Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing - Disney’s Latest Magic and Year-End Financial Tips
Episode Date: December 11, 2020Disney shares surge on big news from Disney Plus. DoorDash delivers a big IPO. Airbnb delivers an even bigger IPO. Starbucks hits an all-time high. And Chipotle serves up clothing! Motley Fool analyst...s Emily Flippen and Jason Moser discuss those stories and talk about the latest from Chewy, Costco, Lululemon, and Stitch Fix. Plus, Jason and Emily share a couple of stocks on their radar: Axon Enterprises and Qualcomm. And Motley Fool retirement expert Robert Brokamp shares some year-end financial tips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Chris Hill, joining me this week, senior analysts, Emily Flippen and Jason Moser.
Good to see you both.
Hey, hey.
Good to see you, too.
We've got the latest headlines from Wall Street.
we've got year-end financial tips with Robert Brokamp and we've got a couple of stocks on our
radar, but we begin with the Magic Kingdom. On Thursday, Disney made a number of announcements
tied to the company's Disney Plus streaming service, including new movies and shows tied
to franchises like Star Wars and the Marvel Universe. Disney Plus currently has 86 million
subscribers. CEO Bob Chapek expects at least 230 million subscribers by the year 2024.
Jason, investors like what they heard because on Friday, shares of Disney rose 15% and hit a new
all-time high. Yeah. Listen, my kids are dancing around the house here as longtime shareholders
of Disney, and I understand why. When you look at this business, when you add up all of the media
related operating income. It's very meaningful to this business, basically half of it. I think
the concerns for a while as we move into the streaming world were that this revenue might
start disappearing, this income might start disappearing. I think what we're finding,
it's not really disappearing, it's just being essentially redistributed. They're taking more
ownership of that entire media relationship and that transaction. That long-term is really what
you want to see. And so, while it'll take some time for the economics to fully shake out,
again, this is what you want to see. I mean, you fired in on some really big numbers there. I mean,
to think that essentially just a year ago, they were calling for Disney Plus to have somewhere
between 60 million and 90 million subscribers by the end of fiscal 2024. To get to 230 to 260
million is really phenomenal. And there have been some tailwinds that didn't exist back then that
exists now, of course. But I think that the bottom line is, you have a company with a ton of IP,
a lot of excitement in being able to really start focusing on becoming a very modern-day
media company. And it'll take a little while to shake out. But I mean, this is a shot across the
bow, I think, for Netflix. Netflix, I think, is the obvious competitor here. I think they're
taking note of what's going on here. But yeah, great for Disney. Sounds like things are going
well. Emily, how worried should Netflix be? If I were the CEO of Netflix, I would not be losing
any sleep over Disney+. Granted, take my opinion with a grain of salt. I am a 26-year-old millennial
with no kids, but I have never in my life so far felt the need to sign up for a Disney Plus
subscription. I think it's great for families. If you're extremely interested into science fiction
and the universes that Disney has created, that's wonderful. But I think having estimates
for 230 to 260 million subscribers by fiscal 2024 is probably the most aggressive assumption
I've seen Disney management make for comparison. And while I realize Disney is an international
operation, that's nearly 80% of the U.S. population. So that's big assumptions being
made into not just domestic, but international penetration over just a number of years.
I think this is a great service, but I do not think this is a service that is as indisposable
to every single household the way that Netflix is. Yeah. Jason, Bob Chapik has been in the
corner office not very long. I got to say, as a Disney shareholder, pleased to see the stock
doing what it's doing. I was surprised he put that big a target out there for 2024.
To be fair, that is a very big target. They're going to need to evolve this service
to become a bit more of a universal offering, for sure. For context, Netflix is going to close out
the year somewhere around 200 million global subs. I think that part of the aggressive assumptions
here for Disney is that they continue to roll out in new markets. They just launched in Latin America,
incidentally collaborating with MercadoLibre. I know a lot of Fools out there would love to hear
that. They'll be launching in more markets, including Eastern Europe, South Korea, Hong
Kong in 2021. I think there are a lot of markets that are really clamoring for this content.
