The only Swedish stock in my own portfolio is Storytel, for which a thread already exists: Storytel - Äänikirjojen kasvuyhtiö Ruotsista - Osakkeet - Inderes forum
In the thread, among others, @Timo_Huhtamaki has justified the investment case well.
@Aili wrote a background piece on the company yesterday: https://www.salkunrakentaja.fi/2024/02/storytel-striimauksen-ruotsalainen-uranuurtaja/
Storytel got a good boost from the COVID-19 stay-at-home trend, and the stock price rose very high along with the rest of the market euphoria. Since then, the bubble burst, and for over a year, the valuation has been crawling at more moderate levels. The previous ambitious growth strategy has, under new management, shifted to emphasizing profitable growth, and the results in that regard have been convincing. The share price has indeed started to recover with this turnaround, but it is still well below even the original 2018 listing price. The price curve from the COVID years follows the First North Stockholm curve of the opening message, but perhaps on an even larger scale ![]()
My own thought has been to invest in this until at least the 2030s and see how far the audiobook market develops. Audiobook penetration outside the Nordic countries is still surprisingly low, and I see potential for significant growth here as those markets mature. Storytel’s strategy has long relied on local languages. Moats are being built by acquiring publishers and creating original content. Large players like Amazon’s Audible and newcomer Spotify are formidable competitors, but their focus is on English-language content, at least for now. Consequently, an acquisition is also a possible scenario. Private equity firm EQT is involved with a large stake, and as an active owner, they can influence various arrangements. There are several smaller audiobook companies in the Nordics, whose consolidation we will quite likely see.