Weekend Investor: The Week That Was

I hope you had a wonderful week!

It’s starting to get busy on the stock market and at Asymmetric Investing I’ll be publishing an earnings preview on Monday for premium subscribers that covers every Asymmetric Universe stock and a new spotlight article later this week. Company earnings reviews will also be published periodically as results come out.

In case you missed it

Here’s some of the content I put out this week. Enjoy!

• The Bonds Are Talking: The drop in bond values isn’t just associated with the Federal Reserve raising rates. Defaults and bankruptcies are rising and investors should pay attention.

• A Secret Behind Carnival’s Debt: Carnival took out about $25 billion in debt to survive the pandemic and it’s now using customer deposits to pay some of that money back.

• Virgin Galactic Needs to Get Desperate: To survive, Virgin Galactic needs to raise about $2 billion over the next 5 years and management needs to start getting desperate as the stock drops.

• 3 Bargain Basements Stocks: These stocks are cheap because the market has discounted a bright future.

• 3 Incredibly Cheap Dividend Stocks: Here are some cheap stocks that also pay a nice dividend.

Earnings Season Is Here

As I mentioned earlier, earnings season gets going this week. Below is a great account to follow if you’re on Twitter, giving a visual of what’s coming.

Here are a few broad items I’m looking at:

• How healthy is banking? Banks provide the fuel for the economy whether through mortgages, car loans, or corporate debt and higher interest rates are putting pressure on their balance sheets. We start to get an idea of how much money they’re making, but the real info will come from what they’re seeing in defaults and where they may be pulling back their lending. Keep an eye on Bank of America (global exposure), Ally Financial (auto loans), and lots of regional banks.

• Is entertainment spending holding up? Consumers have kind of gone crazy with travel and entertainment spending over the last 2 years. Keep an eye on Las Vegas Sands (Asia gambling) and American Airlines for early results.

• Streaming future? Netflix reports and this will be an interesting one given Disney’s struggles on the market and how many smaller streamers are losing money. Can Netflix consolidate its power and grow advertising?

• How healthy is the chip industry? Chips are cyclical, but they’re also part of a game of geopolitical football. ASML, Lam Research, and TSMC are critical to the modern world, but does that mean they’re growing revenue and profits?

• Telecom comeback? Big telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon have been crushed in 2023. AT&T reports this week and should indicate if connections are growing, prices are rising, and debt is coming down. I still see a lot of opportunity given how critical cellular service is to our everyday lives.

Expect the market to be up and down this week as investors process each day’s results. I’ll be back next week with some early thoughts.

Disclaimer: Asymmetric Investing provides analysis and research but DOES NOT provide individual financial advice. Travis Hoium may have a position in some of the stocks mentioned. All content is for informational purposes only. Asymmetric Investing is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Trading any asset involves risk and could result in significant capital losses. Please, do your own research before acquiring stocks.