U.S. Global Investors, Inc. (GROW) Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Audio Gap] On the next slide, the presenters for today's program are Frank Holmes, U.S. Global Investors' CEO and Chief Investment Officer; Lisa Callicotte, Chief Financial Officer; and myself, Holly Schoenfeldt, Director of Marketing. On the next slide, 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 subjects to risks and uncertainties that may materially affect actual results. 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. On the next slide, as always, we appreciate our loyal shareholders. If you'd like one of our signature hats, please e-mail us at [email protected] with your mailing address, and we would be happy to send some your way. All right. Now on to Slide #5. I will briefly review our company. U.S. Global Investors is an innovative investment manager with vast experience in global markets and specialized sectors. We use quantamental strategy to create thematic smart beta 2.0 products. The company was originally founded as an investment club, becoming a registered investment adviser in 1968 and has a long-standing history of global investing and launching first-of-their-kind products, including the first no-load gold fund. Finally, we are experts in thematic investing, in particular, gold and precious metals, natural resources, airlines and luxury goods, all using a quantamental approach that includes both macro and micro factors. On the next slide, we often begin our presentations with this visual called the DNA of volatility. It serves as a useful reminder to shareholders that market ups and downs are a normal part of long-term behavior with assets. With that, I'd like to turn it over to our CEO and CIO, Frank Holmes, to dive into this quarter's earnings. Frank?

Thank you, Holly. On the DNA of volatility, I think the visual is really important because it highlights what's a nonevent and I shared with you 20 years ago, gold was much more volatile on a daily basis. It was 2 to 3x for the S&P and over 10 days, it was like 6%, 7%. Now it's changed. And asset classes like GLD, all of a sudden, more funds institutions going into it, they start to morph and change the DNA of volatility. Tesla used to have the highest volatility until it became a component of the S&P 500. So, it's recognizing, and we update this every quarter for investors to recognize what is that volatility. U.S. Global's volatility, a lot had to do with gold and gold stocks because that's a big part of our asset class composition. And you can see how it compares. It's a nonevent for gold to be up or down 1%, grow to be up or down 2% on a daily basis. And the Dow Jones U.S. Asset Managers Index is also 2%. But over 10 days, other factors all of a sudden seem to have a bigger impact on larger asset classes of asset managers. But it's important for you to recognize different asset classes have different DNAs of volatility, and this all helps you to manage the expectations. Next, please. Top institutional shareholders, 6.28% is Gator Capital Management, 5.68% is Vanguard and 4.81% is Perritt. Thank you for being long-term investors. Gator is new, and Perritt Capital Asset Management has been a long-term investor in microcaps with a unique expertise in this space. So, thank you all. And next, please. As the CEO, I own approximately 19% of the company and approximately 99% of the voting control. A lot of that voting control has to do with rules of the '40 Act, which you can always -- if you need more information on that, you can inquire and we'll get them for you. Next, please. But in that context, we still have 3 independent directors at U.S. Global, one with a law degree, others with a steep knowledge of the capital markets and in addition to mutual funds and ETFs. So, it's a good long-term Board. We now have 4 independent directors, correct me on that. Bobby Duncan brings unique experience as a Board member and that knows everything about this industry. So now I'd like to talk about strategy and tactics. We love this idea of creating thematic products that are sustainable using smart beta 2.0 strategy, which requires rigorous back testing for thousands of hours. And it's also you have to continuously do it. It's really -- it's an active money management process, but it's rules based around these smart beta factors that you look at in portfolio construction. And our mission is to make people feel financially happy and secure that their wealth is growing with our products. And strategically, as a company, U.S. Global has been buying back the stock using an algorithm on flat and down days. And we managed to preserve our cash for future growth and opportunities to from any type of market corrections and M&A activity to acquire fund groups. We've been busy growing our subscriber base and followers and increasing our exposure has really been to the Bitcoin ecosystem by making certain investments like we've had HIVE, who's been paying us back our 8% coupon, and we've been redeploying it in other sort of unique products that are out there that are also throwing off a yield. So next, please. We believe that buying back our stock because stock is undervalued, and therefore, we buy back shares of GROW when the price is flattened down from the previous trading day using a simple algorithm. This is part of the company's 2-pillar strategy to enhance shareholder value by paying the dividend as well as buying back the stock. Next, please. Current share repurchase program for the end of September, we repurchased 159,074 Class A shares using approximately $400,000. As the stock rallied through the quarter, we end up buying less stock because there's less days it was down. Next, please. This is a visual showing just the tremendous volatility we have experienced last quarter. Last year, this time was the quarter end for the election. Then we had March and June. There was just tremendous volatility, especially after April 2, that's impacted the funds, but they seem to have, I would say, have stability in certain asset classes, particularly gold related are improving. Next, please. The company has paid a monthly dividend since June 2007. Current yield at the share price of $2.60 is 3.46%. Next, please. What's important is an investment group and a thesis I've called the shareholder yield, which is a combination of dividends, buybacks and debt reduction. So, our -- we don't have any debt. So, from that end, our market cap is really makes it an attractive investment. So, the next visual is going to show you that when you do stock buybacks and dividends, our overall shareholder yield is much higher than a 5-year bond. This is a another visual showing you relative valuations on price to book were very attractive. On a P/E ratio, we have a much higher P/E ratio. I think that relates a lot to the gold assets. And the first couple of quarters this year were impacted by the election and the tariff battles. And so I think that hopefully, that the worst is behind us as we move forward going into next year. Next, please. So, this is a visual that relates to the previous thing about shareholder yield. 