Out Fox The $treet

The struggles of GSV Capital (GSVC) are no more obvious than the NAV results for Q4 and 2017 in general. Heading into several high profile IPOs in 2018 and the investment company can't generate much in the way of momentum.

GSV Capital reported its highest NAV in history, but the market hardly noticed based on the lack of analyst participation on the earnings call. The resolution of the tax-exempt status provides a major catalyst to increase value and reduce NAV discount. The stock provides intriguing value at $10 with potential other catalysts to increase the stock price. After another quarter of less than expected asset growth, GSV Capital (NASDAQ: GSVC ) has absolutely lost investor interest. The investment fund reached the highest NAV in its short history, yet the earnings call involved only one analyst. The NAV amount isn't appreciably higher than previous quarterly levels, suggesting the slow growth isn't enough to keep analysts' interest, even though it does continue to grow. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The public markets continue to doubt the strategy of investing in high-growth private firms, yet GSV Capital ( NASDAQ: GSVC     ) continues to execute on its strategy and drive value higher. The recent market volatility highlights the value of investing in a diversified group of firms with a long-term horizon. For the first quarter, GSV saw the net asset value, or NAV, remain flat sequentially at $14.91 even with a volatile market for high-growth investments whether public or private. The NAV of GSV was able to withstand the large losses in Twitter ( NYSE: TWTR     ) by offsetting it with gains in other portfolio stocks such as Palantir Technologies and Dropbox . Investors weren't as forgiving with the stock plunging to now sit substantially below that NAV at $10. Oddly, the theme is consistent with other venture capital funds including Firsthand Technology Fund ( NASDAQ: SVVC     ) that trades significantly below NAV as well. Read th...

With the recent IPO of 2U  ( NASDAQ: TWOU     ) , the education technology sector is grabbing more attention and offering investors more options to invest. Combined with Chegg ( NYSE: CHGG     ) , the sector finally has a couple of interesting opportunities in the rapidly growing area. With every service thinkable moving to the cloud, it only makes sense that higher education involving the most social-media- and technology-savvy generation would be highly involved in online endeavors. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After reporting that net asset value, or NAV, jumped to nearly $15, why would the stock of GSV Capital Corp. ( NASDAQ: GSVC     ) plunge nearly 10% to below $12? GSV Capital is a business development corporation that invests in pre-IPO, venture-backed firms. The company has a portfolio of nearly 50 investments with a focus on social media, education tech, and big data. The investment firm competes in the industry against Firsthand Technology Value Fund ( NASDAQ: SVVC     ) and other venture firms for the investment positions and investor dollars. The goal of the two funds is to provide regular investors the opportunity to participate in the pre-IPO markets. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer for more details. 

If it wasn't for the excitement over wearable devices, the "connected home" might have gotten significantly more attention at the Consumer Electronics Show. The purchase of Nest Labs by Google ( NASDAQ: GOOG     ) for over $3 billion placed the sector in "overheated" mode. One company taking part in the CES excitement over this concept, and boosted by the Nest Labs purchase, was recent IPO Control4 ( NASDAQ: CTRL     ) . The company has some interesting products and a surprisingly solid financial position for a modern technology firm, yet the valuation is very rich for the growth rate. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

It may not come as a surprise that Facebook  ( NASDAQ: FB     ) has a teenager problem, especially in the more developed U.S. market. But the degree of that problem, as outlined in a recently released U.K. study , should shock even the most bullish of investors. Not only did the research find that Facebook has issues with teenagers, it found that teenagers in the U.K. find the site an embarrassment to use. Facebook's monetization in Europe greatly lags domestic rates. If teens are ditching the site in droves, Facebook might have a difficult time monetizing the site in the U.K. and other countries. In no big surprise, teens are moving to SnapChat, WhatsApp, Instagram, and  Twitter  ( NYSE: TWTR     ) to fulfill the social functions once dominated by Facebook. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Short Facebook. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The fallacy of the recent stock market gains are that all stocks have seen substantial gains this year. In reality, a lot of the small-cap, growth stocks struggled to achieve market returns. Typically these high beta stocks would outperform the market during strong periods, but the slow growing economy doesn't help these stocks. With the economy picking up based on the strong Q3 GDP growth, 2014 could be the year where the market rotates into growth stocks. Too often, investors confuse a rising interest rate as negative for stocks. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long GSVC and GLUU. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Investors in GSV Capital ( NASDAQ: GSVC     ) should be applauding the recent surge in Twitter ( NYSE: TWTR     ) shares. The leading platform for instant communication recently hit new highs, surging to $52, which should propel the NAV of GSV higher. GSV Capital is a publicly traded investment fund that provides individual investors the opportunity to invest in a basket of high-growth, venture-backed private firms. The stock surged initially in early 2012 based on the Facebook excitement, but it eventually plunged along with Facebook and the other social media stocks. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

For investors that only read the earnings headlines, a ton of additional information can usually be gleaned from the related conference calls. The recent earnings call for GSV Capital ( NASDAQ: GSVC ) provided some interesting nuggets regarding Twitter ( NYSE: TWTR ) and the general IPO market. GSV Capital is a publicly traded investment fund still going through its early stages, with investments in venture-backed private companies only now developing into public firms on a constant basis. The fund provides the small investor access to pre-IPO stocks where a Twitter stake can be obtained at a lower cost than the IPO price. Unfortunately, the positions also come with a high management cost and still unpredictable results. Chegg 's recent IPO could provide more insight into whether the education technology theme plays out better than the initial trading of Violin Memory ( NYSE: VMEM ). Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the discl...

