The Best One Yet - 🥶 “The hot blower stock” — The company plowing the snow. Mean Girls’ box office reboot. The NFL’s streaming record.

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

“Mean Girls” and “Anyone But You” are the top movies at the box office right now — Because RomComs are replacing superhero movies as the top investment in hollywood.With 80% of America experiencing sub-zero temperatures, we found the #1 snowblower stock — We’re breaking down Toro’s $10B of snow plows.And this week saw internet history — The NFL playoffs on Peacock was the most-streamed thing ever.$TTC $PARA $CMCSASubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, Saviche Wednesday, January 17th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet, Jack. There's a T-Boy man. Nick and I are serving up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But first things, first Jack, uh, Yiddies. Remember that fact from yesterday that we told you?

One out of five employers has seen a candidate bring their parent to a job interview. Yesterday, Jack and I asked you for T-Boy Tuesday. If you can't bring your parent, what should you bring to a job? job interview. Desmond Hastie reached out on Instagram and said, bring your playoff beard to the job interview. Yeah, it shows that you're superstitious. Mandy, she says she's bringing the hiring team all of their prescriptions. Feels like a privacy violation, but it shows you go the extra mile. And Danny said he'd bring his big 40 out Stanley Tumblr. Shows that you're hydrated and you're prepared to be hydrated. Full confession. One time I brought a pack of index cards to a job interview,

and I put them in my shoes to make me appear taller. Yeah, full full disclosure. They called me as your reference check and I confirmed that you are indeed 6.511. Okay, thank you. That was the right answer. Thanks for sending in those ideas yet. He's Jack. First story for today's pod. What do we got, man? For our first story, on Monday night, nearly 80% of America experienced temperatures below zero. So Jack and I found the snowblower stock that's going to shovel us right out of this winter storm. For our second story, the Mean Girls reboot movie premiered last weekend, winning number one at the box office. Because rom-coms are the new superheroes. Our third and final story.

One NFL game just gave us the biggest day in streaming history. Because live sports are the holy grail of streaming. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories today, it's just a wild mix of stories for Saviche Wednesday. Many of you are still doing dry January. You're drinking zero alcohol this month. And many of you are trying damp January instead. You're drinking some alcohol this month.

Both are admirable pursuits. But White Claw is responsible. responding to them with a really confusing move. Get this yet is. White Claw has launched an alcohol-free. Spiked Seltzer. Spike Seltzer with zero alcohol. Spike Seltzer, hold the spike.

Have we gone complete full circle here, Nick? Yeah, can we talk about this product journey for a second, my friend? So Seltzer has no alcohol. Seltzer is water with bubbles. But then White Claw added alcohol. Which became spiked Seltzer. And now White Claw is removing alcohol. So we're just back to Seltzer.

And calling it non-alcohol-seltzer. Something Seltzer inherently already was. I mean, Jack, I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty sure that violates the rule of the double negative, man. What are they going to do next? Put the alcohol back in? Ah, we did come full circle. You are correct. White Claw, non-alcoholic spiked Seltzer with alcohol.

Less more alcohol than ever. Bessies, this is like a fion meat launched a chicken sausage and called it meat-based meat. This is like if a self-driving car startup had a... human chaperones. Hey, Whiteclaw, we realize what you actually launched for Dry January. Yeah, you know what this is? Jack and I think it's LaCroy in a can.

And LaCroy already comes in a camp. Exactly. Besties, let's hit our three stories. If you know, you know, Jack, let's him. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best 50%.

That's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're rich. go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. For our first story, for the past five days, most of America has been hit by extreme

cold. But every problem is someone's opportunity. And this cold front is a hot moment for Toro. Hey Eddie's full disclosure, when Jack and I were an analyst training, they never really taught us how to describe weather, did they, Jack? When I listen to the radio

and the weatherman says, low pressure systems permeating from north, I have no idea what that means. We got a high pressure system coming down across the jet stream with a little bit of El Niño sprinkled on there. What exactly is that am I? The only thing I can understand is the temperature and whether something's falling from the sky. Snow day or no snow day? That's all we got to know yeties.

But on Sunday, Jack got a weather alert that he understood and he immediately texted me about. It was one of those emergency alerts and it said snow squall. Be ready for sudden drop to near zero visibility due to heavy snow. Translation, the snow was so thick. You couldn't even see the car in front of you. And it wasn't just Jack. On Sunday, 95 million Americans received weather alerts, just like the one I received. 24 hours later, nearly 80% of America was experiencing temperatures below zero.

