Stock Stories

This French oil major has been around for almost a century, and managed to compete with other industry juggernauts.  They have higher inside ownership than other majors, and have leading operations in Europe and Africa. History of Total (Youtube playlist)  Instagram: @stockstoryteller alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Email: alex@stockstoriespodcast.com

Royal Dutch Shell was formed with two companies from two different countries joined forces to keep Rockefeller's Standard Oil at bay.  It is one of the largest of the oil majors, and has a presence in over 70 countries. alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Instagram: @stockstoryteller Email: alex@stockstoriespodcast.com

Irreducibility is the principle of breaking things down until you can't break them down any further.  This can apply to processes or products.  Think about the processes you observe as an investor that can be improved upon or otherwise remain unmodified based on this principle. alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Instagram: stockstoryteller Email: alex@stockstoriespodcast.com

When the massive Standard Oil company broke up in the early 1900s, one of the remaining companies was Standard Oil of California.  This company ended up growing to become what we now know as Chevron.  Like the other oil and gas companies, Chevron find, extracts, and processes petroleum, natural gas, and other related products. alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Instragram: @stockstoryteller Email: alex@...

Part of John D. Rockefeller's legacy, ExxonMobil boasts one of the world's largest expanse of oil and natural gas reserves.  They help provide the raw materials for the world's energy.  Though its business goes through long boom and bust cycles, companies like this can reward patient investors who can stomach significant volatility. alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Instagram: @stockstor...

Can you feel the "luv"?  Southwest Airlines, whose trademarked symbol is a colorful heart, has been dominating the skies in the U.S. for decades now.  Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, they were successful at taking market share away from legacy airlines with their unique culture and simplified approach. alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Instagram: @stockstoryteller Email: alex@stockstoriespodc...

Basic Idea - what gets rewarded gets repeated, regardless of any ethical considerations.  Specifically “bad money drives out good” History - named after Sir Thomas Gresham, who was an English Merchant in the 1500s.  Also attributed to Copernicus and Aristophanes. Gresham brought to public attention that, in an economic system with fake coinage, the fake coinage will drive out the real coinage in c...

As the largest creator of medical devices in the world (by revenue), Medtronic supplies all sorts of devices used by hospitals and clinics around the world.  Their background has roots in developing cardiac solutions - they created the first externally powered pacemaker in the late 1950s.  Since then they have moved on to be become a leading provider of all sorts of medical devices, and have recen...

Who makes the devices that doctors around the world use to perform procedures to help people get healthy?  Boston Scientific is one of the big producers of medical devices.  From helping people with Parkinson's Disease to predicting heart failure before it happens, they have a wide array of solutions for numerous conditions.  The company has decent growth prospects, but is the stock too high...

As the world's largest investment manager, they control over $7 trillion of capital.  Yes, that's $7,000,000,000,000!!  Because of their scope and size, they are able to offer a wide variety of financial products to institutions and individuals.  By making some key acquisitions in past years - namely Barclays iShare - they have been able to maintain a solid market share in a rapidly chan...

Today's episode addresses a listener question about temperance and sticking to an investing strategy.  What are some tools we can use as individual investors to do a better job at this?  I'm definitely still working on this myself, but here are some suggestions: Experiment with different ideas Keep a journal (investment-specific or otherwise) Develop and use a checklist alex@stockstories...

Happy 2020!  To kick off the new year I decided to compile a bunch of the knowledge regarding stock investing that I have learned over the years and compile it into one episode.  It's a long one but I hope you get a lot out of it!  There is so much to learn in investing and what's included here is just the tip of the iceberg.  Happy investing in 2020! alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Instagr...

Baxter International is one of the world's largest healthcare companies.  Their products can be found in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and doctor's offices around the world.  They invented a safe storage method for blood as well as the first artificial kidney, so there is a long history of innovation.  In addition to Baxter's past, we also look at how we expect it to perform as...

PPG is one of the world's largest producers of paints and coatings.  It's an industrial, cyclical business that has transitioned over the years from producing glass to coatings for cars, planes, and buildings.  We've studied this industry on the podcast before - but how does management of this company allocate capital? Instagram: stockstoryteller alex@stockstoriespodcast.com   Email...

Lockheed Martin is the largest defense contractor by revenue in the U.S.  They make the iconic F-35 fighter, as well as helicopters, missiles, space systems, and cyber security systems.  After a lot of industry consolidation over the decades, they now boast a strong portfolio of products. alex@stockstoriespodcast.com Instagram: stockstoryteller Email: alex@stockstoriespodcast.com

Mabel Nuñez is a fellow investor and runs the platform Girls on the Money, focused on helping women learn how to invest.  She has a great story and I enjoyed catching up with her at FinCon this year.  Check out her content below to learn more: https://girlsonthemoney.com/ Instagram: girlsonthemoney Book: Stock Analysis 101 Email: alex@stockstoriespodcast.com

LVMH is the premier luxury conglomerate that owns iconic brands such as Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessey, Christian Dior, Bulgari, Dom Perignon, Sephora, Fendy, Hublot....the list goes on, and is soon to include the iconic jeweler Tiffany and Co. that was the subject of an episode a few weeks ago. The de-centralized, vertically integrated luxury model, in addition to excellent management, has allowe...

Churn is the concept that doing nothing is not the equivalent of standing still - it's moving backward.  In many systems, including biological systems, insurance companies, and your portfolio - churn is a factor.  It's important to keep it in mind when analyzing a company or industry, or even when different events happen to stocks in our portfolio. Instagram: stockstories1 alex@stockstor...

When I was at FinCon 2019 earlier this year, I had the great pleasure of meeting a man who goes by the name of Wall Street Trapper.  He's got an incredible story, and we talk about how he came up from hustling in the streets of New Orleans to learning how to invest in the stock market. We covered a lot of ground in this interview beyond his personal story as well, and spent some time talking...

You can't mention computers or software in the world today without mentioning Microsoft.  The now trillion dollar company has changed the way that people interact with the digital world, and they're still making waves today.  With cloud computing, artificial intelligence and new operating systems, Microsoft is working hard to stay on the edge of technology.  This week's show is the...

Welcome to Stock Stories!  This is a very special episode for me because it is the first interview that I have ever done for this podcast.  Not only that, but I got to talk with my friend and mentor Teri Ijeoma, who is a professional trader. Teri and I first met at FinCon in 2018, and we got together again in September 2019 at the same conference to do this interview.  I hope you enjoy our convers...

You can't mention computers or software in the world today without mentioning Microsoft.  The now trillion dollar company has changed the way that people interact with the digital world, and they're still making waves today.  With cloud computing, artificial intelligence and new operating systems, Microsoft is working hard to stay on the edge of technology.  This week's show is the...

Centene is the leader in providing Medicaid and Medicare health plans in the United States.  Their massive growth over the last few decades has been precipitated by a changing health care climate as well as rapid consolidation of smaller competitors.  Though this is a complex business that is highly regulated, the fact that the federal government funds the majority of premiums indicates stability...

I took a little vacation this week with the family and have some more research to do on the next company I plan on bringing to you.  In the meantime, here's an episode of a company I enjoyed studying some time ago - retailer Ross Stores.  They have continued their expansion, and even though there is a lot of doubt out their regarding the future success of retail businesses, Ross still has a l...

When we put effort into something, we expect to get the same amount of output, right?  This can often be the case, but sometimes the rewards we get are not proportional to the risks that we take.  For example, in portfolio construction, diversification only makes sense to a certain point before it "waters down" our overall returns.  The Law of Diminishing Returns reminds us that we shoul...