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Miscellaneous

Beer + Glue = A good time for all?

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A first for beer… is Carlsberg’s new “Snap Pack” which bonds cans together with glue. And it’s not just some stupid gimmick – using glue instead of the plastic rings that hold cans together will reduce plastic waste by 1,200 tons per year. How does it make you feel that your drunk ass has been polluting the earth that badly?

 

Drink Carlsberg… to get drunk without destroying the planet. However, this will only be available in the United Kingdom and Europe, for now. But maybe everyone should adopt this was of packaging because, by 2050, the plastic in the ocean is predicted to triple. We assume there is already quite a bit in there now.

 

Following examples… from companies like Starbucks, Disney, and McDonald’s, all of who are planning to limit or stop using plastic straws altogether. Adidas has plans to use only recycled plastic by 2024 and Ikea will stop using single-use plastic products everywhere by 2020. High-five for environmental responsibility!

Mid caps

Barnes & Noble is here to stay! Or so they say…

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If you can read between the lines… you can see that Barnes & Noble is in trouble. Sales were down 6.1% last quarter compared to the previous year. The decline in sales comes as a result of far fewer customers coming in the door. Actually, far fewer customers are coming through the website, as well.

 

Sell, sell, sell… is what investors did after the company’s poor performance. The book-sellers troubles were only magnified given that other companies did so well this quarter. The company has over 600 stores and 23,000 employees; but, we are likely to see those numbers start to dwindle down. Not only is the store losing customers, but they also have an ongoing (and high-profile) feud with their former CEO.

 

Too big… for the small-town bookstore feel that has made local bookstores successful and too inconvenient to get customers off Amazon – what is Barnes & Noble to do? Actually, that’s not our problem…although, we hear they have a “strong” book lineup on tap for fall and Christmas. Hm, we’ll see how that goes…

Blue Chip

IBM: It’s blockchain or death

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Going all-in on blockchain… with 1,500 employees working on over 500 projects that incorporate the technology into shipping, banking, healthcare, and food safety. Really…food safety? Many people associate blockchain with cryptocurrency, but it actually does have other uses. However, the greatest promise does seem to be in finance.

 

But this is what IBM does… they invest in up-and-coming tech and blockchain is no exception. But make no mistake – blockchains use is limited. The technology is used as a digital tracking system which can increase efficiency and enable data sharing from one industry to the next.

 

Enough with the research… which is about all IBM has done so far. To succeed, IBM needs to produce blockchain for commercial use and make it easy to use. In a perfect world [for IBM], the company will be able to innovate for the future. However, innovation is difficult for a company that is heavily focused on meeting the day-to-day needs of existing customers. Maybe IBM customers should stop whining and let these people build our future! Sheesh.

Blue Chip

The first to $2 trillion will be…

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Jeff Bezos and company… at Amazon because this tech firm has more room to grow compared to Apple, the “other” trillion-dollar company. Cloud computing and Amazon Web Services has given Amazon the boost necessary for the money-blowing e-commerce giant to reach such heights.

 

They buy everything, okay… including a grocery store and online pharmacy. So why stop there? Amazon probably won’t because there are rumors of the company buying a movie theater, as well. Other possibilities include gas stations and travel – that’s not out of the question, is it? Pretty soon you are going to need a Prime membership because everywhere you shop will be Amazon.

 

How likely are we to see two-trillion… probably more likely than you would think considering the stock doubled over the last 12 months. The bigger Amazon gets, the more powerful it gets. Profits for the company have been snowballing (faster than Apple), and the sky is the limit for this one-time online bookstore. So yes, Amazon will be the next $2 trillion company – you heard it here first! (unless it doesn’t happen…then we didn’t say anything, got it?)

Blue Chip

Want to look like Ellen DeGeneres? Get to Walmart.

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Walmart is partnering with… you guessed it – none other than Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen’s clothing line will be called ‘EV1’ and will debut online and at 2,300 locations. The collection will have around 60 items, which includes jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers. Even better, each item will cost just $30 or less (it’s Walmart, what did you expect?).

 

It’s all about the brand… and this brand is inspired by inclusiveness which is what Walmart aims to project. Well, inclusiveness and a better fashion sense. As a result, this partnership with a celebrity like Ellen should help Walmart attract younger and more diverse shoppers because the company now has even more to offer.

 

You would never consider Walmart… for clothing. However, the company has acquired Shoebuy, Bonobos, ModCloth, and Moosejaw. These acquisitions give Walmart (and you) premium clothing options as well as the good old store brand. It seems to be working, too – Walmart saw its fastest growth in a decade last quarter. And they looked good while doing it.

