Ideas Radar #4
What has been catching my eye in early 2026
Disclaimer: This is not investing advice. Everything written here is my own opinion and is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Everything written here is subject to my own errors, biases, and other types of mistakes. You should do your own research and consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Assume that at the time you are reading this, I may or may not have any type of position in any of the names here. Positions may include ownership of the stock or long or short positions in any options contract whose underlying stock is a company discussed here.
It’s been a little while since I’ve done an Ideas Radar post and I know that a lot of readers find these to be useful/valuable. Here are some companies that are catching my attention so far this year. It’s an eclectic mix of companies, but I think that’s a good thing because that means there is more likely to be something for everyone who reads this post.
As always, each blurb will contain my rather cursory knowledge of the company. If you know more, please do chime in, especially if it looks like I’m seriously misunderstanding something!
#1 Baker Hughes Co: BKR
If you’ve read most of the writing I’ve put on Substack, you’ll know that I have some views on energy and generation, especially in light of the current and often discussed AI hyperscaler buildout. A conclusion from these views is that I think a lot of places in the USA are going to effectively corner themselves (if they haven’t already) into needing gas-fired power plants to meet energy demands, whether that be for data centers or to meet the normal energy needs of people. Natural gas will be the only solution that is fast and cheap enough to deploy when people are in a bind regarding energy.
Michael Kao has written more comprehensively about this than I intend to. Read his post below or listen to an interview covering the same material:
As Michael says, all roads lead to gas. I agree that we’re at that point. In my mind, we are on a path that goes from data center buildout to power generation (gas) buildout to gas transmission buildout.
Baker Hughes is an important part of the gas transmission landscape. It manufactures all manner of things that are necessary when you are hoping to move gas from one place to another. I would guess that a lot of people still think of Baker Hughes as an oilfield services company, and it is, but I am a lot more focused on the gas technology part of the business.
In short: Baker Hughes makes the things that I think people will absolutely need once they panic and realize that natural gas transmission needs to get built out ASAP in order for power generation to come online. Baker Hughes even has a gas turbine business line, so it could become an important part of the energy generation picture when people start scrambling for turbines.
BKR is unlike most of the ideas I post here. It’s a large, well-known company and it doesn’t appear to be a screaming bargain at today’s price (~20x earnings). But I think there are a lot of ways for Baker Hughes to win, and owning it is a way to benefit from trends that I think will continue to play out for years to decades. Even though I spend most of my attention on the gas technology part of the business, I don’t want to completely ignore the traditional oilfield services business. If the inflation that we’ve seen in the price of assets like gold makes its way into oil and gas, energy and fuel prices, Baker Hughes will also benefit as a picks and shovels provider to the folks trying to extract oil and gas.
Overall, I think of Baker Hughes as a quality name that one could own for a very, very long time as long as one believes humans will keep using oil and gas to produce heat and electricity (hint: we will). Besides the traditional oilfield services business, Baker Hughes is important to gas technology that will continue to be necessary for our ongoing and growing need to transport and consume gas. The demand for Baker Hughes’s equipment might be steady-as-she-goes for many years into the future, but I have a suspicion that in the coming few years it will look more like a full-blown panic as people scramble for the equipment to move and use gas. In other words, I think the current wave of scrambling for power generation assets could be followed by a wave of scrambling for natural gas transmission assets. Even at today’s price, I think BKR is asymmetrically exposed to such a wave.
#2 BAB, Inc: BABB
From time to time, I look through the OTCMarkets screener for interesting under-the-radar companies. When you do this, you have to sift through a lot of nonsense and some complete garbage, and occasionally find some interesting rabbit holes to go down. Sometimes you find a little company that seems just fine. The past couple times I’ve looked through OTCMarkets companies, BAB has stuck out to me as a reasonably attractive and tiny company that I can actually evaluate and follow up on with in-person research.
BAB, Inc. is the franchisor of bagel and muffin shops in the United States. The name “BAB” comes from the company’s original concept: Big Apple Bagels. From what I can tell, Big Apple Bagels is more or less what it sounds like - it’s a bagel shop that sells bagels, sandwiches, coffee, and the like. If you’re reading this and know Big Apple Bagels, feel free to weigh in. I like most bagel shops, but I’ve never been to Big Apple Bagels and don’t know if there’s anything that makes them superior or inferior.
