Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing - Improving Inflation, Earnings Kickoff, and "Walmart Envy"
Episode Date: April 14, 2023Investors cheered the steadily improving inflation story. (0:21) Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger discuss: - How the current macro environment is what the Fed was aiming for - JPMorgan Chase and Well...s Fargo starting earnings season in a strong way - Boeing's latest production challenge - Key takeaways from Andy Jassy's shareholder letter - Warner Bros Discovery's confusing rebrand of HBO Max (19:11) Motley Fool senior analyst Tim Beyers weighs in on how board games and video games are finding success on the big screen, the future of movie theaters, and why "YouTube has an uncommon amount of power right now." (33:47) Jason and Matt share two stocks on their radar: Airbnb and T. Rowe Price. The new episode of Stock Advisor Roundtable, our premium podcast, is available exclusively on Spotify! For more details go to Roundtable.Fool.com. Stocks discussed: JPM, WFC, BA, AMZN, WMT, WBD, HAS, DIS, NFLX, AAPL, CMCSA, GOOG, GOOGL, ABNB, TROW Host: Chris Hill Guests: Matt Argersinger, Jason Moser, Tim Beyers Engineer: Dan Boyd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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From Fool Global Headquarters, this is Motley Fool Money.
It's the Motley Fool Money radio show.
I'm Chris Hill. Joining me in studio, Motley Fool senior analysts Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger.
Good to see you, as always, gentlemen.
Hey, Chris. Hey, Addy.
We've got the latest headlines from Wall Street.
We will take a closer look at the business of movies.
And as always, we've got a couple of stocks on our radar.
But we begin with the big macro.
The latest batch of data showed that inflation in the U.S. has hit its lowest level in almost
two years. The producer price index in March showed prices were a half percent lower than
February, and the consumer price index showed an increase of just 0.1%, Matt. Investors welcome
the news, the S&P 500 hitting close to its highest point since last summer.
I know. And I think, shouldn't the Fed be welcoming this news too? I mean,
This is what they wanted, right? Inflation is rolling over. Jobless claims are ticking up a
little bit. We had retail sales on Friday morning that were lower by more than twice than what was
expected. We know that credit markets have tightened up. Lending, particularly, I think,
from small and mid-sized banks is going to slow down if it isn't already. We know we've talked
about big risks in the commercial real estate market. Even if you look at the minutes from
the Fed's last meeting, they are actually now expecting the economy to enter a mild recession
later this year. So, isn't this what they were aiming for? I mean, I know we don't always want
to tie this to what the Fed's going to do, but I think that's what we have to talk about, because
that's what the markets, that's what investors are focused on. All the evidence now is pointing
to the fact that we probably hit this peak cycle of rates. You're absolutely right that this is not
what we want to be focusing on, particularly here at The Motley Fool, where we focus on businesses.
but it has been so important, particularly over the last 18 months, Jason. And to Matt's point,
yeah, I think that's part of the reaction that we saw this week in the market. Investors,
both individual and on Wall Street, saying, OK, this is what they were gunning for in the
first place. Yeah, I mean, it's exactly right. I mean, it's weird to say this, but you're kind of,
as an investor, I mean, I'm really kind of pulling for a recession. I mean, let's get
there already, right? We've been talking about this for like a year and a half. The question
maybe a year ago as to whether we were actually in a recession, we saw two consecutive quarters
of contraction, and that is what we typically use to define the recession. But there were other
economic indicators that told us that maybe we weren't really there. And now we've got the Fed
calling for a recession a little bit later this year. I've pointed this data out before on the
show. I'll point it out again, because I do think it matters. It's just a reminder that,
on average, stocks perform worse one year before the recession than actually during the recession.
And then, furthermore, for the two years following the recession, returns are actually positive 82%
of the time. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It's just, can we get there already?
I agree. It's almost like, just look, can you spot me a recession? Spot me 10% correction in
the market. I'll take it right now. Let's get all the medicine that we need, and we can move on
with life and stop talking about the Fed and less about the big macro and more about the big micro
with the companies we follow. It's been a very difficult year and a half for investors, right?
