A Wall Street Transcript Interview with the President of CJS Securities Arnold Ursaner: A Bottom-Up Approach to Small-Cap Investing
67 WALL STREET, New York - October 11, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its current Investing Strategies Report. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Disciplined Growth Approach - Global Economy - Top-Down and Bottom-Up Investing - Bottom-Up Stock Selection - Value Oriented Strategy - Value Investing - Deep Value - Exposure to Emerging Markets
Companies include: Trinity Biotech plc (TRIB), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), The Governor and Company of Th (IRE), Primoris Services Corporation (PRIM), ESCO Technologies Inc. (ESE), Siemens AG (SI), General Electric Co. (GE), Invacare Corp. (IVC), Hillenbrand, Inc. (HI), Powell Industries, Inc. (POWL), FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN), HEICO Corp. (HEI)
In the following excerpt from the Investing Strategies Report, the President of CJS Securities discusses his investing methodology and top picks for investors:
TWST: If you would, please start with a brief history of CJS Securities and a snapshot of your business today.
Mr. Ursaner: CJS was started 16 years ago, and our business model has been relatively consistent. We are a sell-side brokerage firm. We focus on small-cap companies for ideas where we believe we can add value and our clients can outperform the market. We try to find niche-oriented companies that are less exposed or followed by Wall Street.
TWST: Why the particular focus on small-cap stocks?
Mr. Ursaner: It is an area of inefficiency where outsized returns can be achieved. A company within the small-cap space can be a market leader with several hundred million dollars of revenue and have very attractive returns. Also more importantly, many of these companies are self-financing and do not need Wall Street coverage. In many cases, the shares may be closely held by family members, perhaps the founders of the company, so these names tend to easily fall through the cracks on Wall Street, which provides a great opportunity for investors to get outperformance.
TWST: And do you look at domestic stocks only?
Mr. Ursaner: We focus on U.S.-traded stocks. We've had some experience trying to find companies outside the U.S., and generally most of our clients want to focus their investments on the United States. Many of the smaller companies we follow have significant international exposure. We do have coverage on a handful of companies that trade in the United States but are not domiciled in the U.S. For example, Trinity Biotech (TRIB) is an Irish pharmaceutical company, but the primary market for the shares is in the United States.
TWST: Tell us a bit about the criteria that you focus on when you are evaluating individual securities.
For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
