The Best One Yet - “Ronald McVegan” — McDonald’s McPlant-wich. Pfizer’s hero vaccine. Supreme’s $2.1B trick.

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

Markets surged on word that Pfizer’s latest vaccine is over 90% effective… but that means stock winners and some stock losers (sorry, Zoom). Just as Beyond Meat was about to announce earnings, McDonald’s revealed its very own plant-based competitor: McPlant. And Timberland-owner VF Brands is splurging $2.1B on Supreme to streetwear-ify its social media sales game.$MCD $VFC $PFEGot 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. It is Tuesday. T-Boy Tuesday, November 10th. Nick, I have always been jealous of that Shambres shirt you're wearing. Oh, I appreciate that, dude. You know, in Vermont, we call that denim. Jack, it's the flannel of New York City. In the meantime, snackers, we've got our three Fs today.

Food, fashion, and pharma. It makes this the best snacks daily we've ever done. First story, Jack. Pfizer just unofficially announced that it's COVID vaccine it's been working on? Yeah, it works. Okay, we'll take it. Stock surged. Zoom, drugs.

Awkward. For our second story, Beyond Meat, was about to announce their own earnings report. And then McDonald's announced it's sucking Beyond Meat. That's the worst thing that could happen right now. Not good for Beyond. Third and final story, Supreme, started in the 1990s in New York City as a skateboard store in Soho. It's all grown up, Jack.

It's publicly traded. It's worth $2.1 billion. And it's got a whole new bunch of siblings. That's a bunch of siblings to fight for the captain's seat in that minivan. We got vans. We got tins. We got the North Faces. It's like a family gathered.

Cut together. But Snackers, before we hit those. three fantastic stories. Homo sapiens are in an epic battle against robots for the future of work. Jack, you're thinking like the old AI, VR, AR, Robo, Machine Learning thing. We're hearing in every single tech earnings report right now. No, for real, there is an existential threat to, like, human economies in the 21st century. Robots are placing humans in a variety of jobs, kind of a concerning issue.

Nick and I are kind of concerned that we're like three software upgrades away from robots taking over the pot. This is Nick. This is Jack. Whipping up the takeaways. But Jack and I just noticed something fascinating. The first time, in a long time, that we've got a win in the humans column in the battle versus the robots. Walmart just announced their abandoned plans to have robots take over the cleaning of the stores. Yeah, over in Arkansas, they had these like six-foot-tall robotic operatives roam in the aisles of Walmarts nationwide to, like, clean the place up. Think that creepy robot that made a cameo on Rocky 4 visiting Polly in like the recovery center.

Nightmares. That was freaky. These things are like giant vertical air conditioner size, but they're on wheels. Walmart cited two issues for mothballing that project to have robots take over the cleaning. Okay, so the first reason Walmart's not going to go through with the robots, they simply freaked customers out. I think rule number one of robots, they should either look totally not like humans or look a lot like humans, but they were like in a creepy in between. It was a human-sized deumidifier, shalac in the shelves with spray, not something you want to see in I-L-6. The second reason the robots lost this battle was that humans clean faster, actually. But Jack and I whipped up what we think is a fair third reason why Walmart should have gotten rid of the robots. PR, that's the third reason.

PR. Walmart stock, record high. Unemployment, also record high. Wouldn't be a good look to have robots replacing human jobs right now? If it's a toss-up between the humans and the robots, you give the robots the shift off. Yeah, robot, why don't you go? Go ahead and sit this one out. Let's it 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. The snacks about the hair ain't food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the Robberhood family. It's all informational just so. We're not recommending any securities. 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, For our first story, Pfizer and Biotech are the scientific heroes of the day right now. So far, and that's a big so far. But Nick, their experimental COVID vaccine is 90% effective.

Jack and I were talking about this earlier. Now, I'm thinking the edit button on Twitter, Jack. I'm thinking a self-driving car that can actually self-drive. Jack, is it too much to ask for guac? That's not extra? Snackers, we've been waiting for a lot of things. for a lot of time. A whole long time, but the main one we've been waiting for, how about a COVID vaccine? The hero of the day yesterday was Pfizer, the 171-year-old pharmaceutical company founded by a German-American

immigrant in New York City. Pfizer, though, was partnered out with Biontech, which is a 12-year-old German firm founded by Germans. Nick's better at like unassisted pronunciation. I thought it was BioNTech, but let's go with Biontec. Cute kid, it's Biotech. Now, they're phase three trials, Jack. They're like, they aren't yet technically. But the news was so good, these two companies, they couldn't help themselves. They had to tell somebody. They had to tell somebody. They couldn't help them. Yeah, they gave us like a partial report card yesterday. Pfizer and Biontac told us that their vaccine, so far, is 90% effective in preventing human beings from contracting COVID-19. Seems like a good number. That's like an A-minus number. You'll take the A-minus. You'll definitely take the A-minus. Nick, it's not just a

good number. Scientists, the most optimistic scientists, we're hoping for 75% effectiveness. Jack, here is the wild thing. The FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, they're happy to accept 50% effectiveness. Yeah, so Snackers, this was like an A-Triple plus. And, Nick, there must be, though, like a downside. Was there a long list of side effects that are kind of alarming? May cause Drozzenist Disney's dry mouth rash. No, there were actually no side effects so far recorded on humans. Farmer World got like so excited about this. Dr. Fauci actually said the words, the results are really quite good. I mean, extraordinary. You hear that Snackers? Dr. Fauci corrected himself because he wasn't enthusiastic enough the first time.