In South Dakota, it was negative 45. Across the airport's 1,200 flights got canceled. It's called Winter Storm Heather, and she is still freezing us today, from the Caucasus in Iowa to the Cactus in Texas. Can we talk about what's going on with the Bill's Mafia up in the Buffalo Snowbelt? Legendary. The team needed to play their playoff football game, but there was snow filling up the stadium. So they paid fans $20 bucks an hour to clear the snow so that game could actually go on. They handed Bill's fan shovels and said, let us play.

But yeties, when Jack and I saw these temperatures, we immediately thought, um, let's not turn on the weather channel. There has to be a Wall Street connection here. And we found it in the snowplow industry. Yeah, the snowplow industry. Jack and I jumped in T-Boy style to one company called TORO. Toro is a $10 billion company based in Frigid Minnesota. A publicly traded snowplow company is what this is, Jack.

And they're a diversified landscaping company when you think about it. They're selling lawnmowers in the summer. They're selling snow plows in the winter, and it evens out their revenue stream. But right now is the winter quarter. So in the latest earnings call for Toro, they mentioned the word snow 11 times. Yeah, like we mentioned, we jumped in T-boy style. They mentioned the word ice. 38 times in that earnings call.

The company mascot might as well be Olaf from Frozen. They sell snow and ice management equipment under three different brands. Okay, they're selling the snow plows under the boss brand. It's an eight foot stainless steel huge blade you put on the front of your pickup truck. And they're selling snow plows under the Ventrack brand. Those are for tractors. It's an attachment to turn your farm machine into a snow machine. And they're selling snow plows under the Toro brand.

Those are snowblowers, actually, which is the fan. fancy man's version of a shovel. Add it all up, Yetis, and 70% of Toro's business is selling snowplows to businesses and governments. And only 30% goes to my neighbor who I'm jealous has a snowblower and I have a shovel. But Yetis, we know what you're thinking out there, don't we, Jack? Because we are wondering the same thing. The globe is warming. Isn't climate change going to hurt Toro's snowplow division? It didn't snow in New York City for 700 straight days. Doesn't that mean New York City is going to be buying fewer snowblowers? You'd think so, but you'd be wrong. because of our takeaway.

Turns out there's no correlation between snow days and snow plows. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at Torah? More extreme weather means more extreme equipment needs. Yeah, he's funny thing. Remember at one point scientists like pivoted the branding of global warming to climate change? The reason is shown by this winter storm. Because overall, the planet is getting warmer, but we're also getting more cold snaps too. Yeah, like in 2021, Texas.

costliest winter storm ever by far. But just two years later, Texas had their hottest summer ever by far. To adapt to climate change, cities, businesses, and individuals need more equipment, it looks like. For example, Portland, Oregon, they need air conditioners today when they never needed air conditioners in the past. And yet, Texas needs snow plows now, and they never did in the past. As Toro's CEO put it, they sell snow plows whether they're used or not.

Because climate change means more places must prepare for, snow, even if they overall get less snow. We have more extreme weather. We need more extreme equipment. For our second story, the two surprise winning movies so far this year, they're rom-coms. So we jumped into the numbers of rom-cominomics and we're in love with them. In the meantime, Yeties, the new Mean Girls remake, eh, not too shabby. It's looking good.

It's not a regular remake. It's a cool remake. It's same plastic, same burn book, same lunch table. Mean Girls, that's what it's called, same name as the 2004 original. Yeah, that's a good point. It grossed $32 million this past weekend for its premiere. But there is some big controversy with this new Mean Girls movie, isn't there, Jack? Unlike the 2004 original, this latest one is a musical.

But it wasn't clear that it was a musical on the poster or in the movie trailer. So 25% of audiences didn't even realize this was a musical, Jack. They were surprised. Still, Regina George delivered at the box office. This female first comedy was fetch. The ticket sales limit did not exist. But there's another movie in theaters right now. That's also a rom-com.

That's also doing really well. Anyone But You. Also, another female-focused comedy out there. Anyone But You is a rom-com starring Sidney, from Euphoria, and Glenn Powell. The hunk from Top Gun, too. And the plot, it's pretty much based on the plot of every rom-com.

They're following the standard formula of rom-coms, but hey, it works, baby. What is it? Jack? Whip out the whiteboard for us. Classic enemies from high school somehow find themselves together and fall in love. Turns into a romance and you leave the theater with a bigger heart. Now, the second and third weekends of anyone but you performed better than the opening weekend at the box office. And that is key because that financial detail is different from most movies in Hollywood.

