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Weekly Issue: We aren’t out of the woods just yet

Weekly Issue: We aren’t out of the woods just yet

Key Points from this Issue:

  • We are downgrading Universal Display (OLED) shares from the Thematic Leaders to the Select List and cutting our price target to $125 from $150. In the coming days, we will name a new Thematic Leader for our Disruptive Innovators investing theme.
  • Given the widespread pain the market endured in October, Thematic Leaders Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Del Frisco’s (DFRG), Axon Enterprises (AXXN), Alibaba (BABA) and Netflix (NFLX) were hit hard; however, the hardest hit was Amazon (AMZN).

 

This week we closed the books on the month of October, and what a month it was for the stock market. In today’s short-term focused society, some will focus on the rebound over the last few days in the major domestic stock market indices, but even those cannot hide the fact that October was one of the most challenging months for stocks in recent memory. In short, the month of October wiped out most the market’s year to date gains as investors digested both September quarter earnings and updated guidance that spurred a re-think in top and bottom line expectations.

All told, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.1% for the month, making it the best performer of the major market indices. By comparison, the S&P 500 fell 6.9% in October led by declines in eight of its ten subgroups. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 9.2% and the small-cap focused Russell 2000 plummeted 10.9%. That marked the Nasdaq’s steepest monthly drop since it posted a 10.8% fall in November 2008. The month’s move pulled the Russell 2000 into negative territory year to date while for the same time period both the Dow and S&P 500 closed last night up around 1.5%.

We are just over halfway through the September quarter earnings season, which means there are ample companies left to report and issue updated guidance. Candidly, those reports could push or pull the market either higher or continue the October pain. There are still ample risks in the market to be had as the current earnings season winds down. These include the mid-term elections; Italy’s next round of budget talks with Brussels; upcoming Trump-China trade talks, which have led to another round of tariff preparations; and Fed rate hikes vs. the slowing speed of the global economy.

Despite the very recent rebound in the stock market, CNN’s Fear & Greed Index remains at Extreme Fear (7) as I write this – little changed from last week. What this likely means is we are seeing a nervous rebound in the market, and it will likely some positive reinforcement to make the late October rebound stick. As we navigate that pathway to the end of the year, we will also be entering the 2018 holiday shopping season, which per the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer spending survey should rise more than 4% year over year.

This combination of upcoming events and sentiment likely means we aren’t out of the woods just yet even though we are seeing a reprieve from the majority of October. As is shared below, next week has even more companies reporting than this week as well as the midterm elections. The strategy of sitting on the sidelines until the calmer waters emerge as stock prices come to us is what we’ll be doing. At the right time, we’ll be adding to existing positions on the Thematic Leaders and Thematic Select List as well as introducing new ones.

Speaking of the Thematic Leaders and the Select List, as the mood shifts from Halloween to the year-end shopping season,  we have several companies including Amazon (AMZN), United Parcel Service (UPS), Costco Wholesale (COST), Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group (DFRG), McCormick & Co. (MKC) and Apple (AAPL) among others that should benefit from that uptick in holiday spending as well as our Digital Lifestyle, Living the Life and Middle-class Squeeze investing themes in the next few months.

 

UPDATES TO The Thematic Leaders and Select List

Given the widespread pain the market endured in October, we were not immune to it with the Thematic Leaders or companies on the Tematica Select List. Given the volatility, investor’s nerves it was a time of shoot first, ask questions later with the market – as expected – trading day to day based on the most recent news. I expect this to continue at least for the next few weeks.

The hardest hit was Amazon, which despite simply destroying September quarter expectations served up what can only be called a conservative forecast for the current quarter. For those that didn’t tune in to the company’s related earnings conference call, Amazon management flat out admitted that it was being conservative because it is too hard to call the second half of the quarter, which is when it does the bulk of its business during the frenetic holiday shopping season. I have long said that Amazon shares are one to hold not trade, and with the move to expand its private label product, move into the online pharmacy space as well as continued growth at Amazon Web Services, we will do just that. That conservative guidance also hit United Parcel Service (UPS) shares, but we see that as a rising tide this holiday season as digital shopping continues to take consumer wallet share this holiday shopping season.

Both Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Del Frisco’s (DFRG), Axon Enterprises (AXXN), Alibaba (BABA) and Netflix (NFLX) have also been hit hard, and I’m waiting for the market to stabilize before scaling into these Thematic Leader positions. As we’ve moved through the current earnings season, comments from Bloomin’ Brands (BLMN), Del Taco (TACO), Wingstop (WING), Habit Restaurant (HABT) and others, including Chipotle, have all pointed to the benefit of food deflation. Chipotle’s Big Fix continues with progress had in the September quarter and more to be had in the coming ones. Del Frisco’s will soon report its quarterly results and it too should benefit from a consumer with high sentiment and lower food costs.

With Axon, the shares remain trapped in the legal volley with Digital Ally (DGLY), but as I pointed out when we added it to the Leaders, Axon continues to expand its safety business with law enforcement and at some point, I suspect it will simply acquire Digital Ally given its $30 million market cap. Turning to Alibaba (BABA) and Netflix (NFLX), both have been hit hard by the downdraft in technology stocks, with Alibaba also serving as a proxy for the current US-China trade war. In my opinion, there is no slowing down the shift to digital streaming that is driving Netflix’s business and its proprietary content strategy is paying off, especially outside the US where it is garnering subscriber growth at price points that are above last year’s levels. This is one we will add to as things settle down.

The same is true with Alibaba – there is no slowing down the shift to the Digital Lifestyle inside of China, and as Alibaba’s other business turn from operating losses to operating profits, I expect a repeat of what we saw with Amazon shares. For now, however, the shares are likely to trade sideways until we see signs of positive developments on trade talks. Again, let’s hang tight and make our move when the time is right.

 

Downgrading Universal Display shares to the Select List

Last night Thematic Leader Universal Display (OLED) reported rather disappointing September quarter results that fell well short of expectations and guided the current quarter below expectations given that the expected rebound in organic light emitting diode materials sales wasn’t ramping as expected despite a number of new smartphones using organic light emitting diode displays. On the earnings call, the company pointed out the strides being had with the technology in other markets, such as TV and automotive that we’ve been discussing these last few months but at least for the near-term the volume application has been smartphones. In short, with that ramp failing to live up to expectations for the seasonally strongest part of the year for smartphones, it speaks volumes about what is in store for OLED shares.

By the numbers, Universal now expected 2018 revenue in the range of $240-$250, which implies $63-$73 million for the December quarter vs. $77.5 million for the September quarter and $88.3 million in the year-ago one. To frame it another way, that new revenue forecast of $240-$250 million compares to the company’s prior one of $315- $325 million and translates into a meaningful fall off vs. 2017 revenues of $335.6 million. A clear sign that the expected upkeep is not happening as fast as was expected by the Universal management team. Also, too, the first half of the calendar year tends to be a quiet one for new smartphone models hitting shelves. And yes, there will be tech and consumer product industry events like CES, CEBIT, and others in 2019 that will showcase new smartphone models, but candidly we see these new models with organic light emitting diode displays as becoming a show-me story given their premium price points. Even with Apple (AAPL) and its September quarter earnings last night, its iPhone volumes were flat year over year at 46.9 million units falling short of the 48.0 million consensus forecast.

In my view, all of this means the best case scenario in the near-term is OLED shares will be dead money. Odds are once Wall Street computes the new revenue numbers and margin impact, EPS numbers for the next few quarters will be taken down and will hang on the shares like an anchor. Given our cost basis in the shares near $101, and where the shares are likely to open up tomorrow – after market trading indicates $95-$100, down from last night’s closing price of $129.65 – we have modest downside ahead. Not bad, but again, near-term the shares are likely range bound.

Given our long-term investing style and the prospects in markets outside of the smartphone, we’re inclined to remain long-term investors. That said, given the near-term headwinds, we are demoting Universal Display shares from the Thematic Leaders to the Select List. Based on revised expectations, we are cutting our price target from $150 to $125, fully recognizing the shares are likely to rangebound for the next 1-2 quarters.

  • We are downgrading Universal Display (OLED) shares from the Thematic Leaders to the Select List and cutting our price target to $125 from $150. In the coming days, we will name a new Thematic Leader for our Disruptive Innovators investing theme.

 

Clean Living signals abound

As we hang tight, I will continue to pour through the latest thematic signals that we see day in, day out throughout the year, but I’ll also be collecting ones from the sea of earnings reports around us.

If I had just read that it would prompt me to wonder what some of the recent signals have been. As you know we post them on the Tematica Research website but during the earnings season, they can get a tad overwhelming, which is why on this week’s Cocktail Investing podcast, Lenore Hawkins (Tematica’s Chief Macro Strategist) and I ran through a number of them. I encourage you to give it a listen.

Some of the signals that stood out of late center on our Clean Living investing theme. Not only did Coca-Cola (KO) chalk up its September quarter performance to its water and non-sugary beverage businesses, but this week PepsiCo (PEP) acquired plant-based nutrition bar maker Health Warrior as it continues to move into good for you products. Mondelez International (MDLZ), the company behind my personal fav Oreos as well as other cookies and snacks is launching SnackFutures, a forward-thinking innovation hub that will focus on well-being snacks and ingredients. Yep, it too is embracing our Clean Living investing theme.

Stepping outside of the food aspect of Clean Living, there has been much talk in recent months about the banning of plastic straws. Now MasterCard (MA) is looking to go one further with as it looks to develop an alternative for those plastic debit and credit cards. Some 6 billion are pushed into consumer’s hands each year. The issue is that thin, durable card is also packed with a fair amount of technology that enables transactions to occur and do so securely. A looming intersection of our Clean Living, Digital Infrastructure and Safety & Security themes to watch.

