Tesla has taken the auto world by storm by designing and producing a suite of high tech electric vehicles, as well as a system of software and energy products to complement them. Over time, Elon Musk and his team have transformed the company from a small startup with a single car to a fast growing and polarizing company that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years.
In today's episode we cover the history of Tesla’s business. Come back next week for the full analysis...
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AutoZone is an auto parts retailer that created a niche for itself throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. Through catering to DIY’ers, they’ve established themselves as a go to source for auto parts and advice. Though relatively mature in the U.S. market, there has been gradual expansion into Mexico and Brazil. While this company pays no dividends, one of the more interesting facts about it is the significant amount of money it returns to shareholders through share buybacks.
In today's episode we cover the history, business model, financials, and future outlook of AutoZone.
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General Motors became a powerhouse in the early 1900s and gave Henry Ford a run for his money. Boasting several brands, each tailored to certain socio-economic and demographics groups, GM achieved significant market share in the past. Now, the company has just four core brands and is trying to break into the electric vehicle and autonomous market.
In today's episode we cover the history, business model, financials, and future outlook of General Motors.
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These are some thoughts about what I wish I had known when I started investing. I could have paid more attention to these lessons and saved a lot of money. Because I made some of these mistakes, I am STILL paying for it in my portfolio. I don’t want you to go through what I went through.
I'd like to give a special shout out to some of my fellow investors out there who contributed their thoughts to this episode:
Harvir - @millenial_mogul_investing
Mabel - @girlsonthemoney (check out our interview in Episode 96)
Teri - @imaninvestor (check out our interview in Episode 91)
Hari and Beko - @valueinvestortv
The 8 mistakes, and their accompanying mental models are:
- Lack of Basic Financial Literacy (and lack of Mental Models as a general concept)
- Buying A Stock Because You Like the Product or Service (Endowment Effect)
- Placing Emphasis on Price, Not Value (Mere Exposure Effect)
- Placing Emphasis On Recent Stock Performance (Recency Bias, Scarcity)
- Failing to Recognize Cyclical Businesses and Business Cycles (Dunning-Kruger Effect)
- Lack of Patience With Capital Allocation (Action Bias)
- Overestimating or Underestimating a Business’ Competitive Advantage(s) (Mental Model: Confirmation, Mr. Market, Inversion)
- Outsourcing Your Thinking To Others (Mental Model: Availability Heuristic, First Principles Thinking)
Other episodes mentioned include:
Episode 4 - The Six Categories of Stocks
Episode 10 - Mental Model: Inversion
Episode 15 - Mental Model: Circle of Competence
Episode 26 - Mental Model: First Principles
Send me a direct message on Instagram with any comments, suggestions, or just to say hi @stockstoryteller. Or, you can email me at [email protected]
Multiplying anything by zero equals zero. It's a numerical truth that we learn when we're young and in school. Sadly, I think this concept gets applied to little more than math and people's homework when they're in formal education programs. How can we apply this concept beyond the numerical and theoretical?
Today's episode explores what happens when we take the concept of multiplying by zero and apply it to life and investing. We'll talk about:
- The basic definition of Multiplying By Zero
- An further explanation of the concept
- Putting the mental model in the context of the investor
Come say hi with a direct message on Instagram: @stockstoryteller, or send me a note at [email protected]
SAP - short for Systems, Applications, and Products, is a software company based in Germany. For decades, they have created software systems for businesses, and are most known for their Enterprise Resource Planning software, or ERP. By linking the needs and requirements of different sides of a business, SAP's software becomes a single solution that a lot of businesses rely on to run their daily operations. Today's episode explores the history, business model, financials, and valuation of this German multi-national.
Want to say hello? DM me on Instagram: @stockstoryteller. Or, send an email to [email protected]
Ventas is a REIT that operates at the intersection of real estate and healthcare. With over 1200 properties spread throughout the United States, they are one of the biggest nursing home and medical office landlords out there. We'll discuss Ventas' history, business model, and financials, as well as some closing thoughts.
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Digital Realty buys and operates buildings that house data centers. Data centers are physical locations where computer systems are stored. Companies pay DLR to store, protect, and route their data.
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Today we're talking about another REIT (REITs have definitely been on my mind lately!) Federal Realty is one of the oldest REITs in America and has one of the best dividend track records. In today's episode we explore the history, business model and financials of a company that has been focused on commercial retail - a challenging industry, to be sure.
We look at what Federal Realty is doing to position itself for future growth, as well as how it is dealing with current challenges related to COVID-19.
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Basic Idea: By aligning yourself in a certain domain with favorable characteristics, you are more likely to have greater flexibility and reap more rewards.