Even if Big Apple Bagels’ bagels are pretty standard, no problem. I think bagel shops are a reasonably attractive business and one that I can understand. Big Apple Bagels has franchisees in 12 states, and has about 50 locations. My Favorite Muffin is BAB’s other concept, which appears to have 11 locations in 6 states. From what I can tell, a lot of the locations appear to sell both bagels and muffins even if they have only the My Favorite Muffin name. Again, a straightforward business to understand.
A handful of little things that are uncommon among the OTC microcaps make BAB interesting to me. Consistent profitability is high on that list. In recent years, BAB has earned about half a million dollars per year. With a market cap of just $7 million, that’s a decent earnings yield. But BAB has also been accumulating cash, and has no debt. The ~$2.5 million in cash on the balance sheet means the multiple is more attractive than at first glance. BAB also pays a dividend - the dividend yield is about 4% at today’s price. As I mentioned earlier, BAB is a franchisor, so the attractive things about being a franchisor rather than the actual operator of these food establishments apply to BAB. Overall, this group of items that aren’t terribly meaningful individually combine to make BAB fairly attractive.
My concerns about BAB are basically along the lines of its concepts not being very compelling as businesses people actually want to franchise, and that in turn leading to a shrinking number of franchisees/locations rather than a growing number. The number of locations has shrunk in recent years (~100 around 2010, ~75 around 2020, ~60 today). That’s concerning in and of itself. The brands are just a little “meh” to me at this point. That said, I haven’t visited any locations in person yet. If you live around the corner from a Big Apple Bagels and see that it’s packed every day, you might think differently.
All told, BAB is worth keeping an eye on in multiple ways. First, I’ll monitor the business - the reported results and where the trend in number of locations is going. Second, it’s worth watching the stock. The company is small and illiquid enough that there could be opportunities just from a random day of the stock selling off and not having a bid. Finally, there are some locations in Denver, so I hope to check those out soon to have a better idea of what franchised locations are really like in person. Stay tuned.
#3 Uber Technologies Inc: UBER
I don’t claim to know much about Uber other than from being a customer. But some recent travel experiences have reminded me about how embedded Uber is in transportation and travel. I find two things amazing: 1) how often Uber is the most practical way to transport yourself somewhere (or the only option) and 2) how expensive those rides are. Recently, there have been some times where a ride has cost me $30 or $40 for short rides - and I’m stingy, so if there had been another option I would have taken that.
Well, I figure there are a lot of people like me who use Uber a lot even though it can feel expensive. All the money we spend is either going to the drivers or to Uber the company. The internet would have me believe that the maximum amount possible is going to Uber the company, not the drivers. I think logic would more or less back that up.
Uber has recently sold off and I think it could be interesting here and could possibly get more interesting. In any case, I think its worth following and learning more about.
#4 Acadian Timber Corp: ADN.TO
I was listening to this fantastic podcast from MicroCapClub with Dave Waters and he very briefly mentioned this company when discussing the Tactile Fund. So I went straight over to the Tactile Fund Substack to find the name Acadian Timber, and got distracted for a while because everything in the Tactile Fund is interesting to me.
Acadian Timber owns quite a bit of timberland in Maine and New Brunswick and the business couldn’t be more straightforward: it owns the land and sells wood from it. Acadian Timber is likely to be attractive to investors who appreciate setups where a company has value that is backed up by asset value in addition to earnings power. As you might know from reading my other writing, those are some of my favorite situations!
I plan to add Acadian Timber to the group of companies that I follow and own for a long period of time. This idea makes the most sense for investors with a decades-long investment horizon, not people who are looking for a rerating in the near term. I really like the fact that there’s a lot of value in the land, but at the same time the active forestry and timber sales allow for very stable earnings and a healthy dividend. Year to year, it doesn’t look like the company changes very much. Thank you to Dave Waters and the Tactile Fund for this idea.
Let me know if you’d be interested in additional writing covering any of these names. As always, thank you for reading! If you want to support what I do here, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
Check out some of my other recent writing below:
