The 5-Minute Investor Podcast, Ep. 11: Crypto picks from Consensus 2025
Welcome to episode 11 of The 5-Minute Investor Podcast, where Stockhouse columnists Jonathon Brown and Trevor Abes each deliver a 2.5-minute recommendation related to recent news stories with investment implications.
Here's Jon's article for episode 11:
Here are Trevor's articles:
Here's a list of past episodes:
Thanks for listening!
The 5-Minute Investor is on Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Podbean, Stockhouse or wherever finer podcasts are found.
Join the discussion: Find out what investors are saying about The 5-Minute Investor Podcast and this week's stock picks on the Coinbase Global Inc. and Stockhouse Crypto and Blockchain Bullboards and check out the rest of Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards.
The material provided in this podcast is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
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The Market Online
2 hours ago
- The Market Online
Despite turbulent markets this logistics company continues to grow
Alberta-based logistics company, Mullen Group Ltd. (TSX:MLT) is making major moves in 2025. In this interview we unpack the Cole Group of Companies acquisition and dive into the details of Mullen's C$400 million private placement debt, which is fueling the company's expansion. Joanna Scott, Senior Corporate Officer, and Carson Urlacher, Senior Financial Officer at Mullen Group join Stockhouse for an update. Stockhouse: So, Joanna, I'm going to start with you here. The Mullen Group has certainly been busy over the first half of 2025. I mean, that is clear. So, my first question is, if you can tell us more about what the company has been up to? JS: lt's been a great time for Mullen Group and in an uncertain market and we've had a lot of exciting things happening, two of which stand out to us because they really set us up for the long term and our future. And that is, as you had said, our acquisition of the Cole Group of companies, which we announced the closing of today, and also our private placement notes offering. We priced that and we announced that pricing on May 22nd, 2025. Stockhouse: Well, let's peel that back just a little bit more, and maybe, Joanna, you can continue on here. Tell us about your acquisition of the Cole Group of companies and what Cole Group actually does. JS: Yes, and I'll start by saying we are absolutely thrilled to add the Cole Group to our organization and to welcome its employees into our group of companies. But before I get into that, I just want to step back and explain a little bit about why we were able to do the Cole acquisition when we did, and we have to go all the way back to 2022 at a time when a lot of other companies in the industry were growing and buying companies. We actually didn't like the valuations at that time. And so, we kind of sat back and we were quiet and we were disciplined, and we kind of held our cash for another day. And lo and behold, that day came not that long ago, and we were thrilled to be able to use that money to acquire such a great company. It's a gem and it really is a generational opportunity to be able to acquire the Cole group and, put it into our group of companies. Stockhouse: Absolutely. Now what do they do? JS: Well, they're over a hundred years old, and they were founded in the 1920s, and they have a long proven record of success. They are an industry leading full spectrum logistics company, and they do customs brokerage as kind of their main line of business, and then they also do some freight forwarding and some customs consulting services. They also operate throughout Canada and the US from 43 locations. And those locations are strategically located at air and seaports and land borders, and they also have over 700 employees that provide industry leading customs and logistics services to a very diverse group of North American and international customers. And they do that through a suite of proprietary technology software. Stockhouse: Wow. Now quite a partnership that you all have now. Let's flip to you, Carson. What about the financial metrics behind the acquisition? What insights can you share about that? CU: So, Cole Group is expected to generate roughly about 300 million of annualized revenue and approximately 20 million of operating income before depreciation and amortization. So that's commonly referred to as EBITDA. So, Cole Group operates a very non-asset based business. So, EBITDA is essentially EBIT. Now, what did we pay for it? It was approximately 190 million of cash consideration, which is subject to a working capital adjustment, which is no different than a lot of transactions of this size and nature. So, the working capital we'll receive 29 million of working capital upon closing of the transaction, and included in the 190 million of consideration is also 10 million of real estate mainly associated with office space and those sorts of things that that we'll end up acquiring as part of the transaction. Stockhouse: Wow. This is fascinating. Joanna, I'm going to go back to you on this one. Can you tell our audience a bit about the strategic rationale behind the acquisition? JS: Sure. And, there were a number of reasons why we really liked the Cole acquisition. And you know, you've probably heard us talk about our precision-based acquisitions. It has to be the right fit, the right price, and have the right synergies. And the Cole Group fit that for a number of reasons, but I'll give you kind of five key strategic reasons why we liked it. The first is it really allows us to expand that non-asset-based logistics and our