US Global Investors Inc (GROW) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

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Financial Officer; and myself, Holly Schoenfeldt, Director of Marketing. If we move onto Slide #3. During this webcast we may make forward-looking statements about our relative business outlook. Any forward-looking statements and all other statements made during this webcast that don't pertain to historical facts are subject to risks and uncertainties that may materially affect actual results.

財務總監;我和我，行銷總監 Holly Schoenfeldt。如果我們轉到投影片 #3。在本次網路廣播中，我們可能會對我們的相關業務前景做出前瞻性陳述。任何前瞻性陳述以及本次網路廣播期間所做的與歷史事實無關的所有其他陳述均面臨可能對實際結果產生重大影響的風險和不確定性。

Please refer to our press release and corresponding Form 10-Q filing for more detail on factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any described today in forward-looking statements. Any such statements are made as of today, and U.S. Global accepts no obligation to update them in the future.

請參閱我們的新聞稿和相應的 10-Q 表格文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與今天前瞻性陳述中描述的任何結果有重大差異的因素的更多詳細資訊。任何此類聲明均自今日起作出，U.S. Global 不承擔將來更新這些聲明的義務。

Moving on to the next slide. As always, we would love to offer anyone tuned in today, one of our JETS, GOAU or SEA hats. All you need to do is send us an e-mail with your physical mailing address to info@usfunds.com.

轉到下一張投影片。一如既往，我們很樂意為今天收看節目的所有人提供一頂我們的 JETS、GOAU 或 SEA 帽子。您所需要做的就是向我們發送一封包含您的實際郵寄地址的電子郵件至 info@usfunds.com。

And now on to the next slide, I will briefly review our company. U.S. Global Investors is an innovative investment manager with vast experience in global markets and specialized sectors. It was originally founded as an investment club, becoming a registered investment adviser in 1968. The company has a long-standing history of global investing and launching first-of-their-kind investment products, including the first no-load gold fund. We're also well known for our expertise in gold and precious metals, natural resources, airlines and luxury goods.

現在在下一張投影片上，我將簡要回顧我們公司。U.S. Global Investors 是一家創新投資管理公司，在全球市場和專業領域擁有豐富的經驗。它最初是作為一個投資俱樂部成立的，於1968年成為註冊投資顧問。該公司在全球投資和推出同類投資產品方面擁有悠久的歷史，其中包括第一個免傭黃金基金。我們也因在黃金和貴金屬、自然資源、航空和奢侈品方面的專業知識而聞名。

Now when we move to the next slide, Slide #6, this is where I want to hand the presentation over to CEO, Frank Holmes. Frank?

現在，當我們轉到下一張投影片（投影片#6）時，我想將簡報交給執行長 Frank Holmes。坦率？

Thank you, Holly, and thank you, all the shareholders who are listening. This is one of the most important disclaimers I always like because it's colorful, but it's factual in a quant world, is the DNA of volatility. And what's important here is that every asset class has its own DNA of volatility and it changes over time. They know well today that the DNA of the human body can change, and external forces imbalances between macro forces of monetary fiscal policies can all of a sudden impact capital markets, and it can change the DNA of the volatility of an asset class.

謝謝你，霍莉，也謝謝所有正在傾聽的股東。這是我一直喜歡的最重要的免責聲明之一，因為它豐富多彩，但在量化世界中它是事實，是波動性的 DNA。這裡重要的是，每種資產類別都有自己的波動性 DNA，並且會隨著時間的推移而改變。他們今天深知，人體的DNA是可以改變的，貨幣財政政策宏觀力量之間的外力失衡可以突然衝擊資本市場，可以改變某一資產類別波動性的DNA。

So let's take a look at the S&P 500. It basically says it's a nonevent to go up or down 1%, almost 70% of the time. Over 10 days, it's 3%. And you can see that gold bullion is the same as the S&P 500. And if we go back 10 years ago, bullion was more volatile, 2:1 to what the S&P was. On the Dow Jones U.S. Asset Manager Index, it's got a daily volatility, close to the S&P, but over 10 days, it doubles basically the 5%. GROW definitely doubles over 10 days. It's a nonevent, they go up or down 6% on a weekly basis.

那麼讓我們來看看標準普爾 500 指數。它基本上表示，在幾乎 70% 的情況下，上漲或下跌 1% 並不是什麼大事。超過10天，就3%了。你可以看到金條和標準普爾 500 指數是一樣的。如果我們回到 10 年前，金條的波動性更大，與標準普爾指數的波動率為 2:1。道瓊美國資產管理指數的每日波動率接近標準普爾指數，但在 10 天內，它基本上翻了一番，即 5%。GROW 在 10 天內肯定會翻倍。這沒什麼大不了的，它們每週上漲或下跌 6%。

Some of our funds are known, especially for gold and GOAU. You can see that it's plus or minus 7% over a 10-day period. Those changes in the assets of the airlines or gold, they do have an impact in our funds. And this is how we earn fees, we earn fees on basis points on the total assets that we manage and they can change over a monthly basis, a quarterly basis, and that's what changes basically. It's very simple business to calculate what our revenue is going to be.

我們的一些基金很有名，尤其是黃金和 GOAU。您可以看到 10 天內的正負 7%。航空公司或黃金資產的這些變化確實對我們的資金產生了影響。這就是我們賺取費用的方式，我們根據我們管理的總資產的基點賺取費用，它們可以按月、按季度變化，這就是基本的變化。計算我們的收入是非常簡單的事。

Next, well, the ETF world continues to beat down on the mutual fund world. As you can see, the ETF world continues to enjoy more product access and the fund flows going out of the mutual fund world. It's interesting that the younger investors, the millennials and generations X, Y and Z are much more keen to go and trade and invest but predominantly trade an ETF to get exposure to a theme.

