In this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan welcomes Matt Franz back to the show. Matt is the founder of Eagle Point Capital, an advisory firm focused on long-term investing. Eagle Point Capital has more than 5,000 subscribers on Substack.

Matt kicks things off by sharing the kinds of companies that he likes to search for. He says that these are "simple, predictable, and profitable" businesses that he can look at over a period of five-plus years and know where they're heading. But even though Matt's firm likes to have a long holding period for its stock picks, the team is constantly assessing and investigating what's occurring with the companies to ensure that they're still worthwhile buys. Matt then begins discussing a vertical market software ("VMS") company he likes. Despite the stock starting to decline following the "SaaSpocalypse" and more recent concerns of AI harming the business, Matt says there's no reason to be afraid. (0:00)

Next, Matt explains why decentralization is one of the biggest strengths for the company. It has about 1,500 business units that operate independently. Management looks at what works and what doesn't and shares the data throughout the rest of the business. But the individual units are still free to evaluate the practices and decide if they're beneficial for that particular unit and can implement them as needed. This allows the company as a whole to constantly innovate and improve itself. Matt then discusses the process this company goes through to make acquisitions. It's able to find bargain deals on smaller, overlooked businesses that can have a dominant role in their respective fields. And with the success that it has had with this strategy, it's leaning more into this method. (20:33)

Finally, Matt presents another company he's fond of. Its focus is mainly on coal royalties, though it also owns soda-ash assets as well. It had suffered from years of debt after investing in multiple businesses before making coal its primary business. Today, it's nearly debt-free, and while coal prices are low today, with the many mines that it owns, if the prices start soaring, the value of those mines (and the company) will also go up. And Matt leaves listeners with advice on deciding to stay long in positions in the face of potential downturns. (35:58)