entire mile service offering. And that provides our customers with enhanced choice and flexibility. It also provides meaningful synergies through cross-selling opportunities with our US 3PL segment, and then also within other divisions of Mullen Group. It also allows us to assist our customers in managing the increasingly complex global trade market. I think we can all agree that tariffs and trade are not getting any easier these days. And then another thing you'll hear us talk about is our free cash. The acquisition of Cole Group will be immediately accretive. They generate free cash and they have minimal capital expenditures. They're really just made up of very skilled professional employees and technology and we like that business model. And lastly, it is a foundation for our long-term growth. The Cole group really does that. It establishes a robust platform for us for our future growth in the US and the international logistics segment. And it's something that we really have been focused on lately for the longer term. Stockhouse: So you really just took your time and really did your due diligence, and that is so important to make sure that that partnership, you know, is a success. So, great job on that for sure. Now, Carson, the big question on this, how did the funding come together for the acquisition of Cole Group? CU: Well, you know, as to Joanna's point earlier, we really didn't use a lot of our bullets when the market was peaked back in 2022 and 2023. So, we have initially funded the transaction using our 525 million of bank credit facilities. But we always, our strategy has always been to match long-term assets, including acquisitions with long-term structured debt. So, what we did on May 22nd was we entered into the private debt markets raising 400 million of 12 year money and basically structured that debt out over the long term. So over that 400 million, a portion of those proceeds are going to be used to repay that 525 million of bank line. So we'll be undrawn. We'll also be refinancing some notes that are coming due next year in October of 2026 with that funding. And it's also going to leave us with approximately 125 million of cash on the balance sheet with which we can deploy going forward. So, a liquidity position, we're going to have over 600 million of liquidity, including our cash and our undrawn bank line. So on we're in a pretty good space going forward. Stockhouse: Great job, guys, for sure. Now, as we close out our time here today, Carson, what additional information can you let us in on with your private placement debt transaction? CU: Well, I think the private placement can be characterized. You know, we were very well received, again with the private debt markets. We had very strong demand. In fact, we were over seven times oversubscribed on the bids compared to our initial offering. So having a structured debt like this really puts us in elite territory compared to our peers. You have to have a balance sheet that's structured with real estate and consistently generate free cash over the long term in order to play in this market. So, it really differentiates us from a lot of our peers. So the, the notes are actually getting into more specifics of them -they're combined with both Canadian and U.S. denominated currency at approximately about a 6.2 interest rate coming due in 12 years. Which is remarkably consistent with 20 years ago when we entered into the debt markets. The interest rates are almost identical as to as to what we've achieved now. So, it's expected to close in early July. So, we'll get the funding then. And I'd also say that this round of financing is essentially the same financial terms financial covenants as to the debt that we raised last summer. So really what we did was we de-risked the risk of, of not being able to finance next summer. Who knows where the debt markets and the interest rates are going to be next year. So, what we wanted to do was de-risk it, and, and we used the opportunity to refinance next year's notes along with the Cole acquisition now to really be able to put our balance sheet into a secure position on behalf of our shareholders and really protect that dividend and our balance sheet going forward. Stockhouse: Well, let's lean into that just a little bit further then, Carson. How satisfying is it for Mullen to be able to execute on its strategy despite all of the uncertainty right now in the market? CU: Well, that's a very good point. You know, it is in uncertain times. We're still showing both growth with the Cole acquisition. So, we're growing our business in a time where everyone else is kind of on the defensive and really, we put our balance sheet in a position where, where we can now sit back and deploy capital and not have to worry about financing over the next decade. So really, it's putting us in an enviable position. JS: It sure is. And I think I just add to Carson to say a huge shout out to the team here at Mullen Group. We've done a fantastic job, and I couldn't be more proud of our team and just very excited about what the future holds for Mullen Group. Stockhouse: Absolutely. And there seems to be a lot on the go, and we hope to have you back for further updates soon. Mullen Group Ltd.'s website is and you can find them on the TSX under the ticker symbol MTL. Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying about this stock on the Mullen Group investor discussion forum, and check out the rest of Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying on investor discussion forums at Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Alphabet Stock: Still a No-Brainer Buy in 2025?