The question I think really for Disney is, will they be able to evolve into that more universal
service? Remember, they have Hulu, they have Disney+, they own FX. They're figuring out ways
to integrate that stuff into their overall media landscape. Then the question for Netflix is,
again, for me, it's not about Netflix being displaced. I think Netflix is just a core
entertainment offering for every household. It's just going to be a matter of how much they're
going to be able to raise prices from here. Because remember, Disney Plus on its own is
still significantly less expensive than Netflix. Granted, they are still two fairly different
services at this point. It was a big week for IPOs. We're
going to start with DoorDash. Shares of the food delivery company rose 85% on its opening day.
Emily, DoorDash has the biggest market share in this industry.
Are you as optimistic as Wall Street seems to be?
There's a lot of things I like about DoorDash's business. And what's worth noting here is that
as much as DoorDash's stock price has rised, there's also been a lot of controversy,
a lot of haters out there, for lack of a better word, for people who look at the food delivery
market and almost compare it to ride-sharing in the sense that there's no way these businesses
can operate profitably. And yes, they're right in the sense that DoorDash is not consistently
profitable. But there were silver linings to this offering. I'm not sure if it justifies the price
we're seeing today, but some of the silver linings are, Chris, you mentioned, they have
the single largest market share for food delivery in the U.S. at more than 50%. And they have a big
addressable market. One of the things that really surprised me from their S-1 filing was that out
of the $600 billion that were spent in restaurants by Americans in 2019, so pre-pandemic, more than
50% of that was consumed off-premise, so a really large market opportunity for DoorDash to serve.
But what is, in my opinion, the deal breaker with DoorDash isn't the really high valuation
that we're seeing on the market today, the crazy euphoria from IPOs, but it's actually
their weaknesses in internal controls. They noted weaknesses related to both a lack of
skilled staff, which is concerning for the size of DoorDash today, but also a lack of adequate
processes for revenue to cash reconciliation processes. These are huge red flags. I think
the best way I can relate that for individual investors who maybe don't know what internal
controls mean, it's kind of like going out on a date with somebody for the first time,
sitting down at dinner, and they're telling you about their life. They're telling you about their
family, their job. Everything seems kind of interesting to you. And you're thinking to
yourself, hey, maybe I'll give them a call after this. And then at the end of the date,
when they turn to you to say goodbye, they say, well, I think everything I told you tonight is
true. What are you supposed to make of that as an investor? My short story is I'm not looking
at DoorDash as an investment until I see turnarounds in their internal controls.
One day after DoorDash, Airbnb had the biggest tech IPO of 2020. Shares more than doubled on
its first day of trading. And Jason, Airbnb's market cap is now bigger than Marriott, Hilton,
and Hyatt Hotels combined. Yeah. Yeah. And it's bigger than
booking.com. That says a lot, I think. It's very difficult to rationalize these IPO reactions of
late. It is what it is, as they say. But I do think with Airbnb, Airbnb is a good business
with a relatively long track record of success. They've been around for a while. And the market
It tends to give these types of dominant companies a bit more wiggle room on that path to profitability,
as long as there are signs that the business is growing and they're not making boneheaded investments.
And I think we can make that case for Airbnb right now.
I'm not justifying the reaction necessarily, but I do understand the interest in the business
and the brand awareness with a business like this alone is phenomenal.
Approximately 91% of all traffic to Airbnb comes through direct or unpaid channels.
And in 2019, 69% of the company's revenue was generated by stays from repeat guests.
So, that tells you that they don't have to really pay up to get customers, and a lot
of the customers that use the service like it and come back.
I mean, those are good metrics to have, and I suspect they'll continue to get better.
Emily was talking about big market opportunities, and we like to talk about that on the show a lot.
Airbnb is another good example of one.
They estimate their serviceable addressable market to be $1.5 trillion total between short-term
stays and experiences. I think it's worth noting, too, that for younger travelers just coming into
the market, new generations of younger travelers, the Airbnb way of doing things is totally normal.
For a lot of older folks, it's been a little bit of a change, a little bit of a different mindset.
But for a lot of younger travelers that are just coming in, this is just the normal way of doing
things. It's a really nice option for a lot of travelers out there. My point is, that's just a
really long runway of opportunity. As we know, investing is all about the future. I do feel like
there's a big opportunity here with this company. I understand the excitement. I can't really
justify the price today. But again, it seems like a bright future for a good business.
Meanwhile, shares of Costco were flat despite same-store sales in the first quarter rising
15%. And Emily, another quarter for Costco where digital sales were up big too.
