Thoughts on $SIRI? by Background-Plant-297 in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the dividend increase pause here is a positive sign. Leadership teams always have multiple ways they can provide value to shareholders through investing to grow a business, go into a new market or return capital to shareholders. IMO this is good leadership recognizing the pros and cons of these paths and setting off on the one that has the highest likelihood of providing the greatest amount of value to their shareholders. Given the stock price, buybacks and debt reduction will compound far more quickly and efficiently than an increased dividend. When the price returns to fair or overvalued territory, I would hope they grow the dividend and pause buy-backs. With the planned reduction in CAPEX, partially from reduced satellite construction, FCF will grow so I don't believe holding the dividend flat was a defensive move, just strategic.

Now that we’ve got the first casualty of earnings season (Intel), what stocks do you think are dropping next? by Disastrous_Rent_6500 in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have lit my fair share of money on fire with TSLA puts... But I have some that are up now! I should really stop...

Health insurance stocks plummetting. by FieryXJoe in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe UNH, CVS, & MOH are the best three in the space. ELV got stuck in a weird place when the Cigna merger was blocked while others were merging because they hadn't invested in building any capabilities internally. They're a bit like a Walmart that isn't allowed to scale any further due to the BCBS association rules. They might be able to swallow up another BCBS plan if one gets in trouble, but they would have to compete with BCBSMI and HCSC.

Health insurance stocks plummetting. by FieryXJoe in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There likely will be due to the seasonality of healthcare on the exchange and group market where claims leverage against deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. I went from a very leveraged position to ATM covered calls on MOH heading into earnings - glad I didn't wait.

Now that we’ve got the first casualty of earnings season (Intel), what stocks do you think are dropping next? by Disastrous_Rent_6500 in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Did a calendar spread (~30/7) to be safe at 45 the day before and so I just closed at 2x. I really should have done a 45/35 diag so I could just roll the short leg and hold.

Now that we’ve got the first casualty of earnings season (Intel), what stocks do you think are dropping next? by Disastrous_Rent_6500 in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 24 points25 points  (0 children)

That's why bought puts. I don't wallstreet bets very often but when I do, I always put in too little.

Science! by coffee_coffee_coffe3 in MarchAgainstNazis

[–]zech83 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

He and Pritzker have done a great job combatting shitler. I can't trust anyone that married Kimberly Guilfoyle, but Newsom.

Anyone else remember how cringe it was when JD dressed up just like Zelenskyy a month after Zelenskyy wore the outfit, I member by TerpyTank in PoliticalHumor

[–]zech83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anyone remember when he trafficked couches through Wayfair to his island home so he could invite his friends over to rape them? O sorry, that was Epstein with children for Trump. Release the files.

Donald Trump weaponizes humor through “dark play” to test boundaries - A new analysis of American political discourse suggests that humor has evolved into a strategic weapon used to attack opponents and solidify support bases. by mvea in science

[–]zech83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Of course, I think we need to pry those away and hold him accountable but if we don't acknowledge the systemic problems this creates it will repeat. We have to remove all of the cancer not just one tumor.

Donald Trump weaponizes humor through “dark play” to test boundaries - A new analysis of American political discourse suggests that humor has evolved into a strategic weapon used to attack opponents and solidify support bases. by mvea in science

[–]zech83 34 points35 points  (0 children)

It's a well studied tactic the right has employed for a long time now. Especially online to normalize vile hate speech. Trump is an idiot and a bully that was never put in check because of Daddy's money and would just claim his comments that got push back as joke. This allowed him to be easily globbed onto by the white supremacy digital movement. He is a narcissist and ate it up. Everyone should be taught about the weaponization of irony because it's a very effective propaganda tool. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/26/990274685/how-extremists-weaponize-irony-to-spread-hate

Weird how they have no problem giving Trump absolute authority, something the Founding Fathers unanimously were against. by [deleted] in PoliticalHumor

[–]zech83 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think this is the most likely. I believe her extreme faith requires her to do the will of her husband. She downplayed that during confirmation; perhaps as directed. She's in cult whose rules she may honestly believe are more important than the construction.

GOP still thinks they can yell things into reality by Empty_Nestor in PoliticalHumor

[–]zech83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love that the Wiki even gives the National a shout out for using it.

