Bluechip
Value Investor, Short Seller
Credit Acceptance's 20% jump in two weeks and nearly 50% gain this year make little sense after a CFO change and rapid insider selling, which makes it a tempting short up here. Its float dynamics are tougher than one would want for a short. x.comÂ
Subprime auto loans continue to hold up, yet Carvana still looks weak. x.comÂ
CarMax's turnaround is still unfolding, and the latest quarter reinforced it. Used retail unit sales rose 9%, the $200M SG&A savings target is on track, CarMax Auto Finance penetration is growing, and about $35 per vehicle of EPP profit uplift is expected by FY27; management says it has turned the corner. At about 17x forward earnings, the stock still trades below its 20.8x historical average despite improving fundamentals, so the buy-up-to price is being raised. x.comÂ
Upstart has no AI underwriting moat; it is simply winning fewer personal-loan customers in a higher-rate environment while spending heavily. Originations rose 61% to $3.4 billion on auto (+300%) and home (+250%) with personal loans flat, but it returned to a GAAP net loss as contribution margin fell to 50% from 55% and operating expenses rose 45% to about $316 million. If the 10-year stays above 4.4%, a 55x P/E faces brutal valuation gravity, though hitting the $294M EBITDA guide would help. … Show more
Royal Caribbean is positioned to decline into the credit stress and economic slowdown expected heading into 2027. It belongs to a basket of high-octane shorts, mostly non-AI names, across consumer discretionary, consumer spending, unsecured credit and private credit, to be detailed in several write-ups toward year end. x.comÂ
Capital One is making the same argument for subprime auto loans that was made for mortgages in 2007. It says it is not worried about lending to subprime borrowers because repayment terms can stretch to 10 years, lowering payment-to-income ratios so low-wage consumers can afford $100k vehicles. x.comÂ
Large-cap banks such as JPMorgan and Carvana are exposed to a coming credit crisis that war headlines are distracting investors from. The private debt market keeps imploding, and troubles at JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and Deutsche Bank are symptoms of a broad debt-market problem. More esoteric debt such as subprime auto loans is likely to come under scrutiny next, which is why the short positions remain. x.comÂ
Fair Isaac's moat has narrowed but not disappeared, so the selloff over VantageScore may be an opportunity. FHFA Director Bill Pulte let all Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders use VantageScore 4.0, ending FICO's effective mortgage monopoly, and floated a cheaper bi-merge model. That brings a lower-cost rival and threatens pricing power. But FICO is deeply embedded in lender systems, underwriting, securitizations and decades of data. It works only if valuation leaves a margin of safety. x.comÂ
Pagaya is one of the few already-profitable vertical AI applications, and industry-embedded software should gain value even as AI eats generic SaaS. It is fintech infrastructure, not a lender: AI credit decisions lift approvals for bank, auto and POS lending partners, while its ABS and forward-flow funding absorbs the loans. Its edge is data scale and deep credit-workflow embedding, not its static models. Risks include the credit cycle, ABS liquidity, regulation and partner concentration. x.com … Show more
Upstart's earnings look very strong, so a continued selloff looks like a buying opportunity unless something serious was missed. Nearly all of the bottom-line miss came from heavy sales and marketing spending to drive adoption of its new home loans business, spending that serves long-term investors rather than impressing day traders. x.com x.comÂ