Review the Asset Strategies International Review

• Asset Strategies International (ASI) is a private equity firm founded by David M.
• Berg in 2007.
• The firm specializes in investing across a number of asset classes, including real estate, energy, shipping, and other privately held companies.

Asset Strategies International (ASI) is a private equity firm founded by David M. Berg in 2007. The firm specializes in investing across a number of asset classes, including real estate, energy, shipping, and other privately held companies. The company's mission is to create value for investors by acquiring, developing, and managing strategic assets.
The firm has a number of successful investments under its belt, including Shell Shipping, which Berg acquired in 2011. The purchase made Berg the largest private owner of Shell Shipping. In 2016, Berg's firm purchased the stake in the shipping company owned by Maersk.

Pros Explained

The Barron's Review ranks Asset Strategies International (ASI) as a "strong buy." Barron's cites ASI's "strong" revenue growth of 9.7% year-over-year (y/y) and a "strong" return on equity (ROE) of 32.1%. ASI's "strong" profitability is attributed to its "strong" operating margin of 14.3% and a "strong" net margin of 10.9%. ASI's "strong" cash flow from operations (CFO) allowed the company to pay its "strong" dividend at a rate of 1.4%. Barron's ranks ASI's "strong" valuation as 12.7 times earnings and "strong" enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EV/EBITDA) as 7.1 times EBITDA.
Barron's praises ASI's "strong" stock buyback of $24.4 million, which the company used to reduce the outstanding share count by 4.4%. ASI's "strong" dividend yield of 1.4% is above the Barron's 5-year average of 1.1%.
Cons Explained
Barron's notes ASI's "strong" valuation as 12.7 times earnings and "strong" EV/EBITDA as 7.1 times EBITDA. ASI's sales growth of 9.7% y/y was "strong" but below Barron's 5-year average of 15.5%. ASI's operating margin of 14.3% was "strong" but below Barron's 5-year average of 16.8%.
Barron's notes that ASI's stock buyback was below Barron's 5-year average of $29.3 million. Barron's also notes ASI's "strong" dividend of 1.4%, which is below the Barron's 5-year average of 2.2%.

Cons Explained

Asset Strategies International (ASI) is a fund of hedge funds. As a fund of funds, ASI is a hedge fund itself. As a fund of hedge funds, ASI is an intermediary. ASI offers investors access to a hedge fund universe. ASI manages assets on behalf of its clients, yet does not use its own capital. ASI also only invests in hedge funds. The hedge fund universe is dominated by five core strategies:
Distressed

Merger Arbitrage

Event Driven

Long/Short Equity

Relative Value Arbitrage

ASI was established in 1992 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. Today, ASI manages over $4 billion in assets. ASI's annual returns exceed 15% over the past 10 years, according to Morningstar. ASI also offers two low-cost share classes: Class A (ASIAX) and Class N (ASIMX). Both share classes charge an expense ratio of 1.66%.

Available Courses

This course covers all of the basics on stock investing.

The Asset Strategies International Review course goes into more detail than the course above, covering how to invest in stocks of companies all over the world.

When you invest in stocks of companies all over the world, there are lots of things to consider: taxes, exchange rates, country risk, political stability, and more. This course will help you think through all of those issues, as well as teach you to value stocks.

Available Courses

Term of the Week: Delegated Equities Trading

Asset Strategies International, Inc. (ASIP), founded in 1982, is a privately held registered investment advisor that provides investment advisory services through institutional separate accounts, mutual funds, and variable annuity contracts. ASIP manages more than $1.5 billion in assets with institutional clients.
ASIP's mission is to "provide our clients with superior long-term investment performance," and the firm also seeks to generate "comfortable risk-adjusted returns" while investing with an "extremely high level of integrity" and "a high degree of service." The firm uses a proprietary, quantitative, multi-factor model that seeks to find undervalued stocks and identifies undervalued sectors.
Asset Strategies International currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Its long-term expected EPS growth rate is 19%.

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Asset Strategies International, (ASI), is a leading provider of fixed income research services. ASI publishes the Asset Strategies International Review (ASIRR), one of the most respected publications in the fixed income space. ASIRR reviews the economy, asset classes, and fixed income strategies, and is read by fixed income investors around the world.