The ability to revolutionize the education process in the US and maybe even the world could make the education technology sector an interesting sector in the next decade. Chegg (CHGG) started off as a textbook rental firm, but it is quickly moving to the digital world of making a platform for high school and college students. This is an interesting stock that Stone Fox Capital owns via an investment in GSV Capital (GSVC) that has it as a top 5 investment. Potential investors should listen to this interview with the CEO on CNBC this morning. Chegg has slumped some 20% from an IPO pricing above the range at $12.50. The market doesn't appear ready for the education tech sector and especially a stock losing tons of money. This company offers the future potential of being the financial and social platform for higher education students. Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The recent tweet of the pending Twitter IPO sent GSV Capital ( NASDAQ: GSVC     ) soaring, and rightfully so. The company is heavily invested in Twitter and no doubt will benefit from a big gain in an IPO. The business development company (BDC) that invests in venture-backed or pre-IPO companies is so much more than Twitter, though. It has several other stocks in the IPO pipeline and recently raised nearly $70 million in a convertible offering for further investments. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

Anybody following this blog, knows that we've been bullish on the pre-IPO concept of GSV Capital (GSVC) . The company is heavily invested in Twitter and will benefit greatly from a high flying IPO of Twitter.  With the news after hours that Twitter has filed the S-1 to go public, investors should expect GSV to soar from now to the IPO. The company had Twitter listed as the largest investment valued at roughly $37M or 15% of the assets. With that valuation based on Twitter being worth rough $10B, GSV Capital will gain big time if it goes public in the $15B to $20B range. Remember that GSV has plenty of other promising IPO candidates that could send the NAV soaring higher, but Twitter remains the highest profile and largest investment. As of writing this post, the stock is up some 17% after hours. Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Small Cap Insight To investors frustrated with being locked out of the pre-IPO market, business development corporations (BDC) such as Firsthand Technology Value Fund ( SVVC ) offered potential for participating in the large IPO gains of hot stocks. The reality hasn't reached the hype from back in 2012 when the Facebook ( FB ) IPO blew up. Now over a year later and with Facebook soaring, one might expect the stock to offer huge upside potential, but one glaring issue exists. The company is a publicly traded venture capital fund that invests in technology and cleantech companies prior to an IPO. It is run by well-known tech investor Kevin Landis that charges management fees of 2% of gross assets and 20% of capital gains. The company competes for investments with venture capitalists, accredited investors and other public funds such as GSV Capital ( GSVC ) and Keating Capital ( KIPO ) . Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please revie...

Since going public over two years ago, GSV Capital (NASDAQ: GSVC ) promised individual investors the potential of investing in venture capital companies before those stocks go public in order to generate huge gains. Recently, the IPO market has very much favored investors owning the stock in the private markets or buying shares at the offering price if lucky enough to obtain shares. Unfortunately, this plan hasn’t worked out so more » Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

With the bullish results from Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) , will it push GSV Capital (NASDAQ: GSVC ) back towards book value? The stock trades considerably below book value due partially to the poor results of that stock in the public markets. The company is a publicly traded investment fund that specializes in venture-capital backed pre-IPO firms. Anybody following GSV Capital knows that the company went public back in 2011 to take advantage more » Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Even after substantial gains this year, a number of financial stocks still trade below book value. While not covered back in January along with the insurers and airplane leasing firms, a cross section of other financial stocks continue to trade considerably below book value. While the fears from the financial crisis have mostly dissipated, the stocks continue to meander below book value even with strong earnings profiles. Stocks ranging from more » Disclosure: Long ACAS and GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.

While the IPO of Silver Spring Networks ( SSNI ) should portend well for the valuation of GSV Capital ( GSVC ) , its stock has plunged since Silver Spring went public last week. The IPO'd stock was supposedly one of the weaker holdings in the portfolio of private companies owned by GSV Capital, yet it surged beyond the offering price. GSV Capital was established at the start 2011 to cater to investors in the public markets that wanted access to private firms. With limited positive outcomes on existing investments, the public markets are having a difficult time determining if GSV Capital provides a suitable investment vehicle. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

On Friday, the IPO for the cash-transfer service provider Xoom, Inc. ( XOOM ) soared 59% after being priced above the initial range. After reading the final prospectus , the company harkens back to the technology IPOs of the late 1990s when a stock had as much hope as hype. The company is a global online money transfer provider, focused on helping consumers send money in a secure, fast, and cost-effective way using their mobile phone, tablet or computer. Xoom has 750,00 active customers that sent more than $3.2B to family and friends in 30 countries worldwide during 2012. With a revenue base of $80M, Xoom follows in the footsteps of the recent ExOne ( XONE ) IPO (see Does The ExOne IPO Offer Any Value? ) where the company was substantially smaller than companies going public over the last few years. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The main 3D printing companies, 3D Systems and Stratasys, recently hit all-time highs so naturally this would be a great time for a related IPO. Industrial 3D printing firm ExOne (NASDAQ: XONE ) plans to join the party this week. A major surprise popped up when reading the prospectus . The company harkens back to the technology IPOs of the late 1990s when a stock had as much hope as hype. The more » Disclosure: Long GSVC. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.