Playing FTSE

Two of us have terrible internet connections. Welcome to the PlayingFTSE Podcast!  

We are three again. Paul's back from his latest adventures. Except he's not really, and he's with us live from a hotel room. We're recording this show on a Tuesday, so mark our homework as we go through the week where we boldly make unimaginative predictions about interest rates.  

Paul wants to know whether the Steves can pass a French or German financial literacy test? The questions are easy, but will the Steves trip over their own feet? And can you do any better? There's a 30% portfolio bonus in it for you if you can pass the test -- Paul says so, so get in touch with him to claim it.  

After that it's stocks. Steve D has been looking at a UK tech company -- yes there is such a thing. It's Endava, involved in outsourcing stuff. Is he just trying to tempt Paul with another stock with heavy exposure to Eastern Europe? And does this fly in the face of the recent trend towards anchoring?  

Steve W also has a tech stock! It's been that kind of week. Guidewire Software is a CRM company focused on insurers. It's unprofitable, pivoting its business in a way that's depressing its gross margins, and a long way from reaching full scale. Can he justify the price for it?  

Lastly, it's the story about Beyond Meat's COO going all Mike Tyson on someone's nose in a car park. Don't say we don't tackle the big issues. Only on this week's PlayingFTSE!

No Paul this week – it’s another round of Playing FTSTEVE!

On this week’s show, we’re talking about Adobe, Ethereum, stocks we’d like to buy, and the new FAANG stocks.

We’re kicking off with some impromptu news about Ethereum. There’s a merge going on. What’s happening and what does it mean for stocks? Steve D has the news and Steve W is thinking about Nvidia…

Next is the new FAANGs. Steve W’s been reading something from the Bank of America talking about the new leadership in stocks for a low-growth, high inflation world. What makes the list? And do the Steves prefer FAANG 2.0, or the original recipe?

We also have news from Adobe. The stock is down quite a bit since news of its acquisition of rival Figma was announced. Steve D’s been looking at this one -- $20bn sounds like a lot, especially since half of it is coming in Adobe’s stock.

Lastly, it’s stocks that we’ve got our eyes on. Steve D is looking at a European stock with a dominant position in aesthetic dentistry. Steve W has been checking out a FTSE 250 industrial distribution outfit. These aren’t for Paul, but could they be for you..?

Only on this week’s PlayingFTSE!

Wow. What an episode this turned out to be. Fracking, Hargreaves Lansdown, and Damien Talks Money. Only on this week’s PlayingFTSE Podcast!

Not much has happened this week. We’ve got a new Prime Minister, though. With Liz Truss taking charge, friend of the show Damien from Damien Talks Money is here to help us make sense of it all.

We’re starting off with energy. The new Prime Minister has announced plans to limit the average energy bill to £2,500 per year. Steve W’s heard that this is good for inflation – why?

After that, it’s on to the straightforward question of fracking. Damien wants to know what our regulars think of fracking. Steve D lives on a fracking site, Steve W doesn’t, and Paul isn’t sure. So who thinks what about getting gas out of the ground?

Next, we’re on to the real reason that Damien’s here. He wants to talk about awful investments that we’ve made in the past. Steve W once owned shares in a REIT – what went wrong there? Paul owns shares in a Russian miner – why? And Steve D invested in some businesses that went – which? Mostly, though, what’s Damien been unwisely putting his money into?

We finish with the news. Paul’s had a special offer from Hargreaves Lansdown. Steve W hasn’t, so he’s taking his ball somewhere else. And Steve D has the latest news on Freetrade’s seemingly-annual dilution of investors.

Only on this week’s PlayingFTSE!

Paul is BACK!!! But is he showing any signs of changing as a result of his time away? Find out on this week’s Playing FTSE podcast!!

We’re kicking off with a new ETF that Paul’s found. It’s thematic and it’s got some stocks in it that neither of the Steve’s has ever heard of. Will either of them be interested?

Next it’s onto the interest rates and the direction of the stock market. Both Steves have been pessimistic on the stock market for a couple of weeks now. Has either of them changed their mind?

Following that, we’re on to the small questions. Starting with the changing world order (according to Ray Dalio). Paul’s watched a cartoon – what does he think about this?

We’re also talking housing. Steve W’s getting on the ladder and looking to strike as interest rates increase. But is his timing all wrong. And does he care?

Lastly, we’ve got a stock. Steve W’s a user, Paul’s interested and Steve D’s a shareholder. It’s Okta! What does it do and what happened with its recent earnings report? Steve D has the answers.

