Patience paying off in Waterloo

If you know the history of a company, sometimes you miss a good investment.

This theory is all-too-often a mistake that people on Bay Street make, myself included. You see a story in, say, 2002. And when it comes around again you assume that you know what’s going on and take a pass.

Well, look at what’s happened to a few of Waterloo’s “left for dead” public companies:

Arise (APV:V) just raised $25.3 million. A firm that could barely cover its public company costs in the months after the RTO. Stock has doubled in a year.

Descartes (DSG:TSX) has raised $25 million as well, and the stock is up another 10% since last year.

RDM (RC:TSX) sold its Xign investment to JP Morgan, and the stock is over $4, up from the $1.25 range a year ago.

While ATS, Dalsa and MKS go through their boom-bust share price cycle, there’s still plenty of investment banking business in the Waterloo region, not to mention a few money-making stocks as well.

And for those of us on Bay Street, these successes are another reminder to look at every story, regardless of how up to date you think you are.

MRM
(disclosure – I own MKS and it is a former portfolio company of Wellington Financial Fund I)
Hat tip to Gary Will for reminding me about the Arise offering via his newsletter