The Best One Yet - 🦕 “Dino IPO” — Stegosaurus goes public. Mattel’s Hot Wheels win. Broadcom’s BATMMAAN stocks.

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

A stegosaurus skeleton is going public today… so we jumped into the 1st ever Dino IPO stock.Mattel’s Hot Wheels sales are up 14%, selling 700M… because Hot Wheels defied inflation. Broadcom is the new Nvidia… so we need to discuss the new “BATMMAAN” stocks of tech.Plus, birch? Maple? Spruce? There is a hierarchy to firewood… so startups are cashing in.$MAT $AVGO $STEGWhat was your favorite TBOY story of 2024? Tell us on instagram @tboypod—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, so Vce Wednesday. December 18th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Yet is one reason we lost our voices last week.

What was it, Jack? The Nick's game in J.G. Mellon. Also, we were preparing bonus podcast for the holidays for you, the besties out there. True. We're about to take a couple weeks of vacation. But we have six bonus episodes we have prepared. And one of them that we prepared, is the best one yet of the best ones yet.

But we need your help to create that special episode. Yes, we do. We need you to tell us your favorite T-Boy stories of 2024. Was it the can of babes? Was it the Costco Kirkland Condos? Was it our live show in New York? Maybe it was a cookie crisp. Kuh, Kiki Kris.

My voice is back, baby. Oh, yes, it is. So we just posted on Instagram, and we would like you to comment with your picks of best stories at T-BoyPod. Help us pick the best mix yet on Instagram. by telling us your favorite T-boy story of the year. But in the meantime, today's show is the best one we've ever done. Jack, three stories for today's show.

What do we got on the pod? For our first story. Sorry, Barbie, but Mattel's top toy this year is Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels, their sales are up 14% because Hot Wheels pumped the brakes on inflation. For our second story, for the first time ever, a Stegosaurus is going public today. That's right. True story. A Dino IPO.

So Jack and I jumped into the Dinosauri. stock that was 250 million years in the making, or billion. It's million, I think. It is million. We can round up on that. For our third and final story, Broadcom, just passed a one trillion dollar valuation. It's the eighth American big tech company to hit that trillion dollar milestone. So Jack and I need to discuss the new acronym on Wall Street. Here it is. Batman. The Batman stocks. It's a real thing. And Batman stocks, it's happening. This is Jack. I own one Batman stock. And I wish I owned all eight. It's hard. Not to be foolish on Batman, Jack.

But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix for Cevice Wednesday. Love the mix. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. But Jack, is that open fire burning with chestnut tree wood? Because Yeties, you may not realize it, but every flame of every fire differs depending on the wood that's being burned. The flame, the shape, the aroma, the crackle.

Those are the variables of classic firewood. Those are the fire fundamentals, because not all. All fires are created equal. And it turns out there's always money in the fireshed. Get this, Yetis. Startups are now selling different types of firewoods to give you a different fire effect in your fireplace. That's why we love capitalism.

You can even make a market out of a fireplace, Jack. So naturally, Nick and I dove in T-boy style to the fancy firewood industry. Hardwoods like oak, they burn slower. But softwoods like pine, they burn quicker. Cherrywood burns quiet. while spruce wood burns louder. If you're cooking a romantic meal for two,

apple wood is going to waft out sense of apple. Now, Jack, if you're hosting a party for 12, then Hickory Wood is going to smell like nostalgia. This is Jack. I just bought a cord of firewood for $350. I think it was a good deal, but I actually don't know what kind of wood it was. This is Nick.

I don't know what a cord is. It feels like a lot of money. Well, overall, the cracklier the sound, the more you're going to have to pay for that wood. It turns out spruce wood to get that part. Top is going to cost you a premium. I just read that kiln-dried, mature wood with character goes for $250 a quarter cord. Again, I think you're making up this cord word, Jack.