Yes, digital sales did lead the net sale increase of 17% last quarter. Digital sales,
e-commerce were up 86% year over year. So Costco is clearly making good on their promise to
attract consumers, not just with their in-store big box offering, but also encouraging people
during these times to shop online. I think shares dipped in part due to this slowing growth. It's
natural that as this pandemic, I want to say comes to a close, that might be an overstatement right
now, but I'll say as people are venturing out more, they're less likely to stock up on things
the way they were in prior months. Growth in Costco stores has started to slow down,
still keeping up in the double digits, but slowing nonetheless. But there's also something to note
here in terms of the premium that they're paying that is hitting their bottom line in
terms of COVID wages. That's what they're calling it. Essentially, they're increasing
the amount that their store associates are getting paid for working during this pandemic.
It's great, it's important from a business and social perspective, but I do have to ask
myself how many of these wages are sticky post-COVID. I think it's going to be challenging
for them to come back to their associates, many of whom they're paying more over the
past year to say, hey, now that there's a vaccine, now that sales have normalized, you're
not getting paid as much as you were last year. If I were a betting woman, I would assume
that some of these costs are sticky post-pandemic. Coming up, we've got apparel, pet supplies,
and best of all, coffee. Stay right here. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. Chris Hill here with Emily Flippen and Jason Moser.
Lululemon's third quarter profits and revenue came in higher than expected. Shares falling
a bit this week, but still up 50% for the year, Emily. And is it just me or is Lululemon
cautiously optimistic about the holiday quarter? I would almost say the word cautiously is
too much of an understatement here for Lululemon. Their revenue of $1.1 billion was up 22% year
over year. And this is against the backdrop of a pretty soft retail environment, especially
for clothing retailers. So Lululemon has certainly made up in terms of market share during 2020.
I would encourage investors to look at the yearly price movement, not the weekly for this company,
to really show the dominance that Lululemon has created over the course of this year.
To further emphasize that, same-store sales were up 19%. And again, this is when most people aren't
going into physical stores, they're shopping online. What I think is probably the most
important aspect for Lululemon's business is their ability to reach consumers directly. These are
consumers that are going direct to Lululemon's website to shop, especially as we head into the
holiday season. Direct-to-consumer sales grew 94%, reaching over 43% of revenue in the last quarter.
This is important because consumers are seeking out the Lululemon brand. This is going to make
the company more relevant in the future. And as somebody who is a frequent wearer of Lululemon's
yoga pants and clothing. It's a trend that I can get behind.
Shares of Stitch Fix up 65% this week after first quarter revenue came in 10% higher
than a year ago. Jason, they reported a profit too, but this seems like a big jump in the stock
price for not a very big jump in the top line. Ah, the power of low expectations,
Chris. We talk about it often. You're forgiven if you're wondering why there's such a strong
reaction to really what were just okay results. I think they were decent enough results, but this
bottom line was a massive short squeeze. Around 37% of the float was short, according to CapIQ
data at the beginning of the week here. When you have a company that beats those expectations,
and when you have a company that's guiding for 20% to 25% sales growth for the year,
I understand at least the enthusiasm there. That's a significant acceleration for them from
what they've been witnessing, so they better deliver. The big question for me with Stitch Fix
is, will they be able to sustain the modest tailwinds for their business that COVID has
created this year? I'm just not so sure. Anecdotally, I've spoken with people who've
used the service and then stopped. I'm just not sure about that longer-term relationship with
the customer. That really matters for a business like this because you pay a lot to acquire them,
you need to keep them. In Stitch Fix's case, due to the nature of the business, once they go,
once they leave, they more than likely don't come back. So that's something really to keep
an eye on. We don't get enough information, I think, regarding churn in retention from them.
But let's not take anything away from them. It was an encouraging quarter. Perhaps it can shift
the narrative on the business a little, and congratulations on a good week.
Chewy's third quarter loss was smaller than expected, but revenue continues to grow
for the pet supply retailer. Shares of Chewy up 10% this week, Emily.
Chewy might be one of my favorite investments right now. I'm a personal shareholder.
In this past quarter, really just further emphasizes my enthusiasm. Net sales increased
45%, but more importantly, auto ship, which is a subscription style revenue as e-commerce
retailers get. The auto ship program sales were 69% of net sales. So a lot of those sales are
going to those repeat customers. The customer retention rate at Chewy is truly spectacular
for an e-commerce retailer. But what really stood out for me are two aspects. First of all,
not only has active customer increased by 40% over 2020, largely because of the tailwinds
that the pandemic gave to the pet industry, but the engagement of these pandemic-acquired
customers is still very much tracking in line with customers acquired previously for the company.