Nothing like the mid-sentence correction. I mean, nothing like the mid-sentence correction. That's why stock markets overall jumped by 4% at the open yesterday, eventually finishing up 3%. So here's the key to this story, Snackers. Pfizer is now whipped up a vaccine that specifically targets the spike protein within COVID-19. We're not scientists, but that is what this Pfizer vaccine. is targeting. And the key part here is that so do all the other vaccines. They also target the spike protein. Right. So Pfizer's success with 90% effectiveness, that bodes well for the success of vaccines being worked on by other pharmaceutical companies that aren't quite this far in the trials. It's like when you get the email from the TA confirming that you're

all studying the right textbook chapters for the exam tomorrow. Couldn't have said it better myself. So Pfizer and Biotech stocks, they jumped by 8% and 14% yesterday because of the news. then the other pharma companies out there that are also working on vaccines, picture like Moderna, their stocks also jumped yesterday on this great news. Okay, so we had a party in the laboratories across the world yesterday, but Nick, that wasn't it. No, reopening stocks, they had profound impact from yesterday's news. Jack, you got to see these numbers. Airlines, let's look at Delta, up 17%. Jim Chains, check out Planet Fitness up 16%. That is nothing compared to AMC movie theaters, whose stock jumped 51%.

yesterday. Jack, you want to hang out like over on 34th Street? Sure do. No, you don't. But if you did want to own shares in the Empire State Building, you could. You can own a stock called Empire State Realty Trust. Its shares searched 38% yesterday. Isn't Empire State Building where Elf's father lives? It is where he lives. If you go a little further south, you get to Madison Square Park, boom, that stock up 16% for Shake Jack. And then we crossed the Lincoln Tunnel. There's reopening stocks. They're having a blast. Meanwhile, all the indoor stocks that have been having so much fun in 2020, not as much fun yesterday. Peloton, Netflix, and Zoom, they fell by 29 and 18% yesterday. We're talking stay-at-home stocks.

They've been shot in Freuding since March when COVID broke out. But now it looks like the breakout could end with this vaccine. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the farm industry, actually the entire stock market? Markets price in joy early. They also price in disaster early. Snackers, investors are looking for the two beautiful, keywords of any investment, a leading indicator. A leading indicator, something we can measure today that tells us about the future. So markets, they fell by 34% months before COVID had like really

spiked in the U.S. And they jumped 3% yesterday months before we'll actually start crushing COVID with a usable vaccine. We're talking about a vaccine that just got announced yesterday that still needs FDA approval, still needs to be mass manufactured, and still needs to be distributed to millions scratch that, make it billions of people. Oh, by the way, this vaccine is so sensitive, it needs to be shipped and stored in an ultra-cold temperature of negative 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Like such a high-maintenance vaccine, geez. So it's going to be some months before we're actually vaccinated as people if this vaccine even ends up fully working. But investors and the stock market priced in that joy early yesterday. For our second story, McDonald's just delivered, honestly, the most

awkward earnings call of 2020, Jack and I have heard. They announced a Beyond Meat competitor. That's not actually a Beyond Meat competitor. All right. So McDonald's stock jumped 5%. But the real thing that Jack and I had to focus on, because this is like what draws our attention, is the growth strategy, which every corporation needs alliteration in their growth strategy name. They just announced their growth strategy, which is called accelerating the arches. Because remember, McDowell's has the arcs. That's true. And you don't want a situation where you're using consonants. You get two points if you use vowels for the alliteration. Coming in 2021 for McDonald's lovers and McDonald's shareholders. Jack, I'm ready. New burger buns. Check. A new fried chicken sandwich.

