I like the message in this little article. Are You a Hedgehog or a Fox? https://americanconsequences.com/dan-ferris-are-you-a-hedgehog-or-a-fox/ (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Over the past year or so, I have discussed a timeless piece of advice every now and then… You must learn to “know yourself well” in order to become a better investor. Whether you believe you’ve already discovered a system that will work for you or are struggling to improve, the rewards you seek as an investor require greater self-knowledge. As you can tell, I like simple insights that can help you quickly learn a lot about yourself. I’ve now found another one of those insights, and that’s what we’ll discuss today. When all is said and done, I’m confident that you’ll get to know yourself much better… It starts with a simple question that has profound implications… Are you a hedgehog or a fox? If the question rings a bell, maybe you’re familiar with the 1953 essay by philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin, “The Hedgehog and the Fox.” The topic is introduced in the opening line… There is a line among the fragments of the Greek poet Archilochus which says: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” It’s a long essay about Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Berlin starts by explaining the figurative difference between hedgehogs and foxes. According to the essay, hedgehogs… … relate everything to a single central vision, one system, less or more coherent or articulate, in terms of which they understand, think and feel – a single, universal organizing principle. Meanwhile, foxes… … pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory, connected, if at all, only in some de facto way… without, consciously or unconsciously, seeking to fit them into, or exclude them from, any one unchanging, all-embracing, sometimes self-contradictory and incomplete, at times fanatical, unitary inner vision. Berlin was engaging in literary criticism… But folks have been seeing hedgehogs and foxes in all walks of life ever since he wrote the essay. And the idea of determining if you’re guided by “one big thing” versus “many things” is a valuable dichotomy for investors, in more than one way… The hedgehog-or-fox theme also applies to your investment style. Do you invest in “one big thing” like the hedgehog… or in “many things” like the fox? Before you answer that question, know this… By far, the most important insight from this question is that most successful investors are hedgehogs… Hedgehog investors come up with their own system – their “one big thing” – and they eliminate everything that doesn’t conform to it. For a recent episode of the Stansberry Investor Hour podcast, I interviewed a classic hedgehog investor – author Chris Mayer of Woodlock House Family Capital. Like all hedgehogs, Chris has created his own original investment framework. It was honed over many years… And he can describe it easily. Chris calls it the “CODE” system… C is for “cheap.” He’s looking for stocks that are undervalued. O is for “owner-operator.” He wants companies run by folks who own large chunks of their own stock. D is for “disclosure.” He relies heavily on public disclosures as an outside, passive, minority investor… So they must be good. E is for “excellent financial condition.” He doesn’t like companies with too much debt or other risks on their balance sheets. By sticking to the CODE system, Chris saves a lot of time… And it comes directly out of his decades of experience and knowledge as a former banker, analyst, and money manager. Most stocks don’t conform to Chris’s framework, so he doesn’t often find new opportunities. But importantly… he also doesn’t waste his valuable time looking at the thousands of companies he would never invest in, no matter how popular or profitable they might be. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) founder Warren Buffett is a classic hedgehog, too… Like Mayer, Buffett has a simple, four-part screen that eliminates a huge number of opportunities… And it helps him focus on only the businesses that appear most attractive. Buffett only wants to own businesses – publicly traded or not – that have the same four characteristics. In order to get his attention, the business must be one that… He can understand Holds a durable competitive advantage Has a management team he can trust Is available at a price that’s not too expensive Like Mayer’s CODE system, those four filters constitute “one big thing” for Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. He has built a huge, cash-gushing company by focusing like a hedgehog on finding as many businesses as possible that fit that description… He doesn’t bother with those that don’t. The various traders featured in Jack Schwager’s many Market Wizards books bear little resemblance to Buffett in what they buy and how long they hold it… But they’re all hedgehogs, too. Each of those “wizards” has either learned or created a system that has two primary traits… It quickly gets