 

Turning to next week

During the week, the Atlanta Fed published its initial GDP forecast of 2.6% for the current quarter, which is essentially in line with the same forecast provided by the NY Fed’s Nowcast, and a sharp step down from the initial GDP print of 3.5% for the September quarter. Following the October Employment Report due later this week, where wage growth is likely to be more on investor minds that job gains as they contemplate the velocity of the Fed’s interest rate hikes, next week brings several additional pieces of October data. These include the October ISM Services reading and the October PPI figure. Inside the former, we’ll be assessing jobs data as well as pricing data, comparing it vs. the prior months for hints pointing to a pickup in inflation. That will set the stage for the October PPI and given the growing number of companies that have announced price increases odds are we will some hotter pricing data and that could refocus the investor spotlight back on the Fed.

Next week also brings the September JOLTS report as well as the September Consumer Credit report. Inside those data points, we expect more data on the continued mismatch between employer needs and available worker skills that is expected to spur more competitive wages.  As we examine the latest credit data, we will keep in mind that smaller banks reporting higher credit card delinquency rates while Discover Financial (DFS) and Capital One (COF) have shared they have started dialing back credit spending limits. That could put an extra layer of hurt on Middle-class Squeeze consumers this holiday season.

Also, next week, the Fed has its next FOMC meeting, and while it’s not expected to boost rates at that meeting, we can expect much investor attention to be focused on subsequent Fed head comments as well as the eventual publication of the meeting’s minutes in the coming weeks ahead of the December meeting.

On the earnings front, following this week’s more than 1,000 earnings reports next week bring another 1,100 plus reports. What this means is more than half of the S&P 500 group of companies will have issued September quarter results and shared their revised guidance. As these reports are had, we can expect consensus expectations for those companies to be refined for the balance of the year. Thus far, roughly 63% of the companies that have issued EPS guidance for the current quarter have issued negative guidance, but we have yet to see any meaningful negative revisions overall EPS expectations for the S&P 500.

Outside the economic data and corporate earnings flow next week, we also have US midterm elections. While we wait for the outcome, we would note if the Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate, it likely means a path of less resistance for President Trump’s agenda for the coming two years. Should the Democrats gain ground, which has historically been the case following a Republican presidential win, it could very well mean an even more contentious 24 months are to be had in Washington with more gridlock than not. Should that be the case, expectations for much of anything getting done in Washington in the medium-term are likely to fall.

Yes, next week will be another busy one that could challenge the recent market rebound. We’ll continue to ferret out signals for our thematic lens as we remain investors focused on the long-term opportunities to be had with thematic investing.

 

 

 

 

October Buy-the-Dip Trick or Treat?

October Buy-the-Dip Trick or Treat?

 

So much for the typical October strength in equities – a month in which the major US indices historically have gained ground 75% of the time. We’ve seen major index support levels broken while earnings beats have been smaller than we’ve seen over the past year with revenue and forward guidance giving investors jitters.

Over the summer and through September we warned that this earnings season would likely be a very bumpy ride as earnings would probably be decent, but guidance would not support the market’s multiples. Our concerns have proven warranted. Overall this earnings season the average company that has reported saw its shares fall 2% on its earnings reaction day – if this keeps up it will be the worst stock performance reaction on record since 2001.

How bad has it been?

  • On Wednesday, October 24, the Nasdaq had its worst daily drop since 2011, closing the day down over 10% from its recent highs and by the close of the trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 had lost all their gains for the year. If the market’s close in the red again Friday, the S&P 500 will have closed down 15 days during the month thus far, the most since 2012.
  • The FAANGM stocks entered a bear market this week, losing 4.4% on Wednesday – the worst decline since August 2011.
  • The Global MSCI All World Index hit a 14-month low, in bear market territory with a more than 20% decline since the January highs, losing 11% in October alone – the biggest decline since the financial crisis. This week only 4 of the 47 countries in the MSCI all country world index were above their 200-day moving average.
  • Homebuilder stocks have fallen more than 40% from their January highs – the canary in the consumer coal mine. New home sales plunged 5.5% in September versus expectations for a -0.6% decline as the supply of homes for sale rose +2.8% (the sixth consecutive increase) to the highest level since 2008 while demand has fallen to a 2-year low. Tell me again how great that consumer is doing and how they might contend with 5% mortgages? As those homes become more expensive to purchase, fewer Middle-Class Squeeze consumers will be filling out a mortgage application.
  • The only two S&P 500 sectors in the green this month are defensive – Consumer Staples (+1%) in the midst of its longest winning streak since November 2009 and Utilities (+3%). Even one of the must-have lifelines for our Digital Lifestyle investing theme mobile service wasn’t a safe haven as AT&T (T) shares fell some 9% this week hitting a new 52-week low in the process.
  • This week the Russell 2000 small cap index fell over 15% from its highs, closing Wednesday just 5 points away from a new 52-week low.
  • After spending 262 consecutive days above its 200-day moving average, oil closed this week below that marker. Streaks of such magnitude have only happened two other times over the past 30 years – April 10, 2000, which ended a 272-day streak and September 2, 2008, which ended a 330-day streak. Those dates are worth noting.
  • The first 18 trading days in October have seen a daily open to close loss 83.3% of the time, besting the previous 75% record in September of 2000. If the market rallies from open to close on the next 4 trading days, October’s closed in the red versus open will be 65.2% of days – the worst for any single month since October 2008 which was at the height of the financial crisis – and that is the very BEST we could hope for.

Investors are taking note with the weekly sentiment survey from AAII reporting that bullish sentiment fell to 27.9% from 34%, the fourth weakest reading for bullish sentiment this year. Bearish sentiment rose from 35% to 41%, the highest reading since the last week of June. Other indicators, such as the CNN Fear & Greed Index which fell to Extreme Fear (6) this week from Greed (64) a month ago, also point to increasing investor unease.

 

What is driving all this is the market starting to sync up with the reality of geopolitics and economics.

  • The era of central bank continual infusions of liquidity is over. The flow has not only stopped, but in the case of the US, reversed course.
  • We are facing trade wars and tariffs. The recent Federal Reserve Beige book was packed full of executives complaining about the impact of such on their businesses.
  • A decent portion of the domestic economic acceleration has been thanks to unsustainable fiscal deficits. The market is just starting to figure that out as the headlines move from cheerleaders to more rationale skeptics. Our Safety & Security investing theme is making headlines as a solid portion of growth has been driven by increases in defense spending which shifted from an average annual -2.1% rate of decline from June 2009 to March 2017 to a +2.9% average annual rate of increase since April 2017.
  • The Italian problem is not going away. It is too big to save and to say its current leadership is incompetent is putting it mildly, (as someone who lives a good portion of my time in Genoa of the collapsed bridge fame) and the clock is ticking on its sovereign debt bomb. As an example of the breathtaking level of incompetence, after two months basically no progress has been made on replacing that bridge despite its vital importance to not only Italy’s economy but to the greater Eurozone given its link to a major port.
  • China is in a full bear market, its economy is saddled with a staggering level of debt, and the Chinese yuan has dropped to its lowest level versus the dollar in a decade. We are watching these and other data points with an eye toward our Rise of the Global Middle-Class investing theme.
  • Geopolitical tensions are mounting around the world and the current Saudi situation highlights just how much the balance of global power is shifting.

 

The big question is where do we go from here?

Just 13% of stocks in the S&P 500 are above their 200-day moving average – these are mostly in the aforementioned Consumer Staples and Utilities sectors. This level has only occurred a few times in the past, marking just how oversold near-term the market has become. There is not one Energy or Industrial sector stock above its 50-day moving average. Rebounds are to be expected with such near-term oversold conditions.

Looking at the economics, the Citigroup Global Economic Surprise Index has been in negative territory, (meaning more data coming in below expectations than above) since April – the longest stretch in 4 years. The October Eurozone PMI fell to a 25-month low. Back in the US, the Richmond Federal Reserve local business conditions index for services hit a 7-year low, similar to what we’ve seen on the manufacturing side.

The employment situation is increasingly worrisome. The Richmond Fed’s wage expectations index for 6 months out recently jumped dramatically up to a level not seen since March 2000 as the available pool of labor has dropped to an 11-year low. Looking at who has been getting jobs recently, 70% of job gains over the past 6 months and 100% over the past 4 months have gone to folks with just a high-school degree or less. While we love to see more people getting jobs, from the corporate side of things, that means that companies are having to hire those with the weakest skill set. Great for the person getting a job as they can now develop more skills, but brutal for the employer who is facing weaker productivity as a result – that hurts earnings which are already facing rising costs from tariffs and trade wars as well as rising interest rates.

The bottom line is we are likely to see some interim rebounds, but it doesn’t look like the market is yet in sync with global realities. We have been pointing out for months that US stocks indices have been outperforming the rest of the world to a degree that was simply not sustainable.

The market is starting to appreciate the magnitude of the fiscal stimulus economic sugar high, that trade wars aren’t so easily won, that geopolitical risks are material, that the change in central bank liquidity flows matters and that future earnings growth is likely slower. We haven’t even gotten started when it comes to the fireworks I’m expecting from the Italian situation. We are likely to see the occasional rebound, but my money is that more pain is yet to come. That is great news for those that are focused on solid, long-term investing themes like the ones we have developed at Tematica Research, and have a shopping list of stocks ready for the bargains that will be coming our way.

 

 

Weekly Issue: Among the Volatility, We See Several Thematic Confirming Data Points

Weekly Issue: Among the Volatility, We See Several Thematic Confirming Data Points

Key points inside this issue:

  • As expected, news of the day is the driver behind the stock market swings
  • Data points inside the September Retail Sales Report keep us thematically bullish on the shares of Amazon (AMZN), United Parcel Service (UPS) and Costco Wholesale. Our price targets remain $$2,250, $130 and $250, respectively.
  • We use the recent pullback to scale further into our Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group (DFRG) shares at better prices, our price target remains $14.
  • Netflix crushes subscriber growth in the September quarter; Our price target on Netflix (NFLX) shares remains $500.
  • September quarter earnings from Ericsson (ERIC) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) paint a favorable picture from upcoming reports from Nokia (NOK) and AXT Inc. Our price targets on Nokia and AXT shares remain $8.50 and $11, respectively.
  • Walmart embraces our Digital Innovators investment theme
  • Programming note: Much commentary in this week’s issue centers on the September Retail Sales Report. On this week’s Cocktail Investing podcast, we do a deep dive on that report from a thematic perspective. 