This is really important because Chewy closely tracks the customer acquisition costs to lifetime
value, making sure that the customers they acquire stick with the platform will be critical for their
comparables next year. So I really like that aspect. And I'll just quietly tack on, Chewy is
also aggressively expanding into pharmacy. They have probably the most exciting aspect of their
business right now is that Chewy expects their pharmacy business to generate over $350 million
in net sales, which will be 5% of revenue this year. And further, they're expanding their
relationship with local vets and encouraging trends in pet telemedicine. So there's a lot
of things that I like about this business, but to sum up, this is a business that is truly
firing on all cylinders. Teladog. Teladog. I like the branding. Shares of Starbucks hitting
a new high this week at its Investor Day event. Starbucks executives gave insights into how their
business is rebounding. And they said they expect earnings growth in 2022 to be at least 20%.
Jason, they also talked about the investments that they're making, but that 20% growth,
that's another aggressive target. Well, we've got a theme going on,
I think, for this show, aggressive growth targets and big market opportunities. But
again, we talk about companies focused on large and growing market opportunities,
And coffee is another one. And Euromonitor sized the addressable market there at $360 billion of
revenue in 2019. They expect that to grow to be roughly $450 billion in revenue by 2023. So,
again, a big opportunity all over the world. And for Starbucks, it was nice to see in their
investor presentation, they're trying to focus away from all of the past news with the pandemic
making the troubles and the challenges and focus more on the recovery and going forward and getting
back to that third place and the advantages they had built throughout the years with that third
place concept. So they're calling for fiscal 2021 to be a bit of a year of recovery, but that's
going to set the table for 2022 because they'll be lapping some of those recovery impacts and
that'll contribute to that earnings growth. But it was an interesting point they were making here.
they've been making a big focus lately on cold. Cold beverages has grown nearly 45% in the past
four years for the company alone. And the big focus on millennials and Gen Zers, they say
millennials and Gen Zers under 30 are two times more likely to drink cold coffee. That all has
helped drive more than $1 billion in sales over the past three years. So you're going to see this
company continue to really double down on what they do well. All right, Jason Moser, Emily Flippen,
and we'll see you later in the show. Robert Brokamp is up next with some financial tips
to take care of before the end of the year. Stay right here. You're listening to Motley
Fool Money. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Chris Hill. There's just a couple of weeks
left in the year, which means there's still time to do things in your financial life to make the
most of 2020 while you still can. Here with some ideas is Robert Brokamp. He's a certified financial
planner and the Motley Fool's resident expert on retirement. He joins me now. Robert, good to see
you, my friend. So good to see you too, Chris. So I know that if it's not number one on your list
for things to do at the end of the year, high up on your list for people looking to make the most
of their financial life is to look at your retirement account and really max that out.
Absolutely. Yes. And you actually have until April 15th to contribute to your IRA for 2020.
But for most employer-sponsored accounts, 401ks, 403bs, so forth, you actually have until December
31st. Plus, many accounts don't allow you to just send in a check. The money has to come from your
paycheck, which means you have to make the change usually on the 401k website a few days before the
final payroll of the year. So just as an example here at The Motley Fool, if you want to max out
your 401k in 2020, you have to make that change three weeks before the end of the year. So if you
want to do that, contact your HR department to find out what the drop-dead date is for you.
And just so everyone knows, the maximum you contribute this year, $19,500, with another
$6,500 if you'll be 50 by December 31st, and those figures are staying the same for 2021.
Chris Hill In terms of employer benefits, obviously,
it depends on the employer that you're working for, but there's the opportunity to max out
employer benefits. I guess one of the significant new opportunities this year is tied to the CARES
Act. Do I have that right? Chris Hill
Yeah, there are a couple of things related to the CARES Act. And one of them is the ability
to make a coronavirus-related distribution. And it actually can be from your 401k or your IRA.
It's an amount, total $100,000 across all retirement accounts. Take that money out.
Even if you're not 59 and a half yet, you don't have to worry about the 10% early distribution
penalty. And you have up to three years to put the money back. The great thing about this is,
Unfortunately, many 401 s and 403 s are not so good.