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Start-up

How this startup went from BILLIONS to BROKE

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That’s all she wrote… for Theranos, a biotech startup out of Silicon Valley once valued at $9 billion in its heyday. The blood-testing company promised a cheaper, more efficient alternative to medical tests.

 

Now, no one wants it… and the investment bank working with Theranos contacted over 80 potential buyers – and nothing. The downfall began after Wall Street investigative reporter John Carreyrou exposed the company’s technology and caused Theranos to void two years’ worth of blood tests. I don’t know anything about blood testing, but I do know that is two years down the drain.

 

99 problems… and regardless of what they are, that is a lot of problems. Last June, former CEO Elizabeth Holmes was indicted on federal wire fraud charges. Additionally, Holmes and former COO Ramesh Balwani allegedly schemed to defraud investors, doctors, and patients out of millions. You can see why these guys collapsed. The company still owes at least $60 million to creditors – I wonder if anyone will accept Schrute Bucks?

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Miscellaneous

Whether you win or lose, the NFL wins every time

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The real winner is… the National Football League. According to a study by Nielsen for the American Gaming Association, the league stands to gain about $2.3 billion in revenue from legalized sports gambling. Somewhere around $1.4 billion will come from increased rights fees, and the rest will be made up of ticket sales, advertising, sponsorships, and deals from gambling services.

 

This isn’t chump change… because the NFL brought in $8.2 billion last season. You do the math – that’s an increase of over 25% from sports betting alone. The theory is that more people will watch the games that they put money on. Now that sports betting is legal, we can expect more people will be betting and more games watched, as a result.

 

Here is where it’s legal… New Jersey, Delaware, Mississippi, and West Virginia – that’s it for now. However, other states are likely to follow suit before the year-end. Within two to three years the majority of states will loosen up and allow some form of sports gambling. So if it comes to your state, be sure to play responsibly – and never bet on the Browns (no matter how “sick” they look this year).

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Blue Chip

Here’s what Trump REALLY thinks about Nike

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Okay, his reaction wasn’t that bad… here’s what the president had to say, “I think it’s a terrible message and a message that shouldn’t be sent. There’s no reason for it.” However, Trump also acknowledged that it was Nike’s choice to make. Speaking of free choice, Nike also chooses to be a tenant at Trump properties.

 

A far cry from his former opposition… where Donald Trump suggested that NFL players lose their job for taking a knee during the national anthem. Trump went on to acknowledge, “In another way, it is what this country is all about, you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn’t do, but I personally am on a different side of it.”

 

Ready for controversy… is Nike, which became very apparent once news broke of the company backing Kaepernick. Apart from Trump, the hashtag ‘#NikeBoycott’ was trending on Twitter and, predictably, some customers even destroyed their Nike products. Nike shares are up close to 30% this year even after the Kaepernick backlash. And hopefully, we can put this story to be now…

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Blue Chip

Nike and Kaepernick team up – what now?

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Well, Nike has done it now… by putting their reputation on the line to back former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The seemingly unemployable QB will be part of the company’s 30th anniversary of its ‘Just Do It’ slogan. The use of Kaepernick represents a high-stakes gamble by Nike – and they are betting that enough customers are with his cause or at least indifferent to it.

 

Other faces include… Serena Williams, Odell Beckham Jr., and Shaquem Griffin. However, Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played professional sports since 2016, the year he began kneeling during the national anthem. In 2017, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL claiming that owners conspired to keep him out of the league because of his protests.

 

So much unknown… surrounding how this advertisement will be received, not just by customers, but also but political figures. Donald Trump is going to throw a tantrum – that is a given. The rest will unfold over the coming days, weeks, and months…Nike shares were down as much as 3% on Tuesday. But we can chalk that up to the good ole uncertainty that we investors hate.

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Blue Chip

Well, that didn’t take long – Amazon is the next ‘trillionaire’

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Now Apple has company… and that “company” is Amazon. That’s right – Amazon, very quickly, hit the trillion dollar mark and has become the second company to do so. Apple and Amazon account for 8% of the S&P 500, collectively. To put this in perspective, you would need to add the market cap of the 14 largest big-box retailers to equal Amazon.

 

Investors invested without… profit for quite some time. However, over the past year, the tech giant has been showing investors the money. In 2017, second-quarter net income was $197 million; in 2018, second-quarter net income was $2.5 billion – how is that for results? There are plenty of ways to increase that income, as well, with Amazon Web Services, cloud revenue, and advertising revenue all padding those stats.

 

Not just hype… as Amazon continues to flex on just about every company out there. Does this mean the company will have nothing but success going forward? Not necessarily – but they are in good position to continue to do exceedingly well. So Amazon shareholders can continue to count their money because all is going according to plan…

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