 

As expected, news of the day is the driver behind the stock market swings

If there is one thing we can say about the domestic stock market over the last week, it remains volatile. While there are other words that one might use to describe the down, up, down move over the last week, but volatile is probably the most fitting. Last week I shared the market would likely trade based on the data of the day — economic, earnings or political — and that seems to have been the case. While we’ve received several solid earnings reports, including one from Thematic Leader Netflix (NFLX), several banks and even a few airlines, the headline economic data came up soft for September Retail Sales and Housing.

And then there was yesterday’s FOMC minutes from the Fed’s September monetary policy meeting, which showed that even though the Fed expects to remain on its tightening path, subject to the data to be had, several members of the committee see “a period where the Fed even will need to go beyond normalization of rates and into a more restrictive stance.”

Odds are we can expect further tweets from President Trump on this given his prior comments that the Fed is one of his greatest risks. I also expect this to reignite concerns for the current expansion, particularly since the Fed has historically done a good job hiking interest rates into a recession. From a thematic perspective, continued rate hikes by the Fed is likely to put some added pressure on Middle-Class Squeeze consumers. Before you freak out, let’s check the data. The economy is still growing, adding jobs, benefiting from lower taxes and regulation. It’s not about to fall off a cliff in the near term, but yes, the longer the current expansion goes, the greater the risk of something more than just a slower economy. More reasons to keep watching the monthly data.

Here’s the good news, inside that data and elsewhere we continue to receive confirming signals for our 10 investing themes as well as favorable data points for the Thematic Leaders and other positions on the Tematica Investing Select List.

 

Several positives in the September Retail Sales report for AMZN, UPS & COST

Cocktail Investing Podcast September Retail Sales Report

With the consumer directly or indirectly accounting for nearly two-thirds of the domestic economy and the average consumer spending 31% of his or her paycheck on retails goods, this monthly report is one worth monitoring closely.

Let’s take a closer look at this week’s September 2018 Retail Sales report. First, let’s talk about the headline miss that was making the rounds yesterday. Yes, the month over month comparison Total Retail & Food Services excluding motor vehicles & parts fell 0.1%, but Retail rose 0.4% on the same basis. The thing is, most tend to focus on those sequential comparisons, but as investors, we examine year over year comparisons when it comes to measuring revenue, profit and EPS growth. On that basis, Total Retail & Food Services rose 5.7% year over year while Retail climbed 4.4% compared to September 2017. That sounds pretty solid if you ask me. Now, let’s dig into the meat of the report and what it means for several of our thematic holdings.

Right off the bat, we can’t ignore the 11.4% year over year increase in gas station sales during September, which capped off a 17.2% increase for the September 2018 quarter. With such an increase owing to the rise in oil and gas prices, we would expect to see weakness in several of the retail sales categories as the cost of filling up the car saps spending at the margin and confirms our Middle-Class Squeeze investing theme. And we saw just that. Department stores once again fell in September vs. year ago levels as did Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & bookstores. Given recent construction as well as housing starts data, the Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealer category posted slower year over year growth, which was hardly surprising.

Other than gas station sales, the other big gainer was Nonstore retailers – Census Bureau speak for e-tailers and digital commerce that are part of Digital Lifestyle investing theme,  which saw an 11.4% increase in September retail sales vs. year ago levels. That strong level clearly confirms our investment thesis that digital shopping continues to take consumer wallet share, which bodes well for our Amazon (AMZN), United Parcel Service (UPS), and to a lesser extent our Costco Wholesale (COST). With consumers feeling the pressure of our Middle-Class Squeeze investing theme, I continue to see them embracing the Digital Lifestyle to ferret out deals and bargains to stretch their after-tax spending dollars, especially as we head into the holiday shopping season.

Sticking with Costco, the company recently reported its U.S. same-store-sales grew 7.7% for September excluding fuel and currency. Further evidence that Costco also continues to gain consumer wallet share compared to retail and food sales establishments as well as the General Merchandise Store category.

  • Data points inside the September Retail Sales Report keep us thematically bullish on the shares of Amazon (AMZN), United Parcel Service (UPS) and Costco Wholesale. Our price targets remain $2,250, $130 and $250, respectively.

 

Scaling deeper into Del Frisco’s shares

Now let’s dig into the report as it relates to Del Frisco Restaurant Group, our Thematic Leader for the Living the Life investing theme. Per the Census Bureau, retail sales at food services & drinking places rose 7.1% year over year in September, which brought its year-over-year comparison for the September quarter to 8.8%. Clearly, consumers are spending more at restaurants, than eating at home. Paired with beef price deflation that has been confirmed by Darden Restaurants (DRI), this bodes well for profit growth at Del Frisco.

Against those data points, I’m using the blended 12.5% drop in DFRG shares since we added them to our holdings to improve our costs basis.

  • We are using the recent pullback to scale further into our Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group (DFRG) shares at better prices, our price target remains $14.

 

Netflix crushes subscriber growth in the September quarter

Tuesday night Netflix (NFLX) delivered a crushing blow to skeptics as it served up an EPS and net subscriber adds beat that blew away expectations and guided December quarter net subscriber adds above Wall Street’s forecast. This led NFLX shares to pop rather nicely, which was followed by a number of Wall Street firms reiterating their Buy ratings and price targets.

Were there some investors that were somewhat unhappy with the continued investment spend on content? Yes, and I suppose there always will be, but as we are seeing its that content that is driving subscriber growth and in order to drive net new adds outside the US, Netflix will continue to invest in content. As we saw in the company’s September quarter results, year to date international net subscriber adds is 276% ahead of those in the US. Not surprising, given the service’s launch in international markets over the last several quarters and corresponding content ramp for those markets.

Where the content spending becomes an issue is when its subscriber growth flatlines, which will likely to happen at some point, but for now, the company has more runway to go. I say that because the content spend so far in 2018 is lining its pipeline for 2019 and beyond. With its international paid customer base totaling 73.5 million users, viewed against the global non-US population, it has a way to go before it approaches the 45% penetration rate it has among US households.  This very much keeps Netflix as the Thematic Leader for our Digital Lifestyle investing theme.

One other thing, as part of this earnings report Netflix said it plans to move away from reporting how many subscribers had signed up for free trials during the quarter and focus on paid subscriber growth. I have to say I am in favor of this. It’s the paying subscribers that matter and will be the key to the stock until the day comes when Netflix embraces advertising revenue. I’m not saying it will, but that would be when “free” matters. For now, it’s all about subscriber growth, retention, and any new price increases.

That said, I am closely watching all the new streaming services that are coming to market. Two of the risks I see are a recreation of the cable TV experience and the creep higher in streaming bill totals that wipe out any cord-cutting savings. Longer-term I do see consolidation among this disparate services playing out repeating what we saw in the internet space following the dot.com bubble burst.

  • Our price target on Netflix (NFLX) shares remains $500.

 

What earnings from Ericsson and Taiwan Semiconductor mean for Nokia and AXT

This morning mobile infrastructure company Ericsson (ERIC) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) did what they said was positive for our shares of Nokia (NOK) and AXT Inc. (AXTI).

In its earnings comments, Ericsson shared that mobile operators around the globe are preparing for 5G network launches as evidenced by the high level of field trials that are expected to last at such levels over the next 12-18 months. Ericsson also noted that North America continues to lead the way in terms of network launches, which confirms the rough timetable laid out by AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and even T-Mobile USA (TMUS) with China undergoing large 5G field trials as well. In sum, Ericsson described the 5G momentum as strong, which helped drive the company’s first quarter of organic growth since 3Q 2014. That’s an inflection point folks, especially since the rollout of these mobile technologies span years, not quarters.

Turning to Taiwan Semiconductor, the company delivered a top and bottom line beat relative to expectations. Its reported revenue rose just shy of 12% quarter over quarter (3.3% year over year) led by a 24% increase in Communication chip demand followed by a 6% increase in Industrial/Standard chips. In our view, this confirms the strong ramp associated with Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone models as well as the number of other new smartphone models and connected devices slated to hit shelves in the back half of 2018. From a guidance perspective, TSM is forecasting December quarter revenue of $9.35-$9.45 billion is well below the consensus expectation of $9.8 billion, but before we rush to judgement, we need to understand how the company is accounting for currency vs. slowing demand. Given the seasonal March quarter slowdown for smartphone demand vs. the December quarter and the lead time for chips for those and other devices, we’d rather not rush to judgement until we have more pieces of data to round out the picture.

In sum, the above comments set up what should be positive September quarter earnings from Nokia and AXT in the coming days. Nokia will issue its quarterly results on Oct. 25, while AXT will do the same on Oct. 31. There will be other companies whose results as well as their revised guidance and reasons for those changes will be important signs posts for these two as well as our other holdings. As those data points hit, we’ll be sure to absorb that information and position ourselves accordingly.

  • September quarter earnings from Ericsson (ERIC) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) paint a favorable picture from upcoming reports from Nokia (NOK) and AXT Inc. Our price targets on Nokia and AXT shares remain $8.50 and $11, respectively.

 

Walmart embraces our Digital Innovators investment theme

Yesterday Walmart (WMT) held its annual Investor Conference and while much was discussed, one of the things that jumped out to me was how the company is transforming  itself to operate in the “dynamic, omni-channel retail world of the future.” What the company is doing to reposition itself is embracing a number of aspects of our Disruptive Innovators investing theme, including artificial intelligence, robotics, inventory scanners, automated unloading in the store receiving dock, and digital price tags.

