For the JP Regional Bank fans, one of my "small cap repurchasers" is Bank of the Ryukyus, which does business in Okinawa. In terms of capital allocation, it pays a respectable 3.7% dividend, and is also finally repurchasing shares, about 1% a year. Not huge, but income is likely to increase substantially, as 20% of the banks assets are parked in short term JP gov bonds, which will provide added yield as rates rise. EPS is stable around 140 Yen a share, which means at the current price of 1045, is roughly 7.5x forward earnings. In typical fashion, Ryukyus trades at just 0.3x its tangible book value per share. The repurchase of just 1% of shares a year at a 66% discount to tangible book value should "juice" TBV by 0.6% a year, and I have a feeling a larger repurchase will be announced for 2025. The stated aim in the investor friendly presentation is to achieve a 1x PBR. Obviously, it will take a lot of work for that to happen, but with a dividend increasing roughly 7% a year over the last 3 years, and a new buyback, I would say they are doing better than most. Interestingly, after the August meltdown where the Nikkei dropped 10%+, Ryukyus has not recovered while all of its peers have. It's a $300 M USD market cap bank, relatively small, so I think it has just flown under the radar. This is part of my larger JP bank basket, which I plan to have an article out on, sometime in the future. There are a lot of larger competitors, like Fukuoka at 11x PE and a 3% dividend and 0.8x book, but I'd rather purchase the underdog with a history of repurchasing shares, with substantial upside potential. These are long term investments for me, they do substantially all of their business in Japan, so I don't convert the currency. I borrow at 1%, let the 3.7% dividend cover the interest payments, and hope for some capital appreciation.

I don't know what the fair value of $IREN is, but I have been selling December 10 Strike Puts on it. The use of an ATM program in the 40s is highly accretive to Tangible Book Value and I don't expect the stock to be trading below book value at the end of the year.

In an age where politics has never been more vicious and flush with cash, Chain Bridge represents a rare opportunity to profit from the chaos - not by betting on the game, but by owning the house $CBNA

$KNSL is a higher quality name and a better underwriter than $ASIC. Competition is heating up and both have had a rough past few months. Still, with $ASIC at 12x 2026 earnings and $KNSL at 18x, I'd be surprised if $ASIC doesn't put on a strong 2026 performance given its growth. Only major wrench $ASIC seems to have is a big chunk of its investment portfolio is invested in infrastructure debt and mid caps, which have been padding earnings recently but are likely to remain volatile.

Today I sold the last of my $CBL position. The stock is up 114%, 105% ahead of the broader REIT benchmark, and 70-80% ahead of closely comparable peers. The thesis played out well, but with a likely interest rate hike tomorrow (impacting floating rate debt expense) and sizeable selling from a large holder, I think the risk to reward here isn't as favorable as it once was. As always, it's up to you to conduct your own research and form your own opinions. It's been a great run, but I'm happy to free up the cash to eventually deploy into more attractive opportunities as they arise.