I mean, it's every day you're waking up, it's just like you're getting punched in the face
before you can get out of bed, it feels like. At some point, the tide turns, right? I think
everybody's kind of looking for some good news or something to be a little bit more optimistic
about. It feels like we're starting to get there. Let's get to a couple of companies then,
because some of the big banks kicked off earnings season Friday morning. JPMorgan Chase and Wells
Fargo, both out with first quarter reports. Wells Fargo's results were better than Wall Street
expected. JPMorgan Chase, Jason, they probably beat their own expectations because JPMorgan Chase
posted record revenue for the quarter, which sent the stock up 7%.
Yeah. And I think the trend continues on from what we were even seeing last quarter. We're
seeing these banks, they're taking a bit of a conservative approach. They're preparing for
this potential downturn. They continue to boost reserves to account for that.
They continue to see benefits from these rising rates as well. We're seeing net interest income
play out very positively for both of these reports. With JP Morgan, net revenue just under
$40 billion. It was up 25% from a year ago. Net interest income, $20.8 billion. That was up 49%
from a year ago. Clearly benefiting from these interest rate tailwinds. They built the net
reserve up $1.1 billion. They do see, I think, with the recession coming, credit is becoming
a little bit tighter. They understand it's a little bit tough for some folks to pay those
bills. They're building in a little bit of that reserve there. Benefiting from net inflows,
now seeing assets under management of $3 trillion. I mean, this is really a bank you want to pay
attention to. Last quarter, we heard the language, Jamie Dimon, last quarter, they're preparing for
a mild recession. This quarter, that mild has been upgraded to moderate, right? So, they're
looking down the pike here and see definitely these conditions deteriorating a little bit in
the near term. But tangible book value now up 10%, $76.69. That puts the shares at 1.8 times
tangible book value. Now, that sounds like it might be a little expensive, but historically,
it's still actually not. So, even with the performance of the stock, it actually could
be worth a look for investors. And I think he instilled some confidence on the call, right?
He did say that while these conditions are difficult to navigate, this is not anything
like we saw back in 2008, 2009. And that's encouraging, I think, for investors.
I think the big financials always kind of kick off earnings season. And so, that's where we're
starting. And I think here, we expect the news to be mostly pretty good, or at least not bad.
And this sets up, I think, the next week or two when we start to get the regional banks and some
of the smaller, mid-sized banks. I think that's where, I don't know, the rubber's going to hit
the road in terms of how difficult conditions have become in the credit markets. Because we
know the TBTF, the too-big-to-fail banks, are going to be fine throughout this. But we know
where the trauma potentially is, is these smaller banks. So, that's kind of where I'm paying
attention. Yeah. And I think, too, when you look at Wells Fargo, I think we talk about opportunities
in the sector. And I do think there's plenty of opportunity out there in the regional side. But
Wells Fargo continues, I think, to get their ducks in a row. This is a bank that's really
come back to life here. Revenue up 17% from a year ago. Net interest income up 45%. And you
Remember, Wells recently made the strategic decision to pull back from their mortgage
business, right? I mean, that's what they were known for for so long. They're seeing these
lenders like Rocket Mortgage, Loan Depot, kind of saying, hey, listen, you guys take over that
business. That's all right. We want to diversify a little bit, not be so levered to one particular
part of the market. Granted, it's a very big part of the market. But it's starting to work
out for them, right? I mean, they resumed their repurchase program. They bought $4 billion back
in shares over the quarter. And with these shares now around 1.1 times tangible book,
I think it still represents a pretty good opportunity for folks looking for exposure
to that banking industry. So, I want to wrap this segment with something you just touched on, Matt,
which is, what are you both going to be watching? Obviously, we've got earnings season really
kicking into high gear over the next few weeks, and everyone will have their particular companies
that they're interested in. But is there a broader trend that you're watching over the next
three months or so? Because it does seem to your point, Matt, the regional banks are going to be
something to watch and the data that we get from them and the ripple effect for small businesses
all over America. Yeah, that's right. I mean, I'll start with the regional banks because I think
next week when I think of banks like M&T or Regions Financial are going to report next week,
and these are some of the larger regional banks, that's where a lot of the commercial real estate
lending, the C&I lending is happening, much so more concentrated than in the larger banks.
So, I'm starting there. But then, as I've talked about in the past, I think real estate investment
trusts, I'm really paying attention to those because if there's any kind of trauma that's
happening in the credit markets, it seems like it's already happening in the real estate sector.