As it does this, Walmart is also making a number of nip and tuck acquisitions to improve its footing with consumers that span our Middle-Class Squeeze and in some instances our Living the Life investing theme as well our Digital Lifestyle one.  Recent acquisitions include lingerie company Bare Essentials and plus-sized clothing startup Eloquii. Other acquisitions over the last few quarters have been e-commerce platform Shoebuy, outdoor apparel retailer Moosejaw, women’s wear site Modcloth, direct-to-consumer premium menswear brand Bonobos, and last-mile delivery startup Parcel in September.

If you’re thinking that these moves sound very similar to ones that Amazon (AMZN) has made over the years, I would quickly agree. The question percolating in my brain is how does this technology spending stack up against expectations and did management boost its IT spending forecast for the coming year? As that answer becomes clear, I’ll have some decisions to make about WMT shares and if we should be buyers as we move into the holiday shopping season.

 

Is Now the Time to Panic?

Is Now the Time to Panic?

What we are currently seeing in the market is a symptom of a whole lot of leverage in equities that had been in rich territory at a time when, even though it is still moving along, signs abound that the economy is slowing. Is this a ‘buy the dip’ opportunity or is it just the start of a much bigger downturn?

It has been a stormy week from the onslaught of hurricane Michael to the sea of red in global equity markets as the market shift we have been awaiting finally took hold. Wednesday the Dow lost over 800 points and had its worst day since February. The S&P 500 has had its worst losing streak in two years with over half of the S&P 500 at least two standard deviations below their 50-day moving average – the highest such percentage since March. A full two-thirds of the S&P 500 is now down 10% or more from their respective highs – that is a broad-based decline. The Russell 2000 has blown through all support levels down through its 200-day moving average. The once high-flying NYSE FANG+ Index has fallen more than 16% from its recent highs. All 65 members of the S&P 500 Tech sector closed in the red Wednesday, something we haven’t seen since the beginning of April.

Outside the US markets have been struggling even more – the US is just starting to catch up. Germany’s DAX is down to 6-month lows, the MSCI Asia-Pac Index hit a 17-month low, the Emerging Market index hit a 19-month low and 13 of the 47 members of the MSCI all-country index are down 10% or more year-to-date. Korea hasn’t seen a decline like this in 7 years. Taiwan hasn’t seen a decline of this magnitude in over 10 years. China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen Indices are at levels not seen since 2014. For those who regularly read on commentary on TematicaResearch.com, we’ve been pointing out for months that the large outperformance of US equities versus the rest of the world was unsustainable.

 

The big question on everyone’s mind now is, “Is this a ‘buy the dip’ opportunity or is this just the start of a much bigger downturn and what should we expect as we head into earnings season?”

Let’s start with earnings season which is likely to see the reporting quarter’s performance decent relative to expectations, so I’m not worried about meeting target numbers. What I am worried about is investor reactions and guidance. Since mid-September 48 of the S&P 1500 companies have reported and while their results relative to performance have been solid, only 10 companies have traded higher on their earnings day and the average stock has declined 3.8% on the day. This is an acceleration of the reactions we saw from investors last quarter.

Expectations are being adjusted. Over the past month, analysts have raised forecasts for 358 companies in the S&P 1500 and lowered them for 534 which is a net of 12.2% of the index adjusted downward, the most negative EPS revision spread since March 2017. We’d warned earlier in the year that the benefits from tax cuts and the massive injection of federal spending would likely translate into weakness in the later part of the year – well, here you have it. We are no longer seeing dramatic increases in earnings estimates while corporate guidance is slowing shifting to the downside.

Looking at factors affecting forward guidance, we are seeing rising costs across a broad range of inputs – energy, tight labor markets, higher interest rates and let’s not forget everyone’s favorite ongoing trade war. Earnings season also means that one of the major buyers of equities, companies themselves, is forced to sit on the sidelines for some time.

The big picture here is that global liquidity conditions have materially changed as central banks have shifted gears in an environment that is full of extremes.

  • Banks are shedding assets with several having announced layoffs in the credit loan groups as credit growth has been slowing.
  • China and Japan, two of America’s largest creditors to the tune of over $1 trillion, are reducing their exposure to Treasuries at a time when the nation is running fiscal deficits typically only seen during a war or major recession with debt to GDP reaching levels not seen since World War II.
  • This year the net flows into US mutual funds and ETFs is 46% below that experienced in the first three quarters of last year.

 

This contracting liquidity is occurring in the context of a variety of extreme conditions.

  • The recent tax cuts and federal spending boon represents the largest stimulus to the economy outside of a recession since the 1960s, that at a time when the economy is already above full employment.
  • We’ve seen an explosion in debt across the globe with the ratio of global debt to GDP rising from 179% in 2007 to 217% today, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
  • According to S&P Global Ratings, the percent of companies considered highly-leveraged (with debt-to-earnings ratio of 5x or more) has risen from 32% in 2007 to 37% in 2017 – so much for healthy balance sheets in the corporate sector.
  • Around 47% of all investment grade corporate debt is in the lowest category (BBB-rated) both in the US and Europe, versus just 35% and 19% respectively in 2007.
  • Total US non-financial corporate debt as a percent of GDP is near a post-World War II high.
  • The quality of corporate debt is at extreme levels as well with 75% of total leverage loan issuance in 2017 covenant-lite versus 29% in 2007.
  • There was an estimated $8.3 trillion in dollar-denominated emerging-market debt at the end of 2017, according to the Institute of International Finance, accounting for over 75% of all EM debt. According to Bloomberg, some $249 billion needs to be repaid or refinanced through next year with the US dollar having strengthened considerably against their local currencies, making that debt all the more expensive.
  • It isn’t just debt that is at extreme levels as the percent of household net worth in equities has never been higher.

 

The Bottomline on the Recent Market Turmoil

We’ve got a whole lot of leverage in the system with equities that had been in rich territory at a time when while the economy is still moving along, signs of slowing abound. Is this time to panic? Definitely not. The US stock market is getting in sync with what has been happening with yields, what is going on outside the US and with more realistic growth prospects. Both myself and Chris Versace, Tematica’s Chief Investment Officer, will be examining and re-examining thematic signals identify well-positioned companies in light of our 10 investing themes. This means being on the lookout for confirming data points that give comfort and conviction for positions existing Thematic Leader positions and opportunities to scale into them at better prices. It also means building a shopping list of thematically well-positioned companies to buy at more favorable prices.

This means asking questions like “Where will the company’s business be in 12-18 months as these tailwinds and its own maneuverings play out?”

A great example is Amazon (AMZN), which our regular readers know continues to benefit from our Digital Lifestyle investment theme and the shift to digital shopping, as well as cloud adoption, which is part of our Digital Infrastructure theme and with its significant pricing power, our Middle-Class Squeeze theme which focuses on the cash-strapped portion of the population. And before too long, Amazon will own online pharmacy PillPack and become a key player in our Aging of the Population theme. Amid the market selloff, however, the company continues to improve its thematic position. First, a home insurance partnership with insurance company Travelers (TRV) should help spur sales of Amazon Echo speakers and security devices. This follows a similar partnering with ADT (ADT), and both arrangements mean Amazon is indeed focused on improving its position in our Safety & Security investing theme. Second, Bloomberg is reporting that Amazon Web Services has inked a total of $1 billion in new cloud deals with SAP (SAP) and Symantec (SYMC). That’s a hefty shot in the arm for the Amazon business that is a central part of our Digital Infrastructure theme and is one that delivered revenue of $6.1 billion and roughly half of the Amazon’s overall profits in the June 2018 quarter.

At almost the same time, Alphabet/Google (GOOGL) announced it has dropped out of the bidding for the $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Department of Defense. Google cited concerns over the use of Artificial Intelligence as well as certain aspects of the contract being out of the scope of its current government certifications. This move likely cements the view that Amazon Web Services is the front-runner for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud (JEDI), but we can’t rule our Microsoft or others as yet. I’ll continue to monitor these developments in the coming days and weeks, but winning that contract would mean Wall Street will have to adjust its expectations for one of Amazon’s most profitable businesses higher.

Those are a number of positives for Amazon that will play out not in the next few days but in the coming 12-18+ months. It’s those kinds of signals that team Tematica will be focused on even more so in the coming days and weeks.

 

Adding more Del Frisco’s to our plate following several bullish data points

Adding more Del Frisco’s to our plate following several bullish data points

Key points inside this issue

  • We are scaling into shares of Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group (DFRG) following several bullish data points from last week. Our price target for DFRG shares remains $14.
  • Our price target on Amazon (AMZN) remains $2,250
  • Our price target on United Parcel Service (UPS) shares remains $130
  • Our price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) shares remains $550
  • Our price target on Costco Wholesale (COST) remains $250
  • I am reviewing our current price target of $130 for shares of McCormick & Co.
  • Last week’s podcast – Lithium Ion Batteries: The Enabler of the Digital Lifestyle
  • Last week’s Thematic Signals

Last Friday we received a number of positive data points for restaurant spending, which coupled with the latest US Department of Agriculture report on falling beef prices has me using the recent weakness in our Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group (DFRG) shares to improve our cost basis. Since adding DFRG shares to the portfolio, they’ve fallen nearly 10% since the end of August and just over 3% since we added them to our holdings despite favorable economic and industry reports. Part of that downward pressure came from Stephens throwing in the towel on its bullish stance on the shares last Wednesday. It would appear that Stephens jumped the gun given the favorable data that emerged later in the week.

Let’s review all of those data points…

 

August Retail Sales

The August Retail Sales report saw its headline figure come in at +0.1% month over month missing expectations of +0.4% and marked the slowest gain since February suggesting persistently high gas prices could be taking a bite out of consumer spending. With prospects for higher gas prices ahead following last week’s greater than expected crude inventory drawdown reported by the Department of Energy and the greater than expected jump in Total Consumer Credit for January, it would appear that Middle-Class Squeeze consumers slowed their spending in August vs. July. Hat tip to Tematica’s Chief Macro Strategist, Lenore Hawkins, and her coverage of those data points in last Friday’s Weekly Wrap. If I’m reading it, so should you.

