Commerzbank, Troilus Gold, Weng Fine Art: A check on three possible future investments

Hip, hipper...Commerzbank?

The Commerzbank share is considered anything but an investment for the future. The venerable bank is digitizing itself, shrinking branches and doing everything it can to be competitive. But the bread-and-butter business is still sluggish, even if there are bright spots. Most recently, Germany's second-largest private bank announced that it would be back in the black in 2021. The bank wants to take off with securities and mortgages in the future. However, Commerzbank sees more of a headwind than support in the current inflation. The latter assumption would ultimately be plausible, as rising prices would make interest rate hikes more likely and thus support banks in their traditional business.

Away from its core business, Commerzbank has tried its hand as a fintech investor in recent years and has already completed several successful exits. Its subsidiary CommerzVentures has generated hefty profits of several hundred million euros over much of its successful journey with just eleven employees. Its recipe for success is investing in innovative startups, driving them forward, and selling them again when the offers are good. Since this strategy also has what it takes to generate synergy effects with the core business, the share is on a good path. The value is back in favorable waters, but the trade seems to have been read - at least in the short term.

Troilus Gold: Major project with merits

In contrast, hardly anything has happened yet at Troilus Gold. The Company is advancing the Troilus Gold project and has reported convincing drill results in recent months. Among other things, it succeeded in extending the Southwest Zone by 1.85 km. As early as mid-2021, Troilus CEO Justin Reid stated in an interview with Kapitalerhoehungen.de that his project is expandable: "We update our resource estimate once a year. We are currently drilling 10,000 meters every month. So it is logical to summarize the results regularly. Since our drilling has not yet penetrated areas where there is no more gold to be found, we are continuing our work all the time," Reid said at the time, expressing confidence that he would soon be able to report reserves for an open-pit mine with a life of 20 to 25 years.

The project is located in the middle of a historic mine where infrastructure exists. Reid puts its equivalent value at CAD 350 million. The CEO identified energy costs, which are exceptionally low at around 3 cents per KWh, as another plus. Despite the operational progress and the gigantic project, the stock is currently still trading in the area of its 52-week lows. Given rising global inflation and the still-crisis situation in many sectors, Troilus Gold may be worth considering - especially for countercyclical investors.

Weng Fine Art: What is the investor darling doing now?

Weng Fine Art's share is not for the anticyclical. The art dealer was already considered a private investor favorite in recent years. The reason is that CEO Rüdiger K. Wenig successfully leads the Company and always thinks of loyal investors when paying dividends. The success of the team around Weng Fine Art proves them right: Over the course of one year, the Company has posted a return of a whopping 239%. The reason for this is also the fantasy surrounding a new business model.

In the summer, Weng Fine Art acquired a stake in 360X AG. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Deutsche Börse are also involved. 360X AG takes care of digital securitizations, so-called tokenizations. The digitization of art is also a big topic on the art market. In recent months, even simple pixel monkeys sometimes fetched millions if they come from the right source. Weng Fine Art's stock has had a long track record, yet the field is too exciting to ignore.

The field of future investments is large. While stocks like Weng Fine Art have already risen sharply and innovators like Commerzbank are currently still suffering from their bread-and-butter business, investors in Troilus Gold may be skeptical because of the early project status. However, given the size of the project and the current low valuation, this could be an opportunity - the stock market future sometimes turns out to be quite different from what one might expect.