Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing - Stock Market Whip Lash
Episode Date: February 16, 2024Economic data and earnings season combined for a volatile weak in the stock market. (00:21) Bill Mann and Jason Moser discuss: - The latest inflation numbers and what they mean for investors - Earnin...gs wrap-up for Twilio, Lyft, Airbnb, Shopify and Trade Desk - Nvidia’s disclosure of its investments and how it impacted stocks (19:11) Corrado Russo shares some thoughts on the international real estate market. (34:09) Bill and Jason break down two stocks on their radar: Fresenius and Home Depot Stocks discussed: TWLO, LYFT, ABNB, SHOP, TTD, SHOP, NVDA, NNOX, ARM, HD, FMS Host: Ron Gross Guests: Bill Mann, Jason Moser, Corrado Russo Engineers: Dan Boyd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
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Did this week's stock market give you whiplash?
Motley Fool Money starts now.
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From Fool Global Headquarters, this is Motley Fool Money.
It's the Motley Fool Money radio show. I'm Ron Gross, sitting in for Dylan Lewis.
Joining me today are senior analysts Jason Moser and Bill Mann. Fools, how you doing?
Hey, hey. Doing great, brother.
Fool's earnings season did not disappoint this week. Lots of companies reporting and
stocks moving around rather aggressively. Today, we're going to talk e-commerce and
ride-sharing and even typos. But we begin with the big macro. Earlier in the week, consumer
inflation data came in a bit hotter than expected, which may signal that the Fed will be in no
hurry to cut interest rates. Later in the week, we saw retail sales come in worse than
expected. And then on Friday, we got another hot wholesale inflation report. And needless
to say, the stock market was all over the place for the week as investors reacted to the data.
So, Bill, what do you take away from all of this data? And what should the everyday investor do
about macroeconomic data? Does it matter? Are you exhausted from all this?
No, no, we're good. Oh, OK, good. Good, good. So,
if you want to do something really funny, go into Google and type the words,
Powell said the quiet part out loud. And I guarantee you, there's like four pages worth
of articles that are entitled, Powell said the quiet part out loud. Because here's the thing,
I don't think that the market has paid the first bit of attention to the fact that the Federal
Reserve has been stating inconvenient truths for the last two years. Like, okay, now he's telling
the truth. Right. So, yes, we have had a, you know, last year it was, well, inflation is,
you know, it's temporary. What was the word? Transitory. Transitory. That was the word of
the year. That was the 10 cent word of the year. So, the problem is that the Fed has been saying
these things and the market hasn't wanted to believe them. You know, they said last year,
we are going to keep raising rates until we have tamed inflation. What does this tell you?
hasn't happened yet. So, everyone is all geared up for rate cuts, which, I don't know,
I learned in math school, happens when the economy is bad.
What's math school? That's basically what I had to go through
sixth through eighth grade, is remedial math. So, you think the Fed is not there yet. They
are going to need to see closer to their 2% target from an inflation perspective to even
consider cutting. Up until recently, traders had priced in March rate cuts. At one point,
it was almost like a gimme. Now, we're pushed out. Obviously, later during the year, you think
we're in for some waiting. I think you should be careful
saying the quiet part out loud. Yeah. They basically have said that this was what they were
focused upon, that they did not want to, and they were more afraid of stagflation than anything else.
And so, yes, this is what they were going after. And they really haven't promised anything. The
quiet part is the thing that they've been shouting the entire time, that this is what we're going to
be paying attention to. Jason, what's the average
everyday investor supposed to do about all this? It's a lot to piece together, right? We get this
data, it becomes a little bit, you know, it seems a little, there are a lot of companies
out there cutting jobs, right? It seems like every day we're getting announcements that,
you know, the company XYZ cutting the X percent of their workforce. It's become very commonplace.
Something's not adding up here, I guess is what I'm saying, Ron. And then I don't know if you
guys noticed, I mean, this week they did make mention of the fact that UK and Japan actually
have slipped into recession. I think that Jay Powell is certainly very happy in that he did
not feel pressured to go ahead and start cutting or even getting that language out there saying,
oh, yeah, cuts are just around the corner, because this really does
more or less substantiate the perspective he's taking along.
