Stocks

Interesting, and often contrarian, Snippets on individual companies and the stock market.

Stocks

Cloud Computing

  • “What is happening with cloud computing at large is to think about what the total spend in technology today is, it’s around 5% of GDP. On a secular basis, I think it’s going to be 10% which is going to double in the next 10 years. And that’s because every industry, whether it’s in retail, whether it’s in healthcare, whether it’s in manufacturing, they’re all being transformed by digital technology and this technology stack we have and the platform approach Microsoft has, means we will be able to participate in that 10% on the doubling of tech spend, but more importantly, really helping the global economy grow because of digital technology. And that’s what I think is the way to think about our opportunity.” Microsoft CEO
  • Sometimes it is about thinking about the big picture runway. Microsoft (MSFT) have a long one in front of them.
Stocks

VC Investing by Sector

  • Interesting chart showing year on year change in Venture Capital investing by sector in Europe 2019 vs. 2018.
  • This is useful to track for equity market investors – it shows you where capital is being added.
  • Fintech, Enterprise Software and Energy are top additions, while Fashion, Home living and Transport seeing less money going in.
Stocks

Online Ad Targeting

  • Two years ago Apple introduced Intelligent Tracking Prevention for Safari browser in mobile and desktop.
  • This meant that advertisers lost the ability to target ads on Safari.
  • It has been remarkably successful – the cost of reaching Safari users has fallen 60% in the last two years, while other browsers have risen.
  • That is a huge change in the landscape especially in mobile where Safari market share is 53% and tend to be higher value eyeballs.
Stocks

Brunello Cucinelli

  • Interesting article about the “cashmere king”, who, over 40 years, built the business that bears his name from nothing.
  • His company doesn’t allow any emails after 17:30 among many other interesting ideas about how a business should be run.
  • Those who come to me and say, “You know, I work 15 hours a day,” I say, “I am not interested.” I am interested in the quality of working hours, not the quantity. The brain of the human being. Do you think that during the first five hours of the day you are the same as you are in the last five hours? No way. You’re tired, and if you’re tired, you stop listening, and the decisions you make are risky.
Stocks

Spotify

  • Spotify are making a big bet on content in podcasts.
  • This article chronicles what they have been up to – recruiting some heavy hitters like the Obamas.
  • They will need to convince the market that the cash burn will pay off … ala Netflix.
  • “Just like TV has moved from offline to now online, we’re doing the same to radio,” Ek says. “When you look at the amount of time that people consume audio, it’s about the same in the U.S. as people spend watching video. But the audio industry is less than one-tenth of the size of the whole video industry. The question one needs to ask oneself, are your eyes worth 10 times as much as your ears? My view is that they aren’t and that is going to be even more valuable in the future.”
Stocks

Apple

  • CNBC interview with John Malone (the king of cable) is interesting.
  • This part on Apple was picked up by The Transcript.
  • JOHN CARL MALONE: “I think Apple is going to surprise everybody with the numbers they achieve in a short period of time .. even though they’re thin on content. Their distribution strategy of, essentially anybody who buys anything from Apple gets a free trial for a year. And, of course, Apple already has their credit card. So, when you start with 460 million credit cards or 460 million consumer relationships. And you give them something for free. And they get to use it for a year and then they put it on your bill. That’s a very interesting way to get large numbers fast.”
Stocks

WeWork (cont.)

  • One more article on WeWork. This one a must read.
  • Hard to believe some of the things coming out of this saga.
  • “So confident was Neumann of his job security that he once declared during a company meeting that his descendants would be running WeWork in 300 years.“
  • “Last summer, some WeWork executives were shocked to discover Neumann was working on Jared Kushner’s Mideast peace effort.“
  • Meanwhile the bonds of WeWork are hitting new lows.
Stocks

US Sports Betting

  • US online sports gambling has come a long way.
  • 19 states have legalised, 14 are live and 11 are reporting monthly data.
  • This is forcing some brokers (e.g. Morgan Stanley) to upgrade total (online/on-ground) market estimates – they think it will be worth $7bn in 2025 vs. $5bn before.
  • This is largely due to higher market revenue than they expected.
  • September in New Jersey annualised at $40/adult which is close to the UK/Australia number of $43/$45 (excluding horse racing).
  • Explains reports of DraftKings being acquired.
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