接下來，ETF 世界繼續擊敗共同基金世界。正如您所看到的，ETF 世界繼續享有更多的產品准入以及資金流出共同基金世界的機會。有趣的是，年輕投資者、千禧世代以及 X、Y 和 Z 世代更熱衷於交易和投資，但主要是透過交易 ETF 來接觸某個主題。

Next please. I want to thank our institutional shareholders, Vanguard, Royce Investment Partners, Perritt Capital, KWM and BlackRock. A couple of these other lineups are into index funds, but still, we thank them all for -- that we qualify and show up in their product lineup.

下一個。我要感謝我們的機構股東，Vanguard、Royce Investment Partners、Perritt Capital、KWM 和 BlackRock。其中一些其他陣容屬於指數基金，但我們仍然感謝他們所有人 - 我們有資格並出現在他們的產品陣容中。

Next, please. So as you know, I'm the CEO and Chief Investment Officer, and I've been in this saddle for about 35 years -- and it's interesting to watch how U.S. Global has been through different cycles of global booms and busts, but during this period, I've owned approximately 18% of the company and 99% of the voting control. That's a technical part of having 40 Act rules. But what's important is I am the largest shareholder.

下一個。如你所知，我是執行長兼首席投資官，我已經在這個崗位上工作了大約 35 年，觀察 U.S. Global 如何經歷全球繁榮和蕭條的不同周期是很有趣的，但在此期間，我擁有公司大約18% 的股份和99% 的投票控制權。這是 40 條法案規則的技術部分。但重要的是我是最大股東。

Next. So bond yields are important to look at, and we track what happens with a 2-year, 5-year and the 10-year. And to share with you is that most -- the currency movement is off a 2-year yield, and that impacts gold. So that's one reason why I follow the 50-day moving average on the yields.

下一個。因此，債券殖利率很重要，我們會追蹤 2 年期、5 年期和 10 年期債券的情況。與您分享的是，貨幣走勢偏離了兩年期殖利率，這對黃金產生了影響。這就是我關注收益率 50 日移動平均線的原因之一。

And the 5-year is predominantly on dividend paying stocks and the 10-year is for the infrastructure spending, if you're going to build a new pipeline, the financing is usually off a 10-year government bond, a new gold mine, an expansion of a gold mine, it's off a 10-year government bond.

5年期主要用於支付股息的股票，1​​0年期用於基礎設施支出，如果你要建造一條新管道，融資通常來自10年期政府債券、一個新金礦，金礦的擴建，是用十年期政府公債來償還的。

So it's important to be able to track what is happening over 10 weeks which is 50 -- 10 weeks of trading, which is a 50-day moving average to get a feel for these swings in the short-term trades. And what you see here is the 5-year yield when it crosses above the 50-day, that is usually bearish. And you can see last year when the 5-year yield went above in May that we started seeing small cap stocks fall; microcap even more so, and we would be characterized in fact, more of a microcap.

因此，重要的是能夠追蹤 10 週（即 50 - 10 週的交易）中發生的情況，即 50 天移動平均線，以了解短期交易中的波動。你在這裡看到的是 5 年期公債殖利率，當它突破 50 日公債時，通常是看跌的。你可以看到，去年當 5 年期公債殖利率高於 5 月時，我們開始看到小型股下跌；微型資本更是如此，事實上，我們的特徵更像是微型資本。

Until October that when rates seem to have peaked and the yields started declining and as that was taking place, small-cap stocks started that rally. So this is trying to highlight that there's a very strong inverse relationship with the 5-year yield and the dividends that you're paying on your stock.

直到十月份，利率似乎已經見頂，殖利率開始下降，此時，小型股開始反彈。因此，這是試圖強調，與 5 年期殖利率和您為股票支付的股息之間存在非常強烈的反比關係。

And next, please, is to try to -- this sets into the motion here that shows you that the Russell 2000 looked like it had a breakout while rates were falling until this year, that all of a sudden the fear of the rates rising, that the small-cap stocks started selling off.

接下來，請嘗試——這將向您展示羅素 2000 指數在今年利率下降的同時似乎出現了突破，突然間人們對利率上升的恐懼，小型股開始拋售。

So it's sort of an important part. And I think that we're pretty close to this cycle where rates are in a presidential election cycle in the fourth year -- going back almost 100 years of data in the fourth year of a presidential election cycle when you have a democratic president and a Republican Congress, the market is usually up 8%.

所以這是一個重要的部分。我認為我們已經非常接近這個週期了，利率處於總統選舉週期第四年的水平——回溯近 100 年前總統選舉週期第四年的數據，當時你有一位民主總統和一位民主黨總統。時，市場通常上漲8%。

But when you have falling interest rates, not rising interest rates going into this fourth year, odds are that it's 11%, 12%. So even with all the negative news, the math suggests that the markets will be up this year. This time last year, I forecasted that based on the presidential election cycle, the markets would be up historically double digit in the third year when you have the sort of balance of power, and it was. And how it was volatile, but it ended up closing up on the year. So I do like looking at data. And I do from a macro point of view and a micro point of view, from stock picking to macro, and that is called quantamental approach to investing. And that has led us down the journey to create smart beta 2.0 ETFs.