The rise of technology companies has truly been the main economic story over the past couple of decades. One business that has been a key part of this trend is none other than Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG), parent of Google and Youtube. Since the initial public offering in 2004, its shares have skyrocketed 6,560%, generating some serious wealth for early investors. Today, Alphabet is a dominant internet enterprise that carries a colossal market capitalization of $2 trillion. So, is this top tech stock still a no-brainer buy in 2025? Here's what investors need to know. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » A leader in digital advertising During the first quarter of 2025, Alphabet generated $67 billion in revenue from its digital advertising efforts. This number represented 74% of the company's total, showcasing just how important this activity remains for the business. Ad sales were up 8.4% in Q1 on a year-over-year basis, driven by growth in Google Search and YouTube. The fears about how artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots will disrupt Google Search are understandable. But they might be overblown. This segment has nearly 90% global share of the search engine industry. And AI Overviews, now with 1.5 billion monthly users, is monetizing at the same rate as traditional search queries. There should be plenty of growth for Alphabet to capture. Grand View Research estimates the worldwide digital advertising market will grow at a compound annual rate of 15.4% through the rest of the decade. The rise of Google Cloud Google Cloud is becoming more important to the success of the business, as it provides enterprise clients with on-demand IT services. There are some notable customers on the roster. Google Cloud serves Home Depot, Charles Schwab, and Alaska Airlines, for example, highlighting how well the platform is resonating with a powerful clientele. This segment posted revenue growth of 28.1% in the first quarter. And it's producing quickly expanding profits, with operating income coming in at $2.2 billion, good for a 17.9% operating margin. It's reasonable to expect profitability to improve dramatically as Google Cloud's revenue base scales up, thanks to large fixed costs that can be leveraged. This should boost the company's overall bottom line. Riding the AI wave Artificial intelligence has now become a vital part of Alphabet's strategy. The company had its annual developer conference last month, and AI featured prominently among 100 new announcements that were made. This perspective isn't new, as Alphabet has been focused on AI initiatives for two decades. Advertising customers are obviously critical to the company's financial success. Alphabet uses AI to help them improve their ad campaigns by better targeting specific audiences and by driving efficiencies that can increase return on investment. Google Cloud is becoming a mission-critical partner for customers that want to use AI. For example, its Vertex AI product allows them to build native applications. Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous driving division, which just completed 10 million driverless rides, is also leveraging AI. This comes into play when navigating routes or executing a trip. It's not a shock that perhaps every single business out there is thinking about ways to position themselves for success in an AI world. Alphabet is surely operating like this, just on a much grander scale. To get there, though, will require a lot of money. Just this year, the company plans to spend $75 billion on capital expenditures, mainly to bolster technical infrastructure. But investors shouldn't worry. Yes, there are concerns about the ultimate payoff of these sizable investments. However, Alphabet brought in $36 billion in operating cash flow just in Q1. And as of March 31, it had a whopping $95 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities on the balance sheet, compared to just $11 billion of long-term debt. There aren't many companies out there that can afford what Alphabet is doing. This should give it a notable advantage as AI progresses in the years ahead. Investors are staring at a good deal There is no shortage of reasons to appreciate this business. Even in 2025, after an incredible run for the stock over the years, Alphabet looks like a good deal. That's because the valuation looks too attractive to pass up. Shares trade at a forward P/E ratio of 17.5 right now. This is a no-brainer buying opportunity for investors. Should you invest $1,000 in Alphabet right now? Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,538!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $869,841!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is789% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Charles Schwab is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Home Depot. The Motley Fool recommends Alaska Air Group and Charles Schwab and recommends the following options: short June 2025 $85 calls on Charles Schwab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The Market Online
6 hours ago
- The Market Online
Two high-conviction stocks to leverage record gold prices