Because you've seen REITs over the past months, especially since the SVB fallout, they've fallen
dramatically more than the rest of the market. And I'm just very curious to see what some of
managers are saying about the environment. That's the second time he's used the word
trauma. I'm getting nervous over here. What are you watching?
Well, a couple of things. Trauma, wow, that's a bold word. A couple of things. I mean,
looking at revenue growth, we saw Walmart recently with their Investor Day presentation. They're
calling for tepid revenue growth here over the next five years. They're not really focused on
revenue growth as much as they're focused on bringing things down to the bottom line. They
expect earnings growth to well outpace revenue growth. And so, I think in line with that,
too, I think let's pay attention to margins, right? And particularly when we talk about retail,
we talk about consumer discretionary. Let's see what kind of pricing these companies continue
to maintain. I think margins will tell us a lot. Well, and particularly when you think about,
not just in the last quarter, but really over the last six to 12 months, so much of what we've heard
from retailers, major ones like Walmart, specialty retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's, so much of
their story over the past six to 12 months has not been about traffic. It's been about
the price increases in the stores. And if we're now in this environment where prices are coming
down, you can look back and say, well, it's fine that Home Depot, Lowe's, these major retailers,
they're not getting people through the door because the people who are coming in are spending
more money. Well, if prices are coming down, you're going to have to get more people in the
door. Yeah. Well, I mean, they are, you know, we love small caps and those growth ideas and
everything, but it really does, times like these really do shine a light on the competitive
advantage that scale gives you, right? So, when you look at those Walmarts and those Targets and
Home Depots of the world, they may not be the most exciting ideas, but I think we're going to see
over the course of the next several years here, these are going to be businesses that really
prosper because they are able to bring so many of those efficiencies down the bottom line.
After the break, we've got a new brand to consider. It's not as historically bad as
Tronc, but the early reviews are not good. Details coming up, so stay right here.
You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. Chris Hill here in studio with Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger.
Shares of Boeing fell 6% on Friday after the company warned it will have to reduce deliveries of its 737 MAX airplane.
Boeing has run into a production problem with one of its parts suppliers.
737 MAX is Boeing's most popular model of aircraft, particularly with customers like Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, Matt.
Right. It's a big deal. And you mentioned Boeing's down 6%.
Well, Spirit Aerosystems, which is the supplier in question, they're down about 20% last I checked.
So, they're facing issues.
Yeah, this is a big deal.
You mentioned the 737 MAX being their most popular model.
In fact, in 2022, the 737 overall series accounted for 80% of Boeing's deliveries.
And, in fact, last quarter, you know, you mentioned Southwest and American,
but they got an order from United Airlines for 100 737 MAX aircraft.
So, you know, and they had just sort of gotten, you know, their supply chain situation kind of figured out.
You know, we've seen, I'm going to use the trauma again.
And the trauma in the supply chain, I should stop using it, but that's been a big deal for them.
They finally kind of got that sorted out, and then they run into this issue.
So, it just shows you again how sensitive in a way that a lot of these supplier networks can be.
If you have one, and especially on an aircraft, which has a million parts, right?
One or two parts aren't available or aren't up to quality, it can cause a big chain reaction throughout the supply system.
On Thursday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy published his second annual letter to shareholders.
In the letter, Jassy addressed the recent challenges facing the company, the multiple rounds of layoffs at Amazon, and ultimately his confidence that these decisions will pay off down the line.
Jason, let me start with you.
What stood out in Jassy's letter?
Well, before we get into this, let me just, I need to reiterate, if you listen to Andy Jassy speak, right, close your eyes and listen to him, that guy sounds like you would think you're listening to Jeff Bezos.
And I'm sure that's probably a product of them working for so long together.
