In which I bring you one of the sharpest minds in fundamental equity analysis, my friend Ryan O'Connor of Crossroads Capital. Ryan is a multidisciplinary thinker who combines rigorous fundamental analysis with a lot of of wit and wisdom. In this conversation, we dive deep into one of his ideas, none other than Nintendo. We discuss Ryan’s original contrarian thesis, how the business transformation has played out, and what to expect with recent release of the Switch 2. If you enjoy this discussion, I highly recommend going back to listen to my 2020 interview with Ryan and checking out the Crossroads Capital investing letters, both masterclasses in thoughtful equity analysis.

Ryan O'Connor of Crossroads Capital and Toan from 10West Advisors on AST SpaceMobile Stock (ticker: ASTS). Toan pitched Tesla in 2018, and Ryan pitched Nintendo. Both stocks have crushed the market from then until today. Since both are sharp investors, we wanted to bring them back on to get their perspectives on why they are so bullish on a pre-revenue satellite internet company. What is so special about AST SpaceMobile?

Welcome to Sunday’s Idea Brunch, your interview series with great off-the-beaten-path investors. We are very excited to interview Ryan O'Connor!

Ryan O'Connor is the founder of Crossroads Capital. We cover the modern history of Nintendo consoles that started with the NES, what drives consumers to choose the Switch platform over PlayStation and Xbox, and the opportunities to monetize Nintendo's incredible catalog of IP beyond the world of gaming.

Ryan O'Connor of Crossroads Capital stops by The Business Brew to discuss Nintendo, inflection investing, and much more.

In the 1980’s Nintendo was on top of the world, with the NES achieving over 90% market share of home video games globally. So how did they fall ALL the way down to ~10% in just a few short console generations? And how did they then build themselves back up (and down and up again) to the top of the world again? Spoiler: it all hinged on one very small, yet very large and durable platform… the Game Boy. Fire up your favorite portable entertainment device and tune in for the epic story of Nintendo’s fall from grace and journey back to the top — capped off by our robust discussion of where they go from here, and whether this 130+ year old company may still (!) be misunderstood and mis-valued.

With Nintendo Co. stock approaching its all-time high, there are some who see the creator of the Super Mario franchise as approaching a pivotal moment that could turn its flagship Switch into a perpetual gaming platform and break free of the industry’s traditional boom-bust cycle.