但進入第四年，如果利率下降而不是上升，利率可能會達到 11%、12%。因此，即使有所有負面消息，數學表明今年市場仍將上漲。去年的這個時候，我預測，根據總統選舉週期，當出現某種權力平衡時，市場將在第三年實現歷史兩位數的上漲，事實確實如此。儘管它的波動性很大，但最終還是在今年收盤。所以我很喜歡看數據。我從宏觀角度和微觀角度，從選股到宏觀，這就是所謂的量化投資方法。這引導我們踏上了創建 smart beta 2.0 ETF 的旅程。

And so it doesn't matter if it's a macro factor or it's a micro, we do look at these factors. And I thought I'd highlight that when rates do start to tick down, be they in April or May that I think that we will see money flows into this category, which does impact companies like U.S. Global.

因此，無論是宏觀因素還是微觀因素，我們都會考慮這些因素。我想我要強調的是，當利率確實開始下降時，無論是四月還是五月，我認為我們都會看到資金流入這一類別，這確實會影響像 U.S. Global 這樣的公司。

Next, please. Our capital strategy, the allocation strategy. Well, one is the shareholder yield. And the shareholder yield is a model that looks like the cash dividends paid plus the net share repurchases and net reduction divided by the market cap. That's another way of looking at it, and as a fund manager, Meb Faber that wrote a book on it and he's picked stocks and they seem to -- has a deep value approach of picking the stocks and they've outperformed. So we do follow that and we do ask questions on a regular basis of where we're allocating capital.

下一個。我們的資本策略、配置策略。嗯，其中之一就是股東報酬率。股東收益率是一個模型，看起來像是支付的現金股利加上淨股份回購和淨減持除以市值。這是另一種看待它的方式，作為一名基金經理，梅布·法貝爾（Meb Faber）寫了一本關於這個問題的書，他挑選了股票，而且它們似乎有一種深刻的價值方法來挑選股票，而且它們的表現優於大盤。因此，我們確實遵循這一點，並且定期詢問我們在哪裡分配資本的問題。

2 is we manage expectations for new product launches, what's necessary, how do we brand this asset class. And 3, we managed to preserve cash for future growth opportunities and market corrections. We have been stockpiling cash. We have been buying back our stock. And fourth is strategically buy back the stock, but we're using an algorithm on flat and down days. And 5, we discuss and review with the Board on a regular basis and keep in touch with our Board so they know what we're doing and why.

2 是我們管理對新產品發布的期望，什麼是必要的，我們如何品牌化這個資產類別。第三，我們設法為未來的成長機會和市場調整保留現金。我們一直在儲備現金。我們一直在回購我們的股票。第四是策略性地回購股票，但我們在持平和下跌的日子裡使用了一種演算法。5，我們定期與董事會討論和審查，並與董事會保持聯繫，以便他們知道我們在做什麼以及為什麼這樣做。

Next. So this is Mebane Faber. And he came up with a famous book and it really pounded the table across America on the Shareholder Yield: A Better Approach to Yield Investing. And it's a bit of looking at Warren Buffett's model of looking at companies that if they're not paying dividends, but they're decreasing their yield and they're increasing their cash flow, they're going to be bought. If they're buying back stock, Warren Buffett has always believed that it's been better than paying out dividends, but he has this unique model, which we look at and respect.

下一個。這是梅班·法貝爾。他寫了一本著名的書，《股東收益率：更好的收益率投資方法》在美國引起轟動。這有點類似於沃倫·巴菲特的公司模型，如果他們不支付股息，但他們降低了收益率並增加了現金流，他們就會被收購。華倫·巴菲特一直認為，如果他們回購股票，這比支付股息更好，但他有這種獨特的模式，我們關注並尊重這種模式。

Next, please. This is the model. Shareholder yield is 3 parts, cash dividends plus net purchase of your shares back and net debt reduction divided by the market cap.

下一個。這是模型。股東收益率由三個部分組成：現金股利加上淨回購股份和淨債務減少除以市值。

Next, please. So GROW's dividends, the company has paid monthly dividends since June 2007, and it's interesting because that was the peak in gold and all the emerging markets really peaked. And we started that strategy of paying out dividends, but we've been able to do it through down cycles and 2008 crisis, still be able to maintain paying dividends of how we manage our capital.

下一個。所以GROW的股息，該公司自2007年6月以來每月支付股息，這很有趣，因為那是黃金的頂峰，所有新興市場都真正達到了頂峰。我們開始了支付股利的策略，但我們已經能夠度過經濟下行週期和 2008 年危機，仍然能夠根據我們管理資本的方式維持支付股利。

But the yield right now is 3.17%. I'm going to show you that it's below the 5-year, but that's okay because the buying back stock just takes the yield higher. The Board approves of this, but they can -- at any time, they can always cut a dividend. They have that right if something comes up.

但目前的收益率為3.17%。我將向您展示它低於 5 年期債券，但這沒關係，因為回購股票只會提高收益率。董事會批准了這一點，但他們可以隨時削減股息。如果出現問題，他們有權利。

Next, please. Share -- GROW's total shareholder yield is approximately 7.9%. Next please. And that is adding back the dollars we've spent buying back the stock plus paying out dividends, so you can see here that the GROW dividend is below the 5-year treasury yield.

下一個。股票－GROW 的股東總報酬率約為 7.9%。下一個。這就是我們花在回購股票和支付股息上的美元，所以你可以在這裡看到 GROW 股息低於 5 年期公債殖利率。

Now why do I show that? It's because lots of institutions make a decision that they will rather buy risk-free a 5-year government bond than buy a stock with a dividend yield that's less than 5% unless the -- sorry, 5-year yield, unless that dividend is increasing faster.