Turning to the year over year view, August retail sales rose 6.2%, led by a more than 20% increase in gas station sales due to the aforementioned gas prices, and continued gains in Nonstore retailers (+10.4%) and food services & drinking places (+10.1%). Over the last three months, these last two categories are up 9.9% and 9.5% year over year, even as gas station sales are up nearly 21% by comparison. Those figures bode extremely well for our Digital Lifestyle positions in Amazon (AMZN) and United Parcel Service (UPS), our Clean Living holding that is Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) and Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group, a Living the Life company.

The report also offered confirming context for our shares in Costco Wholesale (COST) as its August same-store sales handily beat those contained in the August Retail Sales report. Also inside this latest missive from the U.S. Department of Commerce, grocery store sales rose 4.3% year over year in August, which keeps me bullish on our shares of McCormick & Co. (MKC) even as they hover over our current $130 price target.

In terms of areas reporting declines in August Retail Sales Report, we continue to see pressure at Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & bookstores (-3.9%) and Department Stores (-0.7%), continuing the trend of the last few months. With Amazon continuing to flex its business model as well as its own line of private label products, including fashion, sportswear, and apparel, as well as continued digital commerce gains at Walmart (WMT) and its Bonobos brand, we see these retail categories remaining challenged in the coming months.

 

August restaurant data from TDN2K

On Friday we also received figures from TDn2K’s Black Box Intelligence that showed August same-store restaurant sales rose +1.8%, the best highest since 2015. TDn2K’s data is based on weekly sales from over 30,000 locations representing more than 170 brands and nearly $70 billion in annual sales. More positives for our positions in Chipotle and Del Frisco’s. I’ll tuck this data point away as well as the July and eventual September one to compare them against same-store sales quarterly results for out two restaurant holdings.

 

US Department of Agriculture

The most recent data published on Friday by the US Department of Agriculture showed cow prices were down 13.6% year over year in July, continuing the trend of double-digit year over year declines that began this past May. I see this as confirmation of deflationary beef prices that bode well for both margins and EPS gains at both Del Frisco’s and to a lesser extent Chipotle.

Later this week, I’ll look for further confirmation of beef deflation leverage when Darden Restaurants (DRI), the parent of Capitol Grill reports its quarterly earnings.

 

Scaling into Del Frisco’s shares

The net result of these three Friday data points has me adding to our Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group shares at current levels. If our Chipotle shares were lower than our entry point, I’d be doing the same, but they aren’t – if they do fall below the $473 layer, all things being equal I’d look to repeat today’s actions but with CMG shares.

  • We are scaling into shares of Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group (DFRG) following several bullish data points from last week. Our price target for DFRG shares remains $14.
Making thematic sense of the July Retail Sales report

Making thematic sense of the July Retail Sales report

Key points for this alert:

  • Our price target on Amazon (AMZN) remains $2,250.
  • Our price target on Costco Wholesale (COST) remains $230.
  • Our price target on Habit Restaurant (HABT) is getting a boost to $17 from $16.
  • We are also bumping our price target on McCormick & Co. (MKC) shares to $130 from $110 as we get ready for seasons eatings 2018.

 

Following on the heels of the July Retail Sales report we received Wednesday, this morning Walmart (WMT) reported stellar July quarter results led by stronger than expected same-store sales and a 40% year over year increase in its e-commerce sales. From our perch, we see both reports as positive for our positions in both Amazon (AMZN) and Costco Wholesale (COST) as well as Habit Restaurant (HABT) and McCormick & Co. (MKC) shares.

Digging into the better than expected July Retail Sales report that showed Retail up 0.4% month over month and 6.0% sequentially, top performers were Food Services & drinking places (up +9.7% year over year), Nonstore retailers (+8.7%) and Grocery Stores (+4.9%) year over year. In response to that report, as well as the news that China and the US are heading back to the trade negotiation tables, our Habit Restaurant shares continue to sizzle. That stellar showing in July for Food Services & drinking places brought the trailing 3-month comparison to up more than 8% year over year.

To me, this echoes the data we’ve seen of late that points to the rebound in monthly restaurant sales, which is due as much to price increases as it is to improving customer volume, particularly at Fast Casual restaurants like Habit. As evidenced by Habit’s recent blowout June quarter earnings report, the company continues to execute on the strategy that led us to add the shares to the portfolio back in May. On the heels of the July Retail Sales report, I find myself once again boosting our price target on HABT shares to $17 from $16 as the underlying strength is continuing into the current quarter.

With just over 6% upside to our new price target for Habit, it’s not enough to commit fresh capital to the position. Given the surge in HABT shares – more than 80% since we added them to the Tematica Investing Select List this past May – as well as their current technical picture (see the chart below), I’m inclined to opportunistically use the position as a source of funds in the coming weeks.

 

 

While one might think those gains have come at the expense of grocery stores, and in turn, a potential blow to McCormick’s, the July figure for grocery was also the best in the last three months. What this tells us is people are likely paying more for food at the grocery store and at restaurants, which reflects the combination of higher food prices as well as the shift to food, drinks, and snacks that are healthier for the consumer (and a bit more expensive in general). On that strength and the forward view that will soon have us waist deep in season’s eatings, we are boosting our price target for MCK to $130 from $110. That includes some post-June quarter earnings catch up on our part for McCormick and its ability to grow its top line as part of our Clean Living and Rise of the New Middle Class investing themes, as well as wring out cost synergies associated with acquired businesses. In the coming months, I expect we will once again see this Dividend Dynamo boost its quarterly dividend, keeping MKC shares as one to own, not trade.

Getting back to the July Retail Sales report, the Nonstore retail July figure bodes very well for continued share gains at Amazon and other retailers that are embracing our Digital Lifestyle investing theme as we head into the holiday shopping season. Moreover, I see the e-commerce sales gains at Walmart – up +40% in the July quarter as well as those by Costco Wholesale, up  33% year to date — serving to confirm the accelerating shift by consumers to that modality of shopping as more alternatives become available. Helping Walmart is the addition of over 1,100 brands year to date including Zwilling J. A. Henckels cutlery and cookware, Therm-a-Rest outdoor products, O’Neill surf and water apparel, Shimano cycling products and the brands available on the dedicated Lord & Taylor shop, like Steve Madden footwear. Let’s remember too that Amazon continues to pull the lever that is private label products across a growing array of categories, and those margins are superior to those for its Fulfilled by Amazon efforts.

Speaking of Costco, its July sales figures showed a 6.6% year over year increase in same-store sales, which as we learned by comparing that with the July Retail Sales report was magnitudes stronger than General Merchandise stores (+3.3% year over year) and Department Stores (+0.3% year over year). Yes, Costco was helped by its fresh foods business, but even there it topped Grocery sales for the month. The clear message is that Costco continues to win consumer wallet share, and more of that is likely to be had in the coming months as consumers contend with the seasonal spending pickup.

The big loser in the July Retail Sales report was the Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, & bookstores category, which is more than likely seeing its lunch eaten by Amazon, Walmart, and Costco. All three of these companies are embracing the increasing digital lifestyle, targeting rising incomes in the emerging markets and helping cash-strapped consumers in the US stretch those dollars. As we have said many times before, the only thing better than the tailwinds of one of our investing themes is the combination of several and these companies are benefitting from our Digital Lifestyle, Rise of the New Middle Class and Middle-Class Squeeze investing themes.

All in all, the last 24 or so hours as very positive for our AMZN, COST, HABT and MKC shares on the Tematica Investing Select List.

  • Our price target on Amazon (AMZN) remains $2,250.
  • Our price target on Costco Wholesale (COST) remains $230.
  • Our price target on Habit Restaurant (HABT) is getting a boost to $17 from $16.
  • We are also bumping our price target on McCormick & Co. (MKC) shares to $130 from $110 as we get ready for seasons eatings 2018.

 

WEEKLY ISSUE: Scaling deeper into Dycom shares

WEEKLY ISSUE: Scaling deeper into Dycom shares

Key points from this issue:

  • We are halfway through the current quarter, and we’ve got a number of holdings on the Tematica Investing Select List that are trouncing the major market indices.
  • We are using this week’s pain to improve our long-term cost basis in Dycom Industries (DY) shares as we ratchet back our price target to $100 from $125.
  • Examining our Middle-Class Squeeze investing theme and housing.
  • A Digital Lifestyle company that we plan on avoiding as Facebook attacks its key market.

 

As the velocity of June quarter earnings reports slows, in this issue of Tematica Investing we’re going to examine how our Middle-Class Squeeze investing theme is impacting the housing market and showcase a Digital Lifestyle theme company that I think subscribers would be smart to avoid. I’m also keeping my eyes open regarding the recent concerns surrounding Turkey and the lira. Thus far, signs of contagion appear to be limited but in the coming days, I suspect we’ll have a much better sense of the situation and exposure to be had.

With today’s issue, we are halfway through the current quarter. While the major market indices are up 2%-4% so far in the quarter, by comparison, we’ve had a number of strong thematic outperformers. These include Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), AXT Inc. (AXTI), Costco Wholesale (COST),  Habit Restaurant (HABT), Walt Disney (DIS), United Parcel Service (UPS), Universal Display (OLED) and USA Technologies (USAT).  That’s an impressive roster to be sure, but there are several positions that have lagged the market quarter to date including GSV Capital (GSVC), Nokia (NOK), Netflix (NFLX), Paccar (PCAR) and Rockwell Automation (ROK). We’ve also experienced some pain with Dycom (DY) shares, which we will get to in a moment.

Last week jettisoned shares of Farmland Partners (FPI) following the company taking it’s 3Q 2018 dividend payment and shooting it behind the woodshed. We also scaled into GSVC shares following GSV’s thesis-confirming June quarter earnings report, and I’m closely watching NFLX shares with a similar strategy in mind given the double-digit drop since adding them to the Tematica Investing Select List just over a month ago.

