This Hedge Fund Manager Turned a Bankrupt Telecom Into a 15-Bagger, Then Bet Big on Radio Spectrum Again

Every hedge fund manager has certain places where they find ideas, but one manager says they come from anywhere. In an interview with Hedge Fund Alpha, Adrian Keevil, managing partner and portfolio manager at Plustick Partners, also said they’ve had some oddball ideas over the years. He shared their strategy, process and why they like companies with radio spectrum.

Background on Adrian Keevil

Keevil co-founded Plustick Partners in 2012 with Tommy Hill. Before co-founding Plustick, Keevil was in the PhD program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Before that, he worked in private equity and was in general management in the media industry.

Growing up in New York City, KDo something about Ben Graham or the spectrum or something like that.eevil was always around the corporate finance world, as his father was an investment banker and both of his uncles worked in the business. He said his parents always encouraged him to be curious about the world.

“I’ve always been interested in learning,” Keevil said. “Doesn’t necessarily mean learning in classrooms, but learning everywhere I can be. I used to build models of airplanes and cars, and whenever I had something that I was curious about how it worked, I would take it apart to see how it worked. I think my parents always kind of supported that, and I think that shaped me in a lot of ways.”

Keevil’s first stock

He bought his first stock, Apple, in the late 1990s, when it was trading at around 10 or 20 cents a share. Steve Jobs had just returned, and Keevil’s main insight on the company was that the creative people were the ones a company like Apple depended on to make all the money through their products. He also thought that loyalty to Macs was real — and that Apple could make a comeback.

Keevil’s father looked at the company’s balance sheet and said it was terrible, but naively, Keevil questioned whether anyone cared about the balance sheet if the product was really great. Shortly after that, Apple announced the $1,500 iMac, selling 150,000 of them quickly, which prevented bankruptcy.

“I think the stock went from like 20 cents and eventually to like $6 or something crazy,” Keevil said. “And it was such an unbelievable turnaround that that got me really hooked on this idea that you could find things that are overlooked or misunderstood or hated or out of favor, and if they can just make the business a little bit better, you can have a really, really big return. As long as it doesn’t go bankrupt, your downside is already priced in.”