¥11,750.00.)

Owns more than 20% of Alibaba, and is the best way to get exposure to Alibaba before its IPO in the next 12 months or so. His fund owns this company primarily for that reason.

The big asset is their Sprint ownership. Also, have a piece of the Ali Baba through the back door. Effectively it is a telecom holding company and quite well run. Good operation, but could never grasp what it really is. He is neutral on this because he just doesn’t understand it.