The Best One Yet - “Amazon’s $250 aerial Rottweiler” — Amazon’s home security drone. Vail Resorts’ snow report. Square’s Cash App-titude.

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

Vail Resorts’ is fighting climate change long term, but could surprisingly thrive this COVID ski season. Square’s stock jumped 12% last week because Cash App’s network effects aren’t getting enough love. And Bezos decided to go dystopian in Amazon’s big product day with a drone that flies through your home like an aerial Rottweiler.$MTN $SQ $AMZNGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @TBOYJack @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. And this is Snacks Daily. Welcome back. It is Monday, September 28th. Nick, you look great in that Yankees hat, and we got the best one yet. Jack, Navy's always sharp and you. T-B-O-Y. First story, what do we got over here? Vail Resorts. Knows, it's not ski season right now. Nope. So you're preparing for ski season right now. Snackers, grab Areca and jump into the financial snow report with us. For our second story, Square Stock, jumped 12% last week. And cash apps, network effects aren't getting the hard emojis it deserves. our third and final story. Remember when those Amazon drones were getting ready to deliver a whole bunch of medicines to your grandma's backyard? Jack, you're going to have to cancel that. Now Amazon's drones will fly around your house like an airborne Rottweiler. I thought you were going to go with airborne guard pair. It's really more of a dried. But snackers, before we hit those three stories,

it is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism and the start of the new year. Now remember, you're not supposed to work, you're not supposed to eat, you're also not supposed to drink. Not even water for 24 hours a complete 100% fast. And honestly, Jack and I have an insanely deep respect for any holiday that involves fasting. Today's especially intense if you're listening to a podcast called snacks. It kind of feels cruel. Now, it's observed from sundown last night to sundown on Monday night tonight. And the purpose of this fasting is basically to remove all the pleasures and distractions from your day, small and big. During Yom Kippur, there's no pinging from Slack. Nope. There's no chewing of an RX box. And no peasant. And no pears. And no

Pample moose of a spin drift, not going down. And once you remove all that from your life, the result is reflection. Yes. Personal and deep, an entire day dedicated to personal reflection. You are making space to think and self-examine for the past year and the upcoming year, because this would be the new year. So it's actually a pretty quiet 24 hours, it's just you and your mind, until the horn gets blown at the very end. Now, I've been to some Yom Kippur celebrations, and I was telling Jack how, what particularly stands out is the hornblown. So it's a very quiet, very personal, very deep day that culminates with the blowing of a horn at the very end of Yom Kippur. Jack and I were talking about this, and this is the detail that stands out.

Because if you've been to a Yom Kippur, you know it's intense and almost, it sounds uncomfortable with the horn. But that's perfectly normal that you may feel uncomfortable by that jarring horn. It's a new year, new opportunities. It's not about you being comfortable. No, it's not. You've been fasting for 24 hours. You've got to focus. It's time to think.

If you're snacking while fasting today, we hope you have an easy fast. and a voracious post-fast binge. Jack and I decided to make this one extra digestible for you. Shana Tova. Yes, to Rebecca, our third snacker, an extra Shana Tova out to you. Let's in our three stories. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way.

It's snacks about to hear ain't food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so. You know, we're not recommending any securities. Nope. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security.

Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member FINRA slash SIPC. For our first story, Amazon's huge product day was dominated by one single product. The honors jack? It's called the Always Home Cam. They're not good with the names.

But this was otherwise a classic Amazon hardware event where you've got like a collection of MBA projects they've been working on all year. You get the new $50 Amazon video game controller that lets you play video games, Sons console, just plugging into the cloud. You got the orb-shaped echo speaker. It's like that thing Sauron spies on the whole fellowship through, you know, I remember that. Plus, if your five-year-old has alexophobia and is afraid of those cylindrical Amazon Alexas, well, they just unveiled a kid-friendly version in an adorable panda face that can sit right on your bedside table.

Oh, bonus! Alexa now understands the sound of a baby crying, so it can respond by turning on the light or play music, it's basically a third parent. So, you know, you're straightforward, cute, and alarming new products from Amazon. And then Amazon decided to unveil Always Home Cam. An in-home flying drone that will cruise around the house like a winged security guard. Jack and I will tweet this out for Matt T-boy Jack and at Nick in New York. We have to.

I already tweeted this thing out, Nick. It probably tweeted itself out, Jack. This is the tech equivalent of your German Shepherd diesel strapped with a GoPro on his forehead. It's something that took Star Wars, Jack, and just cross it with Martha Stewart for a day. Now, we're wondering, has Bezos put out a 1-800 number to call when this flying drone eventually inevitably turns on you? Jack, are you going to play dead? You're going to fight back on this thing? No one has any idea. That's the big question.