them out of losing positions and keeps them in winning positions as long as possible. Many of these short-term traders operate in dozens of futures and currency markets all over the world. But importantly, they only trade when they find an opportunity that fits their own system – just like longer-term-focused investors like Mayer and Buffett. Hedgehogs learn to ignore the opportunities that don’t fit their system… Mark Minervini was one of the traders featured in Schwager’s book Stock Market Wizards. Minervini took 10 years to develop his own successful system. He only trades stocks. And in two posts on Twitter yesterday, Minervini expressed the hedgehog perspective well… Those who say it’s hard to sit on their hands and do nothing have no rules or they have no discipline to follow their own rules. And… Regardless of how much the indexes rally, I NEVER buy into a market unless there are stocks that meet my criteria. Again, hedgehogs stick to their system no matter what. They pass on anything outside of it. Author and investor Howard Marks is a hedgehog whose “one big thing” for decades has been finding bargains in the bond market. As he once said… To be a disciplined investor, you have to be willing to stand by and watch other people make money that you passed on. You don’t have to invest in everything. You don’t have to catch every trend. Like I said, most great investors are hedgehogs. True investment foxes are rare, but they do exist… One of the best examples of a successful investment fox is Jim Rogers… Rogers founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros in 1973. The two legendary investors made 3,365% from 1970 through 1980, while the S&P 500 Index rose just 47%. According to Rogers, when he was younger, he got confused listening to other people… So he just ignored them, did his own work, and made up his own mind. From there, Rogers became a financial maverick… He traveled the world, learning about many different countries and their markets first-hand. Incredibly, he drove around the world twice – once on a motorcycle and once in a car. Rogers doesn’t stick to “one big thing”… He’ll buy any currency, stock, bond, or other financial instrument from any country. And he’ll buy any commodity, any futures contract, or anything else… anywhere, anytime… as long as he believes it’s a good bet. Many times over the years, Rogers has described his style by saying, “I just wait until there is money lying in the corner and all I have to do is go over and pick it up.” A hedgehog would be a lot more specific… A fox like Rogers is ready for anything, so he’s a lot less specific about what he’s looking for Many times, when someone appears to be a fox, he’s really a hedgehog with an eclectic streak… A good example is late Canadian value-investing legend Peter Cundill… He managed the Cundill Value Fund from 1975 through 2007, making investors more than 100 times their initial investment over that span. The title of Christopher Risso-Gill’s book about Cundill, There’s Always Something To Do, suggests Cundill believed you don’t need to wait for an opportunity that fits a specific system, the way all hedgehogs do. This thinking is more like a fox. As Risso-Gill wrote… [H]e had taken the view early on that he would be prepared “to put money into anything, anywhere, provided that the downside is measurable and acceptable and the chances of a good profit appear to be better than 50%.” That sounds rather foxlike. But Cundill himself once wrote that… I like to think that, if I stick to my formula, my shareholders and I can make a lot of money without much risk. Cundill’s formula led him all over the world… He became interested in investing in Sweden as early as the mid-1960s. And obscure, undervalued, and misunderstood foreign opportunities became a staple of his investment style after a trip to that country in 1977. But it’s hard to hear the word “formula” – which implies a system like Buffett, Mayer, or Minervini – and not conclude that you’re looking at a hedgehog. When it comes to daily life, most folks seem more foxlike to me… In that way, a hedgehog with zero foxlike characteristics is rare, too. To underscore that point, I encourage you to check out the book Range. Author David Epstein opens by comparing golfing legend Tiger Woods with tennis great Roger Federer… With a lot of encouragement and coaching from his father, Woods focused on nothing but golf as soon as he could hold the golf clubs… At age 2, he used a club that came up to his shoulder to drive the ball far enough to impress comedian Bob Hope on TV. Federer enjoyed sports from an early age, too. But unlike Woods, as Epstein wrote… As a boy, [Federer] played squash with his father on Sundays. He dabbled in skiing, wrestling, swimming, and skateboarding. He played basketball, handball, tennis, table tennis, [and] badminton over his neighbor’s fence, and soccer at school. Federer later credited his broad interest in various sports as a child for helping him with coordination and general athleticism. It clearly