It's a positive sign. And that's why anyone but you is on pace for a better than expected $100 million at the box office. But yet here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Ironically, we're seeing a plot twist in the movie industry. The plot has shifted from superheroes to rom-coms. We are seeing early signs in the data that rom-coms are beating up on superheroes out there. Because last year, we all saw the beginning of what's called the superhero slowdown in movie theaters. Fan fatigue, it's hidden ticket sales and we're noticing it.

Now anyone but you is on pace to sell more tickets than the latest Marvel movie, which was called The Marvels. We repeat. Apparently you are a true love, not true fist, because anyone but you's going to sell more tickets than the superheroes out there. We're talking about a movie featuring two X lovers hooking up at a wedding. Sorry, Thor. That is what viewers want in 2024. Not Aquaman 8. So get in losers. We're going to our takeaway. Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies in the movie industry? Movie studios are falling in love with rom-comonomics. Yet these movies aren't art. But they're also increasingly, a business. Hollywood studios look at content, like portfolio managers, look at investments.

They could spend big money on a superhero movie and hope for a big payoff. Or spend less money on a smaller but more reliable rom-com. So let's jump back into the numbers. Anyone by you is on pace to make $100 million. Now, that's only one-tenth of what the latest Spider-Man made. But anyone but you cost only $25 million to make. So it's a solid 4-X return for the studio. In this economy, that is Hollywood's equivalent of a value stock, Jack. If the CFO of MGM was in charge of the Oscars, they'd give an Oscar to rom-coms right now.

Jack, if Warren Buffett teamed up with Martin Scorsese, it would be all rom-coms from that guy. They're low cost to produce. They're not loved by critics, but they're reliably performing at the box office. Yeties, as we're all feeling superhero fatigue, movie studios are falling in love with rom-cominomics. For our third and final story, one football game last weekend caused the biggest day of streaming in history. Every single one of those new peacock subscribers is a flight risk. Jack, can I just share with you for a second why I loved putting together this story with you today? Why, Nick?

Because there's a random song lyric I've never heard of that you wanted to share with our entire audience out there. Can you share it for everyone? It's kind of a dark line, actually. It's from Do They Know It's Christmas by Band-Aid? I think Bono says it. Well, tonight, thank God it's them instead of you. That one line reminded Jack and me of Saturday night when the Chiefs played the Dolphins in an NFL playoff showdown.

It was negative four degrees in Kansas City and they still played tackle football. Thank God it's them instead of me. It was the fourth coldest game ever. The shell of Patrick Mahomes helmet shattered on the field. And that's why an average 23 million Americans tuned in. warm and cozy from their sofa with a hot pocket on one side and a cold drink on the other. You got into your snuggie. You watched the game and you were happy. It was them, not you. But get this, Yetis. This was actually one of the most important days in internet history.

This game set a streaming record. It was the most streamed thing on the internet ever. Okay, according to NBC, 30% of the internet was being used just to watch this game. And it hit 31% when Taylor Swift was shown in the luxury box. Now, Jack, before we go further, can we sprinkle on more context to the biggest streamed thing in history? NBC, which is owned by Comcast, had to pay the NFL dearly to put this playoff game on streaming only. NBC paid $110 million just so they could stream this one single game. And it was a big risk by making it streaming only and not putting it on the regular NBC channel for cable TV users. And why was it a risk exactly, Jack?

Because you may have spent the whole first quarter calling your uncle and explaining how to download Peacock with his remote. No, no, it's an Apple ID. You remember your Apple ID? Your I-Cloud password. Now, the hope was that putting it streaming only would drive new subscribers to Peacock. Peacock desperately needs a win. It's ranked number eight out of all the streaming services with just 30 million subscribers. And we've said that live sports are the holy grand.

of streaming, so NBC bought the rights to one of the most prized live sporting events there is. Nothing gets Americans to sign up and change the channel like a live NFL football game. And the strategy worked. Peacock hit number one in the app store with tens of millions of new downloads just for this one game. Plus, Peacock delivered. There were no streaming glitches during the entire game. Even when they showed Taylor Swift blowing a kiss to Travis Kelsey, the internet kept on streaming. All 30% of it that was.

was going toward this game. So for $110 million, Peacock got millions of new subscribers. Sounds amazing. But we found one problem. There may be a problem, actually, with a strategy. That problem is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over? At NBC.

