Donation to Shriners (Thanks KDK Options, KDK Fund, Bullied Comics)

Good Morning

On this snowy morning in Chicago, we thought, why not make a donation today to Shriner's Hospital in Chicago? So we did!  We love what they do and work towards providing as much as we can to their cause. This happened because of the hard work at Keane Venture Capital and Consulting (Bullied Comics), KDK Options (trades on the US Dollar, Canadian Dollar, and Bank of America), and KDK Fund (Dividends from Ford). 

Donating to charity is a pillar of the company. It is in our mission. In fact, we will not be taking a deduction of the donation due to our belief that the benefits of charity should not come back in the form of lesser taxes. Charity is a first order action without any return expectations. Besides, we all have family or friends in the military or otherwise who receive federal benefits (social security, medicare, etc.). Taking the deduction takes from them. We are not going to do that in order to increase our profits.

   ** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence.**

12/9 Week In Review 12/12 Week Looking Forward

This was an active week for Keane Venture Capital and Consulting. A bullet point list of past and future activities are below for each of the ventures.

KeaneVCC

Last Week
- Received royalty check from Mascot Books for Bullied Comics (link here)

- Announcing new products for sale for Bullied Comics in the next couple of weeks.


KDK Fund

Last Week
- Received Dividend from Ford (link here).
- Wrote article on the rise of stocks and bonds (link here). 

Future

- Expecting another purchase of Ford shares in the coming weeks.


KDK Options

Last Week

- Closed TLT trade at Stop Loss
- Opened new FXY trade (link here).

Future

- Researching new trades for 2018


 ** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence.**

Business Update (KDK Fund, KDK Options, Consulting)

by Michael Keane

Here are some updates on what the company is doing. The year continues to go well. Assets under KDK Fund are growing. Trading operations and strategy for KDK Options continue to evolve and improve. Work with Bullied Comics is developing nicely. Readership on blog posts for all entities continue to grow.  If your company is looking for research to be done or analysis on a current project, let us know at keanevcc@gmail.com and we will get to work!

KDK Fund

More shares of Ford continue to be bought. Purchases were made in June (here) and July (here). There was a shift in management to bring about more value to shareholders. The plan to start the call selling program is still on track to start later this year.  The effect on reinvested dividends on future dividends continues to be strong.

KDK Options

Spread trades have begun to dominate the strategy for KDK Options. Many successes have occurred lately due to the focus on spread trades. In the summer quarter alone, successful spread trades in the Japanese Yen ETF FXY (post here), Ford (post here), and BAC (post here) have occurred. There is a current spread trade with Bank of America (link here) going on now. Not one trade executed this quarter resulted in a loss. But this is not to be the expectation :).  

KeaneVCC

Work with Bullied Comics continues. Areas of work include content development including its YouTube channel (search bullied comics), product development and media communication. Some recent blog posts from KeaneVCC (link here) include topics such as Self Serving Bias, and donations to both Shriners Chicago Hospital and Northeastern Illinois University.

New Donation Made to Shriners

Hello

KeaneVCC has made another donation to Shriners Chicago! KDK Options made some wonderful trades in the Japanese Yen and Ford over the last month to make this happen.

Donating a portion of revenue instead of profit is a different way of running the business and continues to build overall wealth, not just financial wealth. Donations to charity also will not get recorded on its tax form. KeaneVCC wants to make sure that its commitment to charity is complete and the benefit is received solely by understanding others are being helped.


** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence.**

Why Tech Will Buy an Automaker

by Michael Keane

As the struggle and innovations continue to develop in the driverless car industry, the idea that a tech company will buy an automaker is becoming more and more real.  A few things come to mind in forming this idea. The first one that comes to mind is company valuation and cash balances. Many tech companies that are involved in the automotive space are sitting on a lot of cash.  The second area that indicates the probability of this idea is that there are already partnerships and smaller deals between the tech companies and the automotive companies. Another area that brings this idea to fruition is finding the answer to the question of “What does the future look like in the space and who is best capable to lead this move into the future.

If you look at the tech sector and the automotive sector in terms of valuation, you will see that it is entirely possible for a deal to happen. The following chart gives a quick snapshot of valuations of different tech companies involved in the auto space as well as a few automakers. You can see the cash balances and valuations of the tech companies actually put them in a favorable spot to make a bid. Tesla’s market cap and Ford’s is now basically equal.

