This article is part of our Rising Star Portfolios series.
Late last month I purchased shares of Ascent Media (Nasdaq: ASCMA ) for my Special Situation portfolio. I'm back again this month to double up my stake in the recently reorganized company.
As I detail in my previous article, I like transactional events that can create value for shareholders. Ascent recently acquired Monitronics, a privately held security system company, after disposing of all its legacy media assets following its spinoff from Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA ) in 2008.
The Monitronics business has many attractive traits: recession resistance, low investments in fixed capital, and scalability. The company uses a network of 400+ independent dealers to find customers and install security systems, and then buys the service contract from the dealers at a predetermined price. Then the company monitors the systems from its Dallas service center. The industry as a whole has grown every year over the last 15, compounding at a 6.2% rate. Monitronics has grown even quicker, as I explain in my original article. Customer quality as measured by credit scores has continually improved, too.
The business produces recurring monthly revenue, for solid and reliable cash flow. And I also like the fact that billionaire John Malone, known for his capital allocation in media companies such as Liberty Capital (Nasdaq: LCAPA ) and Liberty Interactive (Nasdaq: LINTA ) , is involved.
Ascent announces earnings next week, so I'm anxious to see what the company reports with one full quarter of Monitronics' business on its income statement. Tomorrow I'll take another 3% stake in Ascent or $500 of my total capital, doubling my current stake.
Interested in Ascent Media or have another stock to share? Join me on my discussion board and follow me on Twitter (@TMFRoyal).
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