What has two Steves and likes cricket? This week’s PlayingFTSE Show!  

This week, Paul’s gone missing after a mysterious meeting with Tom Cruise. But no matter, Steve and Steve have managed to tear themselves away from the cricket for long enough to put a show together.  We’re kicking things off with some news about Amazon – a stock that both Steves own. Two bits of news in fact.   

First, the news that they’re shuttering their Amazon Health operations. Does Steve D think this leaves the door open for Teladoc? And what does Steve W think the biggest drawback to Amazon is?  

Second is the news that Peloton has agreed to start selling its clothes airers exercise bikes on the retailer's platform. The Steves have different ideas about this. Could this be the light at the end of the tunnel of Peloton?   

From there it’s on to earnings. Steve W’s been looking at Salesforce. 

The stock is down significantly after its report, but the numbers looked ok. Weak guidance is the key here, but might this just be a temporary headwind?  Steve D, on the other hand, has been looking at Intuit. A much more impressive set of results from the software company and the stock has been responding accordingly. Would our growth investor keep buying at these prices?  

Even though Paul’s not here, we’ve still got two stocks for him. Steve W has a Warren Buffett stock that’s just completing a long turnaround process. It has a dividend yield above 4% and a reducing debt pile. One for the burgundy investor?  

Steve D is sticking closer to home. He’s looking at the company that makes those bricks that say ‘London’ on them. Get ready for an overview of the UK housebuilding sector, an insight into house construction, and a dividend over 4%. 

Only on this week’s PlayingFTSE show!

Where's the smart money going? We don't know, but find out what we're up to on this week's Playing FTSE podcast!  

It's another Playing FTSTEVE with Paul not away this week. We're kicking things off in the way the burgundy dividend enthusiast would have wanted -- by talking about how we feel about markets. Is it time to hide in dividend stocks again? Or are there some growth opportunities to be had?   

But enough of what we're up to -- it's 13F season. That means that Steve W's been looking at Warren Buffett, Michael Burry and Steve D's been checking in on Stan Druckenmiller and Josh Tarasoff. What lessons can we find in what the superinvestors are up to?  

With a slow news week, we're turning to some questions from you guys. Starting with who we think the best up-and-comers are in the world of investing. Steve W's got a YouTuber that you might want to check out and Steve D has a whole host of investors worth paying attention to.  

Then it's onto the question of free platforms. Do they encourage trading? And what's so bad about them if they do? We give our views in response to a question from a follower.  

Our last question is concerned with stocks for an ageing population. People are living longer and it's natural to wonder about which companies might benefit. Steve W's found an ETF. But what on earth is its largest financial holding doing in there!?  

We're rounding things out with another earnings report, this time from Steve D. Adyen, the Dutch payment processor has reported. The results are mixed, but Steve has the details. Is now a good time to buy this stock?  Find out on this week's Playing FTSE Podcast!

Why is Paul struggling to get it in? Find out on this week's PlayingFTSE podcast...  

It's been an interesting week in the markets. Stocks have been going up. (Remember when that was all they used to do?) Paul's wondering whether this is the sign that the market has reached its low point, at least for now. Steve W's hoping for the best and planning for the worst, and Steve D has his eye on the central bank.   

After that, we're kicking this week's show off with a nice user question. This one is about how we set price targets. Quite a few times, we've said that we like a stock at X price or we would like a stock if it were priced at Y. How do we figure these things out?   

The rest of our show is made up from looking at the earnings of one of the stocks we all own. It's Disney. The company reported earnings earlier this week and the stock is up as a result. Strong growth in Disney+ subscribers is driving the business forward at the moment, but is the market getting a bit carried away with itself?  

Find out on this week's PlayingFTSE Show!

Why can’t Steve W buy a Berkshire Hathaway A share? Find out on this week’s Playing FTSE Podcast!

We’re back on the earnings train this week, but we’re starting with news from Trading 212. After Freetrade’s news last week, T212 have ideas about restricting purchasing in certain categories. Does it matter? And what are they doing it? We don’t know, but we’re happy to discuss…

Then it’s onto some earnings. Kicking of with some REIT action from Paul and Steve W. What’s been going on with their real estate investments and what do they look for in a set of REIT earnings? These two share their thinking.

After that, it’s time for MercadoLibre and AirBnB. We all know about these stocks and they’ve reported earnings in the last week. The news for both seems to be positive and Steve D’s got the latest. But will Paul’s anecdotal story about AirBnBs change his mind about anything?