All right, guys, let's dig into some earnings. And there are plenty of them. On Thursday,
Twilio reported its first results since its longtime CEO stepped down due to pressure
from activist investors. And, well, it didn't really go that well. Revenue guidance for the
current quarter was weak. The stock fell almost 15%. So, Jason, was the quarter OK,
and it was just the guidance that was weak? Or we have a little bit of a mess here?
I think it's the former. It wasn't a bad quarter. The guidance is a little weak. But I think
it's safe to say, Twilio is a business in the middle of transition. You've got a new CEO here
in Kozema Ship Chandler. You've got this segment acquisition that was made toward the end of 2020
that just clearly has not worked out like former CEO Jeff Lawson expected. Maybe that's why he's
former CEO. Yeah, I mean, there could be something to that. The thing is, too, that segment part of
the business, it's still such a small part of the overall business. It's just not working out.
Overall, the business did okay. Organic revenue was up 8% from a year ago. They saw non-GAAP
operating income, $173 million. That was up from $39 million a year ago. The core of this business
is the communications segment. That revenue, $1 billion for the quarter, that was up 5%.
Again, going back to that segment side, which is really the data and the applications,
revenue of just $75 million. I think that's the story of the quarter. I think what we need to
be waiting for with this business. Come March, they're going to sort of lift the hood, so to
speak, and tell us the conclusions that they've drawn from the strategic review of this segment
business and what they may actually do with it. Because as you mentioned at the top there,
activists are starting to take hold of this business. It seems like a story of
unfulfilled potential. Clearly now with a leadership transition, you got to give Chip
Chandler some time to try to execute the vision, right? Now, if you don't want to give him that
time, that's fine. Don't own the stock. But I mean, you have to be realistic about this
understanding that it's going to take several quarters for him to try to be able to get this
business going where he wants it to go. They did benefit from some seasonal strength there toward
the end of the year. But no doubt, looks like a slow start to 2024. And that has investors on
the sidelines for now. Activists and patients don't always go hand in hand. We will see.
You get the activist you deserve, I believe. On Tuesday, Lyft reported solid results and
share rose to a 52-week high, despite some bumps caused by a bit of a typo in the earnings
release. So, Bill, let's get the typo out of the way and then tell us how the company
is actually doing. A bit of a typo.
A bit of a typo. If you've ever wondered why companies report
their earnings when the market isn't open, this was it. At 4.06 on Tuesday, Lyft came
out with a report saying it was a great earnings report, but amongst other things, it said
that they had a 500 basis point gain in EBITDA margin expansion. In actuality, the number was
50, a 50 basis point. Now, first of all, I want to go on the record as saying nobody should ever
be quoting basis points at 5%. The problem is this. They had $741 million worth of shares
trade in the aftermarket in between time that they made that statement at $4.06 and when
they corrected it at $5.52. They said, oh, no, it's 50 basis points. The stock had gone
up 67-ish percent. Wow. Oof. This is a problem. How many basis points is that? That's a lot of
basis points. Too many. That's right. Let me take my shoes off so I can count that up.
67,000 basis points? Yeah, it went up several basis points. So, it was a great report from Lyft.
I mean, full stop, it was a great report, but it was not that good. It is only the fourth
profitable quarter that they have reported since they've come public. So, new CEO David Risher,
I know he's kicking himself for this, what they're calling a clerical error.
I think it's a little bit more than that.
I think maybe they may end up having some lawsuits coming their way based on the fact
that $700 million worth of shares traded on bad data.
But holy cow.
Be careful about trading in the after-hours market.
Absolutely.
That's one lesson, for sure.
Absolutely.
Yeah, there are a lot of the circuit breakers that are in place during market hours, which
people sometimes don't like. This is why they're there. Coming up, we'll talk rooms for rent and
we'll discuss how a 13 FSEC filing took the market by storm. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
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Ron Gross. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ron Gross, here in studio with Jason Moser
and Bill Mann. On Wednesday night, chipmaker Nvidia released its 13F SEC filing, listing
the companies it has investments in, and the market went bonkers. Bill, unpack this for us.
What do they own, and what happened? The mayhem ensued. How come?