paid off… He has won 20 Grand Slam men’s singles titles in his career. And he has pocketed more than $130 million in prize money. Woods is one of the most pristine hedgehogs in history… The singular pursuit of golfing mastery has ruled his existence from birth. But what about Federer? He started out dabbling like a fox in a wide variety of sports. But it was only when he focused like a hedgehog on tennis that he became a world-class athlete. Maybe the answer is more complex than I first thought… Maybe the point of the fox-or-hedgehog dichotomy is just to understand how each mode of thinking can help you achieve great success at investing (or anything else worth doing). And maybe we’re all destined to be foxes until we learn to be hedgehogs… For example, although Buffett focused on investing from his youth, he dabbled like Federer in other areas before starting to concentrate on companies that fit his four core filters… While running his hedge-fund partnerships in the 1950s and 1960s, Buffett bought many types of classic value plays… He bought stocks trading at discounts to book value, stocks with low price-to-earnings ratios, merger arbitrage opportunities, and myriad other so-called “special situations.” He also speculated in the silver market on at least two occasions. And in 1954, he swapped the stock of a chocolate-making company for cocoa beans… then sold the beans on the commodities exchange for a profit. At that point, Buffett was ready for anything… He was an investment fox. Plus, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger – Buffett’s business partner and friend of nearly 50 years – has a foxlike intellect. And he has succeeded at investing in a big way… He’s worth billions of dollars, and he excelled even before he met Buffett in 1959. Munger is well-known as a voracious reader across a broad array of disciplines… He has said that “developing the habit of mastering the multiple models which underlie reality is the best thing you can do.” In other words, at age 97, Munger is ready for anything… And he always wants to get ready for even more by mastering as many new modes of thinking as possible." MY COMMENT I will hopefully see the end to this article tomorrow. I am DEFINITELY a Hedgehog. My investing formula is spelled out in the post that I repeat on here about my PORTFOLIO MODEL.......as well as the lessons of this entire thread. I ALSO believe that the majority of successful investors are HEDGEHOGS. They have found a way of investing that works for them....and....they do the same thing over and over and over. As to......JIM ROGERS.....cited in the article. My personal opinion.....a TOTAL AND COMPLETE MORON. I have never seen anyone in the business or investing world that is WRONG as much and as often as he is. He was lucky to ride along on some big coattails to make some big bucks. I also HATE the blatantly transparent and obvious way he.......in my personal opinion...... constantly seems to try to use the media.....in my personal opinion...... to push and manipulate some trade he is pushing. BUT....from what I have seen......my opinion.....it is so obvious and transparent......it NEVER works for him.
This little article about the markets today contains the economic retail sales data and other info on the short term DRAMA QUEEN stuff that is impacting the markets today. I am content and actually happy to see the retail sales numbers......it will keep the FED at bay and is also an indicator that NOTHING has PEAKED yet...the re-opening has a long way to go......and in my opinion so do stocks. (apologies to actual DRAMA QUEENS) Stock market news live updates: Stocks fall after retail sales disappoint, earnings come in mixed https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-august-17-2021-221612366.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Stocks fell on Tuesday, with the major indexes pulling back from record levels amid a mixed batch of earnings results from major retailers. A closely watched monthly report on retail sales also missed estimates, pointing to a bigger-than-expected deceleration in consumer spending. The S&P 500 declined after closing at an all-time high by the end of Monday's session. That marked the index's fifth consecutive record close. The Dow and Nasdaq also traded lower. Shares of Dow component Walmart (WMT) fell even after the big-box retailer posted second-quarter results that blew past estimates and raised its full-year guidance. Stimulus check spending, strong grocery demand and e-commerce sales helped push U.S. comparable sales excluding gas up by 5.5%, topping estimates but still slowing from last year's 9.9% surge. Home Depot (HD), meanwhile, missed on comparable sales for the second quarter, with these rising 4.5%, or more than a full percentage point below consensus estimates. The results appeared to reinforce the slowdown in housing market activity and home renovations after a jump earlier on during the pandemic, and shares of peer home improvement giant Lowe's (LOW) fell in sympathy. Even with