The Best One Yet - 💍 “Charm bracelet heroes” – Pandora’s Spiderman bling. Lyft’s unfocused focus. The Fed’s tough love.

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

Pandora just had its best quarter of jewelry sales ever because The Hulk and Spidey are charm bracelet heroes. Lyft stock crashed 30% since they’re so focused on focus… they’re losing focus. And stocks just surged because the Fed’s interest rate hike is the tough love we (and Matt Damon) need.$PANDY $LYFT $UBER $VOOFollow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm excited to hit this pod, man. Here we go. Excited. Here we go. Here we go to go. Here we go. We're feeling good. Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha.

We're out of hair products. Blah, la, la, la, la. Here we go. Three, two. This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, May 5th, the new Friday. And today's pod is the best one yet.

Let's there be light in my pod. I mean, the brand new lighting in your studio. Can we talk about it, please? Honestly, I feel very under the microscope with these new lines. Okay, your face, it has never looked more dewy. That is a compliment. I think you're trying to say four out of five dermatologists recommend whatever's going on right here. Whoever that fifth dermatologist is, doesn't listen to this pod.

Jack, first story, what do we got for the T-boy? Pandora, just had their best quarter of jewelry sales ever. Jack, I got three words for you. Infinity Stones ring. For our second story. Lift stock just plummeted 30% to an all-time low because they are too focused on being focused. Lyft is now worth about two-thirds of a lift. Our third and final story is the reason that stock surged yesterday.

It's because of Robin Williams and Goodwill hunting tough love. It's not your fault. Before we hit that wonderful mix. It's not your fault, but this is a wonderful mix. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo, not Mexican Independence Day. In fact, we've jumped in T-Boy style. Cinco de Mayo is not even a federal holiday in Mexico.

Yeah, Cinco de Mayo is a sell. of a morale-boasting battle victory against the French from 1862. Right. So great commemoration. But Cinco de Mayo has actually become a bigger holiday in the United States than it is in Mexico. It's kind of like the Gordita Crunch Supreme. A little bit of Americanization tossed on that taco jack. Exactly. This is almost as American at this point as Doritos Locos tacos. Not that there's anything wrong with the Doritos Locos Tacos. Now, the commercialization of Cinco de Mayo here north of the border began in 1989. Yeah, Jack and I dove in further, T-Boy style.

The company that was importing Corona and Modelo beers at the time decided to launch a new ad campaign. Yeah, they tried to get Mexican Americans to drink Mexican beer on the fifth day of the fifth month. Find your beach, ipso facto. But here's the real celebration. Mexico is the number two trading partner to the United States behind only China. Jack, how many goods and services are we bringing in from Mexico these days? A whole lot of goods and services. Oh, yeah.

We import more from Mexico than we do for Mexico than we do for China. Canada, from Japan, from Germany, from the UK, from any European country. And it's not just the mezcal, the meat, and the maitualas, Jack. They're making cars, oil, computers, medical supplies down there for our consumption up here. Jack, can we talk about the green stuff? Four out of five avocados on your plate? Four out of five avocados on your plate are from Mexico. Guac, it's extra because the quack is so fresh and from so south of the border.

Throw a 50% tip on that green gold butter. celebrate our three stories. Kate Spade Handbag. Of course. And the Pandora Charm bracelet. Middle school champion right there. Nostalgia is thriving people. Just ask Pandora, which happens to be the largest jewelry company on planet Earth.

This company is worth 55 billion Danish croner, which we translated to $9 billion. And they specialize in the $100 or less price point jewelry. The teenager classics. And right now, you got war is affecting minerals. You got China cities on lockdown. They're not buying jewelry. You think things would be hard for a jewelry company. But not for Pandora.

They just blinked out a record first quarter for jewelry sales. They're up 21% compared to last year. Now, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about Pandora when we jumped in T-Boy style. Pandora is pulling a move from the toy companies. They're licensing out pop culture icons. Let's look at Mattel and Hasbro. Classic toy makers. They partner with Disney to whip up Star Wars stores.

