Bottleneck Business A bottleneck business is a term created by Akre Capital Management and it describes a business that: a) sits atop large, global, secular growth opportunities fed by multiple industries and geographies, b) has those opportunities funneled (hence the… Read More
Could The New York Times (NYT) Become a Dividend Stalwart?
The historical dividend per share chart for The New York Times is horrible. But if we zoom into the last 5 years, it gets interesting. That’s an 11.8% CAGR. The last few years highlight a structural business shift. This strategy… Read More
How Luxury Goods Companies Build a Business Moat
Why do Luxury goods providers have a moat around their business? How do Luxury goods providers maintain their market position and their social position with consumers? They’re just selling a product, albeit; a high-quality and expensive product. In theory, a… Read More
Visa’s Showdown with Amazon Over Card Fees
Amazon recently announced that their UK division will stop accepting Visa branded credit cards. The stock dropped over 5% and lost around 20 billion in market cap. Was the market reaction to the Amazon news justified? Or was it an… Read More
When Will Disney Pay a Dividend Again?
We got more clarity from Disney’s management about when they’ll start paying a dividend again and repurchasing shares during the Q3 2021 Earnings Call. And finally, in light of the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as our… Read More
Business Travel Will Come Back
A cognitive bias we all have is extrapolation. We take the current situation and project it far into the future assuming it’ll look exactly like today. It is easy to take today’s coronavirus world, extrapolate it, and imagine a future… Read More
Why We’re Selling Wells Fargo
We recently moved Wells Fargo to the category “Source of Funds”. If we need to buy a new position or add to an existing position and cash is not readily available in your account, we may sell part or all of your… Read More
Why 0% Commissions is Not Bad News for Charles Schwab
Schwab is cutting commissions to 0%! Starting on October 7 all U.S. traded ETFs, stocks, and options will trade commission free. Schwab will still charge $0.65 per contract on options trades. Schwab is a discount broker. Clearly they just erased… Read More
The Two Factors Building Intuit’s Business Moat
Intuit’s QuickBooks Online is its Software As A Service (SAAS) business. It is replacing Intuit’s legacy QuickBooks Desktop software. QuickBooks Online is part of Intuit’s effort to transform its revenue from highly repeatable transactional sales to highly recurring subscriptions. I… Read More
How Much Revenue Does Charles Schwab Generate from Trading?
This morning JP Morgan Chase announced their new commission-free mobile brokerage platform, a trading app. New accounts will get 100 free trades during their first year and if they maintain a balance greater than $15,000 they will continue to get… Read More