Tuesday's early declines, the major stock indexes have been largely grinding higher as a slew of strong corporate earnings results and solid economic data in the U.S. buoyed investor sentiment. The gains on Monday came even as geopolitical concerns loomed, with chaos in Afghanistan continuing from the weekend after the Taliban overtook the country. The spread of the Delta variant has also posed a risk to equities, as has the specter of a near-term policy shift from the Federal Reserve. On the latter front, market participants are set to receive the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting minutes on Wednesday, offering more context around how much more amenable central bank officials have become to the notion of tapering their crisis-era asset purchases as the economic recovery takes place. "There are a lot of reasons for anxiety among investors in the short term if you look at the Delta variant, of course, if you look at the inflationary outlook, if you look at U.S. policy uncertainty and kind of continued choppy economic data. We think that there is a chance that we'll see some shorter-term consolidation here over the next month or two," Jon Adams, BMO Global Asset Management senior investment strategist, told Yahoo Finance. "But if you look at a medium-term perspective, we think that we're pretty constructive on the outlook," he added. "Earnings season's been exceptional, the economy remains strong ... We'll get a lot more clarity in the fall around policy and around the virus. We think that it's still a time to remain overweight equities and with a bias toward U.S. equities." 12:44 p.m. ET: Recent, strong data on jobs, inflation suggests strength in value stocks: Strategist U.S. Treasury yields have recovered from lows of below 1.2% in recent weeks, largely on the heels of strong economic data on the labor market and inflation fronts. According to at least one strategist, the pick-up in economic activity and yields may bode well for cyclical and value stocks going forward. "[We have] more than a few potential Fed policy-related catalysts for equities on the horizon. We get the July FOMC minutes tomorrow, from which our economics team expects some guidance on timing and scope of taper ahead of Jackson Hole late next week and September FOMC," Maxwell Grinacoff, BNP Parisbas equity derivative strategist, told Yahoo Finance. "We've already started to see a bit of a backup in yields over the last couple of weeks on pretty strong jobs and inflation data," he added. "We’re using this as a playbook for the value and growth trade in the equity space, if we do in fact see higher yields and the deliverance of a fiscal reconciliation package through the balance of Q3 into Q4. And in terms of value, we would more selectively focus on the quality side of value as well as the commodity- and cyclical-oriented parts of the market like materials and industrials." 11:16 a.m. ET: 'We have to consider the opportunity cost of not making these investments,' Yellen says, redoubling support of Biden's infrastructure plan U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doubled down on her support of President Joe Biden's plans increase investments in physical and human infrastructure in an op-ed published on Yahoo Finance Tuesday. Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a more than $1 trillion physical infrastructure plan with bipartisan support, and passed the blueprint for a $3.5 trillion budget resolution that would further bolster the social safety net and address climate change. "Some have asked: “Are we overinvesting here?” My response is 'no,' and there are at least three compelling reasons," Yellen wrote, with emphasis hers. First, she said now is the right time to make investments, given real interest rates are currently negative. Second, the investments are "fiscally responsible" because they are spread out over time and amount to 1% of overall GDP over the course of a decade, she added. "Third, and most importantly, we have to consider the opportunity cost of not making these investments," Yellen said. "We’ve grown used to America as the world’s greatest economic power, but we aren’t destined to stay that way." 10:31 a.m. ET: 'It's almost unquestionable' that the second-quarter will be the peak growth rate for earnings: Strategist Second-quarter earnings results have been tracking exceptionally strongly, with S&P 500 earnings on track to grow 89.3% for the highest year-on-year pace since late 2009. "It's almost unquestionable for the second-quarter to be peak, not growth, but growth rates," Liz Ann Sonders, Charles Schwab chief investment strategist, told Yahoo Finance. "Earnings will continue to grow. I think the consensus for the third quarter is close to 30%, but I don't think we're going to beat the nearly 100% gain in the second quarter." "I think what's really key looking ahead is the profit margin story, which so far, they've been maintained at a a very high level," she added. "But given the ongoing widespread between input prices and final goods prices, I think the profit margin story becomes maybe even more important than the headline earnings story next quarter." 