US Global Investors Inc (GROW) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strategic Growth Amid Market ...

In This Article:

  • Airlines Fund Volatility: Non-event for assets to fluctuate 6% over a 10-day period.

  • Gold Fund Volatility: Assets fluctuate plus or minus 6% over a 10-day period.

  • Growth in Government Agency Fund: Increased from nearly nothing to $1 billion in assets.

  • Gold Assets Correlation: Stock performance highly correlated with gold fund flows.

  • Bitcoin and Hive Investment: Initial investment in Hive in 2017, significant volatility around Bitcoin.

Release Date: November 08, 2024

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

  • US Global Investors Inc (NASDAQ:GROW) has a strong balance sheet with significant cash reserves, allowing for stock buybacks and dividend payments.

  • The company's gold-focused funds have shown modest growth year over year, benefiting from gold reaching all-time highs.

  • US Global Investors Inc (NASDAQ:GROW) has a longstanding history of innovation, being the first to launch a no-load gold fund and creating thematic investment products.

  • The company has successfully created sustainable thematic products using a Smart Beta 2.0 strategy, which involves extensive backtesting and quarterly recalibration.

  • US Global Investors Inc (NASDAQ:GROW) has a global footprint with a significant presence in emerging markets, particularly in the gold mining sector in Africa and Latin America.

Negative Points

  • Microcap stocks, including US Global Investors Inc (NASDAQ:GROW), have struggled to keep pace with large-cap stocks, impacting overall performance.

  • The company's stock price has been affected by negative sentiment towards the airline industry, despite increased travel post-COVID.

  • There is a lack of significant fund flows into gold and gold stocks, despite the asset class's strong performance.

  • US Global Investors Inc (NASDAQ:GROW) faces challenges in the mutual fund industry, with a shift towards ETFs and outdated valuation metrics for mutual funds.

  • The company's thematic products, while innovative, are subject to cyclical market trends, which can lead to periods of volatility and underperformance.

Q & A Highlights

Q: Can you elaborate on the company's strategy regarding gold investments and its performance? A: Frank Holmes, CEO, explained that US Global Investors has a strong focus on gold, with funds modestly growing year over year. The company believes in the potential of gold as a diversified asset, especially given global economic conditions and monetary policies. Holmes highlighted the historical success of gold and gold-related investments, noting that gold has outperformed the S&P 500 over the century.