So, let's get into the documents and their requirements, because I know this is really
the things that people are interested in. But if you own $100 million or more of publicly
traded stock, you have to file something called a 13F, which NVIDIA has not had to do until
Arm Holdings went public again. So now they're over that threshold. So they came out with their
report and they own five companies, one of which in particular is a microcap called Nano X. And
they owned about $380,000 worth of Nano-X. The stock in the two days since this has been reported
has gone up 134%. Again, who knows why a $1.7 trillion company owns $380,000 worth of a stock,
but it's an absolute nothing burger. In some ways, I feel like we're getting back into the
enthusiasm over SPACs. Like, hey, it's a bank account. Let's run it up in price.
Well, yeah, shoot first, aim second, right? That's when you get to those manic
stretches. That's what it feels like. $400 million in increase in market
capitalization at Nano X over a $380,000 investment. And one or two of the other
stocks they own popped as well. Extraordinary. Jason, sticking with the 13F theme, everyone's
always looking for Berkshire Hathaway's 13F to see what Mr. Buffett and his friends are buying
and or selling. What stood out to you? Yeah. I mean, it sounded like he put a little
bit more than a billion dollars to work on shocker banks, insurance companies, and finance
companies. This is bread and butter, so to speak. I think the big mystery is this company that he's
asked regulators to keep this secret. I think it's for the second quarter. A lot of speculation
out there as to the company. Who knows? Probably a bank, but I guess we will find out eventually.
I think it's interesting, the focus that he sold Apple on.
A little bit. Here's the other side of that coin.
He still owns over 900 million shares of Apple. I don't know, take that with a grain of salt.
Big additions to his positions in Chevron and Occidental, 14% and 9%, respectively.
I also thought it was interesting to see positions they exited fully, StoneCo, homebuilder D.R. Horton,
and a Foolish favorite of ours, Markel Insurance. Interesting.
Earlier in the week, Airbnb reported better-than-expected results, with CEO Brian Chesky making optimistic
comments about where the company is headed, especially in international markets.
Jason, shares initially traded down on concerns of moderating growth, but then we got a rebound.
Any concerns here, or does the near-term future look relatively bright?
I think it looks good.
The couple of things that stand out for a company like this, there's that NIMBY risk, right?
Not in my backyard, we saw this play out in New York City.
That risk, of course, is real.
It's something that I think is going to exist, but I also think it's overplayed.
There are going to be pockets of communities all around the world that prefer to keep the Airbnb presence to a minimum.
But I think in the context of the overall global opportunity here, it's nothing to worry about.
Then the other thing, you hear a lot of people gripe about the costs affiliated with renting
and being on Airbnb. They made this point on the call there in regard to affordability.
By the end of the year, nearly 40% of their active listings didn't charge a cleaning fee at all.
So, that work on their affordability is paying off. They actually quantified it.
December, the average nightly price of a one-bedroom listing on Airbnb was $114 a night,
down 2% from the same period a year ago, while hotel prices rose 7% to $149 over the same period.
So, they're really doing a good job, I think, communicating the value proposition. It's
playing itself out in the numbers well. Revenue, $2.2 billion, up 17%. Nights experiences booked
up 12% to $98.8 million. Active listings now exceed $7.7 million. And they just approved a
new share repurchase authorization of up to $6 billion. So, hopefully, we'll see that bring that
share count down, though. They do rely on some stock-based compensation still. So, something
to keep an eye on. Man, there's so much mischief that hides in quoting averages. Don't you think
that perhaps the fact that they are ramping down in New York, one of the most expensive
housing cities in the world, and it's not just New York, it's London, it's Tokyo,
that that may have something to do with the average room and stay price.
Are you saying that they're just making the data say whatever they want it to say?
I didn't hear anything after the cleaning fees. Right, exactly.
They're still cleaning the place, right? My eyes went red from that. I think that
the risk of regulatory change is much higher than you might think. There are places around
the world, Dubrovnik, for example, which is a beautiful city, fewer than 200 people live in
the walled city because so much of the market has been given over to short-term rentals like Airbnb.
It's not just Airbnb, but there are places around the world where this type of the intensity
of the tourism is going to come to question. I'm not making a statement about Airbnb, but
I am saying that there is a sensitivity that I think is out there and it is real.
