At the start of December, we began the research for the 2022 Telescope Investing model portfolio. Our apologies to long-term listeners of the show, but we’re afraid to say that this will not be launching. As we enter 2022, we have something rather important to announce. Last year, we had the pleasure of having Simon Erickson, Founder and CEO of 7investing, join us on the podcast. We have both been paid members of 7investing since early 2021, and we quickly noticed the similarities in Simon’s approach of investing in disruptive innovation and our own approach of investing in megatrends. It’s one of our best episodes, and we recommend a listen if you haven’t already caught the conversation. Well, the exciting news is that Luke has joined 7investing as a lead advisor! He will continue his investing journey with the fantastic team of investment analysts led by Simon Erickson. Along with each of the other lead advisors, Luke will present his best stock idea each month, along with deep-dive team discussions, advisor updates, and more. 7investing is a paid subscription service so you'll have to join to hear Luke’s stock recommendations, but you’ll be able to listen to him for free on the 7investing podcast from time to time - he loves the sound of his own voice too much to stay off the airwaves! We hope you'll all check out the 7investing service, and consider following Luke there. Telescope Investing listeners can currently get the first month for free by using the coupon code 'Telescope' - you can subscribe here! Albert will, of course, continue to invest. He's going to take a step back from the stock market analysis required to produce a weekly investing podcast and will focus on his other lifelong passion of food and nutrition. Having recently earned a degree in the field, he's looking forward to applying his knowledge in the business world! We would both like to thank all of our listeners and subscribers - we certainly wouldn’t have made it as far as 72 episodes without you. We're truly honored that you took the time to listen to us ramble on each week, and we hope at least some of it was useful! The Telescope Investing website and past episodes of the podcasts will remain available online, and there may be the occasional future post. However, for now, Telescope Investing will mostly be on hold, at least until Luke retires again! You can catch our final conversation in episode #72, and to quote one of our favorite authors, "So long, and thanks for all the fish!" ----- If you enjoyed this episode, you can read more at https://telescopeinvesting.com Or you can contact the hosts: 7LukeHallard AlbertTelescope
The time has come for the year-end review of our model portfolio, a collection of 15 stocks that we selected in January as our core investments for 2021. The last quarter of the year has been a torrid time for growth stocks and our model portfolio. As growth investors, you get somewhat accustomed to volatility but this year has been especially turbulent as investor sentiment swung back and forth due to a series of world events. This was the year to be an index investor as the S&P steadily climbed and ended the year up almost 30%. At the end of Q3, only 8 of the 15 stocks were showing positive returns but as we near the end of the final quarter, only 4 are showing positive returns and the portfolio as a whole is showing a negative return. While the model portfolio has underperformed in its year of inception, as long-term investors, we are prepared to give it time as the investment thesis for most of the stocks remains intact. In today’s episode, we look at each of the stocks and dis...
Happy holiday wishes to all of our listeners and subscribers! This week, we're kicking back from the serious stock analysis and just having a bit of Christmas fun as we look back at some of the highs and lows of 2021. We reflect on our favourite moments on the pod, some of the smartest (and daftest!) things we've said, and chat about our favourite episodes and guest interviews. We also hazard making a couple of wild predictions for 2022! It's been a great year for Telescope Investing, in no small part due to the listener support and questions we've had along the way. Thanks so much for being part of the journey!! Companies mentioned in the discussion include APPL, AFRM, CURI, KHOFT, TWTR. ----- If you enjoy this episode, please consider subscribing at https://telescopeinvesting.com/subscribe and following the hosts: @LukeTelescope @AlbertTelescope
This week we’re taking a look at Airbnb, a well-known travel company that’s strongly positioned to benefit from the potential surge in international travel as the pandemic begins to ease and the world reopens. Companies mentioned in the discussion include ABNB, BKNG, EXPE, MAR, HLT. ----- If you enjoy this episode, please consider subscribing at https://telescopeinvesting.com/subscribe and following the hosts: @LukeTelescope @AlbertTelescope
This week we give consideration to the structure of our model portfolio for next year. These are the companies we believe will achieve market-beating returns in 2022 and beyond. In this portfolio structure episode, we consider the megatrends that are likely to shape the world around us for the years ahead and decide what proportion of the portfolio to devote to each of them. We're on track for a woeful performance in 2021, along with the recent declines in all growth stocks, but we remain confident that in the long-term, the high-quality growth stocks in our model portfolio, and also in our own real-money investment portfolios, will prevail. Post recording note that we completely forgot to discuss renewable energy on the pod! This megatrend is getting one extra slot, for a total of fifteen. Companies mentioned in the discussion include AMZN, BYND, DIS, DOCU, EDIT, FB, FVRR, GOOG, ISRG, MELI, MGNI, MTTR, NVDA, SE, SHOP, SQ, TDOC, TSLA, TTD, U. ----- If you enjoy this episode, please ...