This is a way to get money out of a not-so-good plan and then put it in an IRA.
The tricky part is, this is only available to people who have suffered a financial or
health hardship related to the coronavirus, and there's a list of criteria on the IRS
website.
But if you meet those criteria and your plan allows it, it's a great way to get money out
of a mediocre employer plan. It's a great reminder that not all plans
are created equally. For a lot of folks, I would argue for the majority of folks, they
just want to go about their lives and do their jobs, and the 401 plan that their employer
has provided, well, people at my company, they know what they're doing. But it's a great
reminder, Robert, that it's always worth asking that question of your employer, of your HR team,
like, hey, how good is our plan? Because I know they're not all great.
Right. And here's the deal. Everyone loves HR people. They're awesome. But they may not be
financial experts. They may not be expert investors. So the 401k plan may have been
chosen for reasons like convenience or costs, but it may lack some important features that
are pretty easy to implement, such as the ability to buy individual stocks, the ability to contribute
to a Roth account or do an in-plan Roth conversion. And sometimes all you have to do is highlight
these possibilities to the HR team, they'll consider it, and then make that change to the plan.
In a vacuum, what's the best version of an IRA, in your opinion?
Well, so these days, the Roth is about as compelling as ever, because we are at historically
low tax rates. Plus, many people have lower income this year. A recent survey from Bankrate
found that about half of households took some sort of income hit. When you contribute to
the Roth, you don't get a tax break today, but you get a tax break in retirement. So
if you expect to be in a higher tax bracket in the future, either because you're making
more money or because you expect tax rates to be higher in the future, which to me seems
likely given the fact that we have so many underfunded benefits. So, security is underfunded,
Medicare is underfunded, we have huge deficits. We went into the pandemic with huge deficits,
but now they're even bigger. At some point, tax rates have to go up. So, if you're in a
middle-to-low tax bracket, a Roth makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, if you're in a high tax
bracket, the traditional still might make sense, but only if you invest the money that you save in
taxes. So, if you contribute, let's say, $10,000 to a traditional 401 and you save $2,000 in taxes,
invest that $2,000. If you instead spend that $2,000, you would have been better off in the Roth.
December, from a financial perspective, is that time of year where it seems like every year
I'm seeing either articles or people on financial television talking about,
now's the time to look at your portfolio and think about rebalancing. For some people,
it's like clockwork. They make it part of their routine. Okay, I'm going to look, I'm going to
sell some of my winners. I'm also going to sell some of my losers to get the tax benefit to cancel
out the taxes I would pay on the winners. Are you a fan of this strategy, doing this like clockwork
every single year? Generally, not every year. Generally speaking, rebalancing is
a risk management strategy. It generally isn't a return-enhancing strategy. So, for people who are
near or in retirement, or maybe you have money for college and your kids are in high school,
I think rebalancing makes sense. Folks who are more than a decade or away from retirement,
it's probably less important. And really, to me, the key to rebalancing is to make sure that you
have enough cash. The foundation of investing for Motley Fool and everyone everywhere is that you
have any money you need in the next three to five years out of the stock market. Well, maybe the last
time you thought about how much cash you need was a year ago. Surprisingly, it's been an amazing year
for the stock market. As of this taping, the S&P 500 is up 14%. The NASDAQ is up 40%. So if you are
in a position where you're going to need some money in the next three to five years, I think
it makes sense to look at that. Whether you do it now or wait a month, it sort of depends on your
tax situation. If you're going to be in a lower tax bracket this year, maybe you should rebalance
now. Historically, though, December is a good month, so it might be okay to wait until next
year. But to me, that's the foundation of rebalancing. Do you have enough short-term
money protected? Last time you were on the show,
you had some financial advice that surprised me, which was maintain your health. And what you said
that surprised me was that the number one reason people retire sooner than they had planned
is due to poor health. This is also the time of the year where, I don't know about your house,
but there are a lot more cookies around my house. Do you have a tip for maintaining
weight gain over the holidays? Because I feel like you're really good at this.
Well, thank you. Very kind of you. So, I will say, I'm going to give a recommendation
for a book that's always good for this time of year when it comes to resolutions and stuff,
and that is Atomic Habits by James Clear. And one thing he pointed out is that habits are enhanced
by environment. So, just like your house, our house, the kids the other day made brownies and
cookies and then they left them right there on the island in the middle of the kitchen.
