FFBW: A Thrift Conversion Rapidly Repurchasing Stock

Stock repurchases at a discount to tangible book value at a thrift conversion? It's one of the top signs a management team can show you that it's looking out for shareholders' best interests. Buybacks are an even better sign when execs make them of their own free will and don't have an activist investor starting a campaign if they're not seeing any action.

And that's what we have at FFBW (NASDAQ:FFBW), a recently converted Milwaukee-area thrift that's executing one of the fastest buybacks I've ever seen. Even with mediocre returns on equity, this massively overcapitalized bank could return investors around 50% over the next 12 to 18 months, with a reasonable chance of being acquired toward the end of that period.

The rest of the article is available on Seeking Alpha: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4514482-ffbw-thrift-conversion-rapidly-repurchasing-stock

Prudential Bancorp: A Forgotten Thrift Conversion That Could Return 50%

Prudential Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBIP) is a one-time thrift conversion that has been completely forgotten by the market, yet it’s repurchasing stock and has noted activist investors with significant stakes. In a buyout scenario – which is typical of most thrift conversions – the stock could be worth 50% (and maybe 60%) more than it’s currently fetching in the market, and it can be sold at any time.

The rest of the article is available on Seeking Alpha: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4452541-prudential-bancorp-a-forgotten-thrift-conversion-that-could-return-50-percent

The Zen of Thrift Conversions on Planet MicroCap podcast

I sat down with Bobby Kraft (of Planet MicroCap) recently to talk about the new book, how to make money investing in thrift stocks, how the game show Jeopardy holds quite a few lesson for investors, and what I learned about investing from collecting baseball cards. I must not have been the only 10-year-old kid arbitraging baseball wax packs, right?

It's already been a banner year for thrift conversions, with tons already announcing a conversion. You can see the latest 2021 line-up here.