You've heard of the Hotel California. Streaming faces the opposite. Yety, some companies, they make it hard to leave. Jack and I, we call it the Hotel California strategy. They're like, oh, you want to unsubscribe? Sure. Just call our 1-800 number between 2 and 4 a.m. on Tuesdays. Fax is a notarized letter and make sure you have your 91-digit customer number with you.

We call it the Hotel California Strategy. Make it really hard for customers to quit. You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave. Well, it's the opposite for streamers like Peacock. They don't have two-year contracts like cable did. You can unsubscribe with a couple clicks any time. It's actually an Achilles Hill for the entire streaming. industry. So if this bet by NBC pays off, it means those annoyed uncles remain subscribers. But if this

bet by NBC doesn't pay off, it's because those annoyed uncles unsubscribed after the game friction-free. Because streaming makes it so easy to quit. Yetis, you've heard of the Hotel California strategy. But the big challenge for streaming is the opposite. You can check out any time you want, and it's so easy to leave. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for us for Siviche Wednesday. As we get through the current winter storm, Wall Street's attention is on Toro's snowplows. Because more extreme weather calls for more extreme equipment. For our second story, rom-coms are replacing superheroes as the top investment in Hollywood. It's rom-cominomics. Smaller budget, less critical acclaim, but reliable box office performance. And our third and final story is

Peacock. They won NFL Wild Card Playoff weekend with the most streamed thing ever. But for customers, it's the opposite of the Hotel California. You can check out any time you want. It is so easy to leave. But best use, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the big airline merger between JetBlue and Spirit. It's off.

A federal judge blocked the $4 billion deal. They argued that the merger would hurt airline competition and drive up fares for passengers. And second, Uber is officially shutting down the dream. Grizzly app. It acquired the alcohol delivery app three years ago for a whopping $1 billion. But Uber executives decided if people want to order delivery alcohol, they can just do it in the Uber Eats app. And finally, congratulations to Sarah Snuck and Kieran Culkin, who won top actor awards at the Emmys for their roles in succession. Shiv and Roy both won Emmys. The eldest boy

did not. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Ian Grimm from Modesto, California, It's actually a correction. Last week, we covered High Noon, which became the top-selling liquor in America. The spiked seltzer tequila is the most purchased spirit in the entire United States. It's a canned cocktail. Apparently, we can't get enough of them. But quick correction. Last week, Jack and I said High Noon was a startup, but that's not exactly correct.

It's actually owned by E.J. Gallo Winery, which is a huge company. It's an 89-year-old alcohol conglomerate, and what other brands does this giant winery own, Jack? E.J. Gallo owns High Noon, Andre, barefoot spritzers, and Manashevitz. Ah, some classics. In fact, this one company, E.J. Gallo, produces 3% of all the wine on Earth. Yeah, it is, if you're sipping on something right now, 3% chance, it's an E.J. Gallo penal. Which pretended to be a startup when they launched high noon. Yeah, it is, you are looking fantastic today. And remember, if you want to get a shout out,

or you want to get your buddy a shout out on the pod, all you got to do is fill out our form right here in the episode. description. And if you're new to T-Boy, make sure to follow for top pop business news every single day. In the meantime, you know what day it is, Jack, don't you? Sevece Wednesday? And on Sevice Wednesdays, we wear pink. Nick and I will see you tomorrow. No, no, like, we're literally wearing pink right now. I got it. Regina. I got it. And before we go, a happy 21st birthday to Iris Leung, who's celebrated in Cupertino, California with Monduca. Iris, thank you for those T-boy graphics you sent us that one time. And a happy birthday to Yeti, Casey's long time bestie celebrating a birthday in Denver.

Happy birthday to Cletus Rogers in Houston, Texas. And Tyrone Cullen, it has a belated birthday down the street in San Francisco. Happy birthday to Cassie Parko, who's celebrating in Phoenix with a loaf of sourdough. And finally, congratulations to Sophia Zang and Brian Rischel, who are getting married on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. Sophia and Brian, congratulations. That's actually where I had my civil ceremony with Alex. Gorgeous place.

Your photos are amazing from that. I'm sure Sophia and Brian's art too. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the Wits. Achilles is probably like, I've done this, I've done that, all they talk about is my heel. I'm beautiful, I saved Troy. No, Achilles is here. Yeah.

Real stickers out there. Talk about microaggressions. There's more to me. No one ever says, hey, Achilles, how's your arm? Hey, Achilles. How are you feeling? Nice pecks. Yeah.

No, it's, oh, you heal. Hey, you want some ankle tape, Achilles? I don't need an ankle tape.