Hey Snackers,
A stolen 500-year-old da Vinci painting was discovered in an Italian apartment and returned to the museum — where no one had even realized it was missing. Claaassic Italy.
Today, President-elect Joe Biden will take the oath of office. ICYMI: our Inauguration Edition breaks down what the new Dem-controlled government could mean for stocks and the economy. Speaking of: markets jumped yesterday as Treasury nominee Janet Yellen endorsed more stimulus spending.
Goldman doubles its profit and crushes earnings — but investors aren't celebrating
Get DJ D-Sol in here... Goldman Sachs is celebrating shockingly good earnings — good thing its CEO David Solomon (aka: DJ D-Sol) is tight with The Chainsmokers.
- Profit more than doubled last quarter compared to the same quarter a year earlier, clocking in at $4.5B — and a whopping $9.5B for the full 2020 year.
- And it's not thanks to your savings account... Investment banking revenues jumped 27% last quarter, while Equities revenues soared 40%.
On a scale of Main Street to Wall Street... Goldman is basically the show Billions (aka: Wall Street Extreme) — at least compared to retail-friendly banking peers like Citi, BoA, and even JPMorgan Chase. Apart from its Marcus savings account, Goldman doesn't really cater to us regular folks. Here are some of its big profit puppies:
- Investment Banking: Helping companies like Airbnb and DoorDash sell new shares in an IPO, making mergers/acquisitions happen, underwriting debt, and loans.
- Asset Management: Managing stock portfolios for pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, universities, and the mega-rich.
- Equities Trading: Making big transactions happen by buying/selling large positions in stocks. Goldman makes money from the bid/ask spread.
But investors don't really care about the past... They're obsessed with the future. Despite those expectation-crushing earnings, Goldman shares actually fell yesterday. Also yesterday: Biden picked Gary Gensler to lead the SEC. He's an ex-Goldman banker turned hardcore Wall Street regulator (known as one of the toughest under Obama). Gensler + a Dem-controlled Congress could mean more red tape to reign in Big Banks' power — and possibly Goldman's future profits.
Impossible's UN climate hire could level up the plant-based conversation
One small step for man... one giant leap for plant-based meat? Impossible Foods is the privately held rival of publicly traded Beyond Meat. Last summer, Impossible raised $200M, got its sausage in Starbucks, and graced 7.5K Burger Kings with its planty Croissan'wich. This latest headline is different — but maybe even more significant:
- Former UN climate head Christiana Figueres will be joining Impossible's board of directors, according to Axios.
- As a creator of the Paris climate agreement, Figueres sees the food industry as "one of the main levers of change" on global warming. That's perfect, since...
- Impossible calls itself an "audacious yet realistic strategy to turn back the clock on climate change and stop the global collapse of biodiversity" (whoa).
pea.protein21 wants to join the convo... When we think of companies solving environmental issues, we generally think of EV makers and solar companies — not soy patties. But alt-meat has three narratives which people buy into: eating animals is morally bad, eating animals is "unhealthy," and/or eating animals (especially cows) is unsustainable.
- Impossible + Beyond's burgers generate ~90% less greenhouse gas emissions and require dramatically less water & land to grow than beef.
- Sustainable energy takes the environmental spotlight, but Figueres' move could help highlight the impact of food and agriculture, too.
It's a perfect time to grow the conversation... Biden has pledged $2T to creating a "clean energy future," which includes subsidies/incentives for green tech. Figueres' experience could help loop plant-based meat into the convo with lawmakers, companies, and consumers. It seems far-fetched, but if public schools and corporate cafeterias got incentivized to buy plant-based, companies like Impossible could take on even fresher relevance. After all, one in four Americans are already cutting back on meat-eating.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Flixin: Netflix shares surged after hours after it reported expectation-beating sales and 8.5M new subscribers for the quarter.
- Future: GM's self-driving car company Cruise raises $2B at a $30B valuation, and brings on Microsoft as an investor and cloud partner.
- Cute: Online greeting card company Moonpig plans to go public on the London Stock Exchange next month, targeting a ~$1.6B valuation.
- Sharpied: Office Depot rejects an unsolicited takeover offer from Staples, but says it's open to other kinds of relationships (#saucy).
- Sailed: Royal Caribbean sells its luxury cruise line Azamara for $201M to focus on core brands.
- Stellar: Stellantis, the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Groupe PSA, jumps on its 1st trading day. It's now the world's fourth-largest car maker.
Wednesday
- Earnings expected from P&G, Morgan Stanley, and UnitedHealth
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: JPMorgan Chase and Tesla
ID: 1486801