 

Scaling into Dycom share to improve our position for the longer-term

Last week we unveiled our latest investing theme here at Tematica – Digital Infrastructure. Earlier this week, Dycom Industries (DY), our first Digital Infrastructure selection slashed its outlook for the next few quarters despite a sharp rise in its backlog. Those shared revisions are as follows:

  • For its soon to be reported quarter, the company now sees EPS of $1.05-$1.08 from its previous guidance of $1.13-$1.28 vs. $1.19 analyst consensus estimate and revenues of $799.5 million from the prior $830-$860 million vs. the $843 million consensus.
  • For its full year ending this upcoming January, Dycom now sees EPS of $2.62-$3.07 from $4.26-$5.15 vs. the $4.63 consensus estimate and revenues of $3.01-$3.11 billion from $3.23-$3.43 billion and the $3.33 billion consensus.

 

What caught my eyes was the big disparity between the modest top line cuts and the rather sharp ones to the bottom line. Dycom attributed the revenue shortfall to slower large-scale deployments at key customers and margin pressure due to the under absorption of labor and field costs – the same issues that plagued it in its April quarter. Given some of the June quarter comments from mobile infrastructure companies like Ericsson (ERIC) and Nokia (NOK), Dycom’s comments regarding customer timing is not that surprising, even though the magnitude to its bottom line is. I chalk this up to the operating leverage that is inherent in its construction services business, and that cuts both ways – great when things are ramping, and to the downside when activity is less than expected.

We also know from Ericsson and Dycom that the North American market will be the most active when it comes to 5G deployments in the coming quarters, which helps explain why Dycom’s backlog rose to $7.9 billion exiting July up from $5.9 billion at the end of April and $5.9 billion exiting the July 2017 quarter. As that backlog across Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Windstream and others is deployed in calendar 2019, we should see a snapback in margins and EPS compared to 2018.

With that in mind, the strategy will be to turn lemons – Monday’s 24% drop in DY’s share price – into long-term lemonade. To do this, we are adding to our DY position at current levels, which should drop our blended cost basis to roughly $80 from just under $92. Not bad, but I’ll be inclined to scale further into the position to enhance that blended cost basis in the coming weeks and months on confirmation that 5G is moving from concept to physical network. Like I said in our Digital Infrastructure overview, no 5G network means no 5G services, plain and simple. As we scale into the shares and factor in the revised near-term outlook, I’m also cutting our price target on DY shares to $100 from $125.

  • We are using this week’s pain to improve our long-term cost basis in Dycom Industries (DY) shares as we ratchet back our price target to $100 from $125.

 

Now, let’s get to how our Middle-Class Squeeze investing theme is hitting the housing market, and review that Digital Lifestyle company that we’re going to steer clear of because of Facebook (FB). Here we go…

 

If not single-family homes, where are the squeezed middle-class going?

To own a home was once considered one of the cornerstones of the American dream. If we look at the year to date move in the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB), which is down nearly 16% this year, one might have some concerns about the tone of the housing market. Yes, there is the specter of increasing inflation that has and likely will prompt the Federal Reserve to boost interest rates, and that will inch mortgage rates further from the near record lows enjoyed just a few years ago.

Here’s the thing:

  • Higher mortgage rates will make the cost of buying a home more expensive at a time when real wage growth is not accelerating, and consumers will be facing higher priced goods as inflation winds its way through the economic system leading to higher prices. During the current earnings season, we’ve heard from a number of companies including Cinemark Holdings (CNK), Hostess Brands (TWNK), Otter Tail (OTTR), and Diodes Inc. (DIOD) that are expected to pass on rising costs to consumers in the form of price increases.
  • Consumers debt loads have already climbed higher in recent years and as interest rates rise that will get costlier to service sapping disposable income and the ability to build a mortgage down payment

 

 

And let’s keep in mind, homes prices are already the most expensive they have been in over a decade due to a combination of tight housing supply and rising raw material costs. According to the National Association of Home Builders, higher wood costs have added almost $9,000 to the price of the average new single-family since January 2017.

 

 

Already new home sales have been significantly lower than over a decade ago, and as these forces come together it likely means the recent slowdown in new home sales that has emerged in 2018 is likely to get worse.

 

Yet our population continues to grow, and new households are being formed.

 

This prompts the question as to where are these new households living and where are they likely to in the coming quarters as homeownership costs are likely to rise further?

The answer is rental properties, including apartments, which are enjoying low vacancy rates and a positive slope in the consumer price index paid of rent paid for a primary residence.

 

There are several real estate investment trusts (REITs) that focus on the apartment and rental market including Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. (APTS) and Independence Realty Trust (IRT). I’ll be looking at these and others to determine potential upside to be had in the coming quarters, which includes looking at their attractive dividend yields to ensure the underlying dividend stream is sustainable. More on this to come.

 

A Digital Lifestyle company that we plan on avoiding as Facebook attacks its key market

As important as it is to find well-positioned companies that are poised to ride prevailing thematic tailwinds that will drive revenue and profits as well as the share price higher, it’s also important to sidestep those that are running headlong into pronounced headwinds. These headwinds can take several forms, but one of the more common ones of late is the expanding footprint of companies like Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Facebook (FB) among others.

We’ve seen the impact on shares of Blue Apron (APRN) fall apart over the last year following the entrance of Kroger (KR) into the meal kit business with its acquisition of Home Chef and investor concerns over Amazon entering the space following its acquisition of Whole Foods Market. That changing landscape highlighted one of the major flaws in Blue Apron’s subscription-based business model –  very high customer acquisition costs and high customer churn rates. While we warned investors to avoid APRN shares back last October when they were trading at north of $5, those who didn’t heed our advice are now enjoying APRN shares below $2.20. Ouch!

Now let’s take a look at the shares of Meet Group (MEET), which have been on a tear lately rising to $4.20 from just under $3 coming into 2018. The question to answer is this more like a Blue Apron or more like USA Technologies (USAT) or Habit Restaurant (HABT). In other words, one that is headed for destination @#$%^& or a bona fide opportunity.

According to its description, Meet offers  applications designed to meet the “universal need for human connection” and keep its users “entertained and engaged, and originate untold numbers of casual chats, friendships, dates, and marriages.” That sound you heard was the collective eye-rolling across Team Tematica. If you’re thinking this sounds similar to online and mobile dating sites like Tinder, Match, PlentyOfFish, Meetic, OkCupid, OurTime, and Pairs that are all part of Match Group (MTCH) and eHarmony, we here at Tematica are inclined to agree. And yes, dating has clearly moved into the digital age and that falls under the purview of our Digital Lifestyle investing theme.

Right off the bat, the fact that Meet’s expected EPS in 2018 and 2019 are slated to come in below the $0.39 per share Meet earned in 2017 despite consensus revenue expectations of $181 in 2019 vs. just under $124 million in 2017 is a red flag. So too is the lack of positive cash flow and fall off in cash on the balance sheet from $74.5 million exiting March 2017 to less than $21 million at the close of the June 2018 quarter. A sizable chunk of that cash was used to buy Lovoo, a popular dating app in Europe as well as develop the ability to monetize live video on several of its apps.

Then there is the decline in the company’s average total daily active users to 4.75 million in the June 2018 quarter from 4.95 million exiting 2017. Looking at average mobile daily active users as well as average monthly active user metrics we see the same downward trend over the last two quarters. Not good, not good at all.

And then there is Facebook, which at its 2018 F8 developer conference in early May, shared it was internally testing its dating product with employees. While it’s true the social media giant is contending with privacy concerns, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the company will continue to build new features and applications and this one was focused on building real, long-term relationships — not just for hookups…” Clearly a swipe at Match Group’s Tinder.

Given the size of Facebook’s global reach – 1.47 billion daily active users and 2.23 billion monthly active users – it has the scope and scale to be a force in digital dating even with modest user adoption. While Meet is enjoying the monetization benefits of its live video offering, Facebook has had voice and video calling as well as other chat capabilities that could spur adoption and converts from Meet’s platforms.

As I see it, Meet Group have enjoyed a nice run thus far in 2018, but as Facebook gears into the digital dating and moves from internal beta to open to the public, Meet will likely see further declines in user metrics. So, go user metrics to go advertising revenue and that means the best days for MEET shares could be in the rearview mirror. To me this makes MEET shares look more like those from Blue Apron than Habit or USA Technologies. In other words, I plan on steering clear of MEET shares and so should you.

 

 

What a difference between Facebook and Amazon June quarter results make

What a difference between Facebook and Amazon June quarter results make

 

Key points:

  • As we sail into the seasonally stronger second half of the year, I am boosting our price target on Amazon (AMZN) shares to $2,250 from $1,900, which keeps the shares on the Tematica Investing Select List.
  • After a disappointing outlook for the back half of 2018 due to slower revenue growth and mounting spending costs, we will remain on the sidelines with Facebook (FB) shares for now.

 

Over the last few days, we’ve had quarterly results from two companies that are riding tailwinds associated with our Digital Lifestyle investment theme – Facebook (FB) and Amazon (AMZN). The report from each company, however, and their reception from investors couldn’t have been more different.

Amazon’s earnings report reflected continuing strength as consumers across the globe embrace digital commerce and the company’s Amazon Prime service, while Amazon Web Services saw its business and profits surge as cloud adoption continues. Facebook on the other hand … is a very different story. A story that included rising costs and slowing revenue growth, which led the social media giant to not only miss revenue expectations but signal slower growth and earnings ahead.

No surprise then that Facebook shares were pummeled, while Amazon traded higher. Now let’s break both of those reports down, focusing on what matters with each.

 

Amazon – Operating Income Crushes Expectations

Last night, Amazon reported blowout June quarter earnings, which more than overshadowed a modest top-line miss as its operating income not only crushed expectations but shattered the company’s own guidance. On almost every front for each of its three business segments — North America, International and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the company continued to make solid progress, delivering its third straight quarter with profits over $1 billion and continuing the string of a dozen profitable quarters. I doubt we’ll be hearing much from those “no profit at Amazon” naysayers anymore.

