Top Research & Pitches [May & June 2026]
New long pitches at Planet Microcap Las Vegas 2026. New short reports on YSS, OBCK, AMPX, ENSG, & GIL.
Hello Equity Bits readers!
In May, I made the decision to rebrand Capital Light to Equity Bits. The new name better reflects the kind of coverage I want to write going forward. I still love asset-/capital-light businesses, but I want room to cover names that don't fit that mold, and to write shorter, punchier pieces, with greater frequency. Equity Bits fits that better.
In May and June, Equity Bits published two updates. The first was on Riken Keiki, while the second was on Kneat.com:
Ongoing Coverage [Riken Keiki $7734]: FY2025 Update, Strong Growth, and Rapid Backlog Expansion
26% earnings growth and explosive 40% backlog growth at just a 12X EV/EBIT and 15X cash-adjusted P/E vs peers at 20X+
Ongoing Coverage [Kneat.com $KSI.TO]: The End Of The Road
Kneat will be acquired for $6.50 per share, an 18% premium to the previous day’s closing price.
Every month, I highlight some of the top pitches, research, and reports from funds & investors I follow.
Here are the top pitches and reports for May & June 2026!
Let’s dive in!
Top Pitches of May & June 2026
New Long Research Reports
Planet Microcap and MicroCapClub held Planet MicroCap Las Vegas 2026 June 16-18. Several microcaps were pitched as longs. These pitches can be found at these links:
https://www.youtube.com/@PlanetMicroCap/videos
https://microcapclub.com/planet-microcap-las-vegas-2026-pitch-session/
New Short Research Reports
Wolfpack Research published on York Space Systems Inc (NYSE: YSS 0.00%↑ - $3.5B) on May 11, 2026
One customer, now gone. 96% of York’s 2025 revenue came from the Pentagon’s SDA, and the Pentagon just killed the Tranche 3 Transport Layer program York’s January IPO was built on, while dissolving the SDA itself.
The replacement names SpaceX, not York. The new Space Data Network is funded at scale around SpaceX’s Starshield as sole-source backbone, with no live solicitation for a second vendor.
Former employees gut the product. Sources allege the “modular platform” pitch was false advertising, software was unfinished at launch, and satellites were “held together by Band-Aids” against accounting so opaque only two people approve costs.
Grizzly Research published on Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA (ETR: - $OBCK - €3.3B) on May 18, 2026
The controlling shareholder is drowning in debt, and minority holders inherit the overhang. Majority owner Hans Georg Näder (~81%) has extracted more cash than Ottobock earns since 2011 to fund yachts, a jet, and pet projects, draining his holding vehicle to negative equity. His Ottobock shares are pledged against a ~€1.5B PIK loan compounding near 15%, ballooning toward ~€2.36B at 2030 maturity—Grizzly pegs a margin-call trigger around €38.58 and sees forced selling or a lender takeover as the likely outcome.
Russia is a large, risky, and quietly buried profit center. Grizzly estimates ~35% of net income now comes from Russia, where revenue is growing fast even as Ottobock folded the segment into “EMEA” to obscure it. They allege the company services Russian military hospitals and supplies propaganda-featured prosthetics, exposing it to sanctions risk and “trapped cash”—while peer Össur exited entirely.
Aggressive accounting flatters the IPO-era numbers. Ottobock leans on a self-defined “Underlying Core EBITDA” (26% margin vs. 5.3% IFRS net), capitalizes development costs at ~9.6x peer levels relative to assets, and uses longer depreciation lives—practices German experts told Grizzly are impermissible.
The valuation prices in growth that a mature oligopoly won’t deliver. At ~42x trailing earnings versus Össur’s ~21x, with a 196% one-time earnings jump that didn’t carry into 2026 and only ~14% float, Grizzly calls fair value ~€30—roughly 50% downside.
Manatee Research published on Amprius Technologies Inc (NYSE: - AMPX 0.00%↑ - $1.9B) on May 20, 2026
The manufacturing partners are a “Potemkin village.” Amprius’s stock is up ~490% on supplier and customer hype, but its “Korea Battery Alliance” and US partners don’t hold up: alliance member Eurocell had its factory seized and its chairman sentenced to 10 years after a court found no real battery capability, JR Energy Solution is flagging going-concern doubt, LiBest is a tiny wearables startup, and US partner Nanotech has a multi-year trail of abandoned gigafactory announcements while still importing from China.
The biggest “third-party” supplier is really a related party. Chinese supplier Berzelius accounted for ~36% of 2025 cost of revenue, yet Manatee traces ~18% ownership back to founder/board member Kang Sun and an entity registered at Amprius’s own Fremont address—a relationship the company books as a “former affiliate” rather than disclosing as related-party.