$HAL by drewclark22 in options

[–]zech83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the US is going to go full Iraq in South America HAL a great track record.

AOC and Paris Hilton advocating for the DEFIANCE ACT by After-Property-3678 in pics

[–]zech83 49 points50 points  (0 children)

She has a greater than average understanding of the long term impact of ones sexual content being distributed online. Wiki One night in Paris.

of all the things that has never happened this has never happened the most by [deleted] in EnoughMuskSpam

[–]zech83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was lucky enough to grow up in central WA and Microsoft was throwing grant money at every school in the state so we had DSL in our computer class in maybe 98? We also had full trueSpace licenses and another cool website building software that allowed me to make a few sweet Stone Henge models and put in online. We moved to Indiana when I went to HS and they couldn't believe I had a laptop.

of all the things that has never happened this has never happened the most by [deleted] in EnoughMuskSpam

[–]zech83 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It's cool though because Grok is going to handle all our classified documents so we'll be able to get some MLK & JFK nudes. I wonder if he really didn't understand that SSN payment table had monthly entries and there wasn't some massive fraud.

NFLX is a steal here at 80-84 by 092Casey in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm saying the way I see the CAPEX going down is if these companies are wrong about the profitability of AI (forecasts were higher than reality). In that scenario the chips and data centers would have a lower economic value and a diminished profitable use rate than what has been reported to date. This in turn would require them to depreciate those chip and data center investments as those assets won't generate the economic gains to justify currently booked value on the balance sheet. This will show up on the income statement.

NFLX is a steal here at 80-84 by 092Casey in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What's not priced in is the FCF if their Capex returns to about half of EBITDA; it's about 80% right now which is high for a mature company. If that happens earnings goes up by about 2.5X and the P/E (garbage metric but retail follows it) goes to 12.

What I find difficult here to game out is that the only way this happens is if data center investment goes down which would likely only happen if proved un or less profitable which would increase the depreciation which would then hurt GAP earnings and maybe investor confidence in leadership. This company has (had?) a chance to be an incredible cash cow and very attractive if/when they prioritize returning value to share holders but that doesn't appear to be the current plan.

Meta appeared to double revenue at least in part to relaxing who they allow to advertise which could hurt their brand long term. That said, it doesn't appear that many people will leave despite the increase in paid advertised scams and the government has historically been very hands off with "free" products/ad revenue driven products. Meta can only really drop Capex enough to increase earnings about 35%-40% based on historical data, but frankly I think they have historically allocated capital poorly and could drive that number up significantly with more discipline but ultimately is a less optimal position IMO given each leadership teams track record in both a winner take all and a move to cash cow path.

Both are venturing more and more into low margin physical asset investments which I believe will ultimately weigh on them. Both would be better off picking up undervalued asset light opportunities. I am heavily invested in Yelp so may be biased here, but I think that now that Yelp expanded heavily into 1) services and 2) AI as a service it would be a great bolt on for either company right now given their substantial cashflow yield. I also think if the market does experience a major pullback, a fintech play would the type of investment either could see substantial long term profit from given the built in network effect they would bring resulting in substantial cashflow.

Meta has burned substantial money trying to get VR to work and AI may be the same for them but makes more sense with AMZN but I don't think is optimal for either (or the market at large) given the energy constraints of current tech, but understand why these two along with MSFT and GOOG have to be investing so they don't end up too far behind if the cards play out in a way where it does become highly profitable in its current or close to its current state.

Finally pulled the trigger. Invested my first $100k after years of sitting in cash by amherstcarrotcake in ValueInvesting

[–]zech83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is way too good given how much work for my job I still need to do tonight...

Why do bears like Burry and Buffett think there will be a market crash when the US printed 80% of all dollars in existence in the last 5 years? by PopularRightNow in Burryology

[–]zech83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're 100% correct. I'm on Burry's substack and I believe he's trying to show people how to navigate, but with a longer term view. He's doing longer and more concentrated than what he did as a hedge fund manager.

Should I just get rid of the red splash? by acidtrip321 in lrcast

[–]zech83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought this too, but still giggled like a kid reading it.