At the time of writing on Thursday, gold traded at US$3,373.3 per ounce, just shy of the all-time-high set just last month, having gained over 40 per cent year-over-year and almost 100 per cent since 2020, reinforcing its reputation as a safe-haven investment during economically trying times. Gold's gains have mitigated risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which dropped the TSX by 30 per cent in March 2020; inflation driven by quarantines lifted across the globe; ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East; as well as renewed price pressures from U.S. president Trump's global tariff initiative. At the same time, higher gold prices are improving economics from exploration to production, enticing investors back into the space now that there's real money to be made. The lowest-hanging fruit in the gold stock universe will likely be found in producers with differentiated income statements and balance sheets, most of their growth likely behind them, making them best suited for moderate long-term returns. There is, however, a higher risk-reward option capable of delivering potentially exponential returns, supposing you're willing to size up early-stage mining projects and stick with them through development and hopefully production. We're of course talking about junior mining stocks, whose underlying pre-revenue operations rely on geological expertise, mining cycle timing and sound capital allocation to traverse the often volatile path to shareholder value. In the newest edition of Stockhouse's Weekly Market Movers, I'll introduce you to a pair of junior gold stocks equipped with assets and management teams worth believing in when it comes to generating leverage beyond the gold price. Chesapeake Gold Our first high-conviction stock to optimize your gold exposure is Chesapeake Gold, market cap C$96.44 million, whose flagship Metates project in Durango State, Mexico, hosts one of the largest undeveloped gold-silver deposits in the world. Metates' resource comes in at an estimated 16.77 million ounces of gold measured and indicated and 2.13 million ounces inferred, representing over US$60 billion in gold in the ground. The project's 2021 preliminary economic assessment details a pre-tax net present value of C$1.43 billion and initial capital costs of only C$359 million at heavily discounted base cases of US$1,600 gold and US$22 silver. Supported by C$11 million in treasury at year-end 2024, Metates' ample room for resource expansion, a management team with decorated histories in exploration and development in the Americas, as well as a recent acquisition of sulfide leaching technology that vastly increases recoveries and project economics (slide 8), there's no good reason Chesapeake should be trading at a 90 per cent discount to its peers on an enterprise value/ounces basis (slide 16). Jean-Paul Tsotsos, Chesapeake Gold's chief executive officer (CEO), spoke with Stockhouse's Lyndsay Malchuk about the benefits of the company's news sulfide leaching technology. Watch the interview here. Chesapeake Gold stock (TSXV:CKG) has given back 41.91 per cent year-over-year and 65 per cent since 2020. Shares last traded at C$1.40. Our second high-conviction junior gold stock, Tectonic Metals, market cap C$37.37 million, was founded by a team whose past successes speak for themselves, as highlighted by ushering Kaminak's Coffee gold project from a C$3 million venture through bankable feasibility, followed by a C$520 million sale to Goldcorp (now Newmont). As a whole, the team is responsible for: Over 30 million ounces in gold discoveries. 18 feasibility studies. 20 projects permitted. More than $3 billion in M&A transactions. More than $2 billion in capital raised. Tectonic is keen on expanding its track record with its flagship Flat gold project in Alaska, located only 40 kilometres from Novagold's Donlin project, host to one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in the world at an estimated 39 million ounces. The 99,800-acre Flat has yielded 1.4 million ounces in historical placer gold production and delivered a 100-per-cent drill success rate to date, intersecting gold in all 86 drill holes across 3 kilometres of mineralized strike up to 325 metres deep. The company has identified six potential district-scale deposits on the project, granting Flat multi-million-ounce potential. With numerous analogous mines (slide 17) strengthening Flat's case for a company-making initial resource estimate, and C$12.5 million in funding in place for phase-I drilling to follow up on 2024's Alpha Bowl discovery – 65.53 metres grading 1.22 grams per ton (g/t) of gold – Tectonic is a reasonable candidate for transforming robust exploration upside into an outsized stock price re-rating. Tectonic Metals stock (TSXV:TECT) is up by 12.5 per cent year-over-year but remains down by 59.09 per cent since 2020. Tony Reda, Tectonic Metals' founder, president and CEO, sat down with Coreena Robertson to discuss the company's recently closed funding round. Watch the interview here. Thanks for reading! I'll see you next week for a new edition of Stockhouse's Weekly Market Movers. Here's the most recent article, in case you missed it. Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying about these junior gold mining stocks on the Chesapeake Gold Corp. and Tectonic Metals Inc. Bullboards and check out Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. This is sponsored content issued on behalf of Chesapeake Gold Corp. and Tectonic Metals Inc., please see full disclaimer here.
