The Best One Yet - 🍷 “Rando Merlot vs Pricey Pinot” — Duckhorn’s Millennial wine thesis. Apple’s chicken/egg iMessage. Solar stocks’ dodgeball.

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

One of the very few stocks up right now is Duckhorn Wines… because they know Millennials will pay more for a pricey pinot. Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference kicked off with a plan to turn your car into an iThing. And the US solar industry has been frozen… until yesterday’s tariff pause.$NAPA $AAPL $FSLRFollow 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 ready to get after it when you are. You look great. Wonderful. You look fantastic. Thank you, dude. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. It was a good move taking the undershirt off.

I know. I didn't want to say anything, but... Undershirts are such a sophomore year move. And you had that bacon collar situation when it gets folded. Yeah. Yeah, that was a Michael Jordan Haynes commercial, right? Yeah, it was. It was.

And that's the takeaway. Three, two. This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy Tuesday, June 7th, and today's pod is the best one yet. TV-O-I. TV-O-I. Talk to me, Jack. What's going on?

Today's pod, it's not just listenable. It's watchable, too. Yeah, video of today's pod. It's now on Spotify every single day. Here we go. For our first story, Apple just held its annual developers conference on what they're launching next. Jack, is it the chicken and then the egg? Or do they launch the egg and then the chicken?

I think that's the essence of the chicken and egg dilemma. Well, we'll get that. First story. We got that. For our second story, Duckhorn Vineyards is one of the best performing stocks of the last month. Jack, when your portfolio goes down, you buy more wine. Our third and final story, it wasn't just Apple and wine. Solar panels got our attention yesterday.

Yeah, solar panels, if you're trying to go green, you're going to have to go red first. But before we hit that wonderful mix, Nick. Perfect mix for a T-Boy Tuesday. I love this mix. Happy T-Boy Tuesday. Happy T-Boy Tuesday. But best season yet, he's Jack and I, we want to get your... your thoughts. We think that we found the greatest invention of the year. Yeah, it's not a plant-based spike seltzer, a flying selfie drone, or a cog in the metaverse. The greatest invention of 2022,

maybe the edible burrito tape. Tape that holds together your tortilla. Yeah, because Jack, nothing is worse than a burrito birthing with blobs of barbacoa. The rice is ripping out of the seams, the salsa staining your shirt. Yeah, you let the burrito eat you. And then you end up keeping the wrapping on it, for like each bite, and you inevitably bite into the tin foil. It's awful. What are we doing? And you're going to run out. You don't have enough napkins.

Just admit it. The way Nick and I see it, a tortilla, it's like Oregon. Yes, preach. It requires skilled dexterity to fold and wrap it just right. Well, not anymore. Students at Johns Hopkins University invented tape that you can also eat. Now, we know what you're thinking. This sounds like a collab between Taco Bell and 3M.

But this isn't. It's a real scientific thing. It's a belt for your burrito. It's a zipper for your chattas. It's an adhesive for your jalapeno. It's a concealer for the queso. It's duct tape for the double wrap. If you paid extra for guac, consider this edible tape and insurance policy.

Yeah, tape it up and then eat it up. Besties, Yetis, if you found a better invention of 2022, then tweet us at T-BoyPod, please. Insta DM us. If you can beat Edith. Burrito tape. We will put it on the bond. Let's in our three stories. 15 years before this song,

two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a 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. Start the show. For our first story, Apple just made a huge change to your house, to your car, and to your techs. Because software is the egg to chickens' hardware. Jack, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. What are you thinking here? What is this like? It's like the NFL draft for techies.

A live streamed event, and it shows off the future stars of Team Apple. Who is Apple going to pick for the number one pick? And what kind of headlines are we seeing over there today, Jack? All the headlines about WWDC, the worldwide developer. conference were for the new MacBook Air, the new MacBook Pro, the new chip in the MacBook Pro in the MacBook Air. Come to the TechCrunch Live Blog for more updates on the MacBook Pro live blog, new chip. So all the focus was on the hardware, the stuff you can touch, the stuff you can hold, the stuff you can stick a dongle into. But the innovation yesterday, that was an