Company	Valuation	Cash on Hand	Amount Invested in Auto
Alphabet	$600 Billion	$86 Billion	New Company named Waymo
Intel	$167 Billion	$5.5 Billion	Just made a bid for Mobileye
Apple	$753 Billion	$21 Billion	Undisclosed Amount in Software
Tesla	$45 Billion	$3.5 Billion	Full Electric Car Company
Ford	$47 Billion	$16 Billion	Auto Company
Fiat Chrysler	$21 Billion	$18 Billion	Auto Company
GM	$51 Billion	$14.5 Billion	Auto Company

Large partnerships are starting to abound between the two industries. Recently, Intel made a bid for Mobileye. Ford has been in partnerships with Alphabet. GM purchased Cruise Automation for more than $1 Billion dollars last year and has a partnership with Lyft. Mercedes Benz recently reached an agreement with Uber with regards to a driverless car. With all this smoke around, the likelihood of a purchase continues to get stronger and stronger.  

While in the past, someone might not associate tech with cars, today you just can’t get away from the connection. Driverless eco friendly vehicles are the future. Big companies are putting large fortunes in play to make this happens. There will be some hiccups and disasters for sure. But don’t be surprised if you wake up one morning, pick up your phone (instead of the tv), and find that a car company has been purchased by a tech company.

**Disclosure - KDK Fund, a client of KeaneVCC, owns shares of Ford. KDK Options, another client of KeaneVCC, owns an April spread options trade on Microsoft. **

July View Report over 1,000 views (Ford, Elon Musk, Bank of America, more)

There were over 1,000 views of KeaneVCC and partners posts during the month of July. This is the most ever had. The simple reason is that popular topics with thoughtful analysis is happening for these posts. The quality of the ad placement through Google Adsense is also improving as the views are increasing.

Some of the popular posts are below

 - From KeaneVCC

1) Thoughts on Musk's "Master Plan" (link here)

2) Charity Heroes (ALS Version) (link here)

- From KDK Fund

1) Additional Shares of Ford Purchased (link here)

-From KDK Options

1) BAC Call Trade Now Profitable (link here)


**As always, this blog is to be read as opinion. Please do your due diligence before acting on any information read here.**

Electric and Driverless Vehicles (pt.2)

by Michael Keane

Electric and Driverless Cars  Part 2

Electric Vehicles

In a previous post, a couple of large issues that the transportation industry was outlined. In this article, the focus will be on how the energy, insurance and governmental taxing agencies will handle the growing use of electric vehicles. Will energy companies be able to pivot off of its reliance on vehicle gasoline for profit? Will insurance companies be able to handle the likely decreased premiums due to vehicles no longer needing protection against gas related incidents? Will taxing authorities be able to pivot off of the taxes received from gas?

Energy companies are in a very precarious position. They are finding that there is a glut of fossil fuel energy while at the same time a lessening of demand for it. A big and growing culprit of this is the expansion of the electric vehicle. With non-fossil sources of fuel Companies like Tesla, GM, BMW, and others have put in large resources to build out these vehicles. as alternative fueling grows, so does demand for the vehicles. This increased demand is bringing costs down into an area where the masses are able to participate.  

One possible rock to lean on during this time is the time period just as the automobile was becoming more and more popular. Energy companies faced a similar threat to their business as electric lights replaced oil in homes. The question becomes what is the switch they need to make. The larger companies should be able to absorb some of the trouble. But overall, margins are going to get squeezed.

In terms of insurance, there is one item that I can think of that should lessen premiums. That item is the removal of gas and oil (extremely flammable) from the vehicles. In an article by InsideEV’s (link here), information shows a large improvement when it comes to safety when comparing EV’s with standard vehicles. This could bring down the price of premiums.  One possible solution in the short term is to raise other parts of the monthly premium as the vehicles are generally more expensive and can be more of a steal target because of the newness of the segment.

Taxing authorities should already be figuring out solutions to this issue. The more electric vehicles that are registered in the state, the less revenue they will receive from taxes on gasoline. For example, in my home of Chicago, taxes on a gallon of gas are around $0.30 per gallon. I sure hope they are working on a plan that replaces this revenue. Because with more and more EV’s hitting Illinois roads, revenue is increasingly getting smaller and smaller. But there are alternatives like a flat annual tax on EV’s or an increase in taxes for electricity not generated by NFES. Also, promotion of these vehicles will increase the favorabel environmental effects which should offset some of the financial loss. There aren’t too many administrations who end of badly for making their area cleaner and healthier for their constituents. If you have or plan to buy and EV, reach out to your local office holders and remind them of the benefits for the area.

There are more than a few issues facing the oil, insurance, and taxing authority agencies when it comes to handling the increase of EV’s on the road. But there are ways to continue profitability and success while embracing the change. It is very important not to have blinders on or have your figurative head in the sand at this moment. Acknowledge what is, and plan and act however needed.