Mega-Brands: Investing in Mega Trends Through Mega Brands

MANU is one of the most recognized and valuable sports brands in the world. This club is worth much more with a new owner, strategy, players, stadium, and a debt refinancing. All of this is possible with the new minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliff and the stock is down 46% from the recent highs making the entry point much more attractive IMO. Here's what I see. This is NOT advice. Do your own res...

A February 2024 and YTD Dynamic Brands & Market update. I also talk about the active trading environment and the net gains taken for the month with all the stats. For more info on investing in Mega Brands: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/dynamic-portfolio

Here's our January 2024 market and global brands update. I talk about the market overall, the brands portfolio in specific, and the results of the active trading we did inside the fund for January. Active trading can be a wonderful addition to a core, buy-hold portfolio when executed well. In an algo and 0DTE (zero days to expiration) options focused market, volatility will always be present m...

Todays episode talks about the energy markets, energy stocks, and where there could be opportunities for investors and even traders. I check in with energy expert, Paul Sankey, of SankeyResearch.com We talk about the integrated oils, oil services, refiners, and LNG. Paul is such a great chat because he has such a great grasp of energy markets, M&A, production, and the stocks. Check out his sit...

With >20,000 stores worldwide, Domino's is the largest Pizza company in the world. The stock has a strong history of beating the S&P 500 over time yet its lagged over the last few years due to a tough 2022. With store growth set to accelerate and operating efficiencies taking hold, we think the stock is a solid mean reversion opportunity in 2024 and beyond.

TJX, Marshalls, Home Goods, and Sierra is a >$100B retail brand that has compounded at a above-market rate for many decades. With over 3500 stores worldwide, this model can keep growing over time. Solid management team that is always looking for new, interesting concepts and strong capital allocation decisions at the core. The stock is well positioned for today's stingy consumer spending en...

In today's episode, I discuss the 2023 Brands Fund returns, what worked, and what we expect for 2024. I highlight the Mega Brands returns, the mean reversions that still are likely to come and what a goldilocks scenario looks like using 53 years of market returns at different Fed Funds and inflation regimes. To get more information on how to invest in the brands that matter most: https://www.g...

Travel has always been a very important spending category for consumers globally. Post pandemic, we still see strong travel demand and better profitability for key online travel platform Expedia, EXPE. Through Expedia brands like VRBO, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotwire, CarRentals.com, and Homeaway, Expedia is getting its mojo back. There's a huge gap between the market cap of EXPE and its...

In today's quick video, I discuss our allocation to a more defensive, stable consumer spending industry, auto parts and retail auto maintenance via the two leaders, Autozone and O'Reilly Automotive. I'm sure you have seen each brand in your community. AZO has 7165 stores and ORLY has 6111 stores so they are well represented in most communities. They have been strong compounders as stoc...

Eli Lilly has been a monster stock over the last 5 years. It's compounded at 40%+ a year versus the market at roughly 11%. This great biopharma brand spends $6B a year on R&D, organically grows well, grows the dividend 15% a year and has a full pipeline thats diverse. This management team is second to none. The stock is not cheap anymore and it's a bit crowded but long-term we see grea...

Mr Softy has been a monster stock for over 40 years. The business is incredibly stable and predictable and management continues to keep innovating and growing. We see nothing that changes that on the horizon. The Mega Brand core equity position is still intact. Cloud and AI is driving the growth now and we are still early days in that opportunity. The small dividend grows each year and the stock h...

Apple could be the greatest consumer tech staple ever created. Sometimes we feel like we can't live without our phones, laptops, and airpods. Apple embodies everything a Mega Brand should be: high brand love, innovator of products and services we love and can't live without, globally dominant, demographically diverse consumer base, super strong balance sheet and quality management team. Wo...

The global luxury goods market is expected to be about $320B over the next 5 years. Strong demographic tailwinds exist as younger, aspirational luxury goods consumers spend more on the category than older baby boomers. Between the largest wealth transfer in history ($45Trillion moving over the next 2 decades) and the high brand love LVMH, Hermes, L'Oreal,, and Ferrari have with consumers, we s...

Athleisure is a lifestyle trend for global consumers. Nike & Lulu are dominating this trend along with a few other mega brands and emerging brands like Vuori. When you appeal to kids through older adults, men and women and on a global basis, you have strong growth prospects. These all drive great stock performance over time. Nike is a more mature growth brand, Lulu has experienced much better...

A solid, well-balanced portfolio holds great growth brands and steady-eddy, singles and doubles brands that have a history of beating the S&P 500. In this episode, I talk about the stable, predictable allocations in Visa and Costco. Dividend growers, FCF generators with stable, revenue and EPS growth offer a lot of value for investors, particularly as the economy gets less certain. For more in...

More assets are migrating from public bond and equity markets to private markets each year. Why? The volatility profile and return profiles have been better and the private markets can act as a solid diversifier to public markets. Institutions have known this for decades, they have 25-50% of total assets in private markets across Private Equity, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Energy Transition, Priv...

When a company is a verb, it's become part of the social consciousness. When that happens, Mega Brand Status is a sure thing. That tends to be a great thing for a stock. Uber finally got its act together, thanks to Dara, the CEO. He inherited a horrendously run business but a great consumer service. It's only a matter of time before UBER is added to the S&P 500, that is a great catalys...

Mercado Libre is the Amazon of Latin America. They provide an e-commerce marketplace along with the ancillary products and services to keep consumers engaged and merchants selling products. Those include payments, loans, e-comm, logistics. The have a loyalty program membership similar to Prime which consistently adds new products and services to keep customers loyal and using the services more fre...

Draftkings has become the #1 market share brand in the sports betting and iGaming industry. We love the company, the app, and the stock has been a monster over the last year. The company has made the inflection from unprofitable to profitable and is growing fast. That drives significant revenue, FCF, and margin expansion. In a world where growth is hard to come by, Draftkings stands out over lots...

Live Nation and the experience economy is a key theme and holding in the Brands equity strategy. In today's video, I review the live entertainment trends and the record quarter reported by this 800lb gorilla of a Mega Brand. This is NOT advice, please do your own research and identify investments that make sense for your personal situation. For more information on the Dynamic Brands equity str...

Today, I review Amazons earnings, supply some fun facts and remind investors, core retail is worthy of paying attention to. Sum of the parts warrants 50% upside and retail, Ads, AWS inflecting positively offer bigger punch than any other Mega Cap Brand.

I talk about Spotifys earnings report and their cross-over into sustainable profitability. They are well on their way to having 1 billion global subscribers and profitability has a catch-up coming. The stock is +100%+ already YTD but plenty of room to re-rate ahead with the new profits and growth focus.

Weekly NFL sports betting episode: Niners & Eagles discussed. We are investors of Mega Brands and emerging Mega Brands. Names like Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Nike, Lululemon, Visa, Costco come top mind. The thesis is: Brands Matter. In investing, in life, and in sports betting. Why mess around with "wanna-be brands" or teams, just focus on the dynasties and emerging dynasties of th...

A quick update on why it's important to own sufficient consumer discretionary and tech exposure and why mega brands are such great investments. I also provide an update on the portfolio and performance along with a quick inflation, rates, and consumer spending trends.

The options markets have become enormous and are large enough that even long-term investors have to pay attention. There's a ton of madness that happens in options markets and its a favorite for traders. Watching the large and unusual options trades being placed every day can offer traders and investors an edge but its costly, time consuming, and complicated. If you have the skill, congratulat...