The Best One Yet - “Tap tap tapppp it in (for $2B)” — Callaway’s Topgolf splurge. Tupperware’s 2,000% pop. First Solar’s puberty phase.

Episode Date: October 29, 2020

Topgolf was just acquired by Callaway for $2B because the Lazertag of golf is the future of golf. Back in March, Tupperware’s stock was trading at $1 — it’s surged 2,000% since then and just popped another 35% yesterday on your leftovers love. And First Solar is the biggest solar energy company in the US, but it’s going through a puberty phase.$TUP $ELY $FSLRGot 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 Thursday, October 29. Yesterday we had another tough day. The worst day for the Dow since June. Pandemic, it's gotten worse in Europe, worse than in the United States. Germany and France just announced major economic shutdowns through December 1st. Not a pretty situation, Jack and I are looking at it, though, we're still going to make this the best one yet. For our first story, back in March, Tupperware, its stock was $1. The stock was cheaper than the product. Jack, jumping my time. machine, the stock's up 2,000% since then and just jumped another 35%. For our second story, grab your caddy.

Callaway has a golfer guy. It's been making golf clubs and balls for 40 years. Now Calloway's buying the laser tag of golf for more money than get this. You won't believe it. Then Calloway itself is even worth. I don't think that's how acquisitions are supposed to go down. Not a thing. Can't throw this kind of stuff on the plastic.

Meantime, third story, Jack? We dive into First Solar's earnings report. the biggest solar company in the United States. I was going to keep this simple. First solar, still in purity. But Snackers, Slack your product manager stat and ask them, but will it scale? Jack, if your initials aren't DTC or SaaS, then you can't go to the CX meeting with us. Snackers, we're talking about tech again.

Today is the first ever tech again. Tech again, tech armageddon. The four tech giants are all announcing earnings on the same exact moment of the same exact day. At 4.30 Eastern Time today, you're going to get like 17 push notifications and 36 emails. Yeah, it's not Eastern Time unless you say standard, I think, for some reason. Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, they all announced their third quarter earnings at the same exact moment. We're talking the team of four who all laced up their all birds, booked a Peloton ride, and are virtually hitting up Wall Street via simulcast. What do you think this was? Was this a Google Calendar,

Apple Calendar, scheduling mix up? Jack, there's a sink situation. You're going to have to turn off the computer and then turn on the computer. Or was this a classic move of dumping news all at once to avoid scrutiny on any one of them? I know you're thinking, Jack, the old classic news dump, spread out pre-election scrutiny of their undoubtedly fabulous profits by overwhelming us all with four earnings reports at the same exact moment. Honestly, Snackers, Jack and I are looking at this either way, we found ourselves with a techageddon situation.

On this tech agedden, we're going to ask you to jump over to Instagram or Twitter and check us out at Robin Hood Snacks. Boom, you hit Robin Hood Snacks, you tap to follow us. And then check out our TechAgadden earnings preview. While you're there, you may as well sit and stay a while. It's Techagetan after all. Check out today's Snacks video. In tomorrow's pod, we will sift through the rubble of today's Techagetan together. In the meantime, Jack, let's head to the Techagetton bunker and hit 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 to hear ain't food. It's They don't reflect the views of the Robberhood family.

It's all informational just so, you know. We're not recommending any securities. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale about security. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member Fenra slash SIPC. For our first story, Tupperware stock just jumped 35% for, you know, its best quarter in like 20 years.

Leftover Snackers, leftovers, are having a major and perhaps sustained moment in this economy. Are we going to travel back 75 years on this thing? Earl Tupper, great name, created a no-drip ice cream cone. That was a total failure. Of course it didn't land. Nick, there's always a hole at the bottom with the melted ice cream coming out. Jack, greatest competitor to the no-drip ice cream cone? Your tongue.

Your tongue. A napkin. I could go on. But Mr. Tupper then started a company called Tupper Ware. He used the extra surplus plastic we had to America. after World War II to create little like containers for leftover food. And because Tupperware's execs are the smartest people in the world, they decided to move the company to Orlando, Florida, where things are just more fun.

It's not just Disney. It's not just Disney. That should be Orlando's slogan. It's also tougher. It's also tougher. Now, funny thing we noticed about Tupper, best quarter since, you know, meatloaf casserole. First sales growth for Tupperware in a quarter since 2017. Not bad. Also, 477 million in total sales were talking about. talking a 42% surge over in the Great Continent of North America. And the people over at corporate managed to cut $120 million in costs. So profits more than quadrupled compared to last year for Tupperware.