Oh, so you don't think Bezos cloned himself?
and just kept a version of himself. If you shut your eyes and listen to me,
you would think that could be a possibility. It's bizarre. But getting to your question, Chris,
I think we're going to see a focus on cost control start to really benefit this company
over the next couple of years, particularly in fulfillment. Something he noted in the letter,
they do continue to deal with the rising costs of this fulfillment network, ultimately getting
products from the store to the consumer. They noted they had to double the fulfillment center
footprint they had built over the past 25 years. They basically had to double that within two
years. There was a lot that went into doing that. I think what we're going to see over the next
several years is a focus on really maximizing the efficiencies. There's probably a lot of waste that
went into that. They built out probably more capacity than they ultimately needed. If you
look at fulfillment, right? Fulfillment represented 16.8% of total operating expenses in 2022. You go
back to 2017, that number was just 14.5%, right? So I think they really want to focus on getting
back to efficiency. I know we always talk about AWS, and that really is the big moneymaker for
this business. But let's not forget its roots, right? This is retail. It's about getting things
from point A to point B as quickly as possible. They can do it. They do it very well. But I think
they're really going to focus on that cost side? Yeah, for me, the latter. I always love reading
it. But there's a segment in there about grocery, the Amazon grocery business, which stood out to
me. And I'll just read a few sentences here, because I think they're impactful. So, Jesse
says, while we're pleased with the size and growth of our grocery business, we aspire to serve more
of our customers' grocery needs than we do today. To do so, we need a broader physical store
footprint, given that most of the grocery shopping still happens in physical venues. He goes on to
say, we're working hard to identify and build the right mass grocery format for Amazon's scale.
Grocery is a big growth opportunity for Amazon. This goes against the conclusion I thought Amazon
was going to get to. They've experimented with Amazon Fresh, the Go concept, other concepts.
They've been running Whole Foods for several years. I really thought they were going to get
to the point where they didn't want to push harder into grocery. They thought it's a low-margin
business. It's tough to figure out. It might not fit our overall model. But no, they're going right
at it. And I think that that sounds out to me and my colleague in real estate winners, Anthony
Chavone pointed out, you know, there are a lot of real estate investment trusts like Kimco and
Regency that are kind of grocery anchored shopping centers. They own hundreds of them around the
country. This must be music to their ears that Amazon's going to go more full throttle into
this. You know what I think? I think they have, I think they have a little Walmart in me. I think
they have a little Walmart. Amazon has Walmart. I know for the, for the last 10 years, that
conversation has been going the other way. I think they actually have a little Walmart envy.
They see Walmart status as the leading grocer domestically here. They realize everybody needs
grocery. It's the ultimate repeat purchase. They see the business that Walmart has been able to
build over the years with that, the benefits that come from that, the repeat traffic. I think they
got a little Walmart envy. What's that gif where the person's mind is blowing up? That's what my
I'm thinking that right now. Despite all of its success at producing
award-winning television shows, HBO has also had its share of branding problems.
Just a few years ago, the company caused confusion among subscribers by having not one,
but three separate HBO-branded services. There was HBO, HBO Go, and HBO Now. They were eventually
folded into HBO Max, which seemed to be just fine with everyone except the parent company,
because this week, Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled a plan to reboot the streaming service
with a new name, Max. It will feature the content from HBO, as well as some content
from the Discovery Plus streaming service. The reaction from investors? Shares of Warner
Bros. Discovery down nearly 8% this week. What are they doing, Max? What are they doing? Why?
I'm going to actually leave that question to JMO, because I think he's got some strong
opinions about the brand itself. I just wish they'd stick to HBO. I'll just leave it at that.
But I get the combination. It makes sense. They're going to have a wider range of content
available to subscribers. That's how you kind of keep churned down. You can appeal to different
kinds of audiences, especially kids with that. My one area of concern is that Discovery CEO
David Zaslav's prediction for 2025, 130 million subscribers, one billion in profit. If I've
learned anything about the streaming business is you don't make predictions like that in the
streaming business. That's part of what's confusing about this. He's done a real upfront
job of trying to control costs. A rebranding like this is going to cost a lot of money.
That's right. It feels like a terrible, unforced error. I mean,
taking such a legacy brand, HBO, we just associate so much great content with you changing your name
to like, this might as well just be a Disney movie about some dog named Max, right? I mean,
that's what comes to mind. It's like some Disney movie. I don't, I don't, I don't,
it just feels like an unforced error. Drop us an email, podcasts at fool.com.