Doesn't seem real to me. Never heard of that measurement. Sorry, Nick, if you buy firewood, I guarantee you it's sushi grade wood. Oh, I'm only buying the sushi grade straight out of Tokyo, Jack. So, yet is, we've discovered an entire fancy firewood industry. Yeah, real thing. Because it turns out there is some yield in that eulog. And there's always money in the fire show.

Later up, Jack, let's hit our three stories. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list.

If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, the hottest toy this year is one of the oldest toys in history, and that toy is the hot wheel. After nearly 60 years, Mattel's Hot Wheel toys, they're accelerating while the price of Hot Wheels is actually breaking. Full disclosure, Yeties, but this is Nick, and I own 318 Hot Wheels. Really? Unopened. I know. I didn't tell you about the opened ones.

I've been to Nick's childhood bedroom. They're all hung up on the wall like it was a toy store. Yet is the toy industry. It's struggling right now. Kids, they're shifting from traditional toys to screens. But the big outlier is Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels, the tiny toy cars with die-cast chassis. A dragon-shaped sports car. I bet that's in your collection. I got three of them. A potato-shaped SUV. I got four of them. 1967 first edition Ford Bronco? Yeah, that's a keeper. And according to a UBS analyst, the demand for Hot Wheels is shockingly only growing. After 58 years of selling Hot Wheels, sales of Hot Wheels are at an all-time high right now. Get this besties, Mattel's steadiest business is Hot Wheels. Sales are up 14% and just hit $1.4 billion this year. That's 20% of this toy company's revenue and one third of Hot Wheels are sold to adults like Nick.

Nothing wrong with that. In fact, Mattel is selling 23 Hot Wheels cars every single second. That's over 700 million a year. Which leads to one of our favorite trivia questions. Who is the world's top car seller? It's Mattel. In fact, Mattel makes 10 times more tires than the entire global car industry. Take that matchbox. For the record, Hot Wheels are superior to matchbox cars, but that's a story for another pod. So given everything Jack and I just said yeties, Mattel is now strategically applying the Barbie playbook to Hot Wheels. They're giving Hot Wheels a movie. That's right.

Mattel hired JJ Abrams, director of Star Wars and Star Trek, for a live action Hot Wheels movie. The cast in premiere day are TBD, but we think a two-inch sedan with fire paint on the doors could win an Oscar someday. It's got potential. And since Barbie sales jumped 16% after her record-breaking film, we expect Hot Wheels sales to probably set another record in the coming years. So watch out, Ken. Hot Wheels is Mattel's new favorite son. Which actually, Jack, leads to the wildest part about this whole Hot Wheels story. You ready for this yet? You ready for this yet?

Is it? Hot Wheels was invented by a man named Elliot Handler. Interesting. Who was married to a woman named Ruth Handler. Yeah. Who happened to invent Barbie. We repeat, Barbie and Hot Wheels inventors were married in real life. And together, they co-founded Mattel, which has to be an episode of the best idea yet. Oh, we got to do a whole deep dive on this, Jack.

Now, Elliot's insight was that cars are the one product that kids can't own until they're much, much older. So he created the first car replicas, sold him at car shows, and hoped that dads during the post-World War II car boom would bring him home to their kids. A lot of pent-up demand. And I think that's how your car collection began. All 300 plus from them. But yes, dees, the reason why Hot Wheels is selling better than ever right now is actually because Mattel didn't get greedy. Which leads to our takeaway. Yes, it does.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Mattel? Hot Wheels took a strategy from the candy industry. It's an impulse buy. Yet he's shocking hero stat here. But after six decades, Hot Wheels are now cheaper than when they launched. The average price of a Hot Wheels car is $1.25 cents. I'm looking at Mattel's website. It's a buck 25 for just about every car.