Disney, a powerhouse in the entertainment industry, is known the world over. However, the coronavirus pandemic over the last two years has proven to be a difficult time for the company, with most theme parks and cruise lines shut down or running at reduced capacity, and theatrical releases hobbled by national lockdowns. The reduction in live sports has also impacted Disney's ESPN service. The silver lining has been the success of their Disney+ streaming service, driven by the increased demand for home entertainment. The value of Disney's IP is unmatched in its breadth and depth. As well as its own stable of beloved characters, the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox have brought even more lucrative franchises under its wing. Disney is able to leverage this IP across all its businesses: theme parks, theatrical releases, home entertainment, toys, and consumer products; each building on each other to satisfy their legions of fans. However, competitors are not...
This week we had the pleasure of connecting with healthtech expert investor Richard Chu (@richard_chu97). Richard shares his thoughts on the healthtech sector, his key investments in this area including GoodRx, Doximity, and OptimizeRx, and also how he saw the writing on the wall for Teladoc Health and exited early, avoiding the share price slump that has hurt our own returns this year! You can read more about Richard at his substack (https://richardchu97.substack.com/), and through Luca Capital (https://www.lucacap.com/), parent company of Saga Partners where Richard is a lead research analyst. Companies mentioned in the discussion include TDOC, GDRX, DOCS, OPRX, ZM, AAPL. ----- If you enjoy this episode, please consider subscribing at https://telescopeinvesting.com/subscribe/ and following the hosts: @LukeTelescope @AlbertTelescope
In the pod this week, we field some of the fantastic questions we’ve received recently from our listeners. We give our take on panic selling, investing during high inflation, using leverage, choosing between investment options and having diversification within your investment portfolio. And one of us takes the next step in their investing journey! Even God Couldn't Beat Dollar-Cost Averaging by Nick Magguilli ----- If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing at https://telescopeinvesting.com/subscribe/ Or you can contact the hosts: LukeTelescope AlbertTelescope
Marqeta's mission is to be the global standard for modern card issuing. They enable other companies to develop, launch and operate card products, by providing the underlying technology that powers many of the new innovations in the payment space, including digital payments, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), digital wallets, and just-in-time (JIT) funding (automatically funding an account in real-time during the transaction process). Their platform gives their customers full control to build a card that’s right for them and their end-users, allowing them to offer card products in a fraction of the time compared to legacy solutions. Marqeta was the first company to create an open API for issuing physical prepaid, debit and credit cards as well as digital cards, but competition is on the horizon from larger players such as Stripe and Adyen. Global money movement is estimated to total $74 trillion in 2021 consisting of 4 trillion individual payment transactions. In 2020, Marqeta processed $60B, <1% of the estimated card transaction volume in the US, and <0.2% of the global card transaction volume - they have an enormous total addressable market that they have barely penetrated. Marqeta have many well-known customers including Square, DoorDash, Instacart, Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Coinbase and Google. Marqeta has a usage-based pricing model where they take a cut of 20 basis points from each transaction, which means as their customers grow, Marqeta grows with them. Marqeta has achieved a dollar-based net retention rate of >200% for the past 2 years running. Square currently account for >70% of revenues, creating significant customer concentration risk. This relationship will be up for renewal in 2024. The company are on track to achieving a total processing volume of over $100B this year, representing a CAGR of >250% over six years. Higher net losses of $69M in 2021 were driven by share-based compensation resulting from the IPO and are non-recurring. The company has $1.5B cash and very low debt, and will be able to sustain the business for many years while revenues grow. Companies mentioned in the discussion include Marqeta, Square, DoorDash, PayPal, Stripe, MasterCard, Visa, Google. ----- If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing at https://telescopeinvesting.com/subscribe/ Or you can contact the hosts: LukeTelescope AlbertTelescope
On this week's pod, we deep dive Digital Turbine, a mobile ad-tech innovator specialising in targeted app installation and programmatic advertising to mobile devices. Digital Turbine invented the market for app installation and have a patent on 'single-tap' app installation to Android devices, but the business model is controversial, and the company have been accused of pushing 'bloatware'. Revenues are multiplying at triple-digit rates year over year as the company rides the wave of the 5G rollout cycle and continually increasing usage of mobile devices, but do they have what it takes to be an ad-tech winner in the long-term? Albert and Luke arrive at different conclusions by the end of this in-depth discussion. Companies mentioned in the discussion include Magnite, The Trade Desk, Integral Ad Science, and DoubleVerify. ----- If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing at https://telescopeinvesting.com/subscribe/ Or you can contact the hosts: LukeTelescope AlbertTelescope