📊 Top 10 Revenue Monsters

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Happy Sunday!

If you’ve been following me on social media, you’ve probably seen my big announcement: I’ve launching a YouTube channel!

The reason?

• Today’s investing videos are painfully boring. They’re dull, unengaging, and fail to capture and maintain attention.

Why is this an issue?

• Some are filled with invaluable lessons and principles, yet presented in a way that’s impossible to sit through.

That’s about to change. I’ve been perfecting a new way to consume investing videos behind the scenes.

• Simpler, smarter, and designed for how we think and learn today.

• My plan is to start with short form, and gradually expand to long form.

You definitely won't want to miss the first video when it comes out on 1/1/25!

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

• Warren Buffett purchased over $500M worth of three stocks.

• Masayoshi Son pledged a $100B investment in the U.S. over the next 4 years.

• Fed cut rates by 25 bps to a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%.

• Fed only expects to cut rates twice in 2025, down from previous four.

• Nike saw net sales fall 8% YoY in its most recent quarter.

• Dow Jones endured its longest losing streak since 1974, dropping for 10 consecutive days.

• China’s November retail sales rose 3%, below the 4.6% forecast.

• Databricks raised $10B at a $62B valuation.

• U.S. Q3 GDP was revised to 3.1%, up from the 2.8% previous estimate.

• U.S. economic output grew at its fastest pace in nearly 3 years.

• Cocoa future prices reached a new record high of nearly $12,000/metric ton.

• Golden State Warriors are the NBA's most valuable franchise, worth an estimated $9.1B.

In today’s newsletter:

• 🏰 The Five Types Of Moats

• 💸 Biggest R&D Spenders

• 👑 6 Duopolies

• 📊 Top 10 Revenue Monsters

• 📈 SoFi User Growth Has Exploded

Let’s jump right in.

This week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads just crossed 300M monthly actives and 100M daily actives.

Why does that matter?

• It’s a classic example of Network Effects—the more people join, the more valuable it becomes, creating a fortress competitors can’t easily break into.

• Meta leverages its massive audience to build its user base across its family of apps, like using Instagram to fuel Threads’ rapid growth early on.

But Network Effects are just one of five powerful moats that help the best companies dominate. What else can companies do to build their competitive advantage?

• They make leaving too painful (Switching Costs).

• They own things no one else can touch (Intangible Assets).

• They make things cheaper than everyone else (Cost Advantages).

• They take over the whole space, leaving no room for rivals (Efficient Scale).

These moats are what separate good companies from the great ones, ensuring long-term dominance over several decades.

Companies are pouring billions into the future.

From AI that could reshape the world to medicines that could save it, it all starts with research and development.

• In the last twelve months, Big Tech dropped over $230B combined.

• That’s bigger than the GDP of entire countries.

Pharma powerhouses like Merck, Pfizer, and J&J are in the game too, chasing the next breakthrough that could change lives.

Every dollar spent on R&D is a bet on what comes next.

Mastercard just sweetened the deal for investors.

• Shareholders received a 15% bump to their quarterly dividend and a $12B share repurchase program.

Moves like this aren’t just a flex.

They’re a testament to the power of operating in a duopoly.

• Duopolies dominate their markets, facing little meaningful competition, which creates massive pricing power, sticky customer bases, and reliable cash flows.

Payment processing is one of the best examples, with Mastercard and Visa running the game. 

• Other examples include Google and Meta in Digital Advertising and Coke and Pepsi in Soft Drinks.

These companies are able to funnel their steady profits into shareholder rewards like dividends and buybacks.

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Walmart proved this year they were the king of retail.

• And this week, Yahoo Finance named Walmart the 2024 Company of the Year.

Known as a cornerstone of American business for over six decades, Walmart has often been seen as a mature company with slow, but steady growth. 

• 2024 proved otherwise.

The retailer had a standout year, with rising sales and profits, consistently beating comparable same store sales estimates, and repeatedly raising its forecast. 

• Walmart also outperformed key rivals like Target, even as consumer demand softened under high inflation.

Over the past 12 months, total revenue climbed 5.5% YoY to $674B—the largest of any American company.

• Meanwhile, net income soared 21%.

The result? Walmart’s stock is up 74% this year, adding over $340B to its market cap.

Another stock finishing the year strong? SoFi.

• For those unfamiliar, SoFi is a FinTech company offering loans, banking, investing, and other financial services.

Interestingly, the stock traded flat for most of the year through October but has since surged about 100%.

This week, SoFi hit a major milestone: 10M members across its products and services.

• This represents growth of nearly 2.5M users this year.

Zooming out, SoFi’s membership has grown 14x since Q1 2019.

The company’s impressive growth has CEO Anthony Noto confident, stating, “The best is yet to come.”

Notable Companies Reporting Earnings In January 2025:

There will be no major companies reporting earnings over the next two weeks, so here is a preview of what January will look like!

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

• Michael McCaul (R)

  • Company: Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt Fund ($VWLUX)

    • Amount Purchased: $1M - $5M

  • Company: Global Payments ($GPN)

    • Amount Purchased: $115K - $300K

  • Company: Genuine Parts Co ($GPC)

    • Amount Purchased: $115K - $300K

• Markwayne Mullin (R)

  • Company: iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF ($EZU)

    • Amount Purchased: $100K - $250K

  • Company: iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF ($IEFA)

    • Amount Purchased: $100K - $250K

Sells

• Michael McCaul (R)

  • Company: Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ($VOO)

    • Amount Sold: $415K - $900K

  • Company: Nvidia ($NVDA)

    • Amount Sold: $350K - $750K

Buys

• TKO Group Holdings ($TKO)

  • Insider: Ariel Emanuel (CEO)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 526,400

    • $ Amount: $77,403,283

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Oxford Lane Capital Corp ($OXLC)

  • Insider: Jonathan Cohen (CEO)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 2,960,000

    • $ Amount: $15,036,800

    • SEC Forms: [1]

  • Insider: Saul Rosenthal (President)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 2,960,000

    • $ Amount: $15,036,800

    • SEC Forms: [1]

Sells

• Salesforce ($CRM)

  • Insider: Mason Morfit (Director)

    • # of Shares Sold: 1,015,800

    • $ Amount: $349,993,963

    • SEC Forms: [1]

  • Insider: Mark Benioff (Chair and CEO)

    • # of Shares Sold: 317,105

    • $ Amount: $109,964,318

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Ncino Inc ($NCNO)

  • Insider: Jeff Horing (Director)

    • # of Shares Sold: 4,474,158

    • $ Amount: $159,955,623

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Nvidia ($NVDA)

  • Insider: Tench Coxe (Director)

    • # of Shares Sold: 4,474,158

    • $ Amount: $159,955,623

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• EVgo Inc ($EVGO)

  • Insider: David Nanus (Director)

    • # of Shares Sold: 23,000,000

    • $ Amount: $115,000,000

    • SEC Forms: [1]

🤝 Review of the Week