Jack, if you adjust for inflation, that price today is less than when it was 58 years ago. So Hot Wheels has bucked the trend of inflation. But get this. Hot Wheels is the only toy that's widely distributed at grocery stores. That's right. IL6 at stop and shop, you can buy Hot Wheels. In fact, Pro tip, I buy them for my nieces and nephews, a buck 25 at the grocery store. And there are grocery stores because Hot Wheels borrowed a strategy from the candy industry. They're an impulse buy. Yeah, the impulse buy. The blink buy, an unplanned purchase of a cheap surprise product at the end of your shopping trip when you're psychologically open to doing so. Kit cats and ticktacks, they're kept right by the register because you're like, yeah, sure,

throw it on there too. In this economy, I'll take six Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels are priced for a buck 25 and kept by the register too for the same reason. So Hot Wheels, they're the top toy this holiday season because they borrowed a strategy from candy. Stay cheap and stay close to the register. For our second story, the final IPO of the year. year is the wildest IPO of the year. Because on Friday, you can buy shares of a dinosaur. So we dove into the fossil financials of this wild IPO. Now, yet is to start with some context here, have you noticed that Jack and I have covered fewer IPOs on the podcast this year? It's true. There are half as many companies going public as there were two years ago. Jack, it's almost like

IPOs have gone extinct. Interesting. Because the final IPEO of 2024 is a Stegosaurus. That's right. It is a pure play paleontology stock. Ross from Friends is pumped about this because over in Wyoming, they have discovered already two-thirds of a skeleton of a stegosaurus. And Jack, why are they securitizing this stegosaurus? Because the market for dinosaurs is booming. Yeties last year, Ken Griffin, the financier, paid a record 45 million bucks for another stegosaurus dino. The market for Littlefoot is lit. It's the best moment for dinosaurs since 200 million BC.

Yeah, that's the Cretaceous period. So when Nick and I heard about an SEC filing for a dinosaur IPO, yeah, we grabbed a pickax and we jumped in T-boy style. We called up our buddy Dr. Grant and we jumped into the numbers. Jack, let's talk about the asset. What are we looking at here, man? The asset that's being sold here is a Stegasaurus fossil. Late Jurassic period, it's 23 feet long.

seven feet tall. And now small detail, but important detail, they found 17 of the 22 back plates of the Stegosaurus. They already got them. Those are the spiky things that come out of the back of a Stegosaurus. It's the distinguishing feature of that dino. Part of this financing is to help find the rest of those back plates of the Stegosaurus. Now, once the excavation is complete, the company is going to keep 80% of the ownership and put the dinosaur skeleton in their company museum in New York City. Sounds terrifying and awesome at the same time. Now, check, Those are the assets. What about the financials? They're selling 20% of the ownership of the Stegosaurus for $14 million spread across 200,000 shares. Mr. Wonderful, that means they value this

dinosaur at 69 million bucks. So this is a fractional investing opportunity. It is. You can own a tiny share of a Stegosaurus. And if it grows in value and then the owner sells it one day, you could enjoy a return on that stagovestment. But like any investment opportunity, there are risks. Yes, there are. The risks are that, you know, the price is pretty high after we got to research the industry. They priced the shares to be 50% more expensive than Ken Griffin's stegosaurus. Now, will this dinosaur make money? Yeah, maybe. It could generate ticket income if they put it in a museum. Or someday, if they sell it at an auction for a higher price. In the meantime, though, you cannot buy this stego stock on a stock exchange. You can only buy the stock through the rally app.

Which presents another risk. When you want to sell, there might not. be a buyer there because it's not that liquid of market, even though you want to put some fossils in your 401 case. But when Nick and I saw the $69 million valuation and the $69 per share price of this IPO, we got curious. Yeah, life finds a way to our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our dino buddies over at the Stegosaurus IPO? Don't just know your customer. Paint a picture of your customer. Yeties, the most interesting part of these financial documents that we noticed, it was the description of the potential buyer. Raleigh, the collectibles company that bought this dinosaur and is IPOing 20% of it,

said this about their potential buyers. And they said the expected stock buyer is a 31 year old who made a little bit of money, but is not necessarily a millionaire. That's specific. It is very specific, yeah. So before IPOing the stagosaurus, the startup has a very clear image of who they're trying to sell to. Yeah, maybe this guy, like, made money on Bitcoin and one. to go to New York City to look at the Stegosaurus that he partly co-owns. He's going to tell the person next to him, I bought stock in that for $69. Someday, I'm going to sell it for $4.20. Jokes aside, this is actually an important marketing exercise for successfully launching any product, even a dinosaur stock. Paint a visual picture of the core target customer you're trying to sell to.

