📊 Best-Managed Companies Of 2024

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Happy Sunday!

This week, the November CPI report showed annual inflation rising to 2.7% YoY, matching expectations.

While inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, traders are betting on more rate cuts, with 96% expecting a 25 bps cut at the December 18th FOMC meeting.

However, some policymakers have become increasingly worried about persistently elevated inflation, which could slow the pace of future cuts if it remains above their preferred levels.

This is definitely something to watch as we move into 2025, as declaring victory over inflation too soon could have serious consequences.

Some key data bites from this week that you should know:

• Jensen Huang is leveraging loopholes to avoid $8B in taxes.

• Broadcom has joined the $1T market cap club.

• Billionaire wealth increase has lagged the S&P 500 by 50% since 2015.

• SpaceX has reached a $350B valuation.

• GM is shutting down its robotaxi business Cruise to save $1B per year.

• Trump said those who invest $1B in the US will receive expedited permits.

• Tesla’s market cap has increased by over $550B since November election.

• Nasdaq Composite crossed 20,000 for the first time ever.

• Eli Lilly announced a $15B buyback and 15% increase to dividend.

• Meta and Amazon are contributing $1M to Trump’s inauguration fund.

• Kroger’s $25B acquisition of Albertsons was blocked by a judge.

• Omnicom Group has agreed to buy Interpublic Group for $13.3B.

• Sycamore Partners is in talks to acquire $9B Walgreens Boots Alliance.

• Starbucks wants customers to get coffee in less than 30 seconds.

• Worldwide internet traffic increased 17.2% in 2024.

• Argentina’s inflation rate reached a 4-year low.

In today’s newsletter:

• 👮‍♂️ Meta Spends Big On Security

• 👩🏻 Cathie Wood’s Top Holdings

• 🐕 Dogecoin Hits $60B Market Cap

• 🏆 Best-Managed Companies Of 2024

• 🔀 Nasdaq-100 Reshuffle

Let’s jump right in.

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Meta spends big to keep Mark Zuckerberg safe.

• According to The Wall Street Journal and Equilar, the company spent $24.4M on executive security outside of work in 2023. 

Most of this spend goes to Zuckerberg, but a few other Meta executives are also covered. 

• This excludes office security and work-related travel, which are categorized as business expenses.

• To put it in perspective, Meta’s security spend is nearly equal to the next top nine S&P 500 companies combined, which collectively spent $26.6M.

Data from Equilar also found that only 25% of S&P 500 companies extend personal security services to executives outside of work hours or locations.

• With the recent death of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, corporate security budgets may see a sharp increase.

Is Cathie Wood making a comeback?

• Shares of her ARK Innovation ETF ($ARKK) have surged 40% over the past six months.

• This has been fueled by holdings in this year’s big winners like Tesla, Coinbase, Palantir, and Robinhood.

Despite the rally, $ARKK still lags the S&P 500, up 21% YTD compared to the index’s 28%.

• Over the past five years, the gap widens—$ARKK is up 25%, while the S&P 500 has gained 90%.

Will 2025 bring a repeat of her standout 2020 performance, when $ARKK soared roughly 150%? Only time will tell.

While $ARKK has been doing well recently, $DOGE has been doing even better.

• Since November 1st, Dogecoin has soared 150%, bringing its YTD gain to an incredible 327%.

Considered by many to be the first memecoin, Dogecoin has been trading at a $60B market cap.

• This is larger than many reputable companies like Block, General Motors, Lululemon, and Robinhood.

I’d love for the Efficient Market Hypothesis to explain this one.

Apple has officially dethroned Microsoft.

The iPhone maker claimed the top spot in The Drucker Institute’s Company Ranking, which evaluates how well companies are run.

• Microsoft had held the number one spot for four consecutive years.

The rankings assess factors like customer satisfaction, employee engagement, innovation, social responsibility, and financial strength.

• Apple scored 99.9 in innovation and 92.1 in overall effectiveness.

Shares of the company have recently hit all-time highs, however, they are far from cheap.

• At 41x earnings, investors are clearly paying a hefty premium for the brand.

The Nasdaq is getting a shake-up.

• Yesterday, Nasdaq announced changes to its Nasdaq-100 index as part of its annual reconstitution.

Joining the index are three high-profile names from this year: Palantir, MicroStrategy, and Axon Enterprise.

• They’ll be replacing Super Micro, Illumina, and Moderna.

These changes take effect before the market opens on December 23, 2024.

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Notable Companies Reporting Earnings This Week:

Here’s what I will be watching this week:

• Wednesday: General Mills $GIS, Micron Technology $MU, Lennar $LEN

• Thursday: Accenture $ACN, Cintas $CTAS, Darden Restaurants $DRI, Paychex $PAYX, Nike $NKE, FedEx $FDX

• Friday: Carnival $CCL

I use EarningsHub to track earnings, estimates, and receive AI summaries of investor calls.

• If you’d like an all-in-one earnings tool and see all other companies reporting, I definitely recommend you check it out!

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Buys

• Earl Blumenauer (D)

  • Company: Kroger ($KR)

    • Amount Purchased: $15K - $50K

  • Company: Comcast Corp ($CMCSA)

    • Amount Purchased: $15K - $50K

  • Company: Bank of America ($BAC)

    • Amount Purchased: $15K - $50K

• Jared Moskowitz (D)

  • Company: Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ($XLE)

    • Amount Purchased: $15K - $50K

• Jonathan Jackson (D)

  • Company: Amazon ($AMZN)

    • Amount Purchased: $15K - $50K

  • Company: Church & Dwight ($CHD)

    • Amount Purchased: $15K - $50K

Sells

• Jared Moskowitz (D)

  • Company: Seacoast Banking Corp of Florida ($SBCF)

    • Amount Sold: $65K - $150K

• Lance Gooden (R)

  • Company: Western Alliance Bancorporation ($WAL)

    • Amount Sold: $50K - $100K

• Earl Blumenauer (D)

  • Company: Toyota Motor ($TM)

    • Amount Sold: $50K - $100K

Buys

• TKO Group Holdings ($TKO)

  • Insider: Ariel Emanuel (Chief Executive Officer)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 337,447

    • $ Amount: $48,133,382

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals ($AUPH)

  • Insider: Kevin Tang (Director)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 500,000

    • $ Amount: $4,545,000

    • SEC Forms: [1]

Sells

• Cava Group ($CAVA)

  • Insider: Ronald Shaich (Director)

    • # of Shares Sold: 1,367,221

    • $ Amount: $204,262,818

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Nuvalent Inc ($NUVL)

  • Insider: Andrew Hack (Director)

    • # of Shares Sold: 1,250,000

    • $ Amount: $110,000,000

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Apollo Global Management ($APO)

  • Insider: James Zelter (Co-President)

    • # of Shares Sold: 500,000

    • $ Amount: $86,950,875

    • SEC Forms: [1]

🤝 Review of the Week