Iceberg Invest - Long Only Equity - Quality Focus

First 5-year SCA signed. New EUV layer roadmap. ✍️

$CSU.TO has an AI podcast with 500k subs called The AI Guys. Literally never heard about it until today. Pointed out to me by a friend (can't seem to find your handle, or else I'd give you a h/t).

Breaking down $MELI's CFO Martin de los Santos's recent interview with La Nacion. Q: How is Mercado Libre doing? The structural growth runway remains massive. Brick and mortar still controls 85% of retail in Latin America. This compares to roughly 70% in the US and 65% in China. On the fintech side, they are digitizing finance for an entirely unbanked demographic. The TAM is actively expanding. Q: How do you compete with banks? Traditional banks ignored the lower and middle classes. This left a massive void. 7 years ago, Argentina had only 500,000 investment accounts. Today, Mercado Pago alone has over 20M money market accounts generating yield. They are replacing traditional banks for the masses. Q: What are the short-term plans? MELI is deploying $3.4 billion in Argentina this year. They are opening a third distribution center and hiring 1.9k people. The broader physical economy is slowing down. However, MELI saw a 36% jump in items sold last year. They are using their balance sheet to build a massive logistics moat while physical retail struggles. Q: Will digital wallets hold payroll accounts? MELI wants users to get their salaries deposited directly into Mercado Pago. Current regulations block this. But MELI is actively fighting to change the rules. Securing direct deposits would guarantee free monthly liquidity and create total ecosystem lock-in for the user. Q: How is the relationship with banks and regulations? This is the biggest regulatory catalyst in the interview. De los Santos confirmed they are officially applying for a full banking license in Argentina. This changes their entire unit economics. A license allows them to take retail deposits. This lowers their cost of capital and opens the door to massively expand their lending business. Q: How is the drop in consumption impacting things? MELI is highly counter-cyclical. The macro environment is sluggish. Even so, their online sales grew 35%. Consumers are shifting online to find better prices and financing options. MELI's investments in payment tools and fast logistics are forcing platform growth regardless of economic stagnation. Q: What is competition like with Shopee, Temu, and Shein? Shopee is the primary threat. Shopee builds local logistics and acquires local sellers. Temu and Shein rely purely on cross-border shipping. MELI's defense is aggressive. They opened their own distribution centers in the US and China. They are turning a competitive threat into a new revenue stream by integrating international sellers directly into their own fulfillment network. Q: Do you agree with Milei on competition? MELI is strictly anti-protectionist. Martin explicitly stated they prefer an open Argentina with fierce competition. They do not want a closed economy. They believe competition forces them to raise service standards and improve logistics. This is the exact playbook they used to scale when $AMZN entered Brazil and Mexico. Q: How does AI impact recruitment? AI is driving margin expansion, not headcount reduction. They use machine learning heavily in fraud prevention and credit underwriting. This secures their highly profitable lending book. Their 20k+ developers use AI to scale productivity. This removes repetitive tasks and accelerates new product rollouts across the platform.

1/9 We are aware that false information is circulating about our operations in the Middle East. Reports of damage to Citi offices and branches are false. Here are the facts. THREAD:

Bristlemoon just published a 16k+ word report on $FICO, the credit score monopolist that has increased its mortgage scores prices by 800% over the last three years. We explore how entrenched FICO is in the US credit ecosystem and whether the company still has pricing power...