現在我為什麼要展示這個？這是因為許多機構決定，他們寧願購買無風險的 5 年期政府債券，也不願購買股息收益率低於 5% 的股票，除非——對不起，5 年期收益率，除非股息是增加得更快。

So therefore, it will catch up and surpass the 5-year treasury yield over the next 5 years. So as my first time as a money manager research analyst actually was in 1978, I'm aging myself. But it was on a dividend growth monitor, and you looked at stocks that had yields that were higher than the 5-year government and it's interesting that they did outperform. So you have to look at that model in the context of how much is being spent on buying back the stock along with the dividend yield.

因此，未來5年它將趕上並超過5年期公債殖利率。事實上，我第一次擔任基金經理人研究分析師是在 1978 年，我自己正在變老。但它是在股息成長監視器上，你觀察了殖利率高於五年期政府的股票，有趣的是，它們的表現確實優於大盤。因此，您必須結合回購股票花費的金額以及股息殖利率來看待該模型。

Next, please. So you saw earlier that our total shareholder yield is twice what the -- our dividend yield is more than twice, and it's higher than the 5-year government bond. So it is of great value. And it's another rational reason for buying the stock on down days.

下一個。所以你之前看到，我們的股東總殖利率是股息殖利率的兩倍多，而且高於 5 年期政府公債。所以它具有很大的價值。這是在下跌的日子裡買股票的另一個合理原因。

This is an important comparative analysis. We quite often get calls from institutions and comparing us to a WisdomTree and to Invesco. The reason why I bring these 2 names up is WisdomTree is 100% ETFs, 85% of our operating revenue is ETFs; and Invesco is 40% because they have the biggest beast to them, the QQQ ETF.

這是一個重要的比較分析。我們經常接到機構的電話，並將我們與智慧樹和景順進行比較。我之所以提到這兩個名字，是因為WisdomTree是100%的ETF，我們85%的營業收入都是ETF； Invesco 是 40%，因為他們擁有最大的野獸，QQQ ETF。

What you can see is that the price to book value for WisdomTree is substantially higher, almost 4x higher -- or 3x higher than what ours is. And so it says that on a price to book relative valuation, we're undervalued relative to a WisdomTree. Invesco looks a lot cheaper, but then there's other factors in that financial model. There's never one singular factor. The return on assets, as you can see, the return on assets by WisdomTree was greater than ours, but we're greater both of us than Invesco. And that's one reason why Invesco trades at lower price to book.

您可以看到，WisdomTree 的市淨率要高得多，幾乎是我們的 4 倍，或者說 3 倍。因此，它表明，按照相對估值的帳面價格，我們相對於 WisdomTree 被低估了。景順看起來便宜得多，但該財務模型還有其他因素。從來不存在單一因素。資產報酬率，你可以看到，WisdomTree的資產報酬率比我們高，但我們都比景順高。這就是景順以較低的預訂價格進行交易的原因之一。

And then pretax margins for WisdomTree, they're higher. That would afford a higher P/E ratio. We are much higher than, say, Invesco. And then we look at dividend yield and compare. And as you can see that the lowest dividend yield is WisdomTree and then we're in the middle between Invesco. And our price to cash flow is about the same of WisdomTree, is higher than Invesco, but it appears that Invesco has other losses that they're wrestling with.

然後 WisdomTree 的稅前利潤率更高。這將提供更高的市盈率。我們比景順等公司高很多。然後我們看看股息收益率並進行比較。正如您所看到的，股息收益率最低的是 WisdomTree，然後我們處於 Invesco 之間。我們的現金流價格與 WisdomTree 大致相同，高於 Invesco，但 Invesco 似乎面臨其他損失。

And this is sort of the gambit. These companies are bigger. We'd be a microcap, WisdomTree be a mid-cap and Invesco will be a big cap of -- probably a mid-cap going into a big cap range. And I think it's just a helpful comparative analysis and some basic quantamental approach that analysts would take a look at it, picking one stock versus another.

這就是一種賭博。這些公司規模更大。我們將成為微型股，WisdomTree 成為中型股，景順將成為大型股——可能是進入大型股範圍的中型股。我認為這只是一種有用的比較分析和一些基本的量化方法，分析師會研究它，選擇一檔股票與另一隻股票。

Next, please. So why we buy back our shares. So one of our large institutional investors I have a tremendous respect for, Bruce as always wants to know, are now articulating it, and I wanted to point out that the company believes that the stock is undervalued and therefore, buys back shares of GROW's stock when the price is flat or down from the previous trading day.

下一個。那為什麼我們回購我們的股票呢？因此，我非常尊敬的一位大型機構投資者，布魯斯一直想知道，現在正在闡明這一點，我想指出該公司認為該股票被低估，因此回購了 GROW 股票當價格與前一交易日持平或下跌時。

And as Warren Buffett highlights the value proposition of buying back one stock at value-accretive prices, doing so Buffett says, benefits all shareholders, not just the biggest holders, and we agree.

正如巴菲特強調以增值價格回購一隻股票的價值主張一樣，巴菲特表示，這樣做有利於所有股東，而不僅僅是最大的股東，我們同意這一點。

Next, please. So the current shareholder repurchase program for the quarter ended December 31, 2023. The company repurchased a total of 196,295 shares, Class A shares using cash of approximately $560,000. We bought back about 1% of the outstanding shares since September 2023. And this may be suspended or discontinue as deemed necessary by the Board.