Honey, just plug it and unplug it immediately. Here's how it works. An intruder triggers your Amazon ring alarm system. Yeah. That's when the drone leaves its dock, starts recording, and cast the video to your phone. This thing literally flies around. your house to take on the intruder. Yeah, we guess intruders are going to start bearing Louisville sluggers or fishing nets in anticipation of these flying guard dogs. Not sure if we can say this, but pro tip? Now, the drone is only going to cruise around your apartment for five minutes. It's

purposely limited, so it just does that one thing. Yeah, it's going to be 250 bucks available next year or whenever the dystopian future is supposed to start. Because remember, the last time we covered Amazon's ring security cameras, it's when they were like, unbeknownst to us all, giving video to local law enforcement. But Jack and I noticed this is actually one of the biggest pivots we've ever seen in product launch history. When we first covered Amazon drones back in 2018, 99% of all the chatter was about logistics. Yeah, it was like Amazon's using drones to deliver NyQuil, Cheetos, and like a dandruff shampoo. Turns out all those MBAs have been working on drones for inside the home for security all along. Sneaky business school students. So Jack,

what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Amazon? Big Tech's battle for your home is down to two players with two different strategies. Snackers, you got Apple, they're building an in-home ecosystem obsessed with communication and entertainment. Apple TV, iPhone, MacBook, so you can watch Apple TV Plus, play Apple Music, and work out with Apple Fitness Plus. But Amazon is building an in-home ecosystem, too, obsessed with function. You got Alexa to handle the tasks, rings to protect your house, and prime to deliver you and nourish you and fill the pantry. For now, those two approaches, they can like thrive in a complimentary way. Amazon does the boring appliances. Apple does the sexy media. But eventually, we're expecting these two strategies to clash. For our second story,

Square Stock jumped 12% in the last week on a single product. Cash app. Yep, which has all the network effects. Snackers, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, he's usually busy fasting and not shaving, which takes a lot of time every day. He walks three miles to work every day and has a side hustle from his side hustle, he's also the CEO of another Fortune 500 company Square. Jack, I heard he doesn't even put Square on his LinkedIn or the resume. Now, we just told you, Snackers, that Nike's online sales doubled. Digital payment apps are loving it. And Square announced in August that the revenue growth grew 70% since just March.

For Square, the pandemic is like one long Black Friday sales event for the digital payment system. And that's why Square stocks up 150% this year, even though it's a lot. a lot of other people are jumping into this space. But last week, two analysts wrote up reports about one square product that resulted in the stock jump in another 12%. And that product was Cash App Square's Venmo-like peer-to-peer payment app. It's the fast follower to Venmo that's kind of the fast first now. It is, Jack, and this reminds me of a little socially distanced dinner with my co-host over here in which there was a $19 transaction for Delphina Bougie mushroom pizza. Somebody paid $56 dollars for a red pizza and a white pizza, and somebody still hasn't received that $19.

I didn't know we were doing splitsies. No one told me before the meal, Jack. Now, it's a classic network effect situation with Squares Cash App because it only works if Nick has Cash App too. And if Jack has Cash App as well. Because let's say Jack doesn't have the cash app and I do, I'm going to be like, dude, I want to pay you, but you got to have the cash app. So Nick is basically marketing Cash App's product to me for free to the the benefit of Square. To get that kind of marketing, a traditional bank would have to take on like a subway ad and a Facebook ad and a billboard and a TV commercial to convince you to use their product. Nick pressuring me to download the cash app is a network effect and it dramatically

lowers the cost of acquiring new customers and getting them to download your app. Or as Jack and I like to say, Jack Dorsey is basically using peer pressure as a gross strategy. Everyone's doing it. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Square? Square's cash app is big, but it's not a profit puppy yes. Snackers, cash transferred on the cash app has almost doubled in the coronavirus. But that's not making actual money for Square. It's just making Square's cash app bigger. And that's because peer-to-peer payments, they don't make that much money. But new features are the critical next life phase for a peer-to-peer app like Cash App. A new feature, let's talk about Bitcoin trading, which appeared on Cash App back in 2018. And after it did,

revenues from Bitcoin trading have surged to nearly a billion dollars worth of revenue for Square in just one quarter. Square is getting a lot of love for cash apps growth today. But that won't matter unless it can add profit puppy features tomorrow. For our third and final story, Vail Resorts is shockingly optimistic about ski season. But COVID is about to be another challenge to the struggling ski industry. Snackers, whenever Jack and I look at Vail Resorts, it feels like they played like a little too much ski resort tycoon as a kid. Vail Resorts has literally purchased 37 ski mountain resorts. 37. I can name three. I can name four. Yes, you can Nick. But finance meets fresh power when it comes to Vail because they are a publicly traded company with a legendary ticker symbol,

MTN. And Vail makes money in its three divisions. The first division is mountain. Expensive hospitality. Second division lodging. Really expensive hospitality. Third division, real estate. Second home expensive stuff. Now, in ridehaling, you got Uber versus Lyft. In skiing, you got Vale versus Altera. You got Vail's famous epic pass, which includes unlimited skiing and boarding on those 37 mountains. And Altera has the icon pass, unlimited skiing boarding at 15 mountains. But Altera is a private company, so it's got a sumo stock. We are straight up missing out. You can't invest in them. Vail Resorts, on the other hand, has a publicly traded stock for everybody who wants it.