Headline orders look exaggerated or illusory. A March 2026 “$21M China order” specs a 30Ah, 2,000-cycle cell that doesn’t exist in Amprius’s catalog (its largest is 6.5Ah), and the promo photos matched non-Chinese vehicles from Zero and Ola. Of an earlier “$20M+” LEV deal, Manatee could reconcile only ~$12.4M.
The accounting and the CEO both raise flags. Aggressive bill-and-hold revenue, climbing DSOs, ~55% dilution, and $79M+ of insider selling since November 2025—run by a CEO, Tom Stepien, whose prior company Primus Power was sued for fraudulent misrepresentation and written down to nil.
Hunterbrook published on Ensign Group (NASDAQ - ENSG 0.00%↑ - $9.3B) on June 8, 2026
The business model runs on understaffing. A five-month investigation found Ensign collects government payments calibrated for high-acuity patients, then staffs below the level those rates assume — a ~5 million-hour care gap (Jul–Nov 2024) worth roughly $161M in savings, or ~$386M annualized, exceeding the company’s $298M net income that year.
The “Ensign Effect” reverses its growth pitch. Ensign rolls up distressed nursing homes claiming to lift quality, but tracking 161 acquired facilities against ~15,000 others showed nursing hours fall after takeover — especially skilled RN hours — while acuity stays high.
Star ratings appear gamed. Sorting CMS metrics by verification tier, Ensign beats peers on self-reported, honor-system measures (~22% above average on overall quality) but lags on independently audited ones (17% worse on RN hours, 38% worse on facility-reported incidents).
Cash is tunneled to affiliates. Ensign facilities paid ~$339M to related parties it owns or controls in 2024 (~8% of revenue, more than net income) for rent, insurance, and management fees — a structure one source likened to money laundering and that a 2024 congressional letter flagged as a “deceptive tactic.”
Regulatory and legal exposure is mounting. Ensign allegedly fell below state minimum-staffing floors on 18,000+ cumulative days (2020–2025), has paid Medicare settlements topping $40M twice, and faces wrongful-death and neglect litigation cited throughout the report.
Muddy Waters also published on Ensign.
Jehoshaphat Research published on Gildan Activewear Inc (NYSE - GIL 0.00%↑ - $9.6B) on June 16, 2026
Years of channel stuffing are finally running out of road. Jehoshaphat argues GIL has propped up revenue by pushing excess product into its distributor channel, and estimates ~$510m of “stuffed” inventory sitting in the channel as of Q126. Strip it out and they peg “true” organic growth at roughly -3% annually over the past three years — versus the Street’s modeled +5% for 2027-28.
Factoring hides the smoking gun in the receivables. GIL sells ~45% of its receivables off-balance-sheet, masking a DSO that, once “unfactored,” sits near 129 days company-wide and ~195 days at top distributor S&S (up from 79 in 2023). Every prior sustained DSO run-up — 2008, 2014, 2019 — preceded a guidance cut and a 30%+ stock crash; the current build is the longest and highest on record.
Field work points to quarter-end games and a “Locker Program.” Seven interviews with former employees, distributors, and customers describe GIL “compelling” customers to pull forward orders with 90-120 day terms, plus a consignment-like arrangement where product ships and is potentially booked as a sale before the customer ever pays — a setup Jehoshaphat likens to past SEC channel-stuffing cases (Under Armour, Elanco, Sunbeam).
The unwind looks like it’s starting, into a balance sheet with no slack. Q126 DSO fell sequentially (unusual seasonally), GIL is now citing “proactive” customer destocking, and the firm sees a ~$0.8bn 2H26 revenue gap (~20% miss potential). Meanwhile, leverage is 3.3x post-Hanes and 2026 FCF guidance of $850m requires nearly doubling cash flow — against governance flags including CEO tax disputes and three senior Ethics & Fraud Committee departures.
Top X Posts of May & June 2026
Disclosure: The author may initiate or close a long or short position in any security at any time, with no obligation to inform or update readers.
Disclaimer: This post and all Capital Light posts are not financial advice in any way and should not be taken as such. All articles, including this one, and all information within Capital Light are for educational and informational purposes only. I receive no direct compensation from any company covered. I will likely profit in the event the share price of companies covered increases and I have a long position. I will likely profit in the event the share price of companies covered decreases and I have a short position. Although I make an effort to update readers when possible, I may choose to buy or sell at any time with no obligation to update or notify readers. Consult a professional financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Thumbnail Image: Leslie Cross