下一個。因此，目前截至2023年12月31日的季度的股東回購計畫。該公司使用現金約 56 萬美元回購了總計 196,295 股 A 類股票。自 2023 年 9 月以來，我們回購了約 1% 的已發行股票。董事會認為有必要時，可以暫停或終止活動。

I think what's important is that you could only buy back a certain amount of the volume. So if the volume picks up, then we can pick up more. There's always sort of regulatory borders in sports, they call them and hockey blueline or redline. So you have to sort of manage within the boundaries. I've been asked, why don't you buy back more? Because it's relative to this model what the volume is.

我認為重要的是你只能回購一定數量的數量。因此，如果成交量增加，我們就可以買更多。體育運動中總是存在某種監管邊界，他們稱之為曲棍球藍線或紅線。所以你必須在界限內進行管理。有人問我，為什麼不買更多的東西？因為體積是相對於這個模型而言的。

Next, please. This is another illustration to show that we have increased our stock buying back. You can see in the year of 2023, substantially from 2021 and from 2022. From '21 just as COVID was ending, you can see that it's quite a big number. It's more like 12x increase.

下一個。這是我們增加股票回購的另一個例子。你可以看到2023年，基本上是從2021年和2022年開始。從 21 年新冠疫情剛結束時起，你就可以看到這是一個相當大的數字。這更像是 12 倍的成長。

Next, please. So let's look at our fiscal year 2024 of the strengths. The company remains profitable despite challenging macro market conditions. I'm going to highlight that unless you were in the Magnificent 7, a few stocks were champions of the overall market. The company continues to buy back stock on flat and down days and pays a monthly dividend. The company has a strong balance sheet, which includes both cash and other investments.

下一個。那麼讓我們來看看我們2024財年的優勢。儘管宏觀市場條件充滿挑戰，該公司仍保持獲利。我要強調的是，除非你躋身「華麗七強」之列，否則有幾隻股票是整個市場的冠軍。該公司繼續在股價持平和下跌的日子回購股票，並每月支付股利。該公司擁有強大的資產負債表，其中包括現金和其他投資。

Next, please. We're listed in NASDAQ. We have about $2 billion in assets, $2.8 million at quarterly operating revenue.

下一個。我們在納斯達克上市。我們擁有約 20 億美元的資產，季度營業收入為 280 萬美元。

Next, please. Earnings per share, we saw a nice bump from the summer year-end -- sorry -- quarter end of September -- from September to December. The markets rallied as rates were coming off and the assets and also certain write-downs in that past quarter because we do have investments that go through a mark-to-market process of write-downs and write-ups. And so you can see that the increase in investment income was $1.9 million.

下一個。從 9 月到 12 月，每股收益從夏季年末（抱歉，9 季末）開始出現了不錯的成長。隨著利率下降、資產以及上個季度的某些減記，市場上漲，因為我們確實有一些投資經歷了按市值計價的減記和增記過程。所以你可以看到投資收益增加了 190 萬美元。

Next, please. By the way, on more granularity, Lisa can always answer any questions and go into greater detail. Operating income, as you can see, it went from $215,000 to $192,000. The decrease in operating revenue is due to a decrease in assets under management, partially offset by a decrease in operating expenses.

下一個。順便說一句，在更細粒度上，麗莎總是可以回答任何問題並提供更詳細的資訊。如您所見，營業收入從 215,000 美元增加到 192,000 美元。營業收入減少是由於管理資產減少，但部分被營業費用減少所抵銷。

Next, please. Smart beta 2.0. Well, this whole idea of smart beta came to the realization that I love math at quant and we're quant focused on how we look at stocks and quantamentals is new word that comes out and Investopedia covers it. But it's an investment strategy that combines both fundamental tools along with quant approach to picking stocks and building a diversified portfolio. So our quantamental investment strategy combines both cutting-edge technology and robust data analysis to help optimize returns and manage risk effectively for our shareholders.

下一個。智慧測試版2.0。好吧，智慧貝塔的整個想法讓我意識到，我喜歡量化中的數學，而我們量化則專注於如何看待股票，而量化是新出現的詞，Investopedia 對此進行了介紹。但這是一種投資策略，結合了基本工具和量化方法來挑選股票和建立多元化的投資組合。因此，我們的量化投資策略結合了尖端技術和強大的數據分析，有助於為我們的股東優化回報並有效管理風險。

And we believe use of smart beta 2.0 factors in our thematic fund lineup, sets us apart from the competition. It's really important that there are some factors that are great for picking stocks. Other factors are not, but they're good for screening stocks. And then there's a magic about what portion of the portfolio is going to have mean reversion and what portion of the portfolio is going to have momentum of growth in revenue or operating income and they're both laws of physics. So the portfolio construction is -- this is critical as the factors for picking the stocks.

我們相信，在我們的主題基金陣容中使用 smart beta 2.0 因素使我們在競爭中脫穎而出。確實有一些因素對於挑選股票非常重要。其他因素則不然，但它們有利於篩選股票。然後，投資組合的哪一部分將出現均值回歸以及投資組合的哪一部分將出現收入或營業收入成長勢頭，這都是一個神奇的事情，它們都是物理定律。因此，投資組合的建構是選股的關鍵因素。

Next, please. So the thematic lineup of smart beta 2.0 ETFs. JETS was the first. It's done its thing. It's done what the [goal] that we went out to beat the index and a quant approach has done a phenomenal job. It is deeply undervalued on a relative basis to trains and trucks. The Dow Jones Transport Index includes a much bigger weighting in trains and trucks.