Anytime I walk by the kitchen, I'm just going to grab them because they're there.
So you either put them in a tin and put them away, or what I did is I moved them in the dining room
where I don't pass through as often. If you have eggnog, I love eggnog, but I keep it out in the
garage fridge, not in the main fridge, so I don't see it all the time. So one thing is removing
temptation. And I would say the other thing is get involved with a group that does exercise regularly.
At 2.45 every day, there's a group of us at The Motley Fool that does push-ups. I haven't been
been able to do it for a while because of the back issue. But every day when you know that
there are a group of people who are going to be doing pushups together, you might be more likely
to do that. Every Tuesday and Thursday, a group of us fools meet at nine o'clock and we're led by
a workout by Sam, our in-house financial wellness director. So any sort of group thing kind of adds
an extra layer of accountability to your exercise. Last thing, and then I'll let you go. I know you
are a huge fan of holiday music. And what's great about holiday music is there's more and more of it
every year. What have you heard that's new this year that caught your attention?
My biggest one is Dolly Parton's new album. I mean, we all love Dolly Parton. There was a great
podcast series about her. You know, she contributed money to developing the vaccine
for the coronavirus. She's an American treasure. Her new playlist is wonderful. I highly recommend
that. You can listen to Robert Brokamp every
week on The Motley Fool Answers podcast. You can find it wherever you find podcasts. He's
a certified financial planner. He runs our Rule Your Retirement service. He's basically
a superhero in disguise. Robert, happy holidays, my friend.
Robert Brokamp And to you as well, and to all Fools everywhere.
Chris Hilliard. Coming up, Jason Moser and Emily Flippen return with a couple of stocks
for your watch list. Stay right here. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
Chris Hill. As always, people on the program may have
interest in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations
for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. Welcome back
to Motley Fool Money. Chris Hill here once again with Emily Flippen and Jason Moser.
Our email address is radioatfool.com. Drop us a note, would you? We're lonely. Radioatfool.com.
We got one from Josh Powell. He writes, I'm currently deployed in the Air Force.
The military offers a savings deposit program while deployed, which guarantees a 10% annual
interest rate compounded quarterly. I'm able to contribute any money made while deployed
and keep it in the account for about 270 days. Do you think I'd be better off investing my money in
the stock market or taking the guaranteed return? I understand the risks in the market, but with the
positive news of COVID vaccines, I don't want to miss out on a boom in the economy." It's a great
question. Thank you for that, Josh, and thank you for listening. Jason, the customary preface that
we can't give individual advice. Typically, when I hear about guaranteed returns for savings
vehicles, sometimes it's in the neighborhood of 1% or lower. 10% annual interest rate compounded
quarterly. Personally, I'd be pretty attracted by that. Yeah. Josh, thanks for the email and
thank you for your service. We always use that old saw, any money that you know you're going to
need within the next three to five years, you really shouldn't have it in the market. There's
this for a lot of reasons. You don't want to be stuck being a desperate seller of anything.
But to the point on the guaranteed return, that exceeds, I think, the market's historical average,
or if it doesn't exceed it, it's darn close to it. That's not risk-free, especially today.
I think valuations are a bit more out of control today and a little bit more questionable.
I wouldn't worry about that fear of missing out. The market is going to be here when you
get back. It sounds like this opportunity is something that there's a time limitation
to it. Personally, I would probably opt to take advantage of it as much as I could, because
10% guaranteed sounds like a really attractive offer. You can always keep investing and you
can always keep investing more when you get back. Emily, what do you think?
Normally, when somebody would come to me and say, hey, I have an investment opportunity that
guarantees me a 10% rate of return, I would tell them to run the other way because it is 100%
a scam. But I did Google this before we got on today. And this is real. This is the first I've
heard about the saving deposit program. I know what I would do personally is definitely take
advantage of the 10% return, put my emergency fund in there. There's no way, in my opinion,
that would be giving up that opportunity. If 2020 has proven anything, it's that you
can never have too much comfortable clothing, and Chipotle is here to help. This week, Chipotle,
yes, Chipotle, unveiled a new line of clothing, including sweatshirts, long-sleeve tees,
and pajamas. Emily, I got to say, I was looking at the clothing, obviously,
can't touch and feel it, but it looks like quality merchandise.