Apple's software. The first big software change is to the app you probably use the most. I message. I message. You're texting right now. Apple's revolutionizing it. They're letting you edit a message you sent for up to 15 minutes. We all wanted it because we all know when you texted your friend that you were only 20 minutes away, you were actually just stepping into the shower. When you stepped out of the shower, as long as it's only 15 minutes later, you can edit that 20 minutes to 40 minutes. And they'll never know the difference. Jack, our buddy, Timmy, he's going to be a power user. Timmy, you told me your beer in 20 minutes. She's like, no, I told you in 40 minutes. You're at

the restaurant, team he's still in a towel. Oh, what might even be better, Jack, the unread, unread. Oh, yeah, you can mark messages as unread so that you know to get back to that person later when you see it in your phone. So Apple is turning eye message essentially into email. Exactly. Although you can't edit the send email. This pod, though, can't edit that, baby. Now, Apple's other software updates reveal the true ambitions of Club Apple. I mean, Jack, can we talk about the fascinating statistic we discovered about Apple CarPlay. According to Apple, right now, 79% of U.S. car buyers only consider models that are compatible with Apple CarPlay. So most people are only going to buy the car if it has CarPlay. Four-wheel drive, check,

anti-lock brakes check. CarPlay, check. Well, get this. The next generation of CarPlay, it won't just cast your phone into your car so you can play the next song. No, it's not just for Spotify and for like maps, the next generation of CarPlay will also control the information and the buttons within the car. Okay, so all the screens in your car will now be available on your iPhone to control. If you want to know how fast you're going, look at CarPlay. It's right there. If you want to turn on the heater, you can now do so with CarPlay. Well, not now, but in the next generation. So where does Apple still working on making a car? In the meantime, they're just going to control your car software. I feel like the car companies know this is.

a little dangerous letting Apple take over so much of the car experience. So you're happy, Apple's happy, Volkswagen, not as happy. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Software is the egg to hardware is chicken. Best is Nettys. The hardware that will actually determine Apple's future, it's headsets. Apple is working on an augmented reality headset that the New York Times reports will launch next year. But here's the cannibalizing risk for Apple. Head sets will make the phone obsolete. And iPhones are more than half of Apple's revenues. So Apple is putting huge resources to make sure that the headset you put on your face next year is made by Apple. But that hardware, it's only as valuable as the software apps that get developed on top of it. That is why Apple is hosting app

developers for five days this week to get them ready to develop apps for the headset. Because software is the egg to hardware's chicken. For our second story, one of the rare stock, That's actually up right now. It's Duckhorn Vineyards. Duckhorn Vineyards. Duckhorn Vineyards. Good year. Ticker symbol, Napa.

There we go. One year ago, Duckhorn Vineyards has a thesis about your wine drinking and they're sticking to it. Okay. Headquarters of Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa,

like right off Route 128. I just drove by a jack on the way to Faust Vineyards. It's right there. I just bought a bottle of their wine and every bottle they make has a duck or a duck-themed

image on the bottle. They're a two and a half billion dollar company that's got a thing for mallards. What can you say? Fifteen brands that are all duck related somehow. Ducks fly together. Sales rose for this company last quarter and they turned a nice $15 million quarterly profit. Yeah, and like Coach Gordon Bombay, this is the rare 2021 IPO stock that is actually up since their IPO. It's the only one I can think of. Yeah, honestly, it really is. But here's what Jack and I love about this job. When we jump in T-boy style to like a company like this, we get to learn a lot about the wine industry and then tell you about it. With this company, we learned that the wine industry is basically marketing and agriculture. Yeah, for example, this company runs brands like migration

and canvas back and decoy that you know. That's the marketing side of the business. But they also just bought their 33rd Vineyard making the grapes for those brands. That's the agriculture. Exactly. And the funny thing about being in this industry, duck corn vineyards, isn't dealing with supply chain issues because it owns the supply chain. They have 33 vineyards. They grow their own grapes and they stamp those grapes with their own feet. The grapes. Decoy, for example, it's one of their labels.

That is the fastest growing wine brand over 15 bucks a bottle. Decoy, by the way, which is apparently what hunters do to make ducks feel safe before going after them. Well, duck horns not out of stock of those bottles because they're making all the grapes that go into them. Now, one year ago on this pod, we covered the IPO of Napper Wineries, and one paragraph back then stood out to us. And here it is. Millennials grew up in an age of cooking shows, celebrity chefs, and farmers markets. And increasingly, those millennials are willing to pay more for wine that they perceive as superior. What they're saying is 30-year-olds aren't going to buy some random or low. You're paying up for the pricey peanut.