On Tuesday, Shopify reported better than expected results, but weak first quarter guidance
driven by higher marketing and compensation expenses sent the stock down 13%. Bill, the
stock wasn't cheap in the first place, and the increased expenses, I think, surprised
investors. Management thinks the spend now will pay off down the road. What's your take?
This stock has gone up like it's been shot out of a cannon over the last six months.
It's dropped 13% from its high before earnings, which is a number that it had only crossed
in December. Right. So, we're back to December.
We're back to December. I mean, how's that feel, right? Like, the nights are a little bit longer.
You know, it was a great quarter for them. And I think that this quarter showed just how
anti-fragile Shopify is becoming. Because a lot of the area where they have been focused
is with their larger enterprise customers. Like, On Holdings, for example, is a huge
newer customer for them. So, these are much more complex customers than, you know,
remember where Shopify started. It's basically to help, essentially, Etsy people.
Right, Mom and Pop. Yeah. So, now they have moved up to being able to help
some of the companies that are doing things like competing with Nike. So, it was a fantastic
quarter for them. I think that the story of the stock really has to do with the fact that
it had run up so much. And as you said, it was not cheap. And so, I think what was getting
valued was not just the future, but also the ever after. And we've stepped back a little bit
into reality. Trade desk shares were up big on Friday as the company reported a 23% increase
in revenue and a $700 million share buyback. Jason, report looks strong to me, but I want
to know what stood out to you. Yeah, I think the two themes that really
stood out here. Connected TV remains the fastest-growing vertical for the company. I don't
think it's going to be changing anytime soon. Then, the AI tailwinds. We talk a lot about AI.
They're very quick to tell you that, listen, they've been embedding AI into their platforms
since 2016, and they're using it to make their business better. I think it's just interesting
to look at AI from that perspective, the companies that are using it to make their own operations
better. The Trade Desk certainly stands out here. But the revenue numbers just continue to impress,
up 23% from a year ago. UID 2.0 continues to gain traction, guiding for about 25%
top-line growth here in the current quarter. And they are going to see the inevitable tailwinds
from the political spin that we unfortunately are going to be subject to here for the next several
months. All right, Fools, we will see you a little bit later in the show. Up next,
a conversation with Corrado Russo, Managing Partner and Head of Global Securities at
Hazelview Investments, for a look at the international real estate market.
You're listening to Motley Fool Money.
Ron Gross. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ron Gross. Motley Fool Money's Deidre
Woollard caught up with Corrado Russo, Managing Partner and Head of Global Securities at Hazelview
Investments, for a discussion about how the weak U.S. office sector is faring globally.
And they discussed some REITs that investors may want to consider.
So one of the reasons I like to talk to you is you've got more of the global perspective.
I tend to mostly study U.S. REITs.
And, well, the United States was not the top performer last year, according to your data.
So looking at this, at the high end, you have Germany.
At the low end, you have Hong Kong and some of the things that have been happening in China in general.
But tell us about some of the macro factors behind those results.
Yeah, so Germany was driven by the residential market.
There's a very large multifamily contingent on the real estate company side in Germany.
And a bit of it was playing catch up from 2022.
They significantly underperformed in 2022, coming off of the uncertainty around the war,
high inflation and high interest rates.
And given that residential is a very stable, long-term cash flow and predictable cash flow,
it tends to trade more like a bond.
And obviously, as interest rates started to weigh on, you know, going up, that started to weigh on
those stocks. So, they had a poor 2022. As we went into 2023, people realized that even though it's
very stable cash flow, it does have the potential for growth. And there was a tremendous amount of
growth that we saw coming out of the residential space in Germany. So, that really started to see
a large sort of catch-up, you know, in that space as well. And also, they have a bit higher leverage,
So that would have, you know, led to a 2022 underperformance, which again reversed as we started to get to the end of 2023 when rates started to stabilize.
Hong Kong, a bit of a different situation.
You know, Hong Kong is being driven to what we've seen in China.
Obviously, China's economy hasn't been as strong as you've seen in the U.S. and Europe.
China sort of took a bit of a different tact when it came to COVID, rather than using excess
stimulus measures to try to get the economy going, which obviously resulted in inflationary
pressures. They took a more long-term duration lockdowns with minimal stimulus. And that's
starting to have deflationary pressures. And that's putting some pressure on property values.
