YB new stock pitches (Tue, Jan 27)

Immersion Corporation (IMMR) is a holding company trading at $6.60 per share, representing a 40% discount to its sum-of-parts valuation of $10.75, consisting of $5.70/share in cash and investments ($188.7 million total), $3.15/share stake in Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) worth $104 million, and $1.90/share in a declining but cash-generating patent portfolio of 800+ haptic technology patents valued at $127 million by external appraisal but conservatively haircut. BNED, which caused IMMR's financial filing delays due to accounting restatements from unsupported journal entries by a former employee, has pivoted from traditional bookstores to the growing First Day Complete model (29% year-over-year growth, 80%+ renewal rate) serving 1.1 million students across 224 campus stores by bundling textbooks into university tuition rather than selling directly to students. Activist investor Scott Larson holds a 7.12% stake and has pushed for executive compensation clawbacks, coherent strategy, or complete liquidation, leading to management implementing a poison pill limiting ownership to 9.99% and increasing the dividend to $0.30/share (~4.5% yield). The patent business generated $8.4 million revenue with $3.4 million operating income in the last published quarter, while the company hasn't filed its 10-K for fiscal year 2025 or recent 10-Qs due to BNED's accounting issues, creating an opportunity with limited downside and $10-12+ upside potential if BNED re-rates or Larson forces monetization.

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Corvus Pharmaceuticals (CRVS) is being shorted at an average price of $25.20 with a target of $10-12, as the market is pricing Soquelitinib as a de-risked blockbuster when it's actually a commercially obsolete BID ITK inhibitor with engineered trial data. The 75% EASI-75 efficacy in Cohort 4 resulted from selection bias, as the company front-loaded the trial with 41.7% Black/African American patients who have intense Th2/Th22 skewed immunology making them 'perfect responders,' while only including 25% White patients, and stacked the placebo arm with 58.3% prior systemic failures versus 41.7% in the drug arm. This cherry-picked demographic won't replicate in Phase 3 trials requiring representative populations including Asian patients with Th17-driven disease that will break through Soquelitinib's blockade. The drug faces commercial obsolescence as a BID pill in a market demanding once-daily dosing, competing against oral STAT6 inhibitors, with a fragile safety window where the 83-fold selectivity between ITK (6.5nM) and TEC (540nM) creates risk of immunosuppression and EBV reactivation if doses are pushed for efficacy. As a covalent inhibitor, the drug can accumulate in chronic dosing, drifting toward the dangerous TEC threshold or JAK3 off-target liability, with humans having genetic ITK deficiency being susceptible to EBV-driven lymphomas. The patent expires 2036-37 versus likely 2029-30 FDA approval, leaving only a 6-7 year commercial window before the patent cliff, with IRA price negotiations further limiting terminal value compared to biologics like Dupixent. Management's decision to advance both PTCL and AD simultaneously suggests lack of conviction in the AD program, as they're keeping oncology as a hedge, while the company trades at over $2 billion market cap for an early Phase 2 asset with only n=12 reliable data points.

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Sixt SE (SIX2.DE), currently trading at €68.90 with an 11x P/E ratio, is mispriced as a commodity rental car company despite delivering premium results with €4.25 billion in revenue and target 10% profit margins. The company generates revenue from Europe excluding Germany (~40%), Germany (~30%), and North America (~30%, grown from 0% in 2011), with 80% of its European fleet protected by buyback agreements with manufacturers like BMW, BYD, and Mercedes that contractually obligate them to repurchase vehicles at set prices, shielding Sixt from used-car market crashes. Sixt differentiates itself by offering premium vehicles (BMW/Audi at Ford prices) and maintains 70% variable costs providing recession protection, while aggressively expanding in the US targeting the top 50 airports with a 20% CAGR goal and launching SIXT+ subscription service for sticky monthly revenue. The investment thesis centers on three catalysts: proving sustainable 10% EBT margins in 2025/2026 results, demonstrating US hub profitability in mature markets like Miami and LAX, and achieving historical 15x P/E multiple recognition. With 9% annual revenue growth and 10.5% margins, the stock could reach a €135 price target by 2028 (15x historical P/E) plus a 4% annual dividend yield, though the primary risk remains the lack of a competitive moat in a price-sensitive industry where customers typically choose the cheapest option without brand loyalty.

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