Come up with a description of their age, their style, their finances, because the better you know them, the better you can target them. This dinosaur IPO for 30. 31-year-old kind of wealthy people, but not millionaires, it's a reminder. It's a reminder to paint your customer. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, with Broadcom joining the one trillion dollar club, the magnificent seven is out. The cool way to describe big tech stocks right now. What is it, Jack? Batman. Batman.

The best acronym yet. But Jack, before we talk about the Batman. Batman. Man, let's talk about Broadcom. Who is Broadcom? This is the latest company to hit a $1 trillion valuation, and shocker, they did it thanks to AI. Broadcom has always been a chip company, but now they've got an AI division. Broadcom, based in California, makes wires, cords, and connectors that hold AI processing chips together within a data center. Bessie's Jackar are trying to think of an analogy for you for how to understand Broadcom's business, so...

If NVIDIA makes the eggs, Broadcom makes the egg carton. Yeah, we opened up the refrigerator on this. And those egg carton revenues quadrupled already this year, thanks to the AI boom. In just the last few days, Broadcom stock is up 30% after awesome earnings, making it the 12th company ever to hit four commas. Because Broadcom makes the egg carton the stuff that holds Nvidia's chip eggs together. And invidious chip eggs are the most expensive thing on Earth right now. Good point, Jack. So Bestie is added all up, and today there are eight American tech companies worth $1 trillion. And together, they form an amazing new acronym. Oh, it's amazing. Jack,

why don't you list off those companies? Here's the eight companies. Broadcom, alphabet, Tesla, meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia. And Jack, what do the first letters of all those companies spell out? Batman. Batman. Double M, double A, because you know you got Amazon. on and Alphabet and Apple in there. But it still spells out Batman. When Nick and I worked at banks, there were five big tech stocks, and Wall Street liked to refer to them as the Fang stocks. And last year, there were seven big tech stocks, and Wall Street referred to them as the magnificent seven stocks. But now with Broadcom in the mix, that's a solid consonant. The letter B, it changes like the acronym potential immensely. Totally. We now have eight tech companies worth of trillion dollars

known as Batman. Not yeties, get this. The eight Batman companies are worth a combined $19 trillion. That means those eight companies alone are worth more than the entire stock markets of the European Union and China combined. Sit down, stand up, and put on a cape again.

It's insane how top-heavy our stock market is, dominated by tech stocks. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at the Batman stock? Within AI, there's guts companies and there's brains companies. Now, Yetis, we have said before that behind everything digital, there is something physical. Behind every chatbot, there's a server humming with Nvidia chips inside. Well, that physical digital combo is a really good framework to understand where all the players in artificial intelligence sit.

Because Yetis, each of the eight Batman stocks is a winner in some way of this artificial intelligence boom. For example, meta, Microsoft, Tesla, Apple, and Alphabet are developing the brains of AI. The brains, the consumer-facing AI, like Apple's Siri, Microsoft's co-pilot, Tesla's cybercab, or meta's AI assistant. On the other hand, Nvidia, Broadcom, and Amazon are building the guts of AI. The guts! Invidia has chips, Broadcom has chip infrastructure, and Amazon puts it all together as cloud computing. So the way we see it, there are eight American tech companies. worth a trillion dollars that are booming with AI, and they are the Batman stocks. Jack, could