And property values, if you know the Asian market, especially in China and Hong Kong,
it makes up a much bigger percentage of the average person's net worth. So as property comes
under pressure, that can put that stock under pressure. But what we like about Hong Kong going
forward is you're sitting with certain sectors that have great fundamentals going forward
that are actually trading at significantly larger discounts than anywhere else we're seeing in the
world. Well, you mentioned office earlier. Certainly not a great year for office in the U.S.
What's it like globally? Yeah, it's interesting. You're not seeing the same kind of negativity
on office that you're seeing in North America, in Europe or Asia. And it's for a couple of
different reasons. First off, in Europe, there tends to be a much greater culture around going
to the office. Most of you sort of live, work, play is around the office. You go to the office,
you have lunch with your colleagues, your colleagues are your friends, you go to dinner
afterwards into the piazza and then you know home and do it all over again so culturally what we've
seen is then throughout COVID is that as soon as people could go back to the office they went back
to the office so the average utilization rates is much higher and the work from home trend is much
less significant in Europe and so that's driving better demand and we're also seeing a lot more
demand from private buyers of real estate to buy office properties. So that's keeping valuations
higher relative to in North America, where we're not seeing a lot of people interested in buying
office properties right now. Asia, a bit of a different situation. Again, culturally, there's
a huge dynamic of FaceTime with the boss, especially in markets like Tokyo, for example.
So there's a huge understanding from most of the workers that the way to climb that
corporate ladder is you have to have that face time and show that you're working.
So again, I think you're seeing less of a work from home trend.
It also has to do with the average size of a home in Asia is much smaller than it is
in North America.
So when you're sitting in your 2,000, 3,000 square foot home and you have an office or
a spare room that you can work from home and it's very comfortable, that's easy to
do in North America.
a lot more difficult when you're, you know, living in a 500 or square foot, you know,
apartment and you've probably got your elderly parents living with you as well. So again,
a little less practical to see that work from home. So yeah, we're seeing very different trends.
Certainly not, you know, certainly not escaping the overall, you know, decline, but certainly not
as bad as what we're seeing in North America. Let's dive into some of the specific callouts
you have in your report. So last year, your choice for a U.S. REIT was Rexford, which is
an industrial REIT. Certainly, industrial continues to be one of the growth sectors
in commercial real estate. This year, you've got American Tower. Now, it's one of the two big
cell tower REITs. It's been a tough couple of years for tower REITs, especially because you
had the big telecom companies consolidating. So that meant that there was fewer companies
vying for the same space on these towers. So what makes American Tower one to watch right now?
Yeah. So the first thing is obviously, as you said, it's underperformed. And that typically
is what piques our interest in why we dive in and look at different opportunities. American
tower has underperformed for a couple of reasons. You mentioned one of them, the consolidation of
the carriers, which has reduced capital spending. For the audience, as carriers spend capital and
put equipment on cell towers, the revenue for these cell towers go up and that benefits their
long-term cash flow. With that consolidation, they've paused and slowed down their 5G spending
to sort of integrate and consolidate what they have. The other side of the equation,
towers have very long-term contracts. So, their duration for that cash flow stream is relatively
long, and that makes them very sensitive to rise in interest rates. So, that's also caused
the underperformance over the last couple of years. As we move into 2024, our view is that
that underperformance will start to turn around and go the other way. One, we're seeing 5G network
spending start to pick up, and that's expected to be a positive catalyst going into 2024 and 2025
as carriers, now that we see a lot more 5G phones out there, they need to provide that data
and that backup on the network to catch up to what the demand is. And at the same time,
as interest rates start to go the other way, we think that that can significantly impact the stock
price for two reasons. One, the trading multiples should improve because it was one of the biggest
factors that brought the multiple down. But also, the cost of capital to continue to grow
will improve. So, as their cost of capital improves, they'll be able to continue their
external growth, which is really how American Tower has grown over the last decade or so,
is by really consolidating and buying other towers outside of the U.S. as well.
How much is edge computing, data centers, rise of AI kind of factor into American Tower?
I know they have a little bit of interest in that space.
Yeah, so what you're seeing is a bit of convergence between cell towers and data centers.
