FFBW to delist!

FFBW has announced it will delist today.

Not happy about that.

Yeah, not something I like to see, Rob.

That said, CBMB delisted in late 2021, then about 4 months later announced that it was being acquired.

Jim

I would expect that a good percentage of these shares will be forced into the market by the delisting:


WhaleWisdom

FFBW has announced it will delist today.<<<<<

I assume that this means it will still be available to trade through the pink sheets, but happy to be enlightened. Based on the assumption above that fubnds will be dumping the stock, is this an opportunity potentially?
Vince

Yeah, it’ll be OTC markets, they say they expect to keep the FFBW ticker, too.

Based on the assumption above that funds will be dumping the stock, is this an opportunity potentially?

Yes I think it is an opportunity, but I think you need to caution yourself that this could take longer than you’d like it to, and that if you want to sell instead of holding out for a buyout (after the delisting) the liquidity issues could be difficult for you and pricing could be poor.

If you’re willing to hold for the buyout, and ask yourself if you can stomach a bit of a black box for 5 years… you’ll probably be okay.

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Rob, I share your sentiments to some extent. Your caveats are well-given. That said, it’s not like FFBW is all that liquid on the Nasdaq today. A lot of that volume has been created through the buybacks.

It will be interesting to see whether the company continues to buy back stock after it delists and at what rate.

Jim

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Interesting. CNNB is also voluntarily delisting, it appears to be a trend. So did CBMB get bought out at a good profit?

Randy
Long CNNB and FFBW

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See more here, Randy.

Jim

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What are the rules for SEC filing after the delisting, Jim? Do you know?

Terry Maltese filed a 13/GA saying he sold out entirely.

I would tend to think that investors don’t have a responsibility to report to the SEC once something is delisted, unless there’s a special rule for banks, since they report to the FDIC, still?

I mean, if the company has “gone dark” why should the activist be “lit up”? And, since the company has made limited promises to report, now, how could an activist be aware of backing into a 5% position if the company continues to execute buybacks?

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Just an update, since I was the one who mentioned it. I sold out of my CNNB last week. The price actually went up during the process of delisting (and moving to the pink sheets).

Overall, I bought shares around $11 three years ago and sold last week at $17 or so. (Which was $15 or so just a few weeks ago).
Not bad at all, so now I need to go find another mutual shares turned stock.

Anyway, I thought I would mention it here since there was concern about delisting causing the stock to drop. At least in CNNB’s case it didn’t at all.

And btw, if I got the idea from you Jim, thanks! Not a world beater, but a very nice safe return as per usual with these stocks.

Randy

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Yesterday, I was able to buy a couple of shares as low as $11 on FFBW.

Bid low, GTC. The index ETFs/Mutual Funds probably need to exit about $2MM worth (@$12-ish), so 160-170k shares over the next couple of weeks, but I’d think sooner rather than later.

(Not sure how that really works, because th elow for the day was $11, but my trade confirm lists a couple fo the shares @$11.)

Also: yesterday’s volume was ~290k, which suggests that there’s a lot of unloading going on right now, well in excess of the funds/ETFs I had located and shown above.

The major selling could already be over?

In which case, there wasn’t much of a drop caused by the delisting event.

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Randy, I did write about CNNB on the thrift book website, maybe about 2.5 years ago. Nice return during a tumultuous period.

Best,

Jim

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Rob, I’m not familiar with the requirement for filing Form 13 on a delisted company. It’s interesting that Maltese cashed out his entire position. Was that not what led to the 292k day?

The stock did pretty well today, peaking nicely over $12 before the last-minute dip, despite 353k shares traded. The company could be buying back a ton of these shares, with some of that outstanding authorization.

Jim

Couple things to note:
FFBW ESOP filing

Percent of Class Represented by Amount in Row 9

11.58% of 5,515,641 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of December 31, 2022.

and:
Maltese filing, dated as of 12/31/22

Based upon an aggregate of 5,554,311 shares of Common Stock outstanding as determined by the Issuer’s most recently available 10-Q filing, as of the close of business on October 31, 2022

Maltese made his filing based on his 12/31 position. So he was already out? Back in February 2022 he filed as of 12/31/21:

Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person

366,062

Percent of Class Represented by Amount in Row (9)

5.32%

  1. If the ESOP is better informed on share count than everyone else making filings, then the bank bought 38670 shares in Q4.
  2. Terry Maltese was out before the end of 2022? And, if he was a 5% owner, why didn’t he need to file within days of dropping below the 5% mark? I wonder if his filing has discrepancies with respect to when he actually sold the shares. This is the “normal” week for his 12/31 (Q4) 13G/A filings…
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Thanks, Rob! The share count can be pretty tricky on timing if there are substantial buybacks.

Jim

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So, Jim…

Have any other thrifts to recommend lately? Or anything else you find interesting?

-Rob

fwiw, things I keep looking at:

  • BATRA (the whole Liberty event coming up in Q2, really)
  • Shorting post-merger SPACs. (Wish I had shorted RNER>HUBC! It was actually on my radar to watch.)
  • PSB preferreds. I think BX will pay “face” at the end to wipe these out. Earliest date for that is call date on the Z shares.
  • 3M
  • ZIMV just got much much cheaper, so I need to dig in and look. (I have none, but was looking about 2 months ago.). Terrible earnings release this week, I guess.
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Hi rtichy,
I am curious of the BATRA, recommendation. Is this the Atlanta Braves tracking stock? Why do you think it is a good purchase? Do you think the economics of sports teams are good? Or are you just a fan of the Braves?

Liberty Media has to be one of the most complicated companies in the world to follow….

Randy.

BATRA will be changed into a full-fledged separate equity/company before July 1, I believe. Liberty announced a plan to do this in 2022, and a fair amount has been written on it.

As a separate company, some people think it will get a better valuation, upwards of $40/sh, e.g.

I’m not sure about that, and I don’t have any to speak of right now, but the Liberty mess gets a portion of its discount primarily due to there being no “equity” via any of the stocks. Only “tracking stocks”.

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MMM has a $10 ~ $15 B liability hanging over its head on the “combat ear plug” case. Also, the number of claims are steadily increasing, while there were some positive news in the form of some research suggests over 80% of the claimants have normal hearing, until it is resolved, the true liability is difficult to estimate; Hence, I have decided to watch it from sidelines. Otherwise, even accounting for low single digit growth, they are sufficiently profitable, good dividend, and 1% of buyback deserves higher valuation. Separately, the stock is in decline and you may want to see where it hits the bottom and starts moving sideways, to know whether the market has fully discounted the bad news.

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