Archive

Bad Accounting Data Doesn't Just Mislead Investors

Home buying has been surging during the coronavirus pandemic... And September data show that the trend isn't letting up. As industry publication HousingWire explained late last month, existing home sales jumped more than 9% from August and more than 20% from a year ago. During fall and winter, housing prices usually round off and sales […]

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Debt Holders Are Scared About Bankruptcies, But They Shouldn't Be

When investors buy bonds, they naturally hope that the underlying company doesn't go bankrupt... But even in the event of a bankruptcy, they do have some protection. One of the positives in bond investing is that creditors are reimbursed before equity holders if a company goes under. Between 2005 and 2019, the average bond holder […]

This Data Platform's Algorithms Use Your 'Amygdala Hijack' to Print Money

More than 38 million people caught on to the 'EQ hazards' of The Social Dilemma documentary... My coaching comments for our global team often revolve around the subject of "EQ," or the emotional quotient (more commonly known as "emotional intelligence"). From Benjamin Franklin to Carl Sagan to Warren Buffett, folks have emphasized how temperance and […]

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Digital Payments Are Booming, and This Processor Is Taking Advantage

For years, the world has been trending toward digital payments... And yet, as The Economist recently explained, banks have been slow to adopt this trend. This has led to the emergence of a new breed of banks...  Offerings like Nairobi-based Safaricom's M-PESA, a mobile-money service, have thrived during the shift. Other beneficiaries include Nubank, a […]

• EVTC

The Election Dealt a Huge Blow to This Industry, but Our Numbers Suggest Otherwise

Based on Nielsen ratings, one cable news channel had the highest ratings on election night... Fox News captured the top spot by far with a massive 14.1 million viewers. CNN came in second place with 9.4 million, and MSNBC took third place with 7.6 million. All three of these cable news channels bested the broadcast […]

• MDP
• TWTR

This Old School Industry Is Dying, But One Firm's Creativity Is Keeping It Competitive

Active investing has come under fire in recent years...  Thanks to low fees and predictable performance, passive investing is all the rage right now. Active portfolio management is more expensive, so wealth managers, hedge funds, and mutual funds need to charge fees to operate. Even if the money manager's gross (pre-fee) returns beat the market […]

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A Vaccine May Be Here, But Don't Celebrate Just Yet

Last Monday was a big day for the stock market... And it wasn't due to the major news networks calling the presidential race. Even though everyone was watching news about the election all week and weekend, the real reason for optimism had to do with the coronavirus.  Early in the morning, Big Pharma firm Pfizer […]

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• AMC
• HLT
• NFLX
• PFE
• PTON
• RCL
• ZM

Earning Double-Digit Returns by Ending Procrastination

Time management is a recent concept relative to the span of, well, time... This week on our all-hands call, I coached our teams on improving time management. This concept only gained widespread attention in the past 50 years or so. Before that, the term "time management" was relegated to railroads and farms. It wasn't about […]

• CRM

This 'Oil Major' Is a Ticking Time Bomb

The oil industry is in trouble... Oil demand is under growing pressure from alternative sources of energy. As an example, just think of the rise of electric vehicles... Tesla's (TSLA) cars tend to dominate the headlines. Adding fuel to the fire, global trade has slowed during the coronavirus pandemic. This has significantly slashed oil demand. […]

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• XOM

Changing Travel Trends Created a 'Two-Speed Market' Winner

As regular Altimetry Daily Authority readers might remember, Joel and his family decamped to Turkey... Back in September, he explained how he had been seeing full hotels despite the coronavirus pandemic. But instead of the usual international travelers, they were packed with Turkish nationals. And this isn't just happening in Turkey. For example, last month, […]

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