Investing Thread

[Hards Alumni]

To quote Heisey, haters gonna hate!

I always thought their long term successes lay in battery storage. Could still be the case but there are so so many battery startups now.

Elon got too busy dicking around with Twitter

[MU82]

Elon got too busy dicking around with Twitter

It takes a pretty effed-up individual to throw away his own child so he can make it his life's mission "to destroy the woke mind virus" ... but that's Elon being Elon.

[tower912]

Tesla had a clear advantage on chargers.  It could be argued they had the best in the industry.   The charger team was fired.   Somebody needs to explain this logic to me.   I want to understand. You want the market for EVs to expand.   This requires easy access to chargers.   You have the chargers everyone else is moving toward.  You fire the team that got you there. 

Help me out.

[Uncle Rico]

It takes a pretty effed-up individual to throw away his own child so he can make it his life's mission "to destroy the woke mind virus" ... but that's Elon being Elon.

He's a negligent father to his many kids.  Sad!

[The Sultan]

He seems depressed.

[Hards Alumni]

He seems depressed.

I think something similar.  He's flailing at this point trying to mentally turn back the clock to 2019 when he was with Grimes, 20lbs thinner, and had two successful businesses and was overall well liked... and probably not addicted to drugs.

Twitter destroyed his brain.

[Uncle Rico]

I think something similar.  He's flailing at this point trying to mentally turn back the clock to 2019 when he was with Grimes, 20lbs thinner, and had two successful businesses and was overall well liked... and probably not addicted to drugs.

Twitter destroyed his brain.

No joking aside, there's some truth in this.  Social media wrecks some people

[jesmu84]

Tesla had a clear advantage on chargers.  It could be argued they had the best in the industry.   The charger team was fired.   Somebody needs to explain this logic to me.   I want to understand. You want the market for EVs to expand.   This requires easy access to chargers.   You have the chargers everyone else is moving toward.  You fire the team that got you there. 

Help me out.

Take the government money. Then intentionally sabotage your own company so you don't piss off your Tesla owners and you get the financial bump

[Skatastrophy]

Tesla had a clear advantage on chargers.  It could be argued they had the best in the industry.   The charger team was fired.   Somebody needs to explain this logic to me.   I want to understand. You want the market for EVs to expand.   This requires easy access to chargers.   You have the chargers everyone else is moving toward.  You fire the team that got you there. 

Help me out.

That's why I only invest in businesses where I believe in their fundamentals and CEO. Poor management (or unpredictable management) just isn't worth it.

[JWags85]

No joking aside, there's some truth in this.  Social media wrecks some people

There was a relatively small, but VERY loud and crazed, subset of people on social media/FinTwit that were hell bent on trashing Musk, TSLA, saying everything he did would be an immense failure.  I remember people, pre-COVID, saying TSLA was just a money laundering front and would never produce subsequent models, etc....

A lot of those people were morons or formerly successful investors who lost the plot.  Even further, many of them got absolutely SMOKED trying to short TSLA's monster run.  Yet I don't think Musk ever got over them.  And fighting them and the other haters on social media consumed him and he lost it.

Also, the drug thing is very interesting.  There are going to be books written at some point about the link between drugs and Silicon Valley.  And not raging coke heads like 80s/90s Wall Street.  But super smart nerdy dudes who become addicted to all sorts of fancy designer drugs and mind altering cocktails in an attempt to unlock their minds or play 4D chess.  Musk isn't the only one who fried himself.

[MU82]

That's why I only invest in businesses where I believe in their fundamentals and CEO. Poor management (or unpredictable management) just isn't worth it.

Yep. It took me too long to sell TSLA because I had in mind a certain profit I wanted to make. It's really kind of dumb, but I pretty much got away with it luckily, and now it's nice to be unencumbered by those shares. Because, like you, I try not to own any company in which I can't trust the CEO.

[rocky_warrior]

That's why I only invest in businesses where I believe in their fundamentals and CEO. Poor management (or unpredictable management) just isn't worth it.

Wait, I thought you were an index guy.  TSLA certainly hurt some of those today.  But... A blip...

[Hards Alumni]

There was a relatively small, but VERY loud and crazed, subset of people on social media/FinTwit that were hell bent on trashing Musk, TSLA, saying everything he did would be an immense failure.  I remember people, pre-COVID, saying TSLA was just a money laundering front and would never produce subsequent models, etc....