Because that Elsa doll from Frozen, that drives you. the toy industry. Well, Pandora has decided to partner with Marvel Comics. Exactly. Licensing deals similar to the toy companies, but for bracelets. Exactly. So, Jack, what happened to be the top performing jewelry collection over at Pandora in the last three months? The Avenger collection has 40 million social media impressions in the three months since it was launched. Okay, can we talk about the Thor Hammer charm? That looks delightful. How about the Captain America shield that you can put on your bracelet? Jack, I'm pretty sure. Wolverine has been wearing hand jewelry.

Dude, Wolverine's not the Marvel cinematic universe. Yes, yes. No, he's not. Wolverine has been wearing hand jewelry for like years now. Wolverine is not Marvel. You think you know what that is? That's an extended bracelet, Jack. That's what that is. I do not stand by this Wolverine line.

But I can tell you that 17,000 people are on the waiting list for that ring, Pandormix, that has all six of the all-powerful infinity stones. He got down on one knee and he gave him. me a Hulk ring. But the number one question the CEO faces from customers. Yeah. When will we get the Spider-Man bracelet? He didn't go to Jared's. He went to Shields. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Pandora Jewelry? With great power comes great personalization. Yeah, thanks, Uncle Ben. An increasing theme that Jack and I are noticing in all the earnings reports lately, the word personalization. Companies think you can charge a higher price if you personalize

the product, the feed, or the experience that yourself. Now, Pandora is not a tech company, but it is betting big on personalization. In fact, personalization is core part of their five-year plan. Pandora's top jewelry right now is a charm bracelet. And a charm bracelet is an analog version of personalizing a product. Yeah, Jack, that Iron Man charm pairs well with the Spidey charm, which goes on the Black Panther bracelet. Like gibbets let you personalize your pair of crocs. Naturally. Charms let you personalize your bracelet or any jewelry. With great power, we're seeing great personalization. For our second story, Lyft stock just crashed 30%.

Lyft says they're focused, but that's a weakness, not a strength. Now, on this pod, there are a few truisms. First, if we say mattress, mattress, mattress, you will get a mattress at in your social feeds. And second, Lyft has always been worth one lift. One lift is our favorite market cap unit of measurement. It always has been. Well, today, one lift is actually worth two-thirds of a lift.

Because lift sock plummeted 30% yesterday, and it's now down 75% from their all-time high. Now, if you feel like you've been waiting an extra six minutes for that Camry to pull around, and then you ended up paying an extra six bucks to ride in that Camry, you'd be right, because you have. That's why the number of people who took a lift last quarter fell to 18 million people. Because Lyft simply doesn't have. enough drivers. Yeah, it's not riders. That's the problem. You waited six minutes longer and paid six bucks more because there aren't enough Lyft drivers. And I don't want to call you an out, Jack, but Larry definitely canceled on me this morning and it definitely was noticeable. And I did it personally.

Lyft doesn't care about all those struggles, though. The founder of the company just wanted to talk about this new focus the company has called the Lyft Network. The Lyft Network. The Lyft network, the new focus. Honestly, it could use a little bit more of some branding magic, but we'll go with Lyft Network. Jack, what does this look like? The Lyft Network means that Lyft will offer a bunch of different transportation services in the app only strictly for transportation. Okay, so Jack, what you're telling us is that this is a super app, but just made for riding humans around the world. That's right. Lyft wants everything that has wheels and can move a human being to be an option for a ride in their Lyft app.

Now, this makes sense as a broader vision because Lyft started as a pink version of an Uber ride. Right. And then they acquired New York City's city bike and a bunch of other bike shares and a bunch of other cities. Okay. Also, shocker, Lyft now has a rental car company. You can rent cars from Lyft.

