Weekly (June 1-5) Updates (KDK Options, KDK Fund, more)

This was another busy and life improving week for KeaneVCC. Take a look at some of what went on.


KDK Options

- The weekly post can be found here. Highlights include VXX, Starbucks, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Disney.

KDK Fund

- The weekly post can be found here. Highlights include Fuel Cell Energy, Hannon Armstrong, and Hive Blockchain.


** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence. As always, we are on Facebook, Twitter, and email through keanevcc@gmail.com**
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May 25-29 Updates (KDK Options, KDK Fund)

We had another busy week with our partners improving life. Here are some notes

KDK Options

- The week's post is here. Trades in VXX, Starbucks, bank ETF XLF happened.
- More money for the charity was created through the XLF trade.


KDK Fund

- This week's post is here. Activity in topics like climate change, blockchain, LiDAR, and bitcoin have affected our investments.


** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence. As always, we are on Facebook, Twitter, and email through keanevcc@gmail.com**
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Weekly Updates (KDK Fund, KDK Options)

The following weekly updates for our partners and other items are below.

KDK Fund

- A post to their performance can be found here. Highlights include IBio Inc., Fuel Cell Energy, and Microvision.

KDK Options

- A post to their performance can be found here. Highlights include VXX, Medtronic, and Boeing.


- New advertising from PRInvestmentideas.com, Salesforce, and Loyola Medicine were seen on the website.




** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence. As always, we are on Facebook, Twitter, and email through keanevcc@gmail.com**

Weekly Updates for May 11-15 (KDK Fund, KDK Options, Shriners Hospital of Chicago

Here are some notes on what was happening in the KeaneVCC universe.

KeaneVCC

- We were able to make a donation to Shriners Hospital of Chicago. A link to the post is here.

- Saw new blog advertising from The Motley Fool, Options Beast, Wealth Enhancement Group and Ninja Trader on websites. We have no other relationship with any of the companies.

KDK Options

- A post to their weekly post can be found here. Highlights include Bank of America, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Applied Materials

KDK Fund

- A post to their weekly post can be found here.  Highlights include Crispr Therapeutics, Ibio Inc. and Fuel Cell. 


** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence. As always, we are on Facebook, Twitter, and email through keanevcc@gmail.com**

New Donation Made to Shriner's Hospital Chicago

Good Morning!

Another donation to Shriner's Hospital Chicago has been made. This is because of wonderful trading by our partners KDK Options (link here) and investing by KDK Fund (link here).

We believe in the mission of Shriner's Hospital and feel it mirrors our own mission of improving life.

Other recipients are Northeastern Illinois University and the OER organization.


** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence. As always, we are on Facebook, Twitter, and email through keanevcc@gmail.com**

Partner Weekly Performance (KDK Options, KDK Fund)

Good morning and Happy Mother's Day!

Below are some notes on what is happening within KeaneVCC.

KDK Options

Weekly performance story here.

- Ready for next week's trading opportunities. 

KDK Fund

Weekly performance story here.

- Ended position in Microvision
- Started position in Fuel Cell Energy

Thank you and let's spend time using our talents to improve life.


** This blog is used for opinions and ideas and should not be used as a direction to act without doing your due diligence. As always, we are on Facebook, Twitter, and email through keanevcc@gmail.com**

Shareholder Value vs Executive Compensation Value

Earlier this week, there was a CNBC report (link here) that showed over 70 public companies accessed the PPP program. They did this while also having access to regular public markets. The likely reason why they used the PPP program goes back to old the business lesson that any financial gain for the company is worth any damage outside the company.  This lesson also was exhibited by a pillar US company, Disney, who furloughed tens of thousands of employees in order to keep a dividend and some executive bonuses.  This brought the dismay of none other than Abigail Disney (story here). All this begs a couple of questions. Do executives truly understand how to best bring value to shareholders? Can boards of directors do a better job of setting up executive goals to benefit the shareholders? After watching decisions made over the last two years, the answer is undoubtedly yes.

While financial reward is an important part of shareholder value, it is only a part of the equation. Shareholder value goes much deeper both on vertical and horizontal levels. Better adapted executives are able to generally know who the shareholders are and understand how to deploy both investors capital and profits gained from running the business that provide added value (financial, health, community, etc.) to their shareholders.   There is a new and better representative term for those executives are still running on the old lesson, Executive Compensation Value. This is because most moves in this manner help to achieve their own value metrics, not shareholders. Heavy focus is on stock prices, balance sheet optimization, etc..Thankfully, as in the example below, these decisions are becoming more and more transparent.

This current economic situation can be used as a great example. Do you think the executives of these 70 + companies asked the question " If we take this money from the government, are there shareholders of ours that will end up getting shorted, even though we have access to other funding markets and they don't?"? The answer is probably no. The opportunity to get money at this rate was too enticing and sure as the day is long the Executive Compensation Value biases were firing on all cylinders. It didn't matter that it was taxpayer money. The current poster company for this is Shake Shack. They are valued at $1.7 billion and took a $10 million loan (now being returned) from PPP because they could and it was cheaper than normal capital markets. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse followed along with a $20 million loan. How many of their customers who are also shareholders through work retirement programs could have used that money for their own businesses and employees?   

Disney's decision making falls under this Executive Compensation Value umbrella completely. In a national emergency, when their streaming service subscriber numbers double, and you still lay off thousands of employees to make a dividend payment, you hit on every ECV metric and completely missed the boat on shareholder value metrics. We don't need the few bucks. We need your employees not to be on government payrolls and spending our tax dollars.


This is not just a corporation problem. It is a problem for all organizations. Harvard, with the richest endowment, is one of the organizations that was selected to receive funds through the separate CARES Act. The same biases and greed do not discriminate on whether the organization is a publicly traded company, or the a higher learning organization.

If you are an executive in an organization, please make sure the entire investor experience is analyzed when making decisions on accepting government funds. Sometimes, bad decision making can cause both direct and indirect pain for your investors.    


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