A lot of those people were morons or formerly successful investors who lost the plot.  Even further, many of them got absolutely SMOKED trying to short TSLA's monster run.  Yet I don't think Musk ever got over them.  And fighting them and the other haters on social media consumed him and he lost it.

Also, the drug thing is very interesting.  There are going to be books written at some point about the link between drugs and Silicon Valley.  And not raging coke heads like 80s/90s Wall Street.  But super smart nerdy dudes who become addicted to all sorts of fancy designer drugs and mind altering cocktails in an attempt to unlock their minds or play 4D chess.  Musk isn't the only one who fried himself.

100%

[MU82]

It will be interesting to see how Mr. Market reacts to a stronger-than-expected GDP report.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4128289-us-gdp-speeds-up-to-28-growth-rate-in-q2-more-than-expected

Q2 U.S. GDP rose at an annualized rate of 2.8%, topping the +2.0% consensus estimate, and accelerating from +1.4% in Q1.

The increase reflects more consumer spending, private inventory investment, and nonresidential fixed investment, i.e. business spending on equipment. Imports, which are subtracted from GDP, rose during the quarter.

[Skatastrophy]

Wait, I thought you were an index guy.  TSLA certainly hurt some of those today.  But... A blip...

I am. But I still play with about 5% of my portfolio to keep myself interested. It's gambling money. All in on NET and TEAM.

There is no way I will ever trust Elon Musk to manage my money, he's nuts. At the same time I hope that Tesla is wildly successful because it would be good for the USA.

[MU82]

So far Mr. Market is yawning at all that economic growth. I guess he's become used to it!

[MU82]

why not RTX instead of NOC? More international exposure, less reliant on US gov't contracts. NOC isn't bad by any means, just very similar to LMT in many business areas.

Good call on RTX. Up 8%+ today after a killer earnings report!

[SoCalEagle]

Good call on RTX. Up 8%+ today after a killer earnings report!

LHX looking good this morning, too. All is well with this segment of the market.

[Skatastrophy]

LHX looking good this morning, too. All is well with this segment of the market.

The market is either correcting their overreaction from yesterday, or it's a dead cat bounce. Panic sell or buy, one or the other for sure.

[MU82]

LHX looking good this morning, too. All is well with this segment of the market.

Bombs, rockets, guns, subs, fighter jets, surveillance equipment and the like never go out of style.

LHX actually reports earnings after the bell today, so today's run-up has nothing to do with any kind of company-specific news. 

[MU82]

LHX looking good this morning, too. All is well with this segment of the market.

LHX with a beat and guidance raise on earnings side but slight miss and less-than-consensus raise on revenue side. Shares down nearly 5% this morning.

All in all, a pretty good report. But I like LHX closer to 15x projected forward earnings, which would mean under $200 after the guidance raise. So I'll be patient.

[SoCalEagle]

The market loves this combination of earnings growth and tame inflation numbers.  All indices up big this morning. 

It will be interesting to see if we continue to see a rotation out of mega caps into value stocks.  I gotta think AI continues to drive the mega caps higher, but what do I know?  For now it's just great to see these numbers on daily / weekly / monthly basis. 

[MU82]

The market loves this combination of earnings growth and tame inflation numbers.  All indices up big this morning. 

It will be interesting to see if we continue to see a rotation out of mega caps into value stocks.  I gotta think AI continues to drive the mega caps higher, but what do I know?  For now it's just great to see these numbers on daily / weekly / monthly basis.

Things are humming along quite nicely, that's for sure.

The NY Times has an interesting article about how the economy is going so well it will be a major boon for the next presidential administration and/or next Congress.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/business/economy/2025-economy-president.html?

[Skatastrophy]

Things are humming along quite nicely, that's for sure.

The NY Times has an interesting article about how the economy is going so well it will be a major boon for the next presidential administration and/or next Congress.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/business/economy/2025-economy-president.html?

My European friends are astounded by how well the USA came out of the pandemic compared to Europe. They keep waiting for us to falter so that they can catch up, but that hasn't happened yet, even a little bit.

Shout out to Trump/Biden for the right amount of Covid stimulus and getting the vaccine out the door as quickly as possible. We crushed the world.

[tower912]

2.8% growth last quarter.