As I’ve said previously, one of the “secret weapons” that Amazon has under its hood is it’s the high margin and cash flow rich Amazon Web Services (AWS) division, and the June quarter clearly confirmed that. Revenue at AWS rose 49% year over year. That’s a figure that clearly shows Amazon is fending off the likes of Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft in the cloud computing space. To me, the more important figure was the operating profit that AWS generated, $1.6 billion, which is up an impressive 80% year over year, and roughly 47% of the company’s overall operating profit. On the earnings call, management shared that machine learning, artificial intelligence and analytics have been key drivers of AWS’s revenue gains, which to me cements Amazon’s position in our Disruptive Innovators investing theme.

The balance of Amazon’s operating profit was generated by the company’s North American business as International continued to generate operating losses, albeit less than a year ago, as Amazon target future growth in those markets.

That profit generation and prospects for more led Wall Street to overlook the modest top-line miss for the quarter, but then again, it’s hard to complain at the 39% year over year revenue growth Amazon did deliver. Amazon also served up a September quarter revenue forecast in the range of $54-$57.5 billion, which was also below analysts’ consensus estimates. Here again, those same analysts will have to adjust their profit forecasts higher following AWS’s performance in the June quarter. My take is the combination of the recent Prime membership price increase ( a 20% increase to $119 per year) and Prime Day paired with what will likely be an aggressive attack on Back to School shopping could make for conservative 3Q 2018 revenue guidance.

One other potential upside driver for Amazon in the coming quarters is its digital-advertising business. In the segment breakdown, this is found in the often overlooked “Other” category, which generated $2.1 billion in revenue for the June quarter (wish I had an “other” revenue source like that!). While it accounted for less than 4% of overall quarterly revenue, these Other items grew nearly 130% year over year.  Amazon does not disclose Other’s profitability metrics, given that the digital advertising business is one of the larger ones in the category with billions in revenue and hundreds of thousands of customers, but odds are it has the potential to be wildly profitable if it isn’t already.

For those unfamiliar with Amazon’s digital advertising business, it is attracting spending that would have traditionally taken place in brick-and-mortar stores to ensure good “shelf placement” and other brand initiatives across Amazon.com. Small today, compared to advertising efforts at Google and Facebook, but Amazon is able to tell its advertising customers when a consumer actually bought a product, directly showing an ad’s effectiveness — something Google and Facebook can only accomplish through tracking cookies and other data mining techniques, which are not 100% accurate and are also coming under the scrutiny of privacy advocates more and more these days. Of course, all of this also allows Amazon to amass a sea of data that it can use to formulate its next move with its own private label products — forcing retailers into a dance with the devil of sorts.

If there was anything disappointing on Amazon’s earnings call it was the lack of comment on the company’s announced acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack. Not surprising given the company’s usual tight-lipped nature, but still disappointing.

  • As we sail into the seasonally stronger second half of the year, I am boosting our price target on Amazon (AMZN) shares to $2,250 from $1,900, which keeps the shares on the Tematica Investing Select List.

 

 

Facebook – the bloom is off the rose

Ouch! There is no other way to say it given the 19% drop in Facebook (FB) shares following what can only be described as unexpected results inside its June-quarter earnings report. While the market might have been caught flat-footed, it was the privacy and user data issues at Facebook that led us to remove the shares from the Tematica Select List back in March as we saw the risk-reward trade-off to be had as limited.

Despite those slipups, expectations have been running high for Facebook as advertisers look to reach increasingly connected consumers across Facebook, Instagram and the company’s other social media platforms. Indeed, those expectations and the potential impact to Facebook’s revenue and bottom line were what catapulted the stock from $160 in late April to Wednesday’s closing price of over $217.50. That’s a surge in excess of 35% in 14 weeks, compared to a 6.7% rise in the S&P 500 over the same time frame.

But that was before the June quarter earnings report and conference call…

While Facebook reported a bottom line beat and rising revenue per customer in the U.S. for the June quarter this week, the rest of the earnings press release and conference call took the bloom off the rose at the social media juggernaut. Revenue for the quarter missed expectations and management guided for declines in revenue growth in the back half of 2018 as spending on safety and content continue leading to a one-two punch to its operating margins. For those tracking monthly and daily active users, there was saw a sequential dip with the U.S. users flat but a 3 million drop in Europe due in part to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that went into effect in late May.

You may recall that earlier this year management telegraphed a shift toward a focus on building community, which would likely hit revenue growth, but as management shared on the earnings call, it expects “revenue growth rates to decline by high-single-digit percentages from prior quarters sequentially in both Q3 and Q4.” Not exactly the vector or velocity that investors had been expecting at all.

Adding to the shock and awe of it all was the simple fact that this was the first time Facebook has missed expectations since the March 2015 quarter. However, continued investment and revenue pressure is expected to take its toll and we are seeing operating margin expectations reverse course — going to mid-30% vs. the mid-40% that was previously forecasted by Wall Street for 2018 and 2019.

The net result has Facebook shares crashing as analysts put pencil to paper to re-forecast top and bottom line expectations. While that happens, we’ve already seen several investment banks slash their price targets to the $180-$185 level and a number of them also cut their “Buy” ratings to “Hold.”

Of course, the main question is that since March we’ve been on the sidelines with Facebook shares as of late, we have to ask is now the time to jump in? The removal of Facebook from the Tematica Investing Select List stemmed from the potential fallout from Cambridge Analytica as well as implications from the phase in of GDPR. There was also the hefty amount of insider selling on behalf of CEO Mark Zuckerberg as well as COO Sheryl Sandberg. When management is selling that much stock that fast, it’s usually not a good sign. At a minimum, and no matter the actual reason for the sale, it raises a flag.

Getting back to the question raised, above, we believe it hinges on the value in the shares relative to revised EPS expectations and management gaining back some credibility.

Do I expect advertisers will continue to utilize all of Facebook’s platforms to reach consumers? Yes, but even Facebook has stated that corporate advertising using Instagram’s Stories is ramping slower than expected.

For me, Facebook shares will sit in “stocks to keep tabs on” group until we see user engagement metrics rebound and the share price reflects not only revised growth prospects but a favorable value to be had. I don’t expect that to happen in just a few days. That said, I’ll be watching how those revised EPS and revenue expectations shake out. Thus far, 2018 EPS expectations have dropped to $7.31 from $7.74, while those for 2019 have fallen to the $8.50 level from nearly $9.30. Hefty cuts, but odds are we won’t see the full impact on consensus revisions for at least a few more days.

 

Adding this Streaming Media Company to the Select List

Adding this Streaming Media Company to the Select List

 

Key Points from this Alert:

  • Our theme recasting continues as we combine the Connected Society, Cashless Consumption and Content is King themes into a new theme we call The Digital Lifestyle. 
  • We are adding Netflix (NFLX) shares to the Tematica Investing Select List as part of the Digital Lifestyle investment theme with a Buy rating and a $500 price target.

 

As part of constantly revisiting and testing our investing themes, from time to time we will make changes and enhancement to them. As part of that ongoing effort, we’ve recently recast our Middle Class Squeeze and New Middle Class investing themes, which entailed splitting a few themes apart and reconstituting them to make them clearer and more focused. Today, we’re combining Connected Society, Content is King and Cashless Consumption to form our Digital Lifestyle investing theme, which reflects a consumer’s existing and increasingly digital footprint.

In his 2018 shareholder letter, Jeff Bezos credited many people over Amazon’s successes and milestones, including what he called “divinely discontent customers.” As Bezos explained:

“People have a voracious appetite for a better way, and yesterday’s ‘wow’ quickly becomes today’s ‘ordinary’. I see that cycle of improvement happening at a faster rate than ever before. It may be because customers have such easy access to more information than ever before – in only a few seconds and with a couple taps on their phones, customers can read reviews, compare prices from multiple retailers, see whether something’s in stock, find out how fast it will ship or be available for pick-up, and more. These examples are from retail, but I sense that the same customer empowerment phenomenon is happening broadly across everything we do at Amazon and most other industries as well. You cannot rest on your laurels in this world. Customers won’t have it.”

 

What Bezos is correctly describing is the shifting landscape that underpins the consumer lifestyle to one that is increasingly connected and digital, and empowers the consumer. Enabling this shift is the confluence of high-speed data networks, computing power, and falling storage costs, which has led to a change in how consumers interact, share, shop, transact, game, pay and consume content. This, in turn, has upended existing business models, anointing companies that have been able to ride the tailwinds of this digital transition as consumers embrace the digital lifestyle. At the same time, ones such as newspapers and other publishers, brick & mortar retailers, travel agencies and other industries have been confounded by the headwinds associated with not responding to this evolving digital consumer lifestyle.

 

 

The Digital Lifestyle Transformation

If we accept the definition of the word “lifestyle” put forth by Merriam Webster that is “the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture” there is little debate to be had over the differences between today’s’ digital lifestyle and its implications compared to consumer behavior 5, 10, 15, or even 20 years ago.

  • Consumers used to buy vinyl records, listen to music on the radio, read newspapers and watch TV, occasionally going to the movie theater and usually paid with cash.
  • Today consumers stream music and video (TV, movies or other) from over the top services such as YouTube, Netflix (NFLX), Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, consume news content, print or video, on their smartphones, tablets or Apple TV.
  • Instead of calling on a landline, people will message or video call their friends or family as they walk down the street.
  • While a portion may use credit or debit cards in store, the method of payment that is increasingly becoming the modality of choice is digital in nature be it on one’s tablet, smartphone or desktop.
  • Advertising has shifted from print, radio and increasingly TV to digital, fueling the business models of Google, Facebook (FB), Amazon, Twitter (TWTR), and others.

Today’s digital consumers have in their pockets, on their laps and in their cars an arsenal of personal technology to manage their lives. In the US, over 80% of consumers carried smart phones in 2017 vs. just 6% a decade earlier according to Comscore. These devices have more computing power than the mainframes used by NASA to launch Apollo 11 and their usage has altered the playing field like almost no other device before it.

