MSmicrocaps

A lot hiding in plain sight on $WSTL: - Awarded middle-mile contract in California's Broadband for All initiative last month (largest state-level program at the time of its passage) - Funding disbursements under the $42.45 billion federal BEAD program could scale this nationally (Tilson is already active in ~20 states) - Embedded in Verizon's 5G upgrades in multiple regions (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, etc.) Now hiring a Demand Manager to ensure "customer demand is met efficiently." If demand was one-off, what are they hiring for?

Data center/nuclear/defense wrapped up into one: Combing through our microcap quality index. It’s a pleasant surprise when a stock you own, that’s already profitable & cheap, is on the cusp of an upward valuation re-rate due to “hot” trends surfacing as potential catalysts.

With 137 stocks in the MSMqi, it's a prime hunting ground. We revisit names when new developments could push them higher. One quiet contract manufacturer with an exclusive supply agreement for a multi-billion-dollar company’s new platform deserves another look. Update soon.

Why I like $AP (Ampco-Pittsburgh) Ampco-Pittsburgh $AP is a small industrial company with two main segments: Forged & Cast Engineered Products (FCEP) This segment produces the large metal rolls used by steel and aluminum mills to shape and flatten metal. It’s a cyclical business tied to metals production. Air & Liquid Processing (ALP) This is the more interesting segment. Through subsidiaries like Aerofin and Buffalo Pumps, AP manufactures specialized pumps and heat-transfer equipment used in critical infrastructure such as defense vessels, power plants, pharmaceutical facilities, and utilities. Despite accounting for 31% of revenues, the ALP segment has significant higher margins, bringing its EBITDA share in the 40s. Over the past year the stock has already seen multiple expansion, driven by: • Growth of the ALP segment • Exit of loss-making UK operations in the steel business Earnings are next week, so volatility around the report would not be surprising.

We just published the 7th issue of our weekly earnings brief. Our mission is simple: we distill the most important small-cap earnings releases into a curated, high-signal format delivered straight to your inbox every Monday morning: $ACFN, $ALTO, $FTEK, and others.

Join us live on March 5 at 2 PM ET for the Open Forum. Microcap earnings season is heating up, so tomorrow we’ll share the most notable earnings takeaways so far, alongside our usual model portfolio updates. Details below.