Your parent is probably judging you for spending so much money on that bottle of wine every now. Right, but it's less two-buck. more big spent Brunella. And that's not just an IPO line. This was their business thesis for Napa. Exactly. That millennials will pay more for a better poor. I'll have what barefoot contests have it.

I'll have what Coach Bombay is having. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies flying together over at Duckhorn Vineyards? Like your fifth grade teacher said, have a thesis and stick to it. Funny thing, Yeties, Duckhorn recently tried launching a new product outside. side of their premium wine thesis. Instead of premium wine, they launched a cheap wine that was selzerified that was sold in a can. So basically, they tried chasing the hard seltzer trend with a canned shardinay fruit

drink that included ginger and orange. It failed badly. The CEO admitted it. And they just took a loss on their earnings because they have a lot of unsold cans. So last week, they announced their refocusing onto products aligned with their core thesis, not some unrelated fad drinks. One year ago, Duckhorn Winery went public with a thesis. They strayed from that thesis, but now they're realizing their mistake.

You got a great thesis. Stick with it. Now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. Okay, so Jack and I got into the news business with our previous company. Markets now. Our goal was basically to democratize financial news for our generation. Cut the jargon. Talk about the profit puppy. So when we first connected with Robin Hood, there was a chemistry there. We were doing for financial news what Robin Hood was doing for the financial system.

Robin Hood was democratizing finance for all, and it started by eliminating trading commissions and building a beautiful app. Remember, we had the same color green. The green was destiny. Destiny, absolutely. So we sold market snacks to Robin Hood, and we launched Robin Hood snacks. The equivalent of proposing getting married and building a family together in just three years. Much more to come on why we're thrilled that Robin Hood is our exclusive sponsor. If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet to get started, you can go to Robinhood.

slash T-Boy and choose a free stock. That's robin hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply for a list of other fees. View the fee schedule at RBNHD.C. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. By the way, Robin Hood no longer affiliated with us or the podcast. For our third and final story for T-Boy Tuesday,

the best performing stocks yesterday, we're actually solar panel stocks. Yeah, solar panel companies soared. on a whole lot of drama. American solar was ironically frozen, but it just got unfrozen. All right, Basties and Yetis, are you thinking about tossing some solar panels on your garage? Jack, you were going to go full captain planted on us, weren't you? Yeah, I got a quote.

There you go. You got a quote. There you go. More expensive than I thought, but I talked the guy down $2,000 already. Well, you might be listening. Make the next steps on that quote. On the back of that solar panel, you're going to notice a sticker. And what's that sticker going to say?

80% chance it's going to say made in China. Because Basties, China dominates the solar panel industry, aggressively dominates the solar panel industry. They dominate the solar panel industry like Florida dominates the orange industry. 80% of solar panels, they're coming out of China. 80%. So to help U.S. solar producers and hurt Chinese ones, former President Trump taxed Chinese solar payments. It was an import tax, which is also known as a tariff that kicked off the trade war with China like five years ago. solar panel tariffs. But China has found a way around those tariffs, neck.

This is the plot twist. They've been accused of dodging tariffs in a kind of creative way. Dip, dodge, dive, duck, dodge. You can throw a wrench at these guys, Jack. Here's how they're doing it. China is shipping their Chinese-made solar panels to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. And then Cambodia gets kind of creative. They ship the United States a box with a campaign.