you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday? After 58 years, hot wheel sales have never been higher. Hot wheels, they took a trick from the candy industry. They put them near the register because that's an impulse buy. For our second story, a stegosaurus skeleton is IPOing on Friday, and they're targeting 31-year-olds with money, but not millionaires. This dino IPO is a reminder to not just know your customer, paint your customer. And our third and final story. With Broadcom hitting a trillion dollars, the magnificent seven is dead. It's the era of Batman. They're all AI winners, their guts companies, or their brains companies. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, today is the big Fed decision day, probably the market's biggest day

of the month because of our federal reserve. Investors expect our central bank to cut interest rates across this economy by 0.25%. But there's a lot of hesitation in the markets because there's a big question about whether they'll cut rates again next year. Second, Bluey is getting a Disney movie. But not until 2020. Yeah, those Australian puppies are profit puppies. And the franchise, it's actually worth $2 billion. We did a whole story on it earlier this year. So Disney's partnering with the BBC for the movie rights to that wonderful, wholesome healer family for the big screen. And finally, Starbucks wants to be the best job in retail so they're making a big move, doubling down on paid parental leave.

They're giving baristas who work at least 20 hours a week, 18 weeks if you're a birth parent, and 12 weeks if you're a non-birth parent. We're talking paid parental leave. To sprinkle on some more context, that's better than the 14 weeks guaranteed in all European Union countries. CEO Brian Nicol wants baristas to smile again, so he's giving him some nice benefits. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me, because you know what? When we did our dinosaur research for today's story, we dove in deep, T-boy style.

Dude, this is actually from Wilder. Wilder, the Potson whipped this up. He came home from school the other day, and he said, Dad, the T-Rex is American. And I was like, what? The T-Rex is a native American dinosaur, is what we're saying. According to Wicke's Wikipedia, Tyrannosaurus rexes are from the Western North America. Yeah, more T-Rexes have been found in Montana, in fact, than in any other state. And Jack, wild follow-on fact, the Stegosaurus and the T-Rex never even met. Really? There were nearly a hundred million years between the Stegosaurus and the T-Rex.

Yeties, you look fantastic over there. Jack, you look fantastic because tonight I'm going to Hamilton thanks to your Christmas kid. There we go. A Christmas gift for Nick and Molly. Hamilton. Nick. I'm so excited.

It's a story about the United States, patriotism, ambition, and New York City. It's a combination of all the things I love. If a Tyrannosaurus wax walks on the screen, I'm going to like it even more. Throw in a couple of hot wheels. I'm so excited for you guys to finally see Hamilton. Yeties, if you haven't yet,

check out our newest episode of The Best Idea Yet, our weekly show. This one's on The Untold Story of Pez. We dropped the link in the episode description, and remember to hit us up at T-Boy on Instagram to tell us your favorite story of the year. The best ones yet, of the best one yet. We'll see you there.

And before we go, a happy first birthday to Yeti Arthur Hahn in Bainbridge Island, Washington. His grandma's taking care of him because he's the best baby yet. Happy birthday to Marlow Williams in Haunt, Massachusetts, who sings the T-Boy theme song and knows the words by heart. Just outside, Boston. And Kevin Dolan, the Rangers fan, is turning 33 in Tudor City with Bar trivia. Kevin was at our live show. Yeah.

He was looking fantastic in row four. Feels like 94. Yes, it does. And Deegan Dwyer has got a big boy birthday down in Charlottesville, Virginia. Happy six-year anniversary of starting an accounting firm to CEO Nick Samuel of Samuel Associates. And Justina Ojanaka is publishing their first children's book available on Amazon when Prince and Reggie didn't win. Great book. And a big shout out to Justin Canney, who's starting their planuary planning over in Philadelphia.

Yeah, Justin created his own planuary calendar with every weekend for the year already mapped out, which is exactly our vision of planuary. Awesome job, Justin. All of 2024's trips, I had planned in January, felt really satisfying to look forward to those trips. Bestie, stay tuned because next month, we got a whole lot of planuary talk. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a tee boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Amazon, and Nick and I both on stock of Apple.