下一個。這是 smart beta 2.0 ETF 的主題陣容。傑特是第一個。它已經完成了它的任務。它已經實現了我們超越指數的[目標]，而量化方法已經完成了出色的工作。與火車和卡車相比，它的價值被嚴重低估。道瓊運輸指數中火車和卡車的權重要大得多。

But if you just had it pure trains and trucks, the P/E ratios, the cash flow ratios, et cetera, for the airlines are a much more attractive value proposition. But the concerns of a recession, the negative news that's out there has impacted the sentiment in particular, institutional investors out of -- that are of Europe that we have been able to witness as insurance companies. But overall, the retail and the family offices and big RIAs in the U.S. are still actively involved in JETS.

但如果你只擁有純粹的火車和卡車，那麼對於航空公司來說，本益比、現金流比率等是一個更具吸引力的價值主張。但對經濟衰退的擔憂和負面消息尤其影響了歐洲機構投資者的情緒，我們作為保險公司已經見證了這一點。但總體而言，美國的零售業、家族辦公室和大型 RIA 仍然積極參與 JETS。

GOAU, it's done its -- I'm so proud of it because it's outperformed the GDXJ. It's done what the model suggested it would do, both portfolio construction of 30% focused on gold royalties, and then stock factors for bottom-up stock picking and rebalancing each quarter.

GOAU，它已經完成了——我為它感到非常自豪，因為它的表現優於 GDXJ。它按照模型的建議進行了操作，30% 的投資組合構建重點關注黃金特許權使用費，然後是每個季度自下而上選股和再平衡的股票因素。

Our newest addition to the lineup is SEA, S-E-A. It has to do with cargo shipping and heavily weighted towards shipping with a small portion of the portfolio into airline cargo only shipping. And I think what's interesting is that last year, due to all the drama that's taken place in Russia, it impacted our Eastern European fund, even though we sold all of our Russian stocks before the war and before they became basically insolvent holdings, we were very fortunate for our shareholders that we went liquid very early, but it didn't matter.

我們的最新產品陣容是 SEA、S-E-A。它與貨運有關，並且重點關注航運，其中一小部分僅用於航空貨運。我認為有趣的是，去年，由於俄羅斯發生的所有戲劇性事件，它影響了我們的東歐基金，儘管我們在戰前以及在它們基本上破產之前出售了所有俄羅斯股票，但我們對我們的股東來說非常幸運的是，我們很早就開始流動，但這並不重要。

People, the sentiment -- people would rather speculate in technology stocks in America than be in the growth of Eastern Europe. And further, same thing with the great concerns out of China and its bullion tactics, it's impacted the China fund. And so we shut down those two funds -- mutual funds in the summer. And I think it's been a wise decision for the shareholders and for us, and -- but how do we play this emerging market thesis, which has been so important relative to the world of gold and luxury goods, et cetera?

人們、情緒──人們寧願投機美國的科技股，也不願投機東歐的成長。此外，與中國的巨大擔憂及其黃金策略一樣，它也影響了中國基金。所以我們在夏天關閉了這兩檔基金——共同基金。我認為這對股東和我們來說都是一個明智的決定，但是我們如何看待這個相對於黃金和奢侈品等世界如此重要的新興市場論點呢？

So one of the things in this journey of building JETS and what we witness is that cargo is one of the best arteries to understand the whole economy, the global economy. And it has a strong correlation to PMI and they trade at deep value. Relative cargo ships trade like JETS do, to trains and trucks on P/E ratios and cash flow and the dividend yields on the cargoes are much higher.

因此，在建造 JETS 的旅程中，我們見證的一件事是，貨運是了解整個經濟、全球經濟的最佳動脈之一。它與 PMI 有很強的相關性，而且它們的交易價格很高。相對貨船的交易就像 JETS 一樣，在市盈率和現金流方面比火車和卡車要高，而且貨物的股息收益率要高得多。

So I said, okay, how do we have a footprint for the global economy? What's the best trade-off between any emerging country exporting products to a manufacturing hub and then [sending] them back? It was cargo shipping and that's why we created SEA.

所以我說，好吧，我們如何在全球經濟中留下足跡？對於任何新興國家來說，將產品出口到製造中心然後將其運回之間的最佳權衡是什麼？這是貨運，這就是我們創建 SEA 的原因。

Next, please. So the shipping industry is a leading indicator to the health of the global economy and one way to play emerging markets.

下一個。因此，航運業是全球經濟健康狀況的領導指標，也是參與新興市場的一種方式。

Next, please. And it is highly correlated to a great leading indicator, which is called PMI, Purchasing Manufacturers' (sic) [Managers'] Index. And what did we see this last year as rates were rising, the dollar is getting strong, a great contraction in PMI that was a foreteller warning of the slowdown in the global economy.

下一個。它與一個重要的領先指標高度相關，該指標稱為 PMI，採購製造商（原文如此）[經理人]指數。去年，隨著利率上升、美元走強、PMI 大幅收縮，我們看到了什麼，這預示著全球經濟放緩。

And I think that every time this happens, governments panic and they start printing money. And this year, 40% of the world's population in over 70 countries are going to go through election in addition to America, which is the biggest GDP in the world. It's going through its fourth year of our presidential election cycle. It's important to recognize that over 70 other countries are going through an election cycle, and that usually is spur the economy to get the votes and drop interest rates.

我認為每次這種情況發生時，政府都會恐慌並開始印鈔票。今年，除了全球GDP最大的美國之外，還有70多個國家、​​佔世界人口40%的人將參加選舉。總統選舉週期已進入第四年。重要的是要認識到，其他 70 多個國家正在經歷選舉週期，這通常會刺激經濟以獲得選票並降低利率。

So I think an uptick in the PMI, it appears that it has bottomed. A sustaining run would be explosive to this category [bearish] for the emerging markets. So again, another thing to recognize that war or bottlenecks, whatever takes place in Panama Canal or the Red Sea, it gives tremendous pricing power to the cargo shipping companies and they put on a great spot here, a run in the past 7 -- no, probably about 14 weeks a run with all the drama that's taken place in the Red Sea.