Next it’s back to a PlayingFTSE favourite. The London Stock Exchange Group is arguably one of the best businesses on the UK exchanges. They quietly announced half-year earnings on Friday. Steve D owns it and Steve W’s keeping a close eye. Is this the update that gets him over the line?

Computer stuff next with AMD reporting some excellent earnings and Nintendo giving an insight into the gaming market. It looks like there’s been some softness in the gaming industry at the moment, so how has Nintendo been holding up? And with AMD going strong in the chip space, is it time to buy the stock? Find out what Steve D and Paul think

Last it’s Lucid. That can’t be any good… can it?

It’s been a super busy week in earnings season. We’ve got news, views, and maybe the odd insight on this week’s PlayingFTSE podcast!

Steve and Steve are in this week. They’ve been looking at all kinds of earnings reports, but top of their list is some news from Freetrade. One of the major UK commission-free brokerages, Freetrade have been adjust their fee structure. What’s the news? The Steves have the info.

Then it’s onto earnings. We were aiming for some quick earnings and some more in-depth earnings. What we ended up with was some earnings, some other earnings, and a few more earnings. Enjoy!

Steve W has a baby. As such, he has no time to look at anything. But he’s been interested in the Apple and Microsoft reports, to get a feel for what their management is seeing as the major catalysts moving big tech around. Neither Steve owns either of these, but the reports came in strong.

Steve D has Covid. To make himself feel better, he’s been looking at Visa and Mastercard reports. Neither Steve owns either of these stocks, but their reports give a good insight into what’s going on with consumer spending.

After that, it’s on to some more familiar territory. Steve W reports on Intel and Teladoc together. What do these companies have in common? People have strong views on them one way or another. And both stocks got hit after releasing earnings. Were the reports that bad?

Next up, a Steve D special. Roku has been getting thwacked lately. And Steve has been doing what he does best and finding interesting things about the structure of Roku’s contracts. Steve’s been taking some action with his Roku position – did he sell it all, or did he just double down?

Roku is an advertising company. Steve W owns one of those – it’s called Meta. Revenue is flat at Meta Platforms and net income is down. When this happens, the question is whether this is the product of a macroeconomic headwind or something wrong at the company. Steve has an idea.

Following on from Meta, it’s time to look at another advertising stock. Alphabet, owned by both Steves. Steve D has some important ideas on the difference between Alphabet (and Amazon) – the search-based advertisers, and Meta, which tries to hunt down what people are interested in based on their activities.

Then it’s on to Amazon itself. Both Steves own this stock and it’s a big part of each of their portfolios. The share price shot higher after earnings, so is either Steve wanting to buy more of this stock?

We finish the show with a whistle-stop tour of some smaller companies from Steve D. Etsy, Spotify, and Kering are all on the list. These are businesses that we’ve talked about intermittently on the podcast at one point or another. How are they getting on?

Only on this week’s PlayingFTSE!

What should investors think of this week's Tesla earnings? Just one of the questions that we're not answering on this week's PlayingFTSE show!  We're actually looking at Netflix, Twitter, and ASML.  

Netflix reported earnings recently. It's a stock we've been looking at closely, so Steve D has the news and the insight. There are four parts to our Netflix breakdown -- subscriber numbers, the capital structure, an ad-supported tier, and some acquisition news.   

The company posted better than expected subscriber numbers, which Steve D called well ahead of time. So is the news surprising to our Netflix shareholder, or what he was expecting? And what does he think of the shift away from US and European users to Asia Pacific ones?  

The introduction of an ad-supported tier looks interesting. Will Netflix be mostly ad-supported with some premium subscribers, or mostly premium with some ad-support. Steve W wants to know the answer and Paul has some interesting ideas for him.  

Meanwhile, like the rest of us, Elon Musk is attempting to avoid owning Twitter stock. Unlike the rest of us, though, he's being pursued through the courts by the company trying to make him. Paul's been looking at the terms of the case and the Steves have some ideas about what might happen. But could there be something underneath the surface here? There usually is with Elon...  

Steve W's been having a difficult time lately, with rising share prices making it harder for him to find things that he wants to buy. But maybe ASML could be the answer. Paul and Steve D both own the stock and their earnings this week were strong. 

ASML makes lithography machines. And they've been shipping them out all over the place. So why aren't their revenues higher? Paul knows why. And is it a problem that their machines are so expensive that only a few customers can afford them? Steve D has the answer.  

Only on this week's PlayingFTSE!