Speedwell Research's News Update and Weekly Recap
Intrinsic Value vs Perceived Value, Why Enablers Are Attractive in Precision Medicine, How CoStar Navigated The GFC
Welcome to Speedwell Research’s Newsletter. We write about business and investing. Our paid research product can be found at SpeedwellResearch.com. You can learn more about us here.
This is a weekly recap, where we summarize recent content you may have missed.
Table of Contents:
Speedwell Releases & Upcoming
Spotlight
Coverage Updates
Sharing Links
1. Speedwell Releases & Upcoming.
Research.
In case you missed it, we released a short business recap on RH. You can read it here: RH 1Q25 Business Recap.
The Synopsis Podcast.
We released an interview episode with Mark Dainty, a portfolio manager at Blue Box Asset Management. In this episode, Mark shares how to invest in the high-risk industry of precision medicine using the “developer vs enabler” strategy.
Listen or read below!
Upcoming.
Podcast
We will release a dialogue episode this week — tbd the topic!
Research
We are working on LVMH as our next in-depth research report!
Coverage
Evolution will report 2Q25 earnings next week.
Become a Speedwell Member today to get access to all of our research updates and our in-depth research reports!
2. Spotlight.
Below are select quotes from our various writings and podcast.
The Synopsis Podcast. The Mark Dainty Interview
Why Invest in Enablers: “If we believe that precision medicine is at the beginning of a multi-decade growth trend, which we do, then it makes sense to access as much of that economic value as possible. But also, they tend to be more compounding, profitable companies. And so that provides a nice offset to the unprofitable pipeline companies that we have on the biotech side.”
Memo. If You Don’t Know What Game You’re Playing, You’ve Already Lost
Intrinsic Value vs Perceived Value: “The conflicting incentives and perverse effect of career risk can create an opportunity for long-term investors as many market participants are acting as if they are short-term investors, trying to profit from changes in perceived value rather than changes in intrinsic value.”
Read the full memo here: If You Don’t Know What Game You’re Playing, You’ve Already Lost
FND 1Q25 Business Recap.
Protecting Gross Margins Through Sourcing Agility: “They also believe that they can not just protect gross profit dollars by passing off prices, but gross margin percent as well, in contrast to the past. This is because everyone is being impacted, and they have a better ability to navigate supply chain issues with 240+ suppliers. The independents are going to be even further pressured, and Floor & Decor could take share coming out of this.”
Read the full recap here: FND 1Q25 Business Recap
Company Report Snippet. CoStar Group
Focus on Improving the Consumer Value Prop: “While competitors and most of the industry focused on cutting costs, Andy was focused on providing customers a more detailed and encompassing scope of information. As he noted in 4Q08, ‘keeping an eye on costs and minimizing spending are the watchwords of this recession, but even more important, I believe, is keeping the focus on our customers and ensuring that CoStar continues to provide the type and quality of information they expect’.”
*This is an excerpt from our company report on CoStar.
If you are a Speedwell Research Member, read the full report here: CoStar
If you are not already a Speedwell Research member, you can purchase it here: CoStar Individual Report
3. Coverage Updates.
Evolution
Evolution and Hasbro sign exclusive online casino and slots partnership agreement.
New games will launch from January 2026 onwards and will be showcased at ICE Barcelona 2026. Amongst the new Hasbro-based titles from Evolution brands will be Game Night, MONOPOLY Filthy Rich, MONOPOLY Roulette (all live online games with live presenters), and a number of online slot titles.
“At Hasbro, we’re all about play—whether it’s classic board games or casino experiences. After a thorough RFP process, we’ve chosen Evolution as our exclusive partner for online live casino and online slots for Hasbro Games titles. We trust them to bring our brands to life in fresh, exciting ways for our adult fans and look forward to our partnership.” -Claire Hunter Gregson, Director Gaming Relationships.
Todd Haushalter, Evolution’s Chief Product Officer, commented: “The combining of Hasbro and Evolution just feels right — we will make magic together! The bidding process was extremely competitive, but showing our commitment to innovation and excellence with MONOPOLY Live and MONOPOLY Big Baller, really helped! The team and I are incredibly excited to bring the Hasbro Games brands to all our various brands. I think MONOPOLY is the world’s best casino game brand, and we can do so many great things with it, and, of course, with many other Hasbro Games brands. It is hard to believe, but these are still the early days of online gaming, and with Hasbro we will forge a new chapter in our industry.”
Evolution enters Rhode Island through extended partnership with Bally’s Corporation
“This milestone marks Evolution’s entry into the state and establishes a presence in all seven US states which currently offer online casino gaming.”
CoStar
CoStar Names Alexa-Maria Rathbone Barker as Head of CoStar for Europe
“Alexa will also lead CoStar’s European expansion. With product launches planned in France, Spain, and Germany, her multilingual skills and pan-European expertise will be instrumental in driving growth and building CoStar’s footprint in new market.”
Meta
Expert Insight: Early AI ROI Trends for Retail Media Growth (from AlphaSense)
“Google, with the AI-driven return on investment, they're going to rise by 18%-20%. That's basically focusing on Performance Max, that's their AI feature, and generative AI creatives that will drive the maximum impact. Meta, who's their second biggest competitor, would approximately rise 20%-30% in their AI-driven ROI gain. This would be primarily focusing on their AI features like Advantage+ Shopping and AI-generated creatives.”
4. Sharing Links.
Check out Speedwell Research’s Drew Cohen’s YouTube Channel. It is focused on general investing and business content.
Other Links.
A Letter a Day: Ho Nam- How Do You Know? (link)
Michael Mauboussin on Capital Allocation (link)
Leandro of Best Anchor Stocks: The Traits of a High-Quality Company (link)
And a special thank you to Matthew Harbaugh for helping put this weekly recap together!
The Synopsis Podcast.
Follow our Podcast below. We have four episode formats: “company” episodes that breakdown in-depth each business we write a report on, “dialogue” episodes that cover various business and investing topics, “article” episodes where we read our weekly memos, and “interviews”.
Speedwell Research Reports.
Become a Speedwell Research Member to receive all of our in-depth research reports, shorter exploratory reports, updates, and Members Plus also receive Excels.
(Many members have gotten their memberships expensed. If you need us to talk with your compliance department to become an approved vendor, please reach out at info@speedwellresearch.com).