We would like your suggestion for a really a better name. We're going to try and help out
our friends at Warner Brothers Discovery, podcasts at fool.com. Jason Moser, Matt Argesinger, guys,
we'll see you a little bit later in the show. Up next, we're going to shift from streaming
to movie theaters with senior analyst Tim Byers. Stay right here. You're listening to Motley Fool
Money. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Chris Hill. Tim Byers is a senior analyst
covering media, entertainment, and a host of other industries for The Motley Fool.
He joins me now from Colorado. Tim, thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me. I want to start with,
to date, the biggest movie of the year, the animated film Super Mario Brothers.
In a huge opening weekend, opening in general, the first five days, this is a movie that did
over $200 million at the box office here in the U.S., add in another $170 million internationally.
And again, Tim, it's an animated movie, which means that a lot of these people seeing this
movie in theater are children, and those tickets cost less. So, as someone who doesn't really have
a stake in this, either as a fan who's gone to see the film or anything, just from a business
standpoint, this strikes me as pretty impressive. When you hear numbers like that, what goes through
your mind as an analyst? I better be looking at the experiences that these movie theaters
are executing here, because this is very interesting, but we had the narrative of,
well, we can just deliver a movie via streaming service and we're good.
and clearly there is something to be said for some of these movies coming together as a as a
community and watching these together and mario brothers seems like a communal experience because
even you know old guys like me remember the do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do i mean we do
That's a terrible rendition of it, Chris. So, listener, my apologies. However, apology, not really an apology because we all know that tune. And so, there's something to that. There's something community-oriented about this that we missed.
And so as an analyst, I'm very curious to see, is there an emerging theme around community in movie theaters and in some of these films that we're going to see funded, like sort of tapping into the experiences either that we had as kids or things that are very interesting to us?
I think it's fascinating that movies are earning at this level post-pandemic.
It is, I don't want to say we're back to normal, Chris, because I don't think there is such a thing as back to normal.
Having said that, to see movies rolling up big numbers like this again, and a hit rolling up big numbers like this, is a bit reassuring.
I agree with that. And your terrible rendition of the song aside,
you did touch on something that I think is part of the business story here, which is that
this is a movie based on a game that has been around for decades, and there are children who
play it now, but they are also the children of parents who played it when they were children.
And to a lesser extent in terms of the box office, we saw something similar play out
with the Dungeons & Dragons movie, which I actually did see, not because I'm a D&D player,
one of my kids is, she wanted to go see it. As someone who never played the game,
it was an entertaining movie. That plus Super Mario Bros. has me wondering how much more board
game and video game IP is going to get levered up in the coming months and years as the holders of
these various intellectual properties are looking to monetize them either in the form of movies in
the theater or streaming TV series? Both. If Hollywood is known for anything, Chris,
it is imitation, imitation, imitation. So now that we've seen this, expect that there will be
calls to give us your scripts for the games that you think you can build a story around what is
the franchise that we can build around name your game i'll i'll name one that i would expect to be
coming at some point magic the gathering the card game is that that's got to be coming like right
Chris, that has to be coming at some point. Probably. And that's another game that's been
around for decades. Right. And it has real community around it. It has real stickiness to
it. So yes, I expect just given the nature of Hollywood, you're going to see more funding
into franchises that are built around board games, built around video games, anything to build IP
that is repeatable IP, because in the movie business overall, you really want IP that has
a long shelf life because you're going to have high fixed costs initially, right? To initially
build out some IP. But then once you've built that IP and you've built a brand around it,
and then you can start repeating it into television series, into even podcast series,
or into books, into sequels at the movie theater, streaming series, it's a type of business that
does best when it's built around a franchise that has some known return characteristics to it.
This is why Disney has been such a great business for so long. So I think seeking the next great
set of franchises around gaming is absolutely going to be a thing, Chris.
Later this month, the annual CinemaCon event is going to be taking place. Back in the day,
this was called Show West. This is essentially the theater owners, movie theater owners,
getting together. And as they get together, so are the studios. I'm expecting, if you're a fan
of movies, we're going to get some bonus content appearing on social media and on YouTube as
they start to preview what's coming later this summer and later this year. Was the funeral
for movie theaters premature? Because it seemed like a few years ago, the funeral was for
all movie theaters. Right. I do wonder. Now, to be fair,
I haven't been to the theater again recently, but I will say I was enjoying the way the theater was
moving towards more of the Alamo Drafthouse model. And if you've never been to the Alamo
Drafthouse, it is a regional theater chain that's privately held in which the experience
of going to the movie is part of the draw. You go and you can get drinks. You have your food
delivered to you. It's like going to the drive-in, except you're going to the theater and the food
you can order during the movie, it's delivered right to you. It doesn't interrupt the experience.