Congrats. Truly corporate. You deserve that birthday cake. Tupperware is dishwasher safe, check, microwave safe, check, and profit-friendly. Double check. Snackers, here's the funny thing that Jack and I find fascinating. The pandemic literally saved Tupperware. We are not exaggerating. The stock was down to $1 in the middle of March when the pandemic started. Jack, you go any lower than that? You're going to herniate a disc. A little bit softer now, a little bit softer now. There was barely any softer now to go. But since then, get this, Snackers, Tupperware stock has searched 2,000 percent.

Leftovers have become essential workers of this economy. It is Tupperware's moment. So Jack and I are looking at this. And basically, Monday's dinner becomes Tuesday's lunch. becomes Wednesday's savory snack in the work-from-home economy. Last night's Cornish hen becomes today's open-faced chicken sandwich thanks to Tupperware. That's be nice over there, Jack. You're pulling out the menu from Game of Thrones?

Honestly, Snackers, you hoarded kale back in April. What else are you going to do with 40 bushels of it? Now, Tupperware has this funny history. It is a century-old wild sales model that has changed during the pandemic for the first time, but it's still kind of the same. Yeah, you've probably heard of this. called Tupperware parties where like a host has a bunch of Tupperware invites a bunch of people over, lets you touch the stuff and then buy it. And then if you do buy it, the host gets a little commission

on all their buddies who bought Tupperware. Now, here's the funny thing. These Tupperware parties used to be like 12 person events in the neighborhood, but now they've had to go to Zoom and they just had a 12,000 person Tupperware party event virtually. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Tupperware? Tupperware's word of the day is mega trend. They love mega trends over at Tupperware. Honestly, Snackers, Jack and I thought this was like the most refreshing thing we've ever heard of CEO say. Here's the quote, we are increasing our efforts to more closely align our brand with meaningful

megatrends like the gig economy. You know, Nick, I'm trying to personally align my personal brand with mega trends as well. It's a life goal, Jack. It's a life goal. Now, case in point, the gig economy. Tupperware is aligning itself with the gig economy. Food delivery orders tend to be large during the pandemic because you want leftovers. So you're going to need Tupperware to keep it safe and sound and fresh afterwards.

Also, Tupperware may be able to work out a partnership opportunity with someone like Sweet Green for reusable bowls when you order delivery. The second trend that Tupperware pointed out is the unfortunate but real trend of growing inequality in the United States. Yeah, so Tupperware is whipping out multiple brands at different price points like some fancy Tupperware. Also, I think we have a fifth sector of like the Armed Forces called the Space Force. We do. Is there an outer space play for Tupperware? Well, it turns out there is because Tupperware also unveiled a new patented device to grow vegetables in space, outer space. We know you're thinking, what's that have to do with Tupperware?

They claim they can turn that into an indoor garden product. Okay. And then you put the grown tomatoes in the Tupperware. We're going to roll with it. We'll see what happens. But Jack and I also notice there is one megatrend that Tupperware is not a total friend with, and that sustainability. On the one hand, Tupperware does prevent food from being wasted and its products are reusable, which is good. On the other hand, it is plastic. It's made from fossil fuels, and it is plastic.

We just wish more companies would explicitly talk about the megatrends in their earnings reports. Just say megatrend. For our second story, Callaway Golf has sold enough golf clubs to acquire top golf for $2 billion. It's the biggest thing to happen in golf since Happy's Hole and One on that par four at the Waterbury Oak. Shooter at Gavin. Now, Snackers, there are only like a few things out there that Jack and I really know. One of them is that guac's always extra. Two is that Chicago does logistics. And three is that Callaway is golf. It's almost 40. It's got Dockers khakis. It's done playing by five. Honestly, we haven't checked, but we're going to assume that the golf equipment manufacturer is headquartered

in Chevy Chase Country Club. Top golf is a little different. They're the laser tag of golf. We're talking 20 years old, plays past 5 p.m. No pleats on this thing. Oh, by the way, the CEO of Calloway. No joke. His name is Oliver G. Bray. Brewer the Third. It isn't common that a CEO is born with a blazer on, but that happened in this case. His nickname, by the way, Chip, Chip. So Jack and I jumped in snacks now. We started researching Top Golf and notice it just refers to itself as an open-air entertainment company. If you search Top Golf, you're getting ads for like Chucky Cheese and Dave and Busters, because those are similar. Literally, Google says that, that's what other people searched for.

It was founded by Twin Brothers in the UK. It now has 63 locations worldwide, most of them in the U.S., with 23 million customers. If you haven't done Top Golf, here's how you can picture it. It's basically, it's a driving range meets Buffalo Wild Wings with like an arcade thrown into the mix.