所以我認為 PMI 有所上升，似乎已經觸底。對於新興市場來說，持續的上漲對此類[看跌]將是爆炸性的。因此，另一件事是要認識到戰爭或瓶頸，無論巴拿馬運河或紅海發生什麼，它都為貨運公司帶來了巨大的定價權，他們在這裡佔據了一個很好的位置，在過去的7年裡一直在運作——不，紅海發生的所有戲劇性事件大約持續 14 週。

So I think it's interesting to show you that choke points on supply the world still continues, has to move blood through the arteries of the global economy, and these guys all they do is have pricing power.

因此，我認為向大家展示世界供應的瓶頸仍然存在，必須透過全球經濟的動脈輸送血液，而這些人所做的就是擁有定價權，這是很有趣的。

Next, please. So this is an outline that JETS, the overall as ETF, we saw assets decline, redeem. And the bulk of those seem to be institutions from out of the country that use JETS as a proxy.

下一個。這是 JETS 的一個概述，整體作為 ETF，我們看到資產下降、贖回。其中大部分似乎是使用 JETS 作為代理商的國外機構。

Next, please. Chinese stocks significantly underperformed Asian peers. As you can see here, Taiwan because the semiconductor business has done well. Japan, South Korea, but not Hong Kong and China. It's had a very rough year as China's policies have been very much more war-like rather than trade and economics, the policies against the technology sector. Now they're resting with excessive JETS -- debt as a percentage of GDP and real estate imploding around the leadership. So I think that shutting down the China fund last -- early summer was a wise decision from a macro theme point of view.

下一個。中國股市的表現明顯遜於亞洲同業。正如你在這裡看到的，台灣因為半導體業務做得很好。日本、韓國，但不包括香港和中國。今年是非常艱難的一年，因為中國的政策更像是戰爭政策，而不是針對科技業的貿易和經濟政策。現在，他們只能依靠過多的 JETS——債務佔 GDP 的百分比以及領導層周圍的房地產而崩潰。因此，我認為從宏觀主題的角度來看，去年初夏關閉中國基金是一個明智的決定。

Next, please. Tech stocks distort performance of the S&P. The S&P is market cap weighted, but there's another S&P index that's equally weighted. 500 names equally weighted, and you can see it far underperformed the market cap weighted.

下一個。科技股扭曲了標準普爾指數的表現。標準普爾指數以市值加權，但還有另一個標準普爾指數具有同等權重。 500 個名字的權重相同，你可以看到它的表現遠低於市值加權。

Next, please. And then, this is the Magnificent 7. They're up 5.4x as much as the equal weighted NASDAQ Index since January of 2020. I mean it's quite incredible to see what -- especially growth of NVIDIA, what it's done and everyone else jumping into AI.

下一個。然後，這就是偉大的7號。自 2020 年 1 月以來，它們的漲幅是等權重那斯達克指數的 5.4 倍。我的意思是，看到這一點真是令人難以置信——尤其是 NVIDIA 的發展、它所做的事情以及其他所有人都紛紛涉足人工智慧領域。

Next, please. So GROW's investment in HIVE Digital. HIVE also has infrastructure build-out in the AI business. It's been a very attractive investment, paying monthly principal down payments every quarter. The yield on this has been much higher than you would earn on a 5-year or a 10-year government bond. So we've been very happy with that.

下一個。所以GROW對HIVE Digital的投資。HIVE也在人工智慧業務方面進行了基礎設施建設。這是一項非常有吸引力的投資，每季每月支付本金首付。其殖利率遠高於 5 年期或 10 年期公債的殖利率。所以我們對此感到非常高興。

And next, please. I'm going to turn it over to Lisa Callicotte, our CFO, to give you more granularity on the numbers.

接下來請講。我將把它交給我們的財務長麗莎·卡利科特 (Lisa Callicotte)，讓您更詳細地了解這些數字。

Thank you, Frank. Good morning. First, I'll start with our financial highlights on the next slide. Average assets under management were $2 billion for the quarter ending December 31, 2023. Operating revenues were $2.8 million, and our quarterly net income was $1.2 million, which was an increase of 45% over the prior year same quarter, and our earnings were $0.09 per share.

謝謝你，弗蘭克。早安.首先，我將從下一張投影片中的財務亮點開始。截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的季度，平均管理資產為 20 億美元。營業收入為 280 萬美元，季度淨利潤為 120 萬美元，比去年同期增長 45%，每股收益為 0.09 美元。

The next slides will provide more detail on the results of operations for December 31, 2023. So on Slide 37, we see our total operating revenues of $2.8 million for the quarter, which was a decrease of $910,000 or 24% from the $3.7 million from the same quarter last year. The decrease is primarily due to decreases in assets under management, especially in our JETS ETF, as Frank discussed.

下一張投影片將提供有關 2023 年 12 月 31 日營運結果的更多詳細資訊。因此，在投影片 37 上，我們看到本季的總營業收入為 280 萬美元，比去年同期的 370 萬美元減少了 91 萬美元，即 24%。正如弗蘭克所討論的，這一減少主要是由於管理資產的減少，特別是我們的 JETS ETF 的減少。

Operating expenses for the current quarter were $2.6 million, a decrease of $194,000 or 7%, primarily due to decreases in employee compensation and benefits of $168,000 or 15%, mainly due to decreases in bonuses.