And interesting, okay? The McPlant. McPlant. This thing is quote-unquote plant-based meat created by McDonald's for McDonald's. Next year, we're going to see on the McDonald's menu, a bunch of burgers, breakfast sandwiches, even fried chicken that is made of plants. Made of plants. No deal yet on what do you think the happy meal situation is going to McDonald's is really toting up like how good this thing is going to be. They're claiming it's a special formula. They're claiming you can sink your teeth in taste. They're claiming you're going to have to wipe your mouth it's so good. They don't have adjectives at McDonald's. They just have many words they string together with hyphens. But they didn't classic McDonald's, which has never told us

about their secret sauce. They literally didn't tell us the secret formula for their secret sauce. Yeah, we don't know if this is pea-based protein. We know if it's soy-based protein. We know if it's like some kind of cashew concoction situation. Now this whole announcement of McDonald's own plant-based meat called McPlant, it's awkward because McDonald's already has a special relationship with one Beyond Meat, the leader in plant-based meat. Yeah, this is what's so strange about this. On paper, it looks like they got a good working relationship because behind the scenes, there's a lot of stuff going on between the two. McDonald's former CEO was an early investor in Beyond Me and is still a member of the board of

directors. And because of that relationship, Beyond Meat and McDonald's have engineered themselves some fancy partnerships up north in Canada. It's called the PLT. That's the plant, lettuce, and tomato. Great name for a meatless burger. It was launched up in Canada. It was a big deal for Beyond Meat. Yeah, they spread these things. These patties are like floating around Ontario. They're everywhere. They're the pucks. So it seemed like this was a budding, lovely relationship between Beyond Meat and McDonald's, but then came the seeming heartbreak yesterday. Yeah, Jack and I are looking at the press release. We jumped in snacks style and noticed two things. The first, this line.

Based on what we learned and an encouraging response, we're launching plant-based meat. The second being no mention of Beyond Meat, the company that taught the learning referenced in that sentence for McDonald. This is Batman getting all the press, Bruce Wayne getting all the hate kind of a situation. So this story seems like McDonald's is copying Beyond Meat at what Beyond Does Best,

aka McDonald's is zucking Beyond Meat. Jack and I have thrown this up to a stage five zucking. other way to put it. Beyond Meat stock fell by 9%. Trading of Beyond Meat shares was halted. It was a bad day for Beyond Mead. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Beyondmeet? Beyond may have just made the most humble move in business, low-key white labeling. All right, so Jack and I are looking at this. We're like, oh wait, they can halt the stock twice in one day. That's brutal. My phone started vibrating because Beyond Meat stock had risen by 5%. I was like, Nick, didn't be on, isn't it down 10% today? Who whipped out the defibrillator on the New York Stock Exchange?

Now, it turns out there was a key detail in this story. Although McPlant is designed exclusively for and by McDonald's, McDonald's didn't clarify who was actually producing and manufacturing the meat. And that's why three hours after the announcement that smacked Beyond Meat back into the fridge, Beyond Meat stock rose out of the microwave. A Beyond Meat spokesperson clarified, we are co-creators in McPlan. That's us. Yeah, we're ghostwriting this situation, and we're doing it with a whole,

bunch of peas. This would be such a humble and bold move for Beyond because they have been so focused on building their brand and making consumers think plant-based meat, beyond meat. They're actually borderline obsessed, so narcissistic that when Dunkin' Donuts partnered up with Beyond Meat, they insisted it be named the Beyond sausage breakfast sandwich at Duncan. That's insane. But we may have reached an inflection point now where they're putting their brand aside and letting someone else take credit for the product. Because if Beyond supplies McDonald's, with the McDonald's designed burger, that could end up being an even bigger business

than the rest of Beyond Meat's existing business. White labeling. This could be the first client of BeyondMete's budding white labeling. Humble. For our third and final story, VF Corp just acquired Supreme, for, you know, a cool $2.1 billion. Not bad. Supreme Streetwear has what fashion needs right now. Oh, yes, it does. Supreme, it's like a YouTube influencer, but for T-shirts. Founded in 1994, in New York City. Supreme's logo is the I-heart New York of the 2010s. Oh shoot, we're in 2020. It catches up with you. Supreme only has

12 stores, so the brand is definitely punching above its way. Back in the 90s, Supreme focused on like actual real-life skateboarders down in Soho. Now it's focused on aspirational Instagram skateboarders who have never seen one. That's why a plain white t-shirt cost $10. But a plain white t-shirt with the Supreme

logo, that's going to cost you $165. Supreme is basically a logo. It's just the logo. It's a red brick in like that future heavy oblique font. You've seen it. You don't realize you've seen it. It says Supreme. And if you think you haven't seen the logo, you've seen the logo. You've seen it on sneakers. You've seen it on sweatpants. Jack and I notice they even sell a crowbar and a brick

with their logo on it. All you NBA fans out there, J.R. Smith has a Supreme logo tattooed on his calf. And not like a small, subtle caft hat like people in South Boston do. We're talking the entire calf says Supreme. One economic principle has driven all of Supreme's appeal. And that principle is scarcity. Yes. Snackers, Supreme doesn't sell products. It sells hype. And scarcity is what generates hype. Typically, you're thinking like the gap. They're trying to sell as many t-shirts as possible. They're like giving them away to your mom. Supreme's not doing that. They're actually trying to make as few t-shirts as