It's actually pretty amazing. And so the experience of going to the theater is different.
I don't just go for the movie. I go for the whole experience. And so I think that is going to become
a bigger part of that business, but it was way too early to write this off. Now, having said that,
we did need some blockbusters. I mean, if you go back to 2022, it is probably not hyperbole,
Chris, to say that Tom Cruise and Top Gun Maverick did some awfully good things for
theater operators. That was a very, very, very big deal. And just to put it in perspective here,
this is from thenumbers.com. Top Gun Maverick, 2022 gross in domestic. This is just U.S.,
$718.7 million. Number two, Black Panther, Wakanda Forever at $438.3 million. That is a huge
difference. So having said all that, the numbers has for in 2022, you're talking about $14.5
billion worth of ticket sales. The projection for 2023 is $8.5 billion. So let's not say that
everything is rosy, Chris, but let's say maybe on the right track and there's maybe a bit of
second wind for movie theaters. It gives them a chance to build an experience that people want
to keep coming back to. And if the franchises show up to play in these theaters, there might
be something there. This is also an example of, in the case of Paramount, a company using
a blockbuster like Top Gun Maverick to get people into their streaming service.
But as more people get into more streaming services, we were talking about this during
the break, there's this narrative starting to build a little bit about subscription fatigue
around how many different streaming services do you need, do you want?
Who should be worried about this?
Because I'm not at subscription fatigue just yet, but I understand the case for it.
and i'm wondering who should be worried should netflix should be worried disney with disney plus
apple i think those that don't have an inherent bundle advantage need to be a little bit
worried what i mean by that is disney plus gets protection from hulu plus and most most
importantly both of us being sports ball fans here chris espn plus disney plus gets cover
in my opinion from espn plus so for those that are a little bit outside of the protection of a bundle
that is potentially problematic and i hate that i'm going to say this because the streaming service
that I tend to depend on every weekend for Premier League soccer, Peacock, is a little
bit outside of that bundle advantage, doesn't really have it, unless you're part of the Comcast
bundle. And there's real fatigue around a very expensive Comcast cable bundle. So should Netflix
be worried? Yes, a little bit. But I think that Netflix is protected by franchises and by its
ability to keep being a tastemaker, I think that protects them a little bit. Apple is getting a
little bit of that tastemaker advantage here. But anything that is independent, so say like
a Paramount+, what are they going to do around CBS and how is CBS going to make that work
in the Viacom bundle? It seems like there ought to be something there. There's a lot to like
around Paramount Plus, but anything that doesn't have the attachment to an attractive bundle,
I think is at a little bit of risk. So yeah, Netflix needs to be, we need to be cautious.
We need to watch it. Disney Plus, if things get a little long in the tooth, be careful around that,
but I like that they get protected by ESPN Plus. Yeah, because as the subscription fatigue
narrative builds, even if it is building slowly and quietly, I'm hearing less about cutting the
cord. And I know that cord cutting still goes on. But I think if you're in the cable business,
you're probably happy to see, as we saw earlier this year, Alphabet coming out and saying,
oh, the subscription for YouTube TV is going from $65 a month to $73 a month.
Right. And you know what? Here's what's going to be really interesting.
that I'm glad you mentioned YouTube TV, because that's a company that has an uncommon amount of
power right now. And I think it's going to be really interesting. Can you imagine YouTube TV
saying, hey, you know what? We have a whole bunch of ecosystem partners. We're going to let you bring
in your Paramount Plus. We're going to let you bring in your Peacock. We're going to let you
bring in, how about this? We're going to let you bring in your Netflix subscription.