Nearly half of these consumers use touch screen tablets, usually at home, to browse social networks, play games, and do a bit of window shopping or, increasingly, actual shopping. ‘TV rooms’ have a TV but more and more it is connected to the internet through a game console, allowing consumers to stream and download shows on demand. Consumers send messages to their oven to set the temperature. Wearable gadgets automatically send fitness statistics to the cloud. Vacuum robots respond to a smartphone and begin cleaning the house. Automatic door lock systems, garden watering systems, and connected thermostats are all available today.

Those are examples behind The Digital Lifestyle investment theme, but the following data summarizes the size and scope of it:

  • Each day in 2017, 269 billion emails were sent and received worldwide and that is expected to reach more than 333 billion in the next 5 years.
  • Messaging service WhatsApp has more than 1 billion daily active users across the globe that send more than 55 billion messages, and share in excess of 4.5 billion photos and 1 billion videos per day.
  • At the end of 1Q 2018, Netflix announced that its more than 121 million users watching more than 140 million hours of content per day, or 1 billion hours per week
  • According to eMarketer, in 2018 the average adult in China is set to spend 2 hours and 39 minutes per day on a mobile device this year, up 11.1 percent on 2017. Watching TV, meanwhile, is set to fall by two percent, to reach 2 hours 32 minutes daily. Adults in China are expected to spend 58 minutes per day watching video in 2018, up nearly 26% year over year, making up more than a quarter of their digital time. By 2020, adults in China will spend almost a third of their daily digital time watching video.
  • FTI Consulting expects U.S. online retail sales will top $600 billion by 2020 and surpass $1 trillion in 2027 compared to $445 billion in 2017 — representing a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% through 2020 and 9% over the next decade.
  • Exiting 2017, Amazon Prime had 100 million subscribers – almost 27 million more than Apple Music, Sirius XM, Hulu, Pandora, New York Times, Tinder, CBS All Access and MoviePass combined.
  • People around the world are expected to make 726 billion transactions using digital payment technologies by 2020, according to a study from Capgemini and bank BNP Paribas. The study goes on to predict that tech innovations such as connected homes, contactless bank cards, wearable devices and augmented reality will drive cashless transactions in the future.
  • The global mobile payment segment has experienced exceptional growth in the last five years, establishing a $600 billion market in 2017. Mind Commerce estimates a $3 trillion mobile payment market by 2023.
  • In 2018, the mobile games industry is expected to generate revenue of $42 .2 billion in 2018 up from $36 billion in 2016, the year in which it first outperformed PC and console gaming for the first time in history. Mobile gaming continues to account for approximately half of the revenue earned by the global games industry, which is expected to stand at $108.9 billion by the end of this year. The estimated figure for the movie industry, meanwhile, is a little more modest, standing at $41.2 billion – less than the amount mobile gaming should earn in its own right.

This always on, always connected ready to transact evolution has reshaped industry dynamics giving rise to a number of companies that have not only ridden those tailwinds but in many ways have helped shaped them.

  • Apple (AAPL) first with the iPod then digital commerce platform that would become iTunes followed by the iPhone, iPad, and AppleTV as well as services like ApplePay and FaceTime as well as Siri, Apple’s intelligent assistant.
  • Amazon (AMZN)’s Prime offering continues to wreak havoc on brick & mortar retail even as the company continues to expand the scope of goods and services, including its private label offering. With its recent acquisition of PillPack, Amazon is flexing its world-class Prime logistics to disrupt the pharmacy industry while it is leveraging its purchase of Whole Foods to disrupt the grocery business.
    Underneath it all, Amazon is quietly expanding its payments presence with Amazon Pay as well as its intelligent assistant, Alexa, that has inked deals with automotive as well as appliance companies. But the real powerhouse inside Amazon is Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is the key differentiator vs. other retail facing companies as it delivers the bulk of Amazon’s operating profit and cash flow allowing it to fund these other disruptive initiatives.
  • The core business models at Facebook (FB) and Alphabet (GOOGL) are both benefitting from the shift in advertising spend to digital and mobile across their various platforms from print, radio TV and other media. Both are also moving into original content with Watch at Facebook and YouTube Red as well as into the payments space. Like Amazon, Google also has its own intelligent assistant dubbed Google Home and there is speculation that Facebook could follow suit.

Those companies along with streaming video service and original content Netflix (NFLX) form what is commonly referred to as the FAANG stocks. Each of these has various tailwinds that comprise The Digital Lifestyle investment theme powering their businesses, but as much as people may think of Amazon as The Digital Lifestyle theme company, the reality is Amazon Web Services is the clear profit and EPS generator at the company. Both Facebook and Alphabet are facing potential revenue and profit pressure associated with compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that began in late May. With Apple, while it will have yet another round of new iPhones in the back half of 2018 the reality is the company’s next significant iPhone upgrade cycle won’t be had until 5G devices go mainstream.

There are other companies that are riding The Digital Lifestyle tailwind and range from GrubHub (GRUB) to Yelp (YELP), Spotify (SPOT), Twitter (TWTR), and PayPal (PYPL) while some like Snap (SNAP) and Blue Apron (APRN) are trying to. Survey findings from Cowen confirm what many have shared anecdotally, that Netflix is the platform consumers turn to most not only for its rich content library but increasingly for its new, original and proprietary content.

When Netflix announced its third-quarter earnings in mid-October, it predicted it would spend between $7-$8 billion on content in 2018. According to The Economist, citing data from Goldman Sachs, it appears  Netflix will spend $12-$13 billion on its films and shows this year. By comparison, Amazon Studios is expected to spend  $4 billion-plus and Apple a mere $1 billion plus on original content.

What is Netflix getting for all that spending? 

While Warner Bros. and Disney (DIS) will respectively release 23 and 10 films, Netflix is expected to roll out more than 80 films with the streaming service producing or acquiring 700 new or exclusively licensed programs, at least 100 of which are scripted dramas and comedies. These programs are being made in 21 countries, among them Brazil, India, and South Korea. That content is being created to help Netflix replicate its success outside the US. In 2016, the company’s global membership grew 48% and then in 2017 another 42%. By the end of March 2018, Netflix had reached 125 million worldwide subscribers, 57 million of whom are Americans.

As that subscriber base grows so too does the company’s subscription revenue and corresponding cash flow, which in our view offers predictability and lends itself to a premium valuation. It also helps the company continue to invest in its original content, which in turn feeds the streaming service. Given its sticky nature with consumers, we suspect that like Disney the company has some room to increase prices. Recently, the company shared that it is testing a new top-tier subscription plan that would redistribute current benefits while raising prices. Of course, Netflix will have to be careful not to gauge customers, but higher prices amid a growing global consumer base means higher revenue, profits and cash generation. That also helps assure investors with the company’s interest coverage metrics.

Netflix recently traded at 87x expected 2019 EPS of $4.69, which is up several fold, compared to the EPS of $0.46 the company reported in 2016. That’s a staggering EPS compound annual growth rate of roughly 220%, which means Netflix shares are trading Gt a P/E to growth (PEG) ratio of 0.4x. That’s a significant discount to Amazon and Facebook PEG multiples and a modest improvement in that metric to 0.5x delivers a price target of $525 for NFLX shares, more than 25% higher than current levels. The current valuation helps explain the sharp move higher in NFLX shares thus far in 2018, while the company’s robust content plans pave the way for more upside in the shares over the coming quarters. Should Netflix push through a new premium plan or boost its average price point in another fashion, given our comments above, we would see that as a positive catalyst for the shares.

  • As we enter the seasonally strong second half of the year for the company’s EPS generation, we are issuing a Buy on Netflix (NFLX) shares and adding them to the Tematica Investing Select List with a price target of $500.

 

 

Examples of companies rising The Digital Lifestyle Tailwind

  • Activision/Blizzard (ATVI)
  • Alphabet/Google (GOOGL)
  • Amazon (AMZN)
  • Apple (AAPL)
  • AT&T (T)
  • Facebook (FB)
  • GrubHub (GRUB)
  • MasterCard (MA)
  • Netflix (NFLX0
  • PayPal (PYPL)
  • United Parcel Service (UPS)
  • Yelp (YELP)

Examples of companies hitting The Digital Lifestyle Headwind

  • Barnes & Noble
  • Kroger (KR)
  • Saga Communications (SGA)
  • Simon Property Group (SPG)
  • Target (TGT)
  • Western Union (WU)

Again, those are short lists of EXAMPLES, not a full list of the companies benefitting or getting hit.

 

As streaming music booms, CD sales are no more at Best Buy 

As streaming music booms, CD sales are no more at Best Buy 

One of the industries that has both adapted to and felt the pain of our Digital Lifestyle investing theme is the music industry, something near and dear to the hearts and souls of team Tematica. Over the decades, we’ve seen the migration from vinyl albums to 8-track to cassettes to CDs followed by the abiltiy to rip and burn CDs, downloadable music and now streaming services. While it’s resulted in people buying the same music content more than once, people have continued to do so to have the music they want when they want it, where they want it and on the device they have at the moment. This has given rise to streaming subscription services like Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music.

According to Loudwire, more than 62% of the total music market is now made up of streaming services, and physical sales only account for around 16% of the overall revenues. Following an announcement earlier this year, yesterday we said bye-bye to CD sales at Best Buy and soon perhaps at Target. What will Best Buy use the additional floor space for? Most likely appliances and other connected devices.

 

It’s the end of an era. Today is officially the last day you will be able to buy CDs at Best Buy, as they are pulling the discs from their shelves July 1st.

Back in February, we reported that the tech giant would be phasing out the products due to steadily declining sales over the years.

Seeing as Best Buy followed through on their promise, Target may be next to phase out CDs. In February, they gave an ultimatum to both their music and video suppliers trying to shift inventory risk back to the labels. If the wholesale companies don’t abide to the new terms, Target may slowly phase out CDs and DVDs as well.

Source: Today is the last day you can purchase CDs at Best Buy – Alternative Press