We've sold Appian (APPN) after a +320% return in just 5 months -- a monster win for our Opportunities clients. The stock's valuation has risen far above our expectations, due to outstanding business momentum and the positive effects of the recent short squeezes.
Appian is a fantastic business that we were long, but we were contrarian. Many institutional hedge funds disagreed with us, and as such they were short, with ~11% of shares being shorted. We believe many investors misunderstood the accounting behind APPN's revenue recognition and had been trying to make a quick buck shorting the stock.
But as we've seen with GameStop, AMC, etc., many high short interest stocks have exploded to astronomical valuations in recent weeks due to short sellers covering as retail traders pile into the names. We believe the recent short squeeze dynamics have given us an opportune time to sell APPN, giving our clients a massive gain and the ability to move on to a better risk/reward prospect.
Hence we've now invested in Poshmark (POSH), the emerging leader in "social commerce," for our Opportunities portfolio. Think of it as eBay meets Instagram. Its secondhand goods marketplace leverages social features to drive best-in-class engagement, and we believe "time is money" in eCommerce.
The company had its IPO just a few weeks ago but has fallen ~30% due to short-term competitive concerns. But because it is well-positioned to capitalize on the explosion of growth in secondhand goods marketplaces, we believe Poshmark can reach $120/share in three years (20% annualized return).
Attached is a 3-minute video from myself and our Head of Research explaining the POSH thesis, along with the full Initiation Report (5-minute read).
If you have any questions about the new position in POSH, please reach out to research@titanvest.com and a member of our Investor Relations team will respond directly.
Thank you for the opportunity to continue managing your capital alongside that of myself, my team, and 20,000+ other Titan clients.
Onwards,
Clay Gardner
Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer