illumin Holdings Inc T.ILLM

Motley Fool Responds - (Another MUST READ from Dara)

[arbutus7]

**ALERT EVERYONE! MOTLEY FOOL RESPONDS!!* Jim Gillies at MF Hidden Gems who recommended AcuityAds as a 10 bagger (and then later 100 bagger) in the report “CATCHING FIRE: ONE TINY CANADIAN SMALL-CAP TAKING ON THE TRADE DESK” responds to "fluffy piece" (his words) posted last Friday.

He is NOT pleased by the article as it contained no analysis or understanding of the company. Thank you JIM and MF for replying!

Anyone who sold because of that fluff piece better get back in ASAP! Jim is SAYING KEEP! 100 bagger potential!

** RESPONSE BY JIM from MOTELY FOOL HIDDEN GEMS **

“The article was NOT written by a Fool analyst.... To quote dbehnka, “When it’s time to sell, we’ll issue a sell memo and update the scorecard.” But I’ll offer a little bit extra, and then let Fools cut/paste this article the next time a question like this comes up.

You’re paying for a stock-picking service (Hidden Gems). I’m paid to be that “stock picker.” I don’t think I’m poorly paid either, (though I like to think that TMF gets at least as much value back from me as they give.)

I’m highly educated (two engineering degrees, MBA in finance, wrote/passed all three levels of the CFA program but never bothered to file the paperwork because, well, what about my life would change, really?)

I’ve taught investment management at a 4th year university level. I’ve taught financial statement analysis to the Fool’s analyst development program. I’ve been a guest speaker for financial planner conferences, university programs, and myriad Foolish events.

I’ve worked for TMF for 15.5 years now and (don’t tell anyone up the ladder), but I’m probably MORE enthused about TMF, the organization, and TMF, the mission than I ever have been. I believe we’re doing real good in people’s lives.

I think most company mission statements are nonsense…but I fervently believe in the Fool’s stated purpose, to make the world “smarter, happier, and richer” because I aim to do that very thing with every stock I research and write about, AND I am surrounded daily by people who are walking that same walk/talking that
same talk. My investing skill set is generally focused in two areas:

1. Options – how to make money intelligently using these tools to express an investing thesis while not blowing yourself up; (not really germane to this particular topic, but, well, it’s a fairly unique skill even around TMF, I submit); and
2. Small caps – particularly oddballs, special situations, hidden assets, and the like. What a lot of people would term small-cap value.

I’ve helmed multiple services, or served as analyst or guest analyst for a bunch more over my 15.5 years tenure (a tenure I hope endures to my retirement…an event that I also hope is years away because I love what I do so much; believe in our company’s purpose as I do).

**So, that’s what’s behind “MY” recommendation of ACUITYADS.

A service that you pay for, helmed by an experienced advisor with a wide body of financial knowledge and a passion for both the intellectual exercise of stock picking AND for seeing our member base make smart/beneficial financial decisions and take control of their own investing futures/outcomes.

And we’re going to stack this up against a 500-word free article written by a person getting paid piecework (i.e. they’re going to want to crank these articles out as fast as possible; did not put anything I’d qualify as “analysis” into their “work”)?

An article that devotes **less than 200** of its words to Acuity, with the key points summed up as, “This stock went up big…then it fell…then it went up big again”, and with its only valuation metrics being two measures (P/E, P/B) that I’d never look at for a company like Acuity?

An article that betrays NOT A HIT OF UNDERSTANDING of what the business of Acuity actually is because I’m reasonably sure the author has no idea?

An article whose punch line regarding Acuity is, at best, summed up as an “appeal to fear” wrapped up with a “false dichotomy”? (i.e. “If you sell now, you might still be able to profit from its insane growth. But if you wait till the next crash, there might not be a second chance.“)...

I mean, okay, you can take my opinion and contrast with this article and give them equal weight if you want….and I fully understand if you want to accuse me here of tacking towards argumentum ab auctoritate (argument from authority), though I’d think you were wrong if you did so (realize that an argument from authority isn’t fallacious if one actually is an authority, which, again, I’ll hold out my credentials…)

My bottom line is that I’d encourage you to:

1) Consider why you’re valuing something you pay for as equal to a free snippet in a pretty fluffy piece.

2) Recognize that the incentives for me, and the incentives for the author of that piece are VERY different. Ask yourself which party is incentivized more for YOUR success.

3) Read again my original recommendation and contrast with that the piece from the free site. Consider which backs up its thesis better.

My first and last word on this subject.
Best,
Jim.

[campst]

Thanks for posting. Help me out here. "not written by a Fool analyst". Why does it have the Fool logo? Was it a guest piece? I don't subscribe to the Fool. TIA. p.s. buying opportunity.

[p55iwpd]

I think Jim missed an important point here.  If you are going to put your logo on it you need to ensure its of the quality you'd expect from MF and is consistent with other info published on the topic. It was neither.    

[retiredcf]

As previously mentioned, if people are going to sell based only on some article from a questionable souorce, then they aren't investors, likely know little about the company, and we don't need them as shareholders. GLTA