This is something that Amazon has been doing, by the way. I'm not sure that there are a lot
of people that trust Amazon to sort of aggregate all of their streaming subscriptions. And I think
it's not to say that it's a bad idea that Amazon is doing this. I just don't think people trust
Amazon to say like, yeah, I'm just going to wrap everything under Prime. I don't think people are
doing that. But YouTube TV is a brand that can do essentially what Amazon Prime is trying to do.
to become a source of aggregation for all of your subscriptions, and you just pay one bill,
honest to goodness, Chris, I think that is going to be really interesting. I expect YouTube TV
to make some gains over the next two years. Tim Byers covers media, entertainment,
and a bunch of other industries for The Motley Fool. Tim, always great talking to you. Thanks
for being here. Thanks, Chris. Up next, Matt Argesinger and Jason Moser are coming back
with a couple of stocks on their radar, so stay right here. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
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 in studio once again with Jason Moser and Matt Argesinger. You can hear Motley
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Let's get to the stocks on our radar. Our man behind the glass, Dan Boyd, is going to hit you
with a question. Matt Argersinger, you're up first. What are you looking at this week?
I'm going with T. Rowe Price, ticker T-R-O-W. One of the great brands in money management going back,
gosh, 90 years or so. More than $1.3 trillion in asset management as of March 31st.
The track record is amazing. The vast majority of their funds outperformed their benchmarks
over long periods of time. 4.4% dividend yield, which the company has increased 36 consecutive
years, Dan. Most of all, I think this is a bet on at least a small return to active management.
I think especially coming out of this bear market that we just had that we might still be in,
I feel like investors are looking for active strategies. This is a great brand,
a great company in the industry that I think will attract a lot of dollars.
Dan, question about T. Rowe Price?
So, Matty, you're telling me that T. Rowe Price is not just a discount broker?
They are not, Dan. They're much more a money management firm that owns dozens of funds,
ETFs, wealth management services, etc. I didn't realize until recently that it
was the founder's name. I just assumed it was a mashup, like JPMorgan Chase. It was like,
this company merges with that one. I didn't realize Thomas Rowe Price was the founder.
All the way back to 1937, I believe. Jason Moser, what are you looking at?
Yeah, well, you remember last year, I got back from spring break, and I kind of had my Uber
awakening, right? We Ubered everywhere around France, and it was just invaluable. And for me,
it immediately passed David Gardner's snap test. This week, we just got back from spring break
down to the beach in North Carolina, and I had another awakening here. I don't know why it took
me so long, but Airbnb, ticker A-B-N-B. We grabbed an Airbnb down on the beach in North Carolina,
wonderful week. And it's more on my radar than ever before, and I really believe this
is a business that also passes that snap test. If it went away, it would impact the world at
this point, because it's not just consumers like us that benefit from it, but these are just small
businesses everywhere now. People investing in real estate and utilizing that model to make a
little extra money. If you look at the fourth quarter of last year, Knights and Experiences
booked increased 20%. They had their highest number of active bookers ever for the quarter.
If you look at this business compared to 2019 versus today, their headcount is actually down
5% while revenue is up 75%. They really are continuing to grow. They're getting their
sea legs, so to speak, as a publicly traded company. Again, you've got the benefit here
for guests. You've got the benefit for owners, creating new business opportunities. We know the
opportunity in travel is just massive and it's resilient. Still a young business, plenty of
kinks to work out, but they're on their way. And I really think this is one to keep on the radar.
Dan, question about Airbnb. Jason, how worried are you about the laws that could change around
Airbnb short-term rentals in the future? Well, I think it was a bigger concern before than it
is now. I think what we're seeing, much as like with healthcare and things like telemedicine,
once something becomes, once it sort of hits this mass acceptance, we do see laws, regulations start
to adjust. And so, for me, I think that was a bigger risk in the past than it is something
going forward. It sounds like Dan might be proposing some legislation just to see where
this goes. Either that or starting a little small Airbnb business, perhaps. Dan, you got a stock
you want to add to your watch list? I got to tell you, I think I'm with Jason on this one.
The global impact of Airbnb cannot be downplayed. While T. Rowe Price, as Matt said, is a very
staunch and long-term company here. If T. Rowe Price disappeared tomorrow, I don't think I would
be scrambling to change vacation plans or anything, you know what I mean? But I think Airbnb is just
part of the conversation for everybody these days. Tough but fair, Dan. Tough but fair.
Matt Argersinger, Jason Moser, guys, thanks for being here.
Thanks, Chris. That's going to do it for this week's
Motley Fool Money radio show. The show is mixed by Dan Boyd. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time.
We'll be right back.