You know, there's, you know, edge computing obviously helps in terms of, you know,
trying to move into the data center space in terms of, you know, where AI and real-time
computing power is necessary. So, you know, whether it's, you know, throughput of different
devices and data going through and also storage of different data. So, I think that, you know,
I think we're going to see a consolidation between where, you know, the cell tower ends in terms of
carrying the signal versus the data centers where, you know, computing power ultimately rests and
where data storage is done. And I think the edge is sort of their solution to sort of getting into
that space as well. You know, happy to talk about it as well, but data centers is one of the key
themes we have for 2024 as well. I'm curious about your Canadian choice, Chartwell Senior
residences. I mean, I know the demographics are in our favor for senior living. I've studied a
little bit about the general aging of the population, but it's been a tough area to
invest in so far, at least in the U.S. So what makes Chartwell a standout?
Yeah, great question. And to your point, the demographics are there. The stock should be
performing very well, and it hasn't. It's had a tough time. And that tough time's been for a few
reasons. It really continues to stem from COVID. Obviously, the impact of COVID disease was very
impactful on the elderly and the distancing and lockdown measures that were put in place to combat
that, you know, led to, you know, not only the inability to have new move-ins, to have people,
you know, take up the occupancy that was there and it disrupted leasing, but it also disrupted
to the labor force. There was very, you know, what we saw is an exodus of the labor force for
senior housing and the inability to find staff. So that really meant that Chartwell had to spend
an exorbitant amount of money on temporary staff from agencies. So that led to, you know, you had
negative occupancies because you couldn't move people in and you had expenses going up because
of cash flow. Underlying all of that, we saw a significant amount of supply. That's why the stock
in the sector hasn't worked for so much for so long is you've had so much supply. So those three
factors together has sort of gone against the stock. So why do we like it now? One, the distancing
and the COVID measures are obviously gone. A lot of the stigma with respect to moving into senior
housing has dissipated and you're starting to see that leasing activity pick up. We've seen it over
the last two quarters, significant pickup in leasing activity. One. Two, the labor force is
back to where it was, you know, kind of pre-COVID. So, that expense management issue is starting to
dissipate as well. We're seeing them get back to their full labor force levels where they were
running before. But most importantly, supply is completely turned off. With the higher cost of
capital, the higher material cost to develop new, the increased regulatory environment,
all of that has made it very, very difficult to build new senior housing. So, you know,
as we see a ramp up in demand, we see a decline in expenses, we see a decline in competition from
supply, we believe that that's going to lead to higher rents, higher occupancy, and ultimately
boost overall cash flow down the road. Is that a phenomenon you're seeing just in Canada? Are
you seeing it in other places as well? We have seen it in the U.S. as well, but I think the U.S.,
I would say, was much quicker and a bit more balanced in terms of demand supply. So I think
it's been a little quicker. So what I would say is you look at somebody like Welltower and you see
how well that stock did in the U.S. last year. It really had its recovery. So I would say that
Chartwell is a bit of a lag, and we believe that it can sort of replicate the recovery and the
benefit that we saw come out of the U.S. in 2023. Ah, that makes sense. Well, you didn't choose
logistics for the U.S. this year, but you've got two European picks that focus on that space.
You've got Montea and CTP. So what makes logistics a growth area for Europe right now?
Yeah, so the U.S. has extremely strong demand for industrial, but supply is starting to catch up.
We are seeing increase in supply, so we're a little worried that that might put a ceiling on future rent growth.
Europe effectively has the same strong demand trends that the U.S. has, but it doesn't have the same supply issue.
Supply is relatively limited.
The stock is a bit older than the U.S.
they haven't built as much so a lot of the old stock is obsolete and so you really have an effort
to sort of find you know those new logistics centers that are more efficient and if you own
them which montaigne ctp do the two companies that we outlined they're seeing significant demand for
their space if you look at europe there's a huge ongoing movement towards near shoring
which means two things. You have European companies that want to keep more storage
in Europe rather than rely on it to come from China or from Asia. And you're also seeing them
bring home some of the manufacturing. So even though they might continue to source some
from Asia, they still want a portion of their manufacturing done on the continent. So you're
seeing that drive industrial logistics as well. And then finally, you're seeing Asian suppliers
that are setting up shop in Europe to be closer to their customer because their customers
are demanding that. And that, again, is putting a lot more pressure for industrial and logistic
space. So the demand is off the charts in our view. Supply can't keep up. And we believe that
Montaigne and CTP have the right kind of assets for the kinds of efficiencies and specs that
tenants are looking for today. Coming up after the break, Bill Mann and Jason Moser return with
a couple of stocks on their radar. 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. Ron Gross here with Bill Mann and Jason Moser.
