Overview: A new virus called 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has been identified, and is spreading. The virus is similar to the SARS and bird flu viruses we’ve seen come out of Asia in the past two decades. Initial transmission was likely animal to human, and new cases of the illness in people who weren’t at … Read more
Last week Deep Knowledge Investing Food, Restaurant, and Spirits Advisor, Howard Freedland, was asked to speak to The Society of the Four Arts, in Palm Beach, Florida, about the impact of current and projected tariffs on old-world wines. While we normally focus on actionable stock ideas and timely market commentary, Howard is a 20-year veteran … Read more
Overview: Last week we wrote about the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The disease is spreading and may have changed, and we thought it was time for an update. There is speculation that the virus has mutated into a more transmittable form, but it’s unclear right now whether the virus has, or whether doctors are getting … Read more
Decision making in the financial markets is one of the few places where we can definitively assess the quality of a decision. We know to the penny how good or bad a particular idea is. Portfolio managers work very hard and often employ a large staff of analysts in order to get an edge in … Read more
Last month, we posted a detailed writeup on Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (Ticker: RCL) on SumZero. That writeup was then published in Barron’s under the title:Royal Caribbean Stock Can Gain Nearly 40%: Portfolio Manager. In both cases, readers chimed in with concerns about the free cash flow at the company. One pointed to the increase … Read more
On November 1st, 2019, Princess Cruises, which is owned by Carnival Corporation & Plc (ticker: CCL) announced a 55th anniversary sale which included onboard spending money, room upgrades, a wine & dine package, and airfare credits for specific sailings. There’s nothing unusual about this. Like all leisure, gaming, and hotel companies, cruise lines regularly introduce … Read more
The Depth Report Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) Overview: Royal Caribbean owns and operates cruise ships under several brands including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Silver Seas. We first started looking at the cruise lines around 2 years ago because we saw the industry was undergoing a transition. Over the last 2 decades, cruise ship capacity … Read more
One of the advantages of writing for a public audience is that readers and other investors who follow the companies and industries we’ve written about, start to send their own information. We recently posted a short thesis on L Brands on SumZero and followed-up with a LinkedIn article discussing the risk in the company dividend. … Read more
Last week, we published a piece on SumZero recommending a short position in L Brands (LB), the company that owns Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. The key point is that there is a fashion trend away from the complicated underwire bras sold by Victoria’s Secret for $50 – $60, and towards more casual … Read more
L Brands (LB) Overview: L Brands (ticker LB) is the owner and operator of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. Other businesses account for less than 5% of revenue and no operating profit so will not be addressed here. Victoria’s Secret is now about 60% of the $13B US lingerie industry. Bath & Body … Read more
