2024: An Eventful Year - InsideArbitrage
This is my second annual look back at how things unfolded during the year on three different fronts: personal, business, and investment performance. The first article, 2023: A Rollicking Year, can be found here.
Personal
Thankfully, 2024 wasn’t as much of a rollercoaster on the personal front as 2023. The year started out on a high note as I prepared for the launch of my first book, The Event-Driven Edge in Investing. During the year, I had the opportunity to be a guest on seven different podcasts and was interviewed for a segment related to stock spinoffs for NPR’s Marketplace show.
For the most part, I was able to stick with my daily “non-negotiables” like learning a new language (Spanish) and working out. In an era of Ozempic-related weight loss, I was trying to go the other direction and gain weight each month through strength training. Hopefully, some part of that weight gain in 2024 was muscle.
I had the privilege of attending a dinner after the 2024 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting where author William Green was a guest speaker. I enjoyed his speech, briefly ran into him again the next day at the Markel brunch, and then checked out his book Richer, Wiser, Happier, which I reviewed here. Some of the other books I read in 2024 were Zen of Thrift Conversions by James Royal and The New World Economy in 5 Trends by Koen De Leus and Philippe Gijsels. I wholeheartedly recommend all three books.
InsideArbitrage Business
I had the ambitious goal of growing InsideArbitrage revenue by 50% in 2024 after exceeding my 35% growth target in 2023. Unfortunately, this year I fell far short of that goal, and revenue grew by 31%. My target for 2025 is 30% revenue growth.
Growth in 2024 was achieved through a series of experiments and especially by adding a large number of new features to the platform.
For our Yield Guru service, which completed its first full year in 2024, we added two custom screens including one that provides a list of preferred shares with insider buying and a list of special dividends.
We also expanded our core InsideArbitrage Plus and Premium services by rolling out a series of new features including:
There are also features like our new earnings calendar and a custom screen called Insider Buys Near Highs that we have not yet announced publicly.
InsideArbitrage Model Portfolio Performance
Some of the positions that worked for the model portfolio in 2023 continued to work in 2024, and even most of the failed mergers from 2023 rebounded strongly in 2024. We also benefited from some of our short positions in Gamestop and Energy Vault Holdings.
Merger arbitrage posed challenges for a second year in a row with failed mergers affecting returns. Both the volume and total value of deals fell for a second year in a row. The model portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 for the 2022 to 2023 period but underperformed in 2024 with a gain of just 3%.
I am excited for 2025 with the way the portfolio is currently positioned, and the launch of a new podcast next week.
Disclaimer:
I hold long positions in several securities mentioned in this article. Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.
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