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 see big things ahead even as the economy cools off a bit short-term. Luxury spending tends to be less...

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 growth off a lower base. Both have strong tailwinds going forward from a demographic perspective....

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 information on investing in the most relevant, dominant global brands:...

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, Private Credit, Growth Equity, etc. HNW retail investors are in inning one of this transition. The...

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 catalyst for more upside in my opinion. In the video, I do a quick rundown of today's earnings report. To...

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 frequently. The stock has been a monster outperformer since the 2007 IPO and they are just getting...

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 of other companies. The sportsbetting TAM by 2030 is estimated to be about $167B from roughly...

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 strategy: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/dynamic-portfolio

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 the NFL. This week we talk Niners and Eagles, the two only unbeaten teams at 5-0. Enjoy. This is not...

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, congratulations, if you do not but want to gain an edge, considering subscribing to an options trading and...

This is the audio version for the Q2 Brands commentary and portfolio positioning. This is not investment advice, just one mans opinion on markets, brands, and the consumer! Enjoy!

Today's interview where we talk about the global consumption theme, why it's an important allocation to a portfolio and what drove outperformance 2017-2021, why we underperformed in a tough 2022, what the current opportunities are, and finally, how the portfolio is positioned currently between offense and defense-related brands. For more information: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/dynamic-portfolio To reach out directly to me: [email protected]

This is an all encompassing audio presentation that discusses why anyone would want to invest in the theme of global household spending (it's a $40+ trillion a year theme), why the theme is the ideal core holding for a portfolio, why having dedication to the most relevant brands makes sense, and why the HSUTX fund is the easiest way to get the broad "lifestyle spending" allocation you need. I also remind listeners that most portfolios are chronically underweight the consumer stocks, which is...

Like many in our industry, John started investing (studying businesses and valuing stocks) in college so he's been analyzing businesses and following markets for almost 25 years. John graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from the University of Richmond and graduated with his MBA as part of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honors Society from Tulane University. John published a book on Investing titled "A Manual on Common Stock Investing" in 2013. For the past 9 years John has been...

This is the audio version of our 2022 Fund Letter for the brands strategy. I discuss what went wrong in 2022, where sentiment is and what that could mean for 2023, the history of Fed Funds and inflation versus what we have seen since 2009 and what mega themes and brands we are exposed to as we start 2023. For more information on the brands strategy & portfolio: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/dynamic-portfolio

I check in with great investor, Sean Emory CIO of Avory & Co. We talked about the macro and inflationary environment and when we might see a rate of change tailwind. We got back into the company fundamentals, that's what really matters.  We talked about $NTNX growing business case as well as updates on $FVRR $ZG $CPRI Nutanix is still a mis-understood name and acquisition target cited in the press on numerous occasions. Capri is still cheap and their brands Kors, Jimmy Choo and...

Today I chatted with a dedicated Cannabis, Consumer and Consumer Tech investor, Paul Cerro from Cedar Grove Capital. I met Paul on Twitter ( @paulcerro )and really enjoy his thoughts and reading his notes on substack  https://www.cedargrovecm.com We talked about the Fed, ZIRP and consumer behavior. We talked about Pauls current views on consumer spending and markets and when markets might bottom. We then talked about his firms new investment in a private pet grooming business and their...

Today's conversation was really fun. I talked with founder of New Constructs Research, David Trainer. David has a long career in fundamental analysis and founded New Constructs to enhance the research and data gathering process by harnessing technology. There's enormously important data hidden in company 10Q and 10K's but 99% of analysts do not read these important reports. I am guilty of that myself. These documents are a painful read and David's robust research extracts the important data...

In today's 30 minute quick update I talk about the macro > micro world we live in today, the Fed, the effects on the economy, and which sectors tend to outperform the most. Hint: Tech, Consumer Discretionary, and Healthcare have been the top 3 sectors outperforming the market over most time periods and 30 years of data.   I discuss the benefit of having a consumer core equity allocation, and the tremendous benefits that can accrue to investors if they are opportunistic and add to those...

Today's podcast was a treat for me, I have been following Adam for a very long time back to his days at Morgan Stanley. Adam founded Trivariate Research, which combines fundamental, quantitative, and macro analysis to produce actionable research, practical investment advice and analytically rigorous risk management for our clients. They serve institutions, hedge funds, fund companies, and RIA's family offices through their research platform. "Winners could be those with above average...

Today's chat was incredibly fun. I talked with Paul Sankey, founder of Sankey Research, an energy consultant and advisor to energy companies and large institutional investors. With many decades of energy industry experience, Paul has become THE expert on energy stocks and the energy industry.  We talked about energy policy, the current supply/demand imbalance and the new and improved investment opportunities across the energy sector as these companies transition from cash destroyers to free...

Today I chatted with a dedicated Cannabis, Consumer and Consumer Tech investor, Paul Cerro from Cedar Grove Capital. I met Paul on Twitter ( @paulcerro )and really enjoy his thoughts and reading his notes on substack ( https://cedargrovecapital.substack.com ) We talked about the Cannabis industry and the absolutely huge potential for outsized gains for patient investors willing to hold through the VOL until federal regulation gets approved. It's only a matter of time, the more states...