Drop That Chicken! (BRFS Short)

  • Brazil’s economic and political climate are toxic for its companies.
  • BRF is closely tied to Brazil’s economy. Where Brazil goes, so does BRF.
  • BRF’s margins are being attacked on all sides which has in turn hurt its bottom line.
Brazil is a mess. With a toxic economic and political environment, it is not a good place to put your money. But that doesn’t mean you can’t profit from the those who do invest there.

Brazil is currently facing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. As seen in the graph below, GDP shrunk 4.5% in the 3rd quarter from a year earlier. This is the 6th consecutive quarterly contraction. It’s also the lowest number recorded since Brazil started using their new GDP system in 1996. 

André Perfeito, chief economist at Gradual Investimentos in São Paulo, had much to say about the contraction. He explained that the “[the latest GDP] report read like an obituary. There were no positive signals […] for the Brazilian economy in the next few quarters, and we still can’t say we’ve hit bottom.”

As a commodities based economy, the recent rout in prices has been a disaster for Brazil. Its economy is shrinking fast and has already lost over a million jobs this year. At the same time, inflation is running wild at over 10%. And despite the central bank’s best efforts, its currency, the Brazilian Real, continues to plummet. It has shed 33% of its value this year alone.

(Keep reading…)

 

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Brandon Beylo

Value Investor

Brandon has been a professional investor focusing on value for over 13 years, spending his time in small to micro-cap companies, spin-offs, SPACs, and deep value liquidation situations. Over time, he’s developed a deeper understanding for what deep-value investing actually means, and refined his philosophy to include any business trading at a wild discount to what he thinks its worth in 3-5 years.

Brandon has a tenacious passion for investing, broad-based learning, and business. He previously worked for several leading investment firms before joining the team at Macro Ops. He lives by the famous Munger mantra of trying to get a little smarter each day.

AK

Investing & Personal Finance

AK is the founder of Macro Ops and the host of Fallible.

He started out in corporate economics for a Fortune 50 company before moving to a long/short equity investment firm.

With Macro Ops focused primarily on institutional clients, AK moved to servicing new investors just starting their journey. He takes the professional research and education produced at Macro Ops and breaks it down for beginners. The goal is to help clients find the best solution for their investing needs through effective education.

Tyler Kling

Volatility & Options Trader

Former trade desk manager at $100+ million family office where he oversaw multiple traders and helped develop cutting edge quantitative strategies in the derivatives market.

He worked as a consultant to the family office’s in-house fund of funds in the areas of portfolio manager evaluation and capital allocation.

Certified in Quantitative Finance from the Fitch Learning Center in London, England where he studied under famous quants such as Paul Wilmott.

Alex Barrow

Macro Trader

Founder and head macro trader at Macro Ops. Alex joined the US Marine Corps on his 18th birthday just one month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He subsequently spent a decade in the military. Serving in various capacities from scout sniper to interrogator and counterintelligence specialist. Following his military service, he worked as a contract intelligence professional for a number of US agencies (from the DIA to FBI) with a focus on counterintelligence and terrorist financing. He also spent time consulting for a tech company that specialized in building analytic software for finance and intelligence analysis.

After leaving the field of intelligence he went to work at a global macro hedge fund. He’s been professionally involved in markets since 2005, has consulted with a number of the leading names in the hedge fund space, and now manages his own family office while running Macro Ops. He’s published over 300 white papers on complex financial and macroeconomic topics, writes regularly about investment/market trends, and frequently speaks at conferences on trading and investing.

Macro Ops is a market research firm geared toward professional and experienced retail traders and investors. Macro Ops’ research has been featured in Forbes, Marketwatch, Business Insider, and Real Vision as well as a number of other leading publications.

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