possible, but as many versions of that t-shirt as possible. Jack up the price from all that demand on a few t-shirts, but do it across every possible collaboration a six-year-old could think of. If you have an infinite number of collaborations, every single shirt is one of a kind. Jack, how about Supreme Hoodie? Great, I love it. 186 bucks. Oh, oh, only six of them. There's only six. I want it. So take the Supreme Hoodie starts at 188 bucks. They sell out of all six of them. Boom, next thing you know, it's on eBay for $1,300 bucks. And with every one of these collaborative versions, they do a drop online with extremely limited numbers. Lexing you know, there's like six pairs of Supreme Streetlofers,

but they're with Gucci, but then they're gone. So now VF Corp is acquiring Supreme, and it turns out they have a history, and they have similar customer bases. Jack, every time we cover VF Corp, how hard do we have to ask for them to just change the name already? It's a soulless name VF Corp has, but the brands beneath it are actually quite soulful.

Yeah, this is like your Christmas list from a couple years ago. You get the North Face, Timberlands, Vans, Dickies. the back-to-school special. That is VF Corporation, and they also have a long history of collaborations with Supreme. So it's kind of like a long interview process, a really long test drive. It's out of Supreme, and now it's buying it. At this point, they're getting pressure to just get engaged already, and so they're splurging $2.1 billion on the ring. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Supreme? Chalk this up as another learnquisition for VF Corp. Yeah, Snackers, VForp has a problem bigger than like those freshman year baggy jeans pre- Slim Fed. The problem,

The problem is commerce is moving online at an unrelenting pace, and VF Corp is nowhere to be seen online. Get these numbers. Jack and I found that VF Corp's brands are only making 8% to 12% of their sales online. That's why when stores were closed all of 2020, their sales fell by 48 and 19% the last two quarters. Jack, help, I'm VF Corp, and I can't get up. Supreme, though, is totally different. They make up 60% of their sales online, and everywhere, On social, you'll find Supreme. Three words Supreme knows best.

Link in bio. VF, Corp, need some of that. Some companies hire digital sales consultants over McKinsey. VF bought Supreme instead. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us over there? Nick, the early phase three results for Pfizer's vaccine, they look good. Yeah, the market's already priced in a sooner than expected end to COVID-19, hoping for the spring. For our second story, McDonald's is McPlant sandwich.

sounded like terrible news for Beyond Meat, but turned out to be good news. By the way, while Jack and I are recording this podcast right now, it looks like Beyond Meat stock just sank 25% because its earnings came out and sales were like nothing. Yeah, the sales weren't beyond. For our third and final story, VF Corp really needs some digital savvy. So it's acquiring Supreme as a learned acquisition. A little expensive, but, you know, that's supreme. 2.1 billion, no big deal.

Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one's a follow-up snack fact, tweeted in by a guy named Mike who heard our snack fact last week. about the insane amount of cheese we eat. Okay, we do eat an insane amount of cheese in this country, but it turns out one company makes the mozzarella cheese for Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, and Domino's, three massive pizza chains. Yeah, that's right, 85% of the pizza chain cheese market is them. And them, hold on, I'm not done. They also do the cheese for hot pockets and stoffers TV dinners. Oh, wait, Jack and I jumped in Snacksdow found out they also do the yogurt and yoplay and the

Pillsbury Toaster Strudel topping. Are you ready to know who they are? You're not going to expect who they are. Leprino Foods, a family-owned Denver-based company, is the mega-giant behind all this dairy. Add up all that lactose jack, and that makes little Leprino the biggest mozzarella producer on planet Earth. Snackers, you look fantastic on Tea Boy Tuesday. Let your friends know, H-Y-H-Y-S-D.

I'm going to change out of this flannel and put on a chambre. I'll see you tomorrow. Have you had your snacks down? Jack, I'm putting on my chambre pants as we speak. If you know, you know. Nick, they're called jeans. And before we go Snackers, James Chai and Allison Chan just got married. Oh, and they listened to 28 hours of snacks daily on a flight from San Francisco to Malaysia.

That's cool. So is Terran Suvara, who just passed her teachers exam in Michigan. In the meantime, happy birthday to Chris Liu over in Quingham, China. And Michael Ossinheimer in Frankfurt, Germany. And Boomit Desai over in New Orleans. And Brent English in San Antonio, Texas. And Drey's Latambig in Thailand, Park, California. And Riley Nelson in South Abington, Pennsylvania.

and Elizabeth Navarro in New York City and Amy Russo in Newark, California. And happy birthday just in Mabbatad in Denver. And happy birthday to Max in La Mesa, New Mexico. But also Lauren Penza and Remington both having their birthdays, both in Chicago. And Jack, what does Chicago do? Chicago does logistics.

This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Beyond Me. 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 and 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.