YB new stock pitches (Mon, Mar 23)

Coherent (COHR) commands a massive $50 billion core market in optical transceivers and components while adding over $20 billion in incremental Total Addressable Market (TAM) by 2030 through four new growth engines: Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) at $15 billion, Optical Circuit Switches (OCS) expanded from $2 billion to $4 billion, Multi-Rail systems, and advanced Thermal Solutions at $2 billion. The company holds a structural competitive advantage as the only manufacturer running six-inch Indium Phosphide (InP) wafers in volume production, delivering four times the yield at half the cost versus legacy three-inch wafers, with management stating every new six-inch line equals four three-inch lines in scaling capacity. NVIDIA recently invested $2 billion in equity and secured a multi-billion-dollar Long-Term Agreement (LTA) extending through the decade, with proceeds funding aggressive InP capacity expansion that will double total production by year-end. The company is ramping next-generation 1.6 terabit transceivers at higher Average Selling Prices (ASPs) and structurally better gross margins than legacy 800G modules, while traditional pluggable transceivers will remain dominant in scale-out and scale-across networks through the rest of the decade, contradicting bear thesis concerns about CPO cannibalization. Management demonstrated three distinct CPO breakthroughs including the OpenCPX socketed standard with 6.4 Tbps engines, 2D VCSEL arrays operating at just 1 picojoule per bit (four to five times less power than Silicon Photonics), and the industry's first 400G InP CPO engine with integrated Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers. Coherent has established over ten OCS customer engagements with production deployments using proprietary Liquid Crystal technology with zero mechanical moving parts, protected by both hardware and software moats, while OCS adoption directly catalyzes demand for their advanced Differential EML transceivers needed for higher link margins. The thermal solutions business leverages proprietary Thermadite diamond silicon carbide ceramic to reduce GPU junction temperatures by 5-10 degrees, enabling hyperscalers to run processors harder for more output, while thermoelectric energy harvesting converts waste heat back into electricity described as 'free energy' for data centers. Coherent has improved gross margin by nearly 500 basis points, exited or sold 33 underperforming sites over six quarters including a Munich materials processing division, and reduced leverage from over 3x to 1.7x, while strategically outsourcing all Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) to concentrate 100% of R&D on optics differentiation. A semicap recovery in the Industrial business segment from customers like ASML and Applied Materials provides a second-half catalyst for sequential revenue growth.

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YB, trading at $16.70, is a digital broker in China operating as a performance marketing company that buys ads on Chinese social media, funnels users to an insurance comparison platform, and earns commissions on policy sales, primarily in health insurance. The company is growing at 30% with 75% of its market cap held in net cash, expected to generate over $200 million in earnings this year against an enterprise value of only $180 million, resulting in a valuation of less than 1x growing earnings ex-cash. The CEO previously founded NetEase's ecommerce division and built the Kaola platform that sold for $2 billion, lending credibility to the team backed by legitimate investors. After IPO'ing on Nasdaq last year before the latest wave of concerns around US-listed Chinese companies, the company is now exploring a dual Hong Kong listing, with the CFO believing this will unlock value as comparable Hong Kong insurtechs trade 100% higher. While the business faces high churn and industry-wide complaint issues, management acknowledges the cash position materially exceeds operational needs and has promised to deliver a capital allocation framework and shareholder return plan later this year, though buybacks are currently limited by a tight float with legacy VC backers still holding shares.

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Expensify (EXFY) is trading at deep value metrics, down 76% year-over-year to $0.77 per share with a market cap of $72 million and enterprise value of only $17 million. The company trades at 60% of tangible book value, 77% of gross profit, and 12% of revenue, with cash of $0.68 per share and an EV per share of $0.89, while generating consistently positive free cash flow. EXFY owns its mortgage-free Seattle headquarters with a fair value of approximately $20 million, which alone exceeds the current enterprise value of $17 million. In March 2026, material insider buying occurred when 10% owner Steven J. McLaughlin, Founder and CEO of Financial Technology Partners (a boutique fintech investment bank), purchased 2,263,444 shares at an average price of $0.94 per share totaling $2,134,309, bringing his total ownership to 13,987,003 shares.

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