5-year yield is 3.74%. That's roughly what our dividend is. The 10-year is 4.16%. And with our dividends plus buying back stock for investors long term, it's at 8.32% shareholder yield. So, I think it's just nice and conservative methodology of managing our capital. Next, please. Average assets under management in billions of dollars from a year ago. They're slightly down. They were down 6 months ago more so, and they've had a rebound, which is important. And it's interesting, launching new products, the challenges of getting the story told even though you've got good fund performance and you have a unique asset class, it's just becoming more expensive and challenging. And to me, it's really quite fascinating the apathy that's taken place in some of the products that we noticed that even the gold last year, the biggest gold ETFs in equity had redemptions and so did the bullion. And it wasn't until this past quarter that you saw a big surge going into the GLD and into the gold equities as gold soared to over $4,200 an all-time high. It really is -- I've never experienced where gold makes an all-time high, and you don't have the substantial flows into gold equities as if there's something else happening in the capital markets and so I'm told that some of the prop tests are behind this, but I really don't know as of yet. All I know is that we're still focused on what we're doing and really providing unique products. Next, please. This is the quarterly earnings. The impact of the tariff war, you can see, did impact us, and we've had a bit of a rebound. Assets are up and also our investment income has improved. So that's also helped us turning this corner. Next, please. Gross investment in HIVE, it's 8% convertible. There's about $842,000 of the original $15 million, which will get paid back over the next 6 months. Next, please. $2.60 a share at the end of September, $1.4 billion assets under management and $2.25 million operating revenue for the quarter. Next, please. A look at '26, company has steady cash flow despite volatile and challenging macro market conditions. We continue to have a strong balance sheet, which includes both cash and other investments, and the company continues to buy back stock on flat or down days and pay a monthly dividend. Next, please. Our Quantamental investment strategy combines cutting-edge technology with robust data analysis to help optimize returns and manage risk effectively for our shareholders. We believe that this smart beta 2.0 factors on our thematic lineup as it sets us apart from our competition. Next, please. So, here's sort of a lineup. I think it's important to see that the gold funds have had a huge bounce in this past year. And the juniors still have not taken off even though there's a great rebound. Luxury has done well relative to discretionary -- consumer discretionary indexes. It's also probably because it has a unique exposure to gold momentum stocks. Resource and commodities and I think it's really important for investors that this has far outperformed 1, 3 and 5 years. And I think that Ray Dalio not only recommends 10% to 15% in gold and gold stocks, he's also in resources. And Global Resources has outperformed its benchmark. And it's just a unique product, and it's done a great job in performance this year. Jets was doing well until we started the shutdown and now we have another sort of calamity that's happening in sentiment that the TSA number of the top 40 airports and business activity are shrinking by 10%. So, there's longer lineups, and that affects the sentiment of the airline industry in America. But I can share with you, it's booming in Europe and in Asia. And you can see the travel industry ETF listed on the London Stock Exchange. It's up 8.5%. So, I think historically, this fourth quarter has been a huge win for the airline industry in America, except for when you have a government shutdown and it impacts TSA workers coming to show up and how fast people can make their connections, et cetera. But I come back that when this is over, that I think you'll have a big pop here. Global shipping is a real surprise that all the tariff wars has sold off and then has had a rebound. Shipping rates are up and they're remaining strong. And I think we'll also see robust dividends being paid by shipping. This is unique because 80% of all cargo in the world is by the ocean. And this basically, this product captures the world's global trade. So, if you want to look at something that's really real-time capturing GDP of the world, I believe that sea is a key factor. If it slows down GDP, it's because shipping between exporting countries and importing countries has declined. And right now, it's pretty strong. AI defense is our latest product called War. It's AI applications being applied to various industries that are so key to rebuilding our military. And what a lot of people don't realize is since Xi Jinping has been the dictator of China and taken on the responsibilities and the power of authority of Mao, he has tripled the Navy. He has tripled military spending. And so, we're seeing now a big spend in America and in Europe, which only gets exasperated in Europe with Putin a battle in Ukraine of a great concern that we have to use the latest of technology to rebuild