10:02 a.m. ET: Manufacturing production accelerates more than expected in July U.S. manufacturing production jumped by the most since March in July, driven by boosted auto manufacturing as vehicle producers worked to offset a global chip shortage from earlier this year. Manufacturing production increased at a 1.4% clip in July, a new Federal Reserve report showed on Tuesday, for a print double the rate consensus economists expected, based on Bloomberg data. In June, production fell by 0.3%, with this drop revised from the 0.1% dip previously reported. Auto production specifically increased 11.2%. Industrial production overall also accelerated in July, rising 0.9% after a 0.2% increased in June. This was also well above the 0.5% rise anticipated. 8:30 a.m. ET: Retail sales sank more than expected in July U.S. consumer spending pulled back more than anticipated in July as the effects of stimulus checks waned further and concerns over the Delta variant rose. Retail sales dropped by 1.1% in July compared to June, according to the Commerce Department's monthly report on Tuesday. This followed a 0.7% monthly rise in June. Consensus economists were looking for a 0.3% dip for July. Excluding auto and gas sales, retail sales were down 0.7%, which was still a bigger drop than the 0.1% dip expected. By category, a number of areas that had seen strong sales trends in recent months showed a sharp moderation. Motor vehicle and parts dealer sales were down 3.9% on the month, but still held higher by nearly 16% compared to July 2020. Both building material and supplies dealers, as well as home furnishing stores posted monthly declines in July, consistent with the slowdown in housing market activity as the year progressed. Non-store retailers, or e-commerce platforms, posted a 3.1% drop in monthly sales. Heading into Tuesday's report, many economists had expected to see a decrease in this category, given that Amazon Prime Day occurred a month early in June this year." MY COMMENT Even more than the FED.....I really wish.....Yellen would just SIT DOWN and SHUT UP. As to the rest.....earnings GREAT......check. Interest rates at 100 year lows....check. Other indicators like manufacturing and retail sales are simply reflecting the disruption of the shutting down of the economy and the re-opening....check. PLUS...added bonus.....the weakness that we see in the erratic monthly data...should help to keep the FED from doing anything.....check. LOOKS like a great investing environment going forward......for those that have the GUTS to be invested.
I like this little bit of commentary that SCHWAB sent me. Since market timing perfection is an IMPOSSIBILITY.....the next best thing is.........investing immediately. TOTALLY in line with what I ALWAYS do along with staying fully invested all the time. The vast majority of the academic research supports this. BUT....as a practical matter.....most people can not bring themselves to invest this way. "Chart of the Month Does Market Timing Work? We crunched the numbers on five hypothetical investors who start each year with $2,000 to invest over a 20-year run. Putting that money to work at the market’s bottom year after year would be a fine strategy indeed—though, pulling it off is about as likely as winning the lottery. A more reasonable approach would be to invest the full $2,000 immediately, or even smaller amounts each month. The benefit of action Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research. See below for important information." HERE is the "important information below" "Chart disclosures: Hypothetical $2,000 annual investments that track the S&P 500 Index. Perfect timing means investing the full $2,000 at the lowest monthly close each year. Investing immediately means at the earliest possible opportunity each year. Dollar cost averaging means dividing the annual $2,000 allotment into 12 equal portions, and investing at the beginning of each month. Bad timing means investing at the highest monthly close each year. Stay in cash means investing in the lbbotson U.S. 30-day Treasury Bill Index. Dividends and interest are assumed to have been reinvested, and the examples do not reflect the effects of taxes, expenses, or fees. Had fees, expenses or taxes been considered, returns would have been substantially lower."
Well.....my lead over the SP500 just got cut in half. I was medium red today. My ONLY stock in the green was Proctor & Gamble. I got beat by the SP500 by 0.53%. A nasty day....but at least there was a bit of a come-back later in the day. The SP500 ended a 5 day win streak today. Oh well.....I will take five days in the green in return for one day in the red.
Ouch what a day.. down by 1.70 today… Bought some more eBay and pypl yesterday from div money distribution so not a lot Should’ve waited till today… oh well… Watching ROKU, TWLO, QCOM, PLTR, CHDN this week… if any of them take off by 2-3% I’m in!