Today's mental model is called Seizing the Middle. Seizing the middle is all about options. Where can we put ourselves in life and business such that, in the future, we’re more likely to have a lot of options?
Check out Shane Parrish's website Farnam Street for excellent coverage of mental models.
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This week we're discussing the other Marriott spin-off. This company is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that is the largest lodging REIT in the U.S., and the largest owner of Marriott properties. They operate Marriott, Hyatt, and other branded hotels.
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A few weeks ago we discussed Marriott, one of the world's largest hotel chains. In that episode I mentioned that at one point, they spun off a few businesses. This is one of those businesses!
Marriott Vacations Worldwide is in the vacation club business, or timeshares, as they are more frequently known. We discuss how the timeshare industry works as well as details specific to the company.
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In last week's episode we discussed one of the few publicly traded space companies out there - Virgin Galactic. Well, what about all of the other start-up space companies that exist that aren't publicly traded? Is there a way to invest in them?
Today, I'm happy to share a conversation I had with entrepreneur Aaron Burnett, who has founded Spaced Ventures, a crowdfunding platform for space-focused start-ups.
We cover a lot of ground, including Aaron's story, how funding for private companies works behind the scenes way before an IPO happens, and the economic nature of the space industry (and also, what are the risks?)
Enjoy, and be sure to check out Spaced Ventures for more info.
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Email: [email protected]
It's one of the few publicly traded space companies out there. Virgin Galactic's mission is to help the greater good of humanity through space. Though it's a vaguely described mission, Virgin has been putting their money where their mouth is by building space planes and actually launching them into orbit.
Now a revenue generating operation, let's look at one of billionaire Richard Branson's more highly publicized projects as of late, and develop a better understand of the business behind space tourism.
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Choose one thing, and you can't choose something else. Say no to one thing in order to say yes to another. This is the essence of opportunity cost, and it is a central idea in behavioral economics.
In this episode we take a look at what opportunity cost means from a holistic perspective as well as what this concept means for investors.
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With over 7,000 properties spread throughout the world, Marriott has become one of the biggest and most recognizable lodging brands out there. They have 30 different brands, each with their own distinct feel. Let's look at where Marriott came from and how we can understand this business from an investor's perspective.
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Macerich is one of the larger pure-play mall REITs in America, and they have several dozen properties scattered across the country. Though they have a good history of paying generous payouts to shareholders, is their very existence in trouble because of COVID-19 and the general trend of e-commerce?
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The modern mall has existed for only a century or so, but gathering places of commerce have existed for millenia. Simon Property Group has a large portfolio of quality commercial real estate spread throughout America and in countries around the world.
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If you live in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, or Virginia, there is a good chance that you pay your electric or gas bill to Southern Company. As the second largest utility in the U.S., they serve well over 8.5 million customers.
Connect with me via Instagram or email:
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Flight or Flight is a powerful biological response to the way that we, and animals, respond to perceived threats. Either we're attacking something or we're running away from it. In this episode we cover how we can apply this mental model to our investing practice.
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With the largest fleet size in the world, American Airlines is one the few large "legacy" airlines. Although they suffered a big bankruptcy and merger with U.S. Airways as a result of the 2008 recession, they managed to survive. We discuss the present troubles due to COVID-19 and what shareholders could see next.
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Mattel is most known for Barbie, Hot Wheels, and American Girl, which are iconic toy brands it has made over the years. They also own the card game UNO and make various toys and games licensed from hit kid's movies.
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As one of the largest toy and game company's Hasbro makes classics like Monopoly, Jenga, and Twister. They also brands such as Transformers and My Little Pony, and license Disney's intellectual property to make toys and games (ex. Frozen or Star Wars). Even with Hasbro's storied history, can they continue to successfully create new brands in the era of digital gaming?
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Bottlenecks are limiting factors in our process - if we don't figure them out our results are limited no matter what else we do. Like many mental models, this can apply to a variety of situations, including how we manage our investment portfolios.
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Understanding what our political leaders are buying and selling for their own portfolios is important for transparency within any country's political and economic system. Alignment of interests is key.
Today's episode is an interview with investor and entrepreneur Marvin Barron, co-founder of FinePrint, a startup focused on tracking political stocks.
Over discussion covers a variety of topics, including:
- What is the STOCK Act and why does it matter?
- How political data is now being tracked by investors
- What is political risk?
- What can we learn from the investment behavior of our elected officials?
Connect with FinePrint at fineprintdata.com, or on Twitter @fineprintdata.
Connect with Alex from Stock Stories on Instagram @stockstoryteller, or email [email protected]
