🏈 Tom Brady’s next (crypto) play
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Hey Snackers,
Hold my oat-milk latte: British grocery chain Waitrose predicts that the alt-dairy trend “set to dominate coffee shop menus” will be potato milk.
Stocks rose for the third trading day in a row as investors celebrated strong earnings from biggies like Exxon and UPS. Meanwhile, Pfizer asked the FDA to authorize two doses of its Covid vax for kids under 5.
Oil giants notch stunning profits as gas prices soar — now they’re paying investors
Double take on the gas-price sign... #PumpAnxiety is real. Gas prices are up 50% from a year ago and oil is near a seven-year high. That's hurting your wallet but helping energy giants. Last quarter, Exxon's sales climbed over 80% from a year ago, to a slick $85B. Annual profit hit $23B, the highest since 2014. Last week Chevron also reported its highest yearly profit since 2014. Shell and BP report this week.
- Exx-on: Exxon shares climbed 5% yesterday to their highest level since April 2019.
- Exx-off: Exxon paid $20B in debt last year, bringing its IOUs to pre-Covid levels.
- Houst-on: Exxon is moving its HQ to Houston as part of a reorg that it says will yield $6B in cost savings.
Shareholders get $$$... Instead of simply reinvesting their cash into new oil projects, gas giants are paying it forward to investors. Public companies can do that in two key ways: through dividends (literally giving investors $$) and share buybacks (which can boost share prices by reducing available shares).
- Chevron, whose shares hit a record last week, bumped its dividend payout by 6% to $1.42/share and said it’ll buy back up to $5B of its own stock this year.
- Exxon said it would start buying back its stock this quarter and expected to boost its dividend this year. Shares are up 78% over the past year.
“Anti-growth” mode is the new growth mode… Companies in relatively stagnant industries (think: oil and industrials) have seen their stock jump. At the same time, “growth stocks” like tech have plunged well below records. Growth companies are (in-)famous for splurging now to power more growth long term. But as interest rates and inflation rise, the value of a company’s future growth falls. For investors, results now (like: dividends from oil profits) are starting to look more interesting than potential growth.
Tom Brady retires as the highest-paid NFL star, but could make even more as a crypto-preneur
The King of the NFL… Could become the king of the NFT. Yesterday, seven-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady announced his retirement from football on Twitter and Insta. Over 22 seasons, Brady set all-time passing, touchdown, and win records, establishing himself as the GOAT — greatest of all time. Brady is also the highest-earning NFL player ever. He earned $293M on the field and $160M off the field through sponsorships for companies like Under Armour and Subway. Between touchdowns, he also cofounded several businesses:
- Blockchain Brady: Last year Brady and partners launched Autograph.io, a platform that sells collectible NFTs featuring famous athletes like Naomi Osaka, Tiger Woods, and… Tom Brady. In January it raised $170M. Brady and his wife, Gisele Bündchen, also took a stake in crypto exchange FTX last June (even appearing in its ad).
- Brady has cofounded wellness-coaching biz TB 12 Sports (60-min. sessions for $200), apparel co. Brady Brand (T-shirts for $140), and content shop 199 Productions (Brady’s expected to star in its upcoming film).
Old GOAT, new tricks… Brady helped write the playbook for the pro athlete side hustle, using his dominance to create a huge fan base — and then selling products to those fans. Others have followed the same formula:
- NBA greats LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry have all helped found sports-media companies in the past decade.
- Tennis icon Serena Williams has cofounded jewelry, apparel, and investment companies. Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova and Cristiano Ronaldo have launched candy, footwear, and fragrance brands while still competing.
The core brand is only the beginning… Brady’s “core brand” is football, but his next could be a crypto-powered Brady-verse. His NFL career earned him more $$ than any other player, but his crypto investments could be the plays that make him a billionaire. Other celeb-preneurs have made more money through their side hustles than their original careers: Rihanna and Kim Kardashian became billionaires only after launching multibillion-dollar beauty brands. If Brady can attract loyal fans to his crypto businesses, he could become the first all-star in the booming industry.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Search: Google posted its third straight quarter of record sales, as holiday searches drove ad revenue. FYI: It’s also splitting each of its shares into 20 starting in July.
- Digi: India plans to launch its own digital currency as early as this year, following China’s debut of its digital yuan. The digi-rupee will be based on blockchain and other tech.
- Ship: UPS raised its dividend to $1.52, the largest hike since its 1999 IPO, as higher shipping fees drove big profits last quarter. Meanwhile, rival FedEx suspended its US freight services because of staffing shortages.
- Chop: AT&T plans to slash its annual dividend payouts to $8B from $15B as part of its deal to spin off its WarnerMedia biz to Discovery. The Warner spinoff will complete AT&T’s pullout from entertainment.
- Hummer: GM logged record earnings for 2021, despite the global chip shortage (still short), which hampered car production and forced it to pause some factories. Also: reservations for GM’s Silverado EV truck hit 110K.
Wednesday
- Earnings expected from: Meta, PayPal, Qualcomm, Sony, GlaxoSmithKline, MetLife, Spotify, Aflac, eBay, and Allstate
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Tesla, The New York Times, Pfizer, Twitter, GM, AT&T and Alphabet
ID: 2019480