May people on here....myself included...own Nvidia. Earnings will report tomorrow. I have seen some articles talking about issues. With the way stocks usually go down even after AMAZING earnings...it probably will not matter how good they are. Nvidia’s Q2 Revenue to Jump Over 60%, Earnings Could Disappoint https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidia-q2-revenue-jump-over-065804773.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "The Santa Clara, California- based multinational technology company, Nvidia is expected to report its second-quarter earnings of $1.02 per share, which represents year-over-year growth of over 50% from $2.18 per share seen in the same period a year ago. The company, which designs graphics processing units for the gaming and professional markets, as well as system on a chip unit for the mobile computing and automotive market would post year-over-year revenue growth of over 60% to $6.3 billion. The company has delivered an earnings surprise in each of the last four consecutive quarters. Nvidia shares have gained over 54% so far this year. The stocks ended 1.42% higher at $201.88 on Friday. But next week’s better-than-expected results could help the stock hit new all-time highs. Analyst Comments “Nvidia stock has seen an impressive rise of 5% over the past week and currently trades at $206 per share. This rally was driven by expectations of strong earnings growth in the company’s upcoming Q2 2022 results, expected later this month. For Q1 2022, Nvidia posted stellar revenue growth, with revenue rising to $5.66 billion from$3.08 billion in Q1 2021, which helped drive the company’s net income to $1.91 billion from $917 million over this period. The strong jump in earnings came due to a combination of shrewd expense control and a slightly lower effective tax rate,” noted analysts at Trefis. “After the recent rally, will Nvidia stock continue its upward trajectory over the coming weeks, or is a correction in the stock more likely? According to the Trefis Machine Learning Engine, which identifies trends in a company’s stock price data for the last ten years, returns for Nvidia stock average close to 2.1% in the next one-month (21 trading days) period after experiencing a 5% rise over the previous one-week (five trading days) period.” Nvidia Stock Price Forecast Twenty-nine analysts who offered stock ratings for Nvidia in the last three months forecast the average price in 12 months of $209.42 with a high forecast of $250.00 and a low forecast of $150.00. The average price target represents a 3.73% change from the last price of $201.88. From those 29 analysts, 28 rated “Buy”, one rated “Hold” while none rated “Sell”, according to Tipranks. UBS raised the price target to $230 from $184. BofA lifted the price objective to $250 from $225. JPMorgan increased the price target to $215 from $176. Several other analysts have also updated their stock outlook. Wells Fargo raised the price target to $245 from $219." MY COMMENT No doubt.....as usual.....we will see great earnings and.....yet......a drop tomorrow. It is interesting that a year or two ago all you heard about this stock was GLOWING reports of how they were going to DOMINATE the self driving vehicle market, etc, etc, etc. Now, you hardly ever hear much about the auto market and their products at all. It seems like the push to self driving vehicles is now.....no longer favored by the news media.....so you dont hear much about it. It also seems like the progress in making this a reality has slowed significantly over the past year or two. BUT.....it is going to happen and companies like NVIDIA will dominate that business space.
I....feel your pain....Zukodany. BUT......I had a very good.....medium.......red day in comparison. In the end we will all.....those of us that are longer term investors.......get the last laugh as we always do. There is REAL FEAR out there right now. I think the unsettling news and especially the video and photos out of Afghanistan is causing a lot of it. It is a little crises of confidence in the country and the government. I will express NO OPINION on here whether or not it is justified....but....I dont think it matters. People are just very emotional right now. I have seen a few times in the past where people talked the markets into a recession or at the least a correction. I would not be surprised to see it happen now. We are living in very DISRUPTIVE times. I saw some fear mongering headline somewhere today about 7 MILLION people losing unemployment benefits in September. Well.....DUH. You dont get to sit at home and draw free government money forever. There are over 10 MILLION jobs looking for workers right now.....go out and find a job before it ends up as a crises. Many people are going to wait till the last minute to SUCK everything they can out of the system.....and they are going to be very surprised when those jobs just suddenly VANISH. PRODUCTIVITY is the name of the game. Business is quickly learning how to operate with fewer and fewer workers. AND...at some point we are going to see small business disappearing. In addition we are on track for millions of people to come into the country this year.......legally or illegally. They are going to be very willing to take those jobs.
