Maj Soueidan is the co-founder of GeoInvesting, a small-cap focused research platform designed to bring institutional-quality research to individual investors.
With a career spanning three decades, Maj has invested in numerous multi-bagger microcaps and played a significant role in exposing the “China Fraud” stock listings in the early 2010s.
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Background and Passion
Maj’s interest in investing was first sparked in high school, influenced by his father and watching the nightly business report on PBS.
His journey began with a mock investment contest where a painful lesson was learned: always do your own research.
After a company he invested in went bankrupt on the advice of his teacher, he never forgot the lesson. The true turning point came during his first year of college when his dad gave him Peter Lynch’s book, “One Up On Wall Street.” After reading it twice in five days, he knew he wanted to invest for a living.
This newfound passion led him to major in finance, but he found his real education came from spending countless hours in the college library reading Value Line, not from his professors who preached the efficient market hypothesis.
It was during college that he bought his first real stock, the very same company from his high school contest that had gone bankrupt, Storage Technology.
It had just emerged from bankruptcy, and he made a quick 60%, giving him his first taste of the rewards that come from getting ahead of the crowd.
GeoInvesting
After graduating in 1992, Maj began his career at Vanguard. He was so passionate about investing that he spent his lunch breaks in a conference room, eating a salami sandwich and calling management teams.
After passing two CFA exams, he realized the corporate world wasn’t the right fit. He was making good money in the stock market and was determined to go full-time.
After saving up $30,000, he left Vanguard in February 1994. In 2008, he started GeoInvesting without a specific profit motive, but with a desire to share research, prove that you could make money in smaller-cap stocks, and provide the everyday investor with access to quality research.
The platform began by publishing free content to build a network and didn’t introduce a paid subscription until 2014.
GeoInvesting vs. MS Cliff Notes
Maj clarifies the difference between his two platforms. GeoInvesting is a comprehensive bundle of products, including morning emails, model portfolios, and video interviews. It’s designed for those who want to do their own research but also appreciate direct ideas backed by research.
The Substack, Microcap Investing Cliff Notes, is geared more toward increasing idea flow and serves as an early look into his research pipeline. It is centered around the creation of the first-ever index of high-quality microcap companies, the MS Microcap Quality Index (MSMqi).
Research Process
Maj’s research process is anything but “asset light.” He is focused on understanding a story’s narrative, looking beyond the quantitative factors that anyone can screen for. He believes the biggest alpha in the microcap universe comes from combining qualitative and quantitative research.
His process consistently involves two things: reading press releases and tracking momentum. He treats press releases like “treasure maps,” analyzing how things are said, what is emphasized, and how sentiment changes from quarter to quarter. This approach allows for what he calls “information arbitrage”—when public information is available, but no one is connecting the dots.
His team has identified key characteristics and factors that point to potential winners.
He describes one of his “golden multibagger setups” that gives him goosebumps:
- Strategy for wallet share gains (more revenue from current customers). Could include new products/services and/or cross-selling opportunities between company divisions.
- Adding recurring revenue or routine maintenance service revenue.
- Increasing operating leverage.
Uncovering Fraud
The team at GeoInvesting famously stumbled into the “China fraud saga” around 2010.
Initially, Maj was trying to prove the shorts wrong, but after interacting with CEOs and sending a team to China, he received a stark warning: “get the fuck out.” They were all frauds. This led to an intense period of exposing companies with phantom customers and vanishing cash, culminating in the documentary The China Hustle.
He notes that today, the same fraud playbook exists, but it has moved from the OTC markets to the major exchanges.
Management
When interacting with management, Maj looks for several positive signs and red flags.
He values leaders who intimately know their customers, understand the importance of scaling, and can admit what they don’t know.
Alignment is key; he wants to see management teams that own shares through real purchases and treat all shareholders with the same importance.
Conversely, red flags include management teams that are cocky, that can’t seem to solve long-standing problems, and that measure profitability solely by EBITDA while consistently losing money. He is particularly wary of companies that file a “lazy” shelf to raise equity, as he believes it often caps the stock’s potential.
Conclusion
Maj Soueidan’s journey from a curious high school student to a seasoned microcap investor is a testament to the power of independent research, relentless curiosity, and the pursuit of “information arbitrage.”
His approach focuses on deep fundamental analysis combined with a keen eye for narrative and management quality.
To get all the details from this interview, you can read the full article by clicking here.