Cambodian flag on it. It's Chinese-made solar panels, but there's a Cambodian flag on the box. It's all about the wrapping. You get it in Long Beach, California, and like, oh, look, made in Cambodia. Present from Cambodia. This isn't Chinese. No tariffs necessary. But then here's where things shift again, because U.S. authorities are now investigating China's dodgeball dodging strategy. And while this investigation is pending, 80% of the world solar panels aren't getting bought. Yeah. Nobody's buying solar panels from abroad right now when it comes to United States solar. And all this uncertainty has frozen the U.S. solar panel industry. So yesterday, President Biden decided to do something about it. He announced he's pausing tariffs on any solar

panels coming from Southeast Asia for two years. So that freeze on solar should now unfreeze because Southeast Asian panels are good to go. Even if there's a maiden China sticker underneath that Made in Cambodia sticker on the box. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies dodging balls over in solar panels? We need a Chinese-style economic mega plan. Okay, besties. Sadly, the United States is just way behind still in investments in some crucial industries. Trump tariffed Chinese solar panels almost five years ago, but we're still importing the vast

majority of them. Well, one of China's economic advantages is awkwardly their dictatorship control. Yeah, the party decrees a national five-year mega plan. What president she wants, she gets. We, on the other hand, we have democracy. It's fantastic for innovation, human rights, and creativity, but our politics can stunt our economic plan. Yeah, we know what you're thinking.

An executive order, that can help. But real policy comes from the discussions in Congress, which can take time. And the solar panel drama makes it clear. Yeah, terrorists haven't worked. But a five-year mega plan, which the United States has done before, by the way, that could. We're not wishing for Chinese-style dictatorship. Far from them. No, but what we are wishing for

is some Chinese-style long-term investments in our economy. That'd be nice. Jack, can you whip up the T-Boy Tuesday takeaways for us over there? At Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, the keynote speech was all about software. Software is the egg to chickens' hardware. For our second story, Duckhorn Winery has had a thesis about millennials wanting premium wine.

Yeah, they strayed from the thesis, but they've corrected, and now they're sticking with the thesis. For our third and final story, the pause on tariffs from Southeast Asia may unfreeze U.S. solar development. But a five-year mega plan to invest in solar, that could be way better. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one's sent in by Mali Boka over in Boston, right outside Boston. Boston is one of two cities in the country with a park rule.

Yeah, get this. Boston has a law that there must be a public park within 10 minutes of any resident. There's got to be green within a 10 minute. walk. So Bostonians can walk off that clam chowder with the park stroll less than 10 minutes away. That must be why there's so many really long, skinny parks in Boston. It covers a lot of surface area, you know? So like some of you may be listening to us right now from the Boston Commons or maybe from Copley Square. Does Fenway Park count? Let's just roll with it. If you're in a swanbow jack within the park, I think that counts too. Besties and yetis, you look fantastic today. And remember, if you think you can beat the edible burrito,

Then tweet us at T-BoyPod. We're waiting. What's the best invention of 2022? You can't top burrito tape that you can eat. If you know, you know. Nick and I'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, happy birthday to Yeti, Jeanette Pagan, over in Puerto Rico.

And happy birthday to Nick S in Wayne, Pennsylvania. And Katie DeVore, happy birthday down in Cookville, Tennessee. And happy birthday, KVoo, in Atlanta, Georgia. And Mr. Bubbins, the large cat. Happy birthday over in Pennsylvania. Happy nine-year anniversary to Jose B. and Sam C. in Los Angeles. And Jack Horsman is starting a new business over in Amherst, Massachusetts. And congrats to Jerome Frayon, who's starting a new business in Hermosa Beach, California.

And to anyone else celebrating something? You threw me off. I didn't expect it. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Block. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Duck Horn. portfolio. And Nick and I both on stock of Apple and Robin. I do. Honestly, it's your best

performing investment, Jack. And I'm so jealous I didn't get in. Why named after a duck? We are the thesis. Now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. So four years ago, we sold our company and we joined Robin. A lot of people asked, when did we decide that selling was the right move? So it was actually in our meeting with the co-founders, that's what sold us. Vlad and Bejou, also former roommates also met in college. Also, we're hanging out in New York City's East Village after the financial crisis. And they just figured out how the financial system works. So, Vlad and Bejou saw that Wall Street bigwigs, they were getting their fees waived. And they figured out a way to waive commissions for everyone else, too. So we saw a big, bold vision and decided to join these guys.

That's where we spent the last three years until now. It makes sense now that Robin Hood would sponsor our newly independent podcast. If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet, you can get started by going to Robinhood.com slash T-boy. choosing a free stock. That's robin hood.com slash tbohy. Certain limitations apply for a list of other fees. view the fee schedule at rbnhhd.co slash fees. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC member SIPC. By the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or this podcast.