All right, Fools, we have time for a quick story before we hit stocks on our radar.
According to industry experts, a certain 1970s TV show with a catchy theme song
was responsible for a surge in the cruise industry,
and it's being hailed as the greatest product placement of all time.
Yes, Fools, I'm talking about Princess Cruises and the Love Boat. I know we're all old enough
to remember Isaac and Doc and good old Captain Steubing. So, my simple question to both of
you, thumbs up or down on actually taking a cruise and buy, sell, or hold the cruise
industry as an investment? Jason, you first. I've never taken a cruise, and I'm
going to try to fulfill the rest of my obligations without doing so.
Okay. So, norovirus down. Big, big fan of the show. I can't get the
song out of my mind. I mean, just wonderful childhood memories. Unfortunately, I don't
think the nostalgia is enough to sway me into the bowl camp on the cruise lines as an investment,
though. Bill Mann has had to have taken a cruise,
or more than a cruise. I've got parents-in-law who live in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. Of course, it's the law down there. You have to take cruises. Yeah.
And it's not really my choice of tourism, but as a way to get a multi-generational family together,
they're wonderful, like full stop. And as an investment?
Sure. Sure. Well, I mean, they just went through a near-death experience with the coronavirus,
and they are still building massive ships and took some inventory that needed to be taken
offline, offline. They are in economically pretty good shape.
All right, Fools. Tight on time, but we have time for a couple of stocks on our radar. I'll
bring in our man, Dan Boyd, to ask some questions. Jason Moser, you're up first. What do you got?
Yeah, well, speaking of economically good shape, I'm keeping an eye on Home Depot. Ticker is HD.
We got earnings come out on February 20th before the market opens. Just looking at the results from
last quarter, it was not that great of a quarter, at least on the surface, right? I mean, comps fell
3.5%. Earnings per share down 10.1%. Transactions down 2.4%. Average ticket was even down. And
listen to this guidance, Ron. They're talking about guidance for a full year. Comp sales to
decline between 3% and 4%. Targeting and operating margin between 14.2% and 14.1% down. Anticipating
a decline of 9% to 11% in earnings per share. The stock is still up 20% since that release, Ron.
I mean, Home Depot is just a behemoth. I think, really, for me, I'm going to be fascinated to
see what they have to say in the call in regard to inflation, because they did make the point
last quarter. They feel like the worst of inflation is behind us. Seems like we've
gotten some language this week that might speak to the contrary. Should be an interesting report.
Dan, question about Home Depot?
Oh, I got to get to Home Depot. I have so much York work to do.
Can you pick me up something?
It's ridiculous.
That's more of a comment, but we'll take that. Bill, what do you got?
Mine is Fresenius, which is a German company. Actually, they are one of the largest
dialysis companies in the world, but definitely in the U.S. What's really interesting about them
is that they are square in the sites of the GLP agonists, the Ozempics, the Wigovies. So I'm
really interested to see what's going to happen with the dialysis industry as Fresenius is one
of the drivers. Dan? We have a Fresenius here in Alexandria, Virginia, but do you remember,
Bill, what it used to be before it was a Fresenius? It's got to have been a frozen
yogurt place. It was a Fuddruckers, the burger restaurant, if you remember that place. When that
thing closed down, oh man, poor young Dan, very sad. Dan, I don't know where to go with that,
but do you have a favorite for your watch list? Well, unfortunately, it's not Fuddruckers. I got
to go Home Depot. I can't get away from that place. I feel like I'm there almost every weekend
in the spring. Bill Mann, Jason Moser, thanks for being here. That's going to do it for this
week's Motley Fool Money. Our engineer is Dan Boyd. I'm Ron Gross. Thanks for listening and
we'll see you next week.