our military. So, it's done a great job in the first 9 months of being launched. And the gold royalties and streamers, they're plus 92%. So, we're very happy that they're doing what the model suggested they would do. Next, please. Fund assets, as you can see, these assets a year ago were negative, and now we're seeing a rebound for this third quarter. And so that's important for overall revenue. The mutual funds do have a higher revenue basis points than the ETF. So, seeing Global Resources and World and Gold shares, which was the first mutual fund, no-load mutual fund that they're rebounding. Next, please. Gold reaches all-time high, hits 4,300 and has gone through a correction since October, but still it remains on tact. It had an extremely overbought condition. It's just normal for it to go through this correction. I remain very bullish. I'll explain to you in a few seconds why. Next, please. This here is that gold has outperformed the S&P 500 and shocked so many investors that this century, gold has basically doubled what the S&P has done. And it's really important that Ray Dalio, the largest hedge fund, having a 10% to 15% in gold and gold stocks really has helped his overall investing and investors not invest in this sector. It's -- I was showing a visual are actually pretty well close to the all-time low of the apathy of ignoring the spectacular diversifier for a diversified portfolio. Next, please. Ray Dalio says you 10% to 15% in gold. Next, please, and another 25% in natural resources. So, we feel that we're in the right category. But here's what's really important to look at the national debt of the U.S. is at $48 trillion, and that's concerning so many countries. But it's really the rest of the world other than a debt frenzy in the next place, next visual, there's so much criticism of America, especially by Americans. And I understand about accountability for money being spent. But when we look at the rest of the world, it's $338 trillion, and it's more than 3x the global GDP. So, I think that this concept of modern monetary theory this century has only led to gold where you're seeing debt -- total global debt rising faster than global GDP, and that just means resource assets, especially gold, very attractive as a diversifier. Next, please. And I'm not seeing any big changes. There's so many different sources of data. You can use the IMF or this is the Bank of International settlements and there's other data metrics. But it's roughly trying to share with you that the debt -- the U.S. debt now is amongst the world's highest. It's 249%. But look at China, it's 292%. And then you look at Japan, it's 380%. And Hong Kong is probably a better reflection of the high debt to equity and GDP because China masks a lot between the interstate debts, et cetera, is many believe that's well over 350%. But just using the Bank of International settlements, you can see that the rest of the world is printing money and the debt levels are very high, and this only bodes well for gold in a scarcity factor. Next, please. GOAU has significantly outperformed the market, and we're happy to show you this, and we still advocate the 10% golden rule that a diversified portfolio should have 10% as Ray Dalio is 10% to 15%. Next, please. This is a standard disclaimer when you give performance numbers. Next, please. World Precious Minerals, it has a junior exposure to it. So, it has a higher number and mid-cap gold producers than GOAU, which is more big cap and royalty companies, but it's also GOAU is less volatile in the corrections. Next, please. As another disclaimer that's necessary for when showing performance. Next, please. The implied -- this is to me really profound for investors that back in 2010, 2012, when Xi Jinping became the Imperial leader of Communist China, the investors in America were about 8% in gold equity and gold bullion ETFs, and it's declined to 2%. And it just seems to be starting to rise. So, I think that by the time it gets back to 8%, we're going to probably see gold at $7,000 and the gold equities at another level. Gold property margins are showing up spectacular. Our investor alert is covering that today. I'm showing you this past quarter that Q-over-Q and year-over-year, many of the gold stocks are just ripping in cash flow and performance, and they're now showing up in IBD as growth momentum stocks. Next, please. So, this is a product we have. It's jets in Europe, but it also has a bigger focus on cruise lines and airports, but also bigger exposure to luxury hotels and hotel chains, which have really become oligopolies when you look around the world. And they're still showing great numbers and performance this year. And British Airlines as a stock -- individual stock is on a 45-degree rise from left to right. So, I remain very bullish on global airlines. Next, please. The other big theme that seems to rocket in Barrons and front cover and IBD is the AI market exploding. It's true it is, and we remain very bullish on the sector, and this is a complements war ETF. Next, please. So, the aerospace and defense AI to rebuild the military. These are the 5 major industries that make up this new smart beta 2.0 ETF. Next, please. And I ask this question often, and most people don't realize that 80% of the world's cargo is carried by shipping, and it's the best way to have your fingers on the arteries and veins of global economic activity. That's with CEA ATF captures. Next, please. Recently, we're greatly concerned about a drop in democracy around the world. It's at an all-time low, something like 25% of the world's population now is run really as of democracies. And a lot of even the United Nations has gone to authoritarian and some forms of authoritarian regimes. And so Keystone is ranked the #1 school in San Antonio year in, year out, and they have a very strong model UN and they have the most grads from the school here going to Ivy League or Stanford. And so, we want to get behind investing in the future of America, investing in model UN where democracy and capitalism are very strong and powerful pillars for innovation and sustainable growth. Next, please. I'd like to turn over to hard-working, our CFO, Lisa Callicotte.