Show up in whatever you want. You don't need a collar, no problem. Uh-huh. Complementary clubs, don't even bring your own clubs. Honestly, it's offensive. Don't do that. So far, it just sounds like a driving range.

Yeah, it does. It does. But you're actually going to order a Spike Seltzer sampler while you're playing and you're going to dip your tots in Angry Bird sauce. The irony is you wash it down with the Angry Bird sauce. No drink waiting on like the 18th hole kind of a thing like when you're

on an actual course. You're drinking, you're playing, you're golfing the whole time at Top Golf. Oh, and by the way, Jack, what if you don't want to schlep six hours and do 18 holes over the course of an entire evening and day? You play two hours of virtual and real games, like literally target practice with a golf club at Top Golf. Yeah, honestly, they have this thing called TopTracer where you can see your drive that shows up on a computer screen and you can like it's on TV, like a tracks it like it's on TV. There's a sensor in the ball that tells you how fast and how far the ball is going. By the way, this is all secondhand knowledge. Nick and I have never gone to Top Golf. We wish we had. But full disclosure here, Jack, mildly controversial. This sounds better than golf.

I don't know how controversial that even is. Yeah, it does sound better than golf. But Snackers, in the meantime, Top Golf now belongs to Callaway because Callaway dropped $2.2 billion worth of cash in stock to buy the company. Top Golf did a about a billion dollars in revenue last year, which is growing at a 30% yearly rate. Now, Calloway, who's making golf clubs as their core business, Jack and I jumped into their latest earnings, they did about a billion dollars in revenue last year, and they're growing a lot less than top golf is. Golf is having a socially distanced renaissance moment right now, because it's naturally outdoors, it's naturally, you know, apart from people.

Jack and I played TPC Harding, golf course in San Francisco the other day, very socially distanced. One of us was in the woods. One of us was not in the woods. Chris and LaSalle can vouch for these stories. You gotta say six feet apart. I'm like, I'm already 65 yards away from Jack. Turns out Calloway already owned 14% of TopGolf because it got in early with an investment way back in 2006. But now it's buying the whole thing. And Calloway is a publicly traded company. Top Golf is private. So we got to see in real time yesterday what investors think of this acquisition.

This was almost funny. The stock fell 20%. Calaway stock fell 20%. because it's paying more for Top Golf than it itself Callaway is even worth. All of Callaway's stock combined going into this deal was worth $1.4 billion. Now it's paying $2.2 billion for Top Golf. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Callaway? Top Golf breeds new golfers, and Callaway needs that. Snackers, Callaway stock, it's down 15% in the last two years. It's barely growing before COVID.

Because golf refuses to make the whole bigger, it's struggling to get Gen TikTok to try out golf. Easy solution there. Then Jack and I came across this wild statistic. Turns out 50% of top golfers don't identify as golfers in the first place. Right. They've never played a hole 18. They probably don't own their own clubs. But they're more likely to try out real golf after first playing top golf. Coway CEO said it best. Turns out their largest source of new Callaway golfers is Top Golf. Imagine though if Nike acquired Top Golf instead of Callaway.

Yeah. And imagine if Nike got back into the golf club business. Could be a problem for Calloway. Or imagine if TopGolf launched their own line of golf clubs. Jack, could be a problem for Callaway. Calloway knows it gets most of its conversions through TopGolf. And this deal controls and protects that from competition. Could even blow it up. By the way, golf should make the cup bigger.

For our third and final story, this one's fun. First solar just jumped 10% on a huge surge in sales for solar panels. We're talking the largest solar company in America. Oh, classic here, by the way. you go if you're a solar company? You need a dry heat. You go to Arizona because, you know, the sun. That's where they're headquarters are. But in the meantime, even though we were impressed they made that decision at first solar, our pagan buddies over there missed out on a creative ticker symbol idea. Sun, Ray, UV would have been a good one, ultraviolet. It could have done something more ironic like

ticker symbol M-O-O-N. That would have been great too. Moon, that would have been good. Instead, they ended up with FSLR. Come on. They didn't even consider SPF. Now, over at First Solar, they build their own solar panels at their own factories in Ohio, Malaysia, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. And there are a couple things they do on. Like, they could be selling those panels to Walmart for, like, rooftop solar projects. Right. And Walmart, like, DIYs the solar project themselves.

Or they may construct entire solar farms themselves using their very own panels. And then they're going to sign up an electric utility company to buy that clean electricity so they can brag to all their customers, and the bill be like, we have a lot of clean electricity. Boom, First Solar signs them up for like a 30-year contract. Next best thing to perpetuity. Your PS5, solar energy, no big deal. Done.