It looks like quality merchandise and it's stylish too. The hoodie they have is a
nicely black. It has the subtle yet bold Chipotle logo. I have to admit, I was somewhat enthused,
maybe I should ask for this for Christmas this year. Jason, I don't know about you, I did
notice and appreciate the fact that some of the waistbands are roomy, which I think is a great
amount of self-awareness on the part of Chipotle. Because if you're going to be out there slinging
extra sides of guacamole, you don't want to be selling super tight clothing.
By design, I would imagine, absolutely. Listen, I agree, this stuff is pretty classy-looking,
I mean, way classier than that Taco Bell stuff. Maybe this is for that more
under-the-radar fan who just really is looking for a way to support their favorite brand without
being too ostentatious. But hey, listen, it probably doesn't cost them much to do it and
it creates a little awareness. And Chipotle has really, really done amazing things since the days
of the food safety issues. So, another probably simple bet for them that likely pays off.
Well, it reminded me of the first time I went into a Shake Shack. I was standing in line and
before I could even order my food, they had t-shirts for sale just like right there, right
when you walk in. All kidding aside, it seems like the thing where as long as Chipotle is
doing this at a modest profit, then it's free advertising for them, right?
I think so. Again, anything you can do to build your brand in a positive way,
and I think Chipotle has really turned a corner here. They've regained, I think, a lot of
customers' trust that they perhaps lost several years ago.
Let's get to the stocks on our radar. We'll bring in our man behind the glass, Dan Boyd.
Emily Flippen, you're up first. What are you looking at this week?
Yes. The company on my radar this week is Axon Enterprises. The ticker is A-A-X-N. Axon,
better known as their former name, Taser, provides taser and body camera equipment
to the vast majority of U.S. police forces. I think they have penetration rates north of 90%.
But the reason why I'm excited by the investment today is that if you look at the strategy that
management is taking, they're looking at expanding into new areas like record management and
dispatch. This updates a really old and outdated legacy equipment that most police forces are
using. And given the world we're living in today, more accountability, more technology
can only help, in my opinion. Dan, question about Axon Enterprises?
Absolutely, Chris. Emily, does Axon have any real competitors?
There are some very small competitors, but as I mentioned before, they have penetration rates
north of 90%. In their core business, that's Taser, the body cam, they are by far the dominant
player. The issue is when you get down to price, ultimately, some police forces may be more price
sensitive, in which case there are cheaper, although admittedly, worse quality alternatives
on the market right now. Jason Moser, what are you looking
at this week? Yeah, keeping an eye on Qualcomm,
ticker is QCOM. You probably saw the headline this week that Apple is forging ahead with their plans
to develop and build its own cellular modems for use in its own devices like iPhones and iPads,
and that cellular modem is necessary, it's a necessary piece of equipment. This is not
something that really came as any surprise to any of us that follow these companies,
but you see the reaction of Qualcomm. There's a little bit of a reaction selling off the stock.
I think that's a bit short-sighted. You may remember, not all that long ago, Qualcomm and
Apple were involved in a pretty long and drawn-out dispute that seemed like it would never end.
Thankfully, it has ended. Both companies agreed to drop all litigation. They forged a six-year
licensing agreement, including a two-year option to extend, a multi-year chipset supply agreement.
This was a really ideal resolution, and it's a long-term resolution. For me, Qualcomm is one
of the most important businesses in this line of work. It holds over 140,000 patents and
applications worldwide. It is the most valuable IP portfolio in this business, has over 300 licensees.
As we move into 5G and even beyond into 6G, more things becoming connected,
Qualcomm will remain a very important participant in that value chain.
Dan, question about Qualcomm? Yeah. When I heard that you were
picking Qualcomm for the show, I thought to myself, what is this, 1995? I haven't heard
that name in years. I know. It's making a comeback
here. You can thank 5G for that. Qualcomm was stuck in this saturation cycle as we were waiting for
this next generation of device to come out. Now that 5G is upon us, it is definitely taking
advantage and utilizing all of that IP to get that business growing in the right direction again.
Dan, what do you want to add to your watchlist? Well, you know what, Chris? I love a good
blast from the past, so I think I'm going to go with Qualcomm this time around,
even though my gut tells me maybe it's not the best idea.
Thanks, Dan. Emily Flippen, Jason Moser,
thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having me.
That's going to do it for this week's edition of Motley Fool Money. The show is mixed by Dan
Boyd. Our producer is Mac Greer. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.