Thank you, Frank. Good morning. First, I'll start with our financial highlights on the next slide. You can see that our quarterly average assets under management were $1.4 billion and operating revenues were $2.25 million and net income was $1.5 million. The next slide is a reminder of the different components of our earnings. We have operational earnings that consist of our advisory fees, and we have other earnings, which mainly consists of both realized and unrealized gains and losses on our investment holdings. Our operational earnings are based on our average assets under management for the period, and our investment earnings are based on the change in market value of the investments held. The next slide provides more detail of our operations for the period ending September 30, 2025. We see our quarterly operating revenues were $2.3 million for the quarter, which was an increase of $94,000 or 4% from the $2.2 million the same quarter last year. The increase is primarily due to increases in advisory and administrative fees for our equity mutual funds, and it was somewhat offset by a decrease in ETF fees. As you can see, operating expenses increased $50,000 or 2%, mainly due to employee compensation increasing $101,000 or 9%, reflecting higher bonuses and advertising expenses increasing $52,000 or 48% related to expanded ETF marketing efforts. And these were partially offset by a decrease of $93,000 in our general and administrative expenses, primarily due to lower ETF and travel costs. The next slide, we see our operating loss for the quarter ending September 30, 2025, it's $515,000 compared to the operating loss of $559,000 the same quarter last year. Other income for the quarter was $2.4 million compared to other income of $995,000 in the prior year. The change is $1.4 million and was primarily due to higher net investment income in the current period due to unrealized gains on other investments. Net income after taxes for the quarter is $1.5 million or $0.12 per share. This is an increase of $1.2 million compared to the net income of $315,000 or $0.02 per share in the same quarter for last fiscal year. Moving to the next page. We see we have a strong balance sheet, includes high levels of cash and investments. Cash and cash equivalents was approximately $24.6 million at September 30, 2025, and it increased approximately $34,000 since June 2025. Current investments totaled $9.7 million. On the next slide, this is a detail of our other assets. And the total of all the investments in other assets is approximately $7.5 million. The following slide shows that our liability slightly increased from June 30, 2025. And on the following slide, we see our stockholder equity detail. At September 30, 2025, the company had net operating working capital of $37.2 million and a current ratio of 20.5:1. With that, I'll turn it over to Holly.

Thank you, Lisa. All right. For the first slide in my section, this slide highlights our continued commitment to providing original and timely marketing insight through our YouTube channel. Video remains one of our most effective ways to educate and engage both new and long-time shareholders. And as you can see on this slide, our recent features include Frank's gold price forecast where he accurately predicted $4,000 an ounce gold, as well as his latest outlook moving forward. And another notable video, Gold's next move is a replay of our recent fireside chat with some of the industry's leading experts. So, we definitely encourage everyone to subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay informed whenever new content is released. Okay. On the next slide, I'd like to spotlight several recent interviews that Frank Holmes has done in the past quarter. This includes appearances on the Daniela Cambone Show with ITM Trading, PreMarket Prep, which streams live on YouTube and X, proactive investors. And finally, one of Frank's recent blog articles was featured in Real Assets Advisor Magazine. And all of these can be found on their respective websites, but they are also shared on our social media channels. All right. On the next slide, we currently have 2 exceptional white papers that are available for our shareholders and other investors. One of them focuses on the defense and AI sectors, while the other provides an in-depth analysis of the distinctive business model of gold royalty and streaming companies. These white papers serve as valuable educational resources for our shareholders, and they've also helped expand our subscriber base as new readers provide their information to access the content. And both of these are available for download at usglobaletfs.com. On to the next slide, we always like to recap the most read Frank Talk blog post during the recent quarter. So, as you can see here, the top theme that remained in focus was absolutely gold, gold miners and the price of gold. And in addition to that, people are still very curious about airports and investing in the global aviation space. So, if you're not already a Frank Talk subscriber, it's free to do so, and you can do that on our website. Okay. On the next slide, which is my last slide, I just want to encourage everyone to follow us on social media. We're on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. So, wherever you prefer to get your news, be sure to check us out this way, we're up to date with what's going on, not only with GROW stock, our funds, but also just broader market insights. Okay. On the last slide, just a friendly reminder to our audience. If you have questions today, please e-mail those to [email protected], and we will gladly follow up with you to get anything clarified that you might need some more information on. Thank you so much for tuning in today. That concludes our webcast summarizing the first quarter of 2026.