Author: Matt Thalman

Cathie Woods: Bold Prediction for Tesla

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Recently the renowned stock picker and Tesla (TSLA) bull made a new price prediction on the automaker, which sounds just as crazy as the last time she made a wild prediction, but the first prediction has come true, and then some.

Cathie Woods is the Founder and lead stock picker for the Ark Invest family of exchange-traded funds. Woods initially started Ark Invest in 2014 and made heavy bets on technology companies.

She became a household name when her original $2,000 price target on Tesla, when the stock was trading for around $300 per share, came true on a split-adjusted basis.

When Cathie initially made her case for Tesla at $2,000, people thought she had lost her mind. They couldn't understand how she arrived at that valuation and why she was so confident in that prediction.

Which, by the way, she was, considering she invested millions in Tesla before it went on its run higher.

Those investments in several different Ark Invest ETFs helped propel several Ark ETFs into the top ten best-performing ETFs for several years in a row.

Cathie is at it again, possibly giving investors a second chance to catch lightning in a bottle.

Cathie Woods Ark Invest owns a little more than $850 million worth of Tesla stock (stock price is currently around $170 per share). She believes the stock price can go to at least $1,400 per share by 2027.

That price is her bear case scenario, with a bull case scenario of $2,500 and a base case price of $2,000 per share. Those figures would represent an eight, eleven, and fourteen-fold return from today's price.

Furthermore, the base-case price of $2,000 per share would give Tesla a market capitalization of $6.3 trillion. For context, two of the largest companies in the world Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT), have market caps of $2.7 trillion and $2.2 billion. At $6.3 trillion, Tesla would be worth more than both of them combined. Continue reading "Cathie Woods: Bold Prediction for Tesla" →

As Banks Collapse, Start Looking Ahead

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Almost two months ago, I wrote about how you could buy exchange-traded funds, both long or short, to play what, at the time, we were told was a one-off banking crisis with just Silicone Valley Bank.

The point at the time was that it was unlikely that Silicone Valley Bank was the only bank that took on outsized risks, and therefore it was unlikely they would be the only bank that would have problems.

Fast forward almost two months. We have had three banks, Silicone Valley included, fail in the U.S., and Credit Suisse needing a loan from the Swiss Nationals bank. We have also, more recently, had several bank stocks take massive noise dives as investors fear they are the next bank to fail. And we even had Pacific West Bank announce that they are looking at potential sale options and strategies to sure up the company.

We can all sit here and believe what Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell tell us about the financial sector's health and go on with our day.

But, while the overall financial sector may very well be as healthy as they claim it is, a lot of banks, both big and small, are seeing their stock prices tank. And as an investor, when I see this type of price destruction, I immediately think, "Am I missing a good or even great investment opportunity while this plays out?"

As I said two months ago, I can't tell you if the banks will go higher or lower in the near future from where they sit today; I am not that intelligent.

But I know that the big banks, not the regional ones, will survive this crisis in the long run. And, based on history, i.e. the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the big banks are likely to get even more significant.

If anyone thought the big banks were "too big to fail in 2008," they are even more prominent today. Hence, they are indeed too big to fail today.

Furthermore, since the bank was failing, JPMorgan Chase just bought most of First Republic Bank's assets. That move has made JPMorgan even larger; big banks are getting even bigger. Continue reading "As Banks Collapse, Start Looking Ahead" →

Tesla (TSLA) - How Should You Play It?

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) are once again giving traders big daily moves. After the stock hit a 52-week low of $101, it bounced back above $210, and now it appears to be heading lower again.

The catalyst for the move lower was primarily the company's most recent earnings report, which, despite sales, revenue, and earnings all coming in strong, margins took a hit.

Tesla has dropped prices on its vehicles five times over the last year, so margins taking a hit should not have been as much of a surprise as it was to the market.

However, Tesla still has a strong market position and is still producing industry-leading margins. The issue is that those margins are shrinking, and at some point, Tesla may see its margins fall more in line with the rest of the auto industry.

We have seen these types are situations play out in other sectors as companies grow and mature. The best example I can think of is Whole Foods.

When Whole Foods was a young, fresh company, it commanded upwards of 5% margins on its products. But, as the company grew and the rest of the grocery industry noticed what Whole Foods could do with selling premium products and commanding higher margins, other grocery store chains began to offer similar products.

This competition for the customer naturally puts pressure on Whole Foods' margins, thus forcing them to lower prices and lose their high margins.

I believe the same story is now playing out with Tesla. At this time, it is clear that the world is moving away from combustion engine vehicles, although slower than some would like. And as consumers move towards more electric vehicles, more companies are offering alternatives to just buying a Tesla. Continue reading "Tesla (TSLA) - How Should You Play It?" →

How Can You Play This Arms Race?

Posted on by Matt Thalman

The United Nations and other allied states around the world have been supporting Ukraine with military supplies since the very early days of the war. With the war in Europe still raging more than a year after it began, allied munitions stockpiles and military supplies are starting to get thin.

But, at some point, these countries' reserves will reach a depleted level they are no longer comfortable with and be forced to restock. Let's be honest; that point has already come and gone.

So today, countries in Europe and America are not only still giving Ukranie military aid, but also replacing their arms.

But something similar is also occurring in Asia, as China continues with aggressive talk pertaining to Taiwan. Furthermore, China has been heavily spending on its own military and set its defense spending growth at 7.2% in 2023, in line with where it was in 2022.

Even here in the U.S., the projected 2024 budget for defense spending came in at $842 billion, or $26 billion higher than where it was in 2023 and more than $100 billion higher than in 2022.

Even if the war weren't taking place in Europe today, there would likely be an arms race around the world, and many believe it will only get worse since geopolitical tensions are still brewing in Asia.

So, how can you play this arms race?

Buy Defense and Aerospace Exchange Traded Funds and relax.

Not sure which ones to buy? Let's take a look at a few.

The first ETF I would look at is the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA).

ITA is the largest Defense and Aerospace ETF, with just over $6 billion in assets under management. ITA also has a reasonable expense ratio at 0.39% and has had a solid performance over the last few years. ITA is up 4.32% year-to-date but more than 14.9% annualized over the previous three years. ITA also has 100% of its assets invested in U.S. companies and has 37 holdings. Continue reading "How Can You Play This Arms Race?" →

This ETF King Continues To Lose Funds

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Year-to-date, the largest exchange-traded fund by assets under management, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), has seen an astonishingly large amount of money flow out of the fund.

Remind you; this is also when the S&P 500, and thus SPY itself, is up 7.09% year-to-date. That is important to note because it highlights that the fund does not necessarily see money leave the fund when the market is getting hit.

The SPY has over $372 billion in assets under management, making it the single largest ETF. SPY also holds the crown of being the most liquid, which may not mean much to the average investor, but that is very important to Wall Street professionals and prominent investment managers.

Liquidity is important because it means these investment managers can get in and out of positions with no genuine concern about whether or not there is a buyer or seller on the other side of their trade.

So how much money has SPY seen leave since the start of 2023? $9.43 billion!

Let that sink in and think about the fact that only about 150 Exchange-traded funds in the US have more than $9 billion in assets under management. That is 150 out of the 3,126 ETFs that investors have to pick from.

SPY lost more assets in three and a half months than nearly 3,000 funds have period.

Why is the money flowing out of SPY?

Unlike during other times when we see significant outflows of ETFs, so far in 2023, it has not been because the market is declining. Typically when the market is in a downturn, we see outflows occur as investors pull their money from risk assets and put it into reduced-risk assets. Think about pulling money out of stocks and putting it into bonds. Continue reading "This ETF King Continues To Lose Funds" →