To The Moon

On the 4th of May, asset management firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc ($Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.A)$ and $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B)$) announced in the course of its first quarter earnings release that its biggest bet - Apple Inc ( $Apple(AAPL)$) - was worth $135.4 billion, implying that the former held around 790 million shares of the latter. This meant that the "Oracle of Omaha" (as Berkshire Hathaway principal Warren Buffett is often referred to as) has authorized the disposal of around 116 million shares or 13% of its total stake in Apple.  Most "Buffettologists" would recognize that Berkshire Hathaway's investment style isn't known to be tactical; holding "str

Tesla’s ($Tesla Motors(TSLA)$) Q1 earnings release came with few surprises, given that sales of the company’s products were already flagged as having been in decline. Relative to the same period in the previous year, Tesla’s revenue fell 9% with automotive revenue in particular down 13%. Pass-through line items were far more affected. While operating expenses and capital expenditures rose 37% and 34% respectively, adjusted EBITDA dropped 21% while earnings per share dropped 55%. The company’s damaging price war with other EV makers has been particularly damaging, as evidenced by its gross margin falling 18%. Given that EVs are no longer niche and Tesla’s current catalogue is facing stiff competition and “brand fatigue”, the doldrums seen are both

In an earnings season replete with mentions of "AI" and "autonomous technology", the earnings release by Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc ( $JD.com(JD)$ or $JD.com, Inc.(JDCMF)$) - which easily ranks in the Top 5 or Top 10 e-commerce companies worldwide - stood out in that there was virtually no mention of either, despite sustained efforts in AI, Big Data and robotics over several years, continual development of drones for delivery for the better part of a decade, and the release of a ChatGPT-like large language model for enterprises last year. The company was deemed to have beaten analysts' expectations by a handsome margin, leading to a near-immediate rally in after-hours session on the day of the ear

Models produced by Chinese carmaker NIO Inc ( $NIO Inc.(NIO)$ or $NIO Inc.(NIO.SI)$) are neither the cheapest nor the most expensive ones on offer in China's crowded automobile market; the addressable market can roughly be described as being the "middle-to-upper" income segment. Despite high technical watermarks, there are a number of other competitors that cater to this segment. Furthermore, this segment is arguably the most vulnerable to the economic headwinds China is beginning to feel (as described in an article published in December).  Its latest earnings release is stated to have missed analysts' expectations; however, this isn't likely to significantly impact on the stock's valuations since t

In its earnings release for Q4 and FY 2023, various line items in Baidu, Inc ($Baidu(BIDU)$, $Baidu, Inc.(BAIDF)$ or $BIDU-SW(09888)$) – ostensibly China's answer to Google – has shown arguably the best performance in recent years. Despite this, the stock is said to have missed expectations resulting in the stock price dropping. Whether these expectations were high merit a closer look.  Trend Drilldown Baidu can be considered to have four distinct main businesses: "Core" which drives revenues much like Google Search does. "Core" also includes the Baidu App Store (much like Google Play) and Android-based smartphone operating system Yi.  "iQIYI" which

Estimating long-term fiscal trends in German legacy powerhouse Mercedes-Benz Group AG ($Mercedes Benz Group AG(MBGAF)$ and $Mercedes Benz Group AG(MBGYY)$) have been slightly complicated by the after-effects of the "hive-off and spin-down" - followed by the public listing - of its truck/heavy vehicle division into Daimler Truck Holding AG ($DAIMLER TRUCK HLDG AG(DTGHF)$ and $DAIMLER TRUCK HLDG AG(DTRUY)$) in December 2021 as well as some segment reorganization. However, some interesting new line items and early trends are now apparent in its earnings release on Friday.  Trend Overview It was only in 2022 that Da

Unlike its many contemporaries that operate multiple factories around the world to produce thousands of vehicles, Ferrari N.V. ( $Ferrari NV(RACE)$), once designated a "small volume manufacturer" (or SVM) by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA), has operated out of one factory in Italy to produce a little over 10,000 vehicles every year that more-or-less objectively can simply be described as "beautiful", with the cheapest model retailing for a little under a quarter of a million dollars. As trends go, the cheeky ticker "RACE" is entirely apropos for the Dancing Horse.  Trend Studies For the most part, Ferraris across prime regions have been largely stable with one notable exception - Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, wherein sale

In its earnings release for Q4 2023 and the full year, Coinbase ($Coinbase Global, Inc.(COIN)$ concluded its introduction by contending that it is a fundamentally stronger company today than a year ago, which is in a strong financial position to capitalize on the opportunities ahead. Fiscally, this is true as line item trends relative to the company’s net revenue exhibit: While technology expenses remain high, they’re about a billion dollars lower than in 2022. The business has always has a high throughput between revenue and net income except for 2022 where high technology expenses were incurred. In 2023, technology expenses are relatively lower than in the previous enabling pass-through to resume again. Trends in crypto volumes and investor seg

Airbnb, Inc ( $Airbnb, Inc.(ABNB)$ ) started out with the goal of being “different” from mainstream hotels and lodges by offering experiences via what could be construed as “VERY short-term leases” with the lowest amount of hassle from end users. In a time of “revenge spending”, i.e. an incremental increase in consumer spending after an unprecedented adverse economic event, the company was supposed to do well. Despite this, the stock’s earnings per share (EPS) missed analysts’ consensus expectations of $0.70. The reasons why are an interplay of a number of ancillary factors paired with key line item trends. Trend Studies In absolute terms, the company’s line item trends are a decidedly mixed bag when comparing yearly trends (“1st-order”) vs trend

It could be argued that no other company epitomizes the “gig economy” quite like Uber Technologies, Inc ($Uber(UBER)$) does. “Gig” companies offer services often for free to end users, contend with intense competition due to their inherent reproducibility, and have long periods of negative fiscals as they spend their way through successful years on advertising, new service rollouts and promotions to keep their end users engaged. On the 7th of February, Uber announced its Q4 results that highlighted that the company is nearing a breakout from the red: for the first time since 2018, the company’s net income seemingly registered a decisively positive net income of over $1.4 billion for the entire year of 2023. In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box’