And they have scooters. And you can ride public transit via the Lyft app in some cities. Now, to sum all of this up, the founder of Lyft said this specific quote. Our singular focus on transportation, that is our big. biggest competitive advantage. Jack and I heard that and you know what? We disagree. We disagree. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over Lyft? Lyft has overfocused on focus. Yeah, Uber stock is down, but it's only down about half as much as Lyft stock is down. A key reason Uber is persevering better. Uber's been less focused than Lyft and being less focused has been working for Uber. Okay, for example,

Lyft, they never did food delivery. They remained 100% focused on riding. humans. Well, Uber did do food delivery. They had a little less focus on human transport, and food delivery is now a bigger business than ride hailing for Uber. So, Jack, lift is kind of like if McDonald's only focused on hamburgers. Yeah, if McDonald's only focused on hamburgers, they wouldn't have breakfast or happy meals or McFlurries or fried chicken sandwiches. Yeah, and Jack, a beef shortage would have destroyed McDonald's. Yeah, and a pandemic would have destroyed Lyft. So focus, yeah, it's a fantastic skill, but too much focus means you're going to miss some growth. opportunities. Lift is too focused. Lift is overfocused on focus. And now we're at about our sponsor,

Robin Hood. We see ads all the time. All over the place, 10 bucks off this $5 promo code for that, Jack, you can buy three suits, you can get one free. But something we always thought was cool about Robin Hood, the free stock promo. Yeah, this was wild. The promo isn't like some X amount of dollars, it's one stock. If you signed up for Robin Hood, they'd thank you with a single share in a publicly traded company on the house. And that free stock promo, it actually helped drive Robin Hood's growth and got new users in the stock market right away. One of the most creative moves in promotional history. So when Robin Hood became our sponsor, naturally, Jack and I said, we got to do the free stock giveaway. If you're not on Robin Hood yet, you want to get started, go to robinood.com

slash T-boy and get cash to select your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash TBOY. Certain limitations apply. All investments involved risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, is no longer affiliated with us or the podcast. For our third and final story, the Fed just announced the biggest economic tightening in 20 years. It's tough love, the Fed announced, because the economy needs it. Can we talk about our buddy Jerry Powell-check?

What's your nickname over there? Jerr-Bair. Cher-Bair, the Carabair. Ger-Bair took the podium yesterday and announced what he's been signaling to the market for weeks now. He's the chairman of the Federal Reserve, America's Central Bank, and he said, you know what? interest rates, they actually are going to go up.

Yeah. And the Fed, Jerome Powell, that's the Lord of the Rings of interest rates. Yeah, one interest rate to rule them all. It's called the Fed Funds rate and it's officially up 0.5% yesterday. Now, 0.5% doesn't sound like much. It's actually the largest increase in this rate since the year 2000. Yeah. And typically, stocks fall when interest rates rise.

Yeah, because higher interest rates mean the economy's probably going to to slow down. But yesterday the opposite happened. Stocks had their best day in two years. Because markets were given a sigh of relief to Jerk Bear. The reason for the relief, Jarbear ruled out even more painful increases of like 0.75%. Yeah, so it's like we were at the doctor's office, bracing for like a really painful shot. Turns out it wasn't that bad actually, Jack. It hurt the interest rate increase, but it's not going to kill us. Now, the reason that all of this interest rate increasing has to happen. It's actually pretty simple. We overindulged during the pandemic. Yeah, to protect the economy, our jobs, our livelihoods, Congress gave us trillions of dollars in stimulus. And then out of nowhere,

the economy recovered shockingly quickly. Yeah, before you knew it, we were rolling in dope. People were revenge funding on that trip to Cabo. Palaton? Sure. Let's get two Pelotons. Jack, let's put it right over here in the house. We just bought it. Oh, my God. Oh, we'll get an NFT too. So that led to a problem. There was so much spending from so many people, but not enough things to buy because of the supply chain issues. And that is what caused all this big inflation, the worst inflation of 40 years, which is why everything's so expensive right now. Only the Fed can stop inflation. And the Fed must stop inflation before it gets worse. So it's raising interest rates. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all of our buddies for all of us