Walmart is perhaps the single best harbinger of consumer behavior we have in my view. Everyone shops there....except for some of the suburban moms that shop at Target. I like what they are seeing....in spite of Delta and everything else going on. Delta variant hasn't changed consumer behavior: Walmart CFO https://finance.yahoo.com/news/delt...-consumer-behavior-walmart-cfo-160407133.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Despite COVID-19 Delta variant fears beginning to weigh on consumer confidence and spending plans, the world's largest retailer Walmart (WMT) says consumer behavior remains stable. "We are not seeing a major shift in consumer behaviors at this point," Walmart CFO Brett Biggs told Yahoo Finance when asked about current consumer trends. Biggs said the drivers of consumer spending in recent quarters — a high savings rate and rebounding jobs market — remain intact and are helping to fuel Walmart's sales. Biggs added that the back-to-school shopping season has started "strong" as shoppers scoop up the school supplies they didn't need last year amid remote learning. Indeed Walmart has the numbers to support its view that shoppers are hanging in there amidst the spread of the Delta variant. Walmart said Tuesday that second quarter U.S. same-store sales rose 5.2% compared to forecasts of growth of 3.12%. On a two-year stacked comparison, U.S. comp sales grew 14.5%. Operating profit for the division rose at a faster pace than sales (good sign) — 10.6% increase in profits vs. a 2.4% improvement for sales. Walmart said July was the strongest performing month for its U.S. business. Sales increased in all merchandise departments for Walmart's U.S. outfit: grocery, health and wellness, and general merchandise. Meanwhile, the mostly U.S. focused Sam's Club business saw same-store sales rise 7.7%. All lines of business notched sales gains, save for tech equipment (reflective of consumers stocking up a year ago as the pandemic pushed people to work from home). The company's optimism on the consumer came through in the third quarter and full year outlooks. Walmart sees third quarter earnings of $1.30 to $1.40 a share, ahead of estimates for $1.31 a share. For the full year, Walmart estimates earnings of $6.20 to $6.35. Analysts had forecast $6.02 a share. "Walmart's momentum appears strong across segments," Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman wrote in a note to clients. The analyst maintained an Overweight rating on Walmart's stock with a $164 price target." MY COMMENT This company is a good proxy for the country and the economy....especially with their small and medium size town base of customers and their online shopping. We are now fully into "back to school" mode. In my part of the world the kids are NOW back in school. There is little to NO remote learning. A good first step to NORMALIZING things out in the real world.
hey, @zukodany , the john deere breakdown was re-released. they still haven't found what they're looking for.
DARN.....I no longer have my John Deere tractor/front loader and my garden tractor. This would be my chance to be a.....STAR. The money looks ok too. You should send it in Zukodany. Dont forget all your old friends at Stockaholics when you make it big. After all it was us that gave you a push to buy a John Deere. You should have Emmett represent you since he knows the business.
probably best that he doesn't submit. the fame, fortune and women would corrupt him. plus we'd miss him around here.
Can anyone help me understand AMZN's stock price depreciation in the last month? I don't think the trolls on Reddit can actually afford to hold more than 1 share so I'm confused.
Ya , because I bought more back in July , LOL The curse of Oldmanram buying But seriously , after the economic BOOM during covid 2020, the sales are starting to slow down, and during July they missed the annalists earnings mark. Also they warned that the next few quarters could look the same.
Got it. Despite the $2.81 EPS beat. We'll see in October after they smash the EPS again like they always do.. sounds like they shot themselves in the foot for no good reason but what do I know..
not only is the chart head and shoulders but it looks like the bear ripped the arm completely out of the shoulder.
Thanks for the love guys! I’m trying on my Captain America trunks for the photo shoot as we speak… Hollywood here I come!! I’d like to thank my parents, my wife, my friends, my 4th grade geography teacher Beth, Corona pork deli for the best Italian cold cut subs, Limhal from Kajagoogoo, Zima, White Claw, Fanny from 99 Cent Empire, Joe & Sue for always letting us win at the Pickleball court and for all of those that I may have forgotten about THANK YOU ALL
They need to reward the shareholders with a split. A growth company that doesn't grow will have holders jumping ship. Like W... Amazon is on my watch to sell list, they have a year. No use holding a flat growth company that doesn't pay dividends. Love the company but it just comes down to money. Happy Investing!