But a year ago, First Solar stock was only like $53 a share. Today, they're nearly double that because chaos is opportunity. Yeah, that sounds like an early takeaway. With the pandemic disrupting everything, First Solar had to cancel its forecast for the rest of, of the year back on May 7th. Sorry investors, we cannot predict the future because things are too crazy. We're not even going to guess how much we're making next quarter. But then last quarter, sales at First Solar jumped a freakish 70%. Because if you think about it, the two customers of

First Solar are actually doing pretty well right now. Yeah, utility company is doing well because you're playing so many video games and they want to go sustainable too. Corporations that want to become sustainable, they're doing well too. So First Solar said, hey, we're bringing back our forecasts. And now they're saying they can see clearly as far as they can see. And they said yesterday they expect another profit this fourth quarter and probably next year. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over for solar? Profits in the solar industry are impressive. Yes. Because the industry is still in puberty. Snackers, energy from the sun, it represents only 2% of total U.S. energy output. That is way behind coal, nuclear, natural gas, even wind, it's way behind. Honestly, solar, it's hanging out

with the electric car is the cannabis over at the kids' table on Wall Street. The solar industry is still in the puberty phase. They're still losing money. They're still figuring out how to make awkward profits. They're still asking Wall Street for keys to the car. The electric car. And that's why first solar was $155 million in profit last quarter was so impressive for this pubescent teenager. It's thanks to a combo of lowering costs of their solar panels and charging higher prices for them that's driving that profit. It's not the sexiest combo, but expanding that profit margin is crucial to go from puberty to adulthood. Jack, can you whip up the take?

Actually, wait one second before you do, Jack. Can I just point out how talented my co-host, Jack? He took off his flannel shirt, revealing an undershirt, mid-second story. And then in the third story, he put the flannel shirt back on, didn't miss a beat. Nick, on Friday, we have a low of 16 degrees here in Vermont, so I'm getting used to, like, emergency flannel. Microphone didn't even move. In the meantime, what are the takeaways, actually?

I'm curious. Tupperware has become a cold. COVID essential product. Snackers, the stock's up 2,000% because of megatrends and a 12,000-person Zoom Tupperware party. For our second story, Calloway's not just selling golf clubs anymore. They just acquired Top Golf. Calaway knows Top Golf is where Jen TikTok dabbles with golf. For our third and final story, First Solar has taken a big step in the first phase of puberty, a profit. Thanks to higher prices, lower costs, or a combo of the two. Now time for our snack fact of the day. this one tweeted in by Vabhav in Singapore, Singapore. The most consumed beverage on planet Earth,

not including water. Okay, not include it. It's not milk. It's not coffee. It's not wine. It's not beer. It's not oat milk. It's not culottas and it's not oat milk culottas. And believe it or not, it's not for loco either. No, it is tea. Tea. Tea predates coffee by 3,000 years. First harvested in 270 BC by the Emperor Shen Nung, Jack, his nickname, the Divine Heel. And Nick, is it just me or is tea way more likely to destroy your mouth with scalding hot liquid than coffee? No, I mean, I always liked when you'd make it for me before our podcast recordings with the honey on it, you know, when we were in the same studio. Yeah, the honey. The key is to pour the honey on the tea bag.

The key is you have honey with a side of tea. Snackers, that's it. Grab the wall and like brace yourself for tech again. It's happened to that. And tell your friends, H-Y-H-S-D. Have you had your snacks daily and have you had your tech again? If you know, you know. And before we go, congrats to Maiori just lost her fashion startup in Chicago, which does logistics.

And congrats to Abby Del Giorno, who just started med school in North Carolina. And to Crystal Quinlan and Damien Popkin got engaged over in Maryland. And geez, them, Crohn, Lisa and James are celebrating 28 years together over in New Zealand. Congratulations. We're going to round up to 30. Happy birthday to Snacker Lisa Shoe over in Shanghai, China. And happy birthday to Paul Vesowaski in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. and to Sierra Flores in Austin, Texas,

and to Dominic in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and Dar in Stockbridge, Georgia, and Ozzie Alvarado in San Diego, California, and Myra, the scientist in San Francisco, and Brittany Hales in Brooklyn, and Ahmed Graham in Newark, Delaware, and Victoria Banaguru in Chicago that does look good, Texas.

And happy birthday, Gabriel Suzzo in College Station, Texas. This is Jack, I on stock of Amazon, nickel and stock of Apple. 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.