Americans now facing higher interest rates? This is tough love. And only the Fed can give it. to us. Picture Goodwill hunting. Picture Robin Williams just whipping on Matt Damon. You know what I'm talking about. Not on the hugging. It's tough love. It's tough love. And that's what this is. Interest rate hikes hurt. They make borrowing money more expensive for all of us. And that means that homes, cars, and other big things we need to borrow for, those get more expensive for all of us. But honestly, it kind of has to be done because it's the only way to stop things from getting more expensive. These interest rate increases, they could even cause a recession for this economy. It's serious. This is tough love. And the Fed, they don't care about crafting policy to be politically

popular. The Fed crafts policy that we need even if it hurts. That is tough love. Jack, can you whip up the T-boy takeaways for us over there? Pandora is letting you make that bracelet, your bracelet with a Spider-Man charm. Just like Uncle Ben said, with great power comes great personalization. For our second story, Lyft has been laser focused on rides for people. And we think that focus is honestly, it's over-focused. For our third and final story, the Fed just raised interest rates by the most in 20 years to fight inflation. It's tough love. And we don't care what you say, Matt Damon.

The economy needs it. And please don't sue us, Matt Damon. Now, time for our best fact yet. This one sent in by Rachel Douglas from lovely Houston, Texas. Last week, we told you in another best fact yet. that an octopus has three hearts. Yeah, we were impressed because a single human heart is put to shame by an animal with three hearts. Well, here's a follow-up to that best fact yet.

An octopus also has nine brains. In fact, they weren't satisfied with two or three. They've got one main brain in their head. That's like the top brain of brain. But each tentacle has its own mini brain. Yeah, what we're saying is it's like each arm and each leg of yours had its own brain. Stop hitting yourself, tentacle five. Yeah, what are you doing over there?

Everyone listening, especially Matt Damon, you look fantastic today. And if you haven't yet, you can now watch this podcast on YouTube. We've got a link in the episode. Remember, it's not your fault. Yes. It's not your fault. No, it's not your fault. And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow.

If you know, you know. And before we go, happy birthday. The fourth birthday to Skyler, Skyman, bring the coolest truck driver in all of Hingham, Massachusetts. And happy birthday to Harrison Castle in Brisbane, Australia. And Jade LaFont. Happy birthday in Paris. And Vincent Barr in Chelsea, Manhattan. And Alejandra Anderson, happy birthday in Jonesboro, Georgia.

Happy 31st to Cody D. Christina in New Orleans. Sarvin got a 30th down in San Jose. Happy birthday, Stephen Flock in Long Island City. And Shira Yamstein, happy birthday in Oak Park, Michigan. And Oliver DeShamp in Farmington, Michigan. And Jacob Ballou, 21 in Salt Lake City. Happy joint birthday to Justine and Christi in Salt Lake City. And Amitaj Sackdova, happy birthday in Peoria, Illinois.

Big happy anniversary to Stephen and Katie. And Mike Ryan and his beard just became a doctor of physical therapy, Jack. Congratulations. And congrats also to Camden Cross, who's heading to the University of Amsterdam. And Mid-Panther, Katie Donovan, is returning to work after maternity leave. And hello there, Georgia Brady. We heard you're listening to your first episode. Georgia, we heard you were just born.

Congratulations to Matt and Kirsten in Wisconsin. Dadda. Dad, da. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Crocs. Nick owned stock of Apple. And we both own stock of Peloton, Robin Hood and ETFs of the S&P 500. And now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. The first time we swiped up to buy a stock on Robin Hood. Whoa. Yeah, Jack, you get like that. Like a little vibration. Boom, you've done a trade. It wasn't just an incredible app. Robin Hood added incredible resources too. It started with the Help Center. Everyone has that.

Then came Robin and Snacks, digestible financial news. Then came the news feed, providing free third-party news from. trusted sources. And then it came Robin Hood learned. A huge trove of articles explaining what the heck an ETF is. Yeah, spoiler. It's like a stock smoothie. Jack and I actually wrote the article in that if you're not on Robin Hood yet want to get started. Go to robinood.com slash T-boy and choose a free stock. That's Robin Hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC. Member SIPC. And by the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or the podcast. Great job. All right, dude. Get out of here. I will do some

So funny. What do you guys do for the podcast? Well, we spent 20 minutes rehearsing a superhero noise for a story about jewelry rings that involves superhero rings. Even though neither of us, neither of us have seen the movie that we keep on impersonating. And that's probably not the Infinity Stones even work. So the Hulk is related to Iron Man?