Now, last year, Snackers, Vail's 37 Resorts, abruptly, properly shut down all of them on March 17. We hope nobody was on the chairlifts when those resorts shut down. Yeah, because that caused profits to drop for the year 68% to just $99 million. But the stock is up 36% from that shocking day in March when they shut down the ski slopes on hopes of something better. And those hopes are based on the fact that sales of their $99 epic pass are up 18% so far this year, even though ski season's going to look a whole lot different. Okay, Nick, face coverings are going to be required and only family units can sit beside each other on a chairlift. Although Jack, I do kind of like this one because it means none of the random small talk.

So how did you get to the mountain today? Oh, I took 87. Or you'll get the guy in the singles line being like, hey, want to pretend to be brothers and sisters? It's the worst. But Snackers, you're also going to notice reservations are going to be required limiting capacity to prevent overcrowding at the appra. In fact, Vail expects barely any occasional skiers this season. It's going to be mostly just season pass holders because they get priorities.

for reservations. But meet your friend, Circe at the lodge, because winter is literally coming, and COVID is going to be preventing a lot of indoor activities. So the shoots on the backside of Castle Rock, that's literally the great escape for a lot of people stuck indoors. Classics, Jack. So what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Vail Resorts? Stock prices are about future profits, and the future for the ski season is warmer. Yeah, you've got resorts continuing to struggle, sadly, as warmer weather is requiring more man-made snowmaking. And high snowmaking costs. and worse conditions because of the fake snow are causing people to ski less. And then if you hit the slopes less, the revenues for the veil slowed down,

and then you get a whole vicious cycle. You have to increase prices again, which causes even fewer people to ski. So Vail and other resorts are facing a Robert Frost two trails kind of dilemma over here. Do we go all in on luxury, shrink the size of the market, but double the prices? Or do we democratize skiing and boarding by keeping prices down and just try to get a whole bunch more people? The ski industry already has tough challenges, and COVID makes winter. even colder, kind of warmer, actually. Jack, again, I love the Navy.

Can you whip up the takeaways for us over here? Amazon has a $250 aerial guard dog for sale that you can put in your ring protected Amazon home. Honey, unplug it and plug it back in. It's trying to kill me. Second story, cash app is Squares growth puppy. But to become its profit puppy, it needs more revenue generating features than just network effects. Vail Resorts was super bummed on March 17th when all its mountains got closed for COVID. Short term, it's open for this coming season.

Long term, it's dealing with climate change. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one tweeted in by Cody Goodermote from San Francisco by way of lovely Albany, New York. Low-key detail in Apple's recent product event, they're no longer going to include USB cords for free with your Apple watch order. Now, at first, this feels like a donglegate situation.

Like Apple's being cheap, they're making us pay for a cord we need. Realistically, though, we all have like two dozen cords in that random drawer for like random electronic dongles. I know what you're talking about, Jack. Plus, though, this extra move is the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road. That's right. It's a sustainability play because why produce wasted cords and why use energy to produce those wasted cords? Snackers, before you go, we got to say congrats to snacker Sid Argoal.

Got a new job in Mumbai, India. And congrats on getting engaged to Giuseppe and Kaylee in Sausalito, California. Do you think they did it at Fish Jack? Best crab sandwich on the West Coast. And congrats Mitch and Toby engaged in Denver, Colorado. And happy anniversary to Michael and Karen in Wichita Falls, Texas. Tabby and Doug celebrating their fourth in Los Angeles. Dwayne and Latoya, happy 17th anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the meantime, happy birthday to Steve Bogger in Traverse City, Michigan. And Katie Sue in Charlottesville, Virginia. And Sharia Kande in Edison, New Jersey. And Aisha in Queens, New York, the biggest of the five boroughs. And Charlie Hammock in Muncie, Indiana. And Aaron in Denver, Colorado. and Reagan, Ray, Ray in Hartsville, South Carolina. And Alexi on Glen Cove, Long Island, New York.

And Lucia Muno is the youngest snacker, two-year-old birthday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Good, clean, family fun snacks for the whole family. Her first words, H-Y-H-Y-S-D. Have you had your snacks daily? If you know, you know, we'll see you tomorrow. This is Jack, I own stock of Amazon, Nick owned stock of Square, Apple,

and he has one Bitcoin. whose name is Ben. It's Ben. He hasn't done much. The Robin Hood Snacks podcast you just heard reflects the opinions of only the hosts who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets Inc. Or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The podcast is for informational purposes only,

is not intended to serve as a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and is not an offer or sale of a security. The podcast is also not a research report and is not intended to serve as the basis of any investment decision. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.