本季營運費用為 260 萬美元，減少 194,000 美元，即 7%，主要是由於員工薪資和福利減少 168,000 美元，即 15%，其中主要是由於獎金減少。

On the next slide, we see our operating income for the quarter ending December 31, 2023, is $192,000 or a decrease of $716,000 compared to the same quarter for fiscal year 2023. And you can also see that our other income increased $1.3 million compared to the prior year, and that was mainly due to unrealized gains on equity securities in the current quarter for $279,000 compared to unrealized losses in the prior year of $937,000.

在下一張投影片中，我們看到截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的季度的營業收入為 192,000 美元，比 2023 財年同一季度減少了 716,000 美元。您還可以看到，我們的其他收入與上一年相比增加了 130 萬美元，這主要是由於本季度股本證券的未實現收益為 279,000 美元，而上一年的未實現虧損為 937,000 美元。

Net income after taxes for the quarter was $1.2 million or the $0.09 per share, which was an increase of $382,000 compared to the net income of $847,000 or $0.06 per share the same quarter last year.

該季度稅後淨利潤為 120 萬美元，即每股 0.09 美元，與去年同期的淨利潤 847,000 美元，即每股 0.06 美元相比，增加了 382,​​000 美元。

On the next slide, we see that we still have a strong balance sheet. It includes high levels of cash and securities. And on the following page, we see that we still have no long-term debt. We have a net working capital of $38.3 million, which is an increase of $840,000 or 2% since June 30, 2023, and our current ratio is 18.8:1.

在下一張投影片中，我們看到我們仍然擁有強勁的資產負債表。它包括大量現金和證券。在下一頁中，我們看到我們仍然沒有長期債務。我們的淨營運資本為 3,830 萬美元，自 2023 年 6 月 30 日以來增加了 84 萬美元，即 2%，流動比率為 18.8:1。

With that, I'll turn it over to Holly to discuss marketing and distribution initiatives.

這樣，我會將其交給 Holly 討論行銷和分銷計劃。

Thank you, Lisa. All right. On the next slide, I want to briefly point out some of the upcoming events that U.S. Global will be attending or speaking at. The first is ETF Exchange, where our head trader will be headed to next week in Miami. And then following that the week after, Frank Holmes will be attending and speaking at the Oxford Club's Investment U Conference. There, he will be sharing his thought leadership on the various industries that we invest in and how to gain exposure to these industries via our funds. And then in March, Frank will head over to Zurich for the Swiss Mining Institute, where he will be speaking alongside other industry leaders in the gold and precious metal space.

謝謝你，麗莎。好的。在下一張投影片中，我想簡要地指出 U.S. Global 將參加或發表演講的一些即將舉行的活動。第一個是 ETF 交易所，我們的首席交易員將於下週前往邁阿密。接下來的一周，弗蘭克·霍姆斯將出席牛津俱樂部的投資大學會議並發表演講。在那裡，他將分享他對我們投資的各個行業的思想領導力，以及如何透過我們的基金接觸這些行業。然後在三月，弗蘭克將前往蘇黎世瑞士礦業學院，在那裡他將與黃金和貴金屬領域的其他行業領導者一起發表演講。

Then on the next slide, I want to point out a quick stat about our website traffic during the quarter ended December 31. We've had over 0.5 million visitors from around the world visit usfunds.com. Many repeat visitors, but even more new visitors, many of whom came to read the award-winning Frank Talk blog or sign up for the Investor Alert newsletter, which we've seen tremendous growth in subscribers on for the last several months.

然後在下一張投影片中，我想指出有關截至 12 月 31 日的季度我們網站流量的快速統計數據。已有超過 50 萬來自世界各地的訪客造訪 usfunds.com。許多回頭客，但更多的新訪客，其中許多人來閱讀屢獲殊榮的 Frank Talk 部落格或訂閱投資者警報時事通訊，在過去的幾個月裡，我們看到訂閱者的巨大增長。

Then moving on to the next slide. Don't forget that our educational content does not only come in the form of the Frank Talk blog or the Investor Alert newsletter. We love educating our shareholders through video content as well. So make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube page to get video updates on everything from gold to airlines to luxury goods.

然後轉到下一張投影片。不要忘記，我們的教育內容不僅以 Frank Talk 部落格或投資者警報時事通訊的形式出現。我們也喜歡透過影片內容來教育我們的股東。因此，請確保您訂閱了我們的 YouTube 頁面，以獲取從黃金到航空公司再到奢侈品等各種內容的影片更新。

Then lastly, as we wrap up today's presentation, I just want to remind everyone that we do share a majority of our new content as well as announcements about upcoming events across all of our social media platforms, which continue to grow across the board.

最後，當我們結束今天的演講時，我只想提醒大家，我們確實在所有社交媒體平台上分享了大部分新內容以及有關即將舉行的活動的公告，這些平台仍在全面增長。

Then on the next slide, I just encourage you to follow us on all of these platforms, so you stay up to date with what's going on with GROW, our funds and our broader market insights.

然後在下一張投影片中，我只是鼓勵您在所有這些平台上關注我們，以便您隨時了解 GROW、我們的基金和更廣泛的市場見解的最新動態。

And then just as a friendly reminder to our audience as we wrap up today, if you do have any questions, please e-mail those to info@usfunds.com and we will gladly follow up with you to get anything clarified that you may need more information on.

然後，在我們今天結束時，友好地提醒我們的觀眾，如果您確實有任何疑問，請發送電子郵件至 info@usfunds.com，我們將很樂意與您聯繫，以澄清您可能需要的任何信息更多資訊。