#18 - Roller Coaster Week

In partnership with

This week we deal with a market sell-off & recovery, heavy week of earnings calls, and how the home market may start to heat up again.

Market Recap

• Markets Shook on Monday

  • S&P 500's lost nearly 3% in its worst day since 2022, capping its worst start to any month since 2002. And then on Thursday had its best day since 2022 jumping 2.3%.

  • Japan’s Nikkei Suffers Worst Day Since 1987 falling 12.4% in a frenzy of selling.

  • Customers at Charles Schwab, Vanguard and Fidelity report outages during Monday morning during the market sell off. Leaving many without access to buy and sell stocks.

• Mortgage Rates Drop to a 15 Month Low

  • The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.47%.

  • Inventory for homes has been rising but are still at a historic low ever since pre-Covid levels.

  • Mortgage rates have almost doubled since the Fed started increasing rates to curb inflation in early 2022.

• Zillow Group $Z/$ZG Shows Life

  • Reported revenue grew 13% to $572 million topping estimates at $538.3.

  • The company named Jeremy Wacksman as its new CEO

  • With the recent drop in rates and Zillow's operational improvements it could make the stock a potential winner over the next year.

Your IRA, made to order

Choose where and when you want to retire, and a Betterment IRA can help make your money hustle all the way there.

Learn more

Freedom Fund Update

• 8/9/24 - Friday Freedom Fund Purchase:

  • 2 shares of $PLTR

    • Palantir & Wendy’s just inked a deal that will help Wendy’s Quality Supply Chain Co-op to accelerate digital transformation, AI adoption and operational decision making across the Co-op. 

    • $PLTR & $MSFT announced a partnership with Microsoft to sell secure cloud, analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities to the U.S. defense and intelligence communities.

  • 2 shares of $SCHB

  • 2 shares of $BCX

• Portfolio Positions - Earning Calls

  • $PLTR - Q2 (Earnings Presentation)

    • US Commercial Rev Growth: 55% Y/Y

    • US Government Rev Growth: 24%Y/Y

    • Revenue Growth: 27% Y/Y

    • Closed 27 deals over $10M

    • Operating Income of $254M (37% margin)

    • GAAP net income of $134M (20% margin)

  • $LNG - (Q2 Earnings Report)

    • Cheniere Energy reported record revenue of ~$7.6 billion and net income of $1.4 billion reflecting strong operational performance and high LNG demand.

    • The company achieved significant LNG production, exporting approximately 600 cargoes year-to-date.

    • Due to its strong performance, Cheniere raised its full-year 2024 financial guidance, now expecting adjusted EBITDA between $9.3 billion and $9.7 billion.

    • Cheniere advanced its Corpus Christi Stage 3 project and secured additional long-term contracts, reinforcing its growth trajectory and future earnings potential.

  • $EVLV - (Q2 Earnings Report)

    • Reported a significant increase in revenue, growing by 186% compared to the same period last year, reaching $19.8 million for the quarter.

    • The company achieved a gross margin of 30%, an improvement from the previous year's negative gross margin, indicating better cost management and operational efficiency.

    • Operating expenses were higher at $25.8 million, reflecting continued investment in growth initiatives, including R&D and sales efforts.

    • Evolv Technology reported a net loss of $16.6 million, although this is an improvement compared to the $27.9 million loss in the same quarter of the previous year.

  • $O - Q2 (Earnings Report)

    • Net income was $256.8 million ($0.29 per share).

    • Invested $805.8 million with a 7.9% initial cash yield.

    • Portfolio occupancy stood at 98.8% across 15,450 properties.

    • Maintained $3.8 billion in liquidity and pending ATM forward agreements worth $447.8 million.

    • Annualized dividend was $3.156 per share, with four increases in 2024.

  • $SHOP - Q2 (Earnings Article)

    • Earnings per Share (EPS): 26 cents, surpassing the expected 20 cents.

    • Revenue: $2.05 billion, exceeding the expected $2.01 billion.

    • Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV): $67.2 billion, topping consensus estimates of $65.8 billion.

    • Market Reaction: Shopify's shares soared by up to 22% following the positive earnings report.

Freedom Fund Background: I created the Freedom Fund as a public brokerage account back in October of 2022 to share that anyone with a social security # and a bank account can begin their investing journey by investing a couple hundred dollars a week. Every week and month I post on X (@GrahamInvesting) public updates about the purchases, exits, dividends, and growth of the fund if you want to follow in real time. The biggest obstacle people have to investing is just getting started so I decided to start a new account at $0 to start from nothing with you.

The purpose of Graham’s Gazette is to help others get started and stay consistent on their own personal, professional, and financial journey. I appreciate the time you take in reading & interacting with me and look forward to growing together.

Thanks for investing your time reading this.

-Graham (@GrahamInvesting)

Disclaimer: Graham’s Gazette provides information and resources related to investing, financial topics, and personal growth for educational and entertainment purposes only. The content presented is not intended to be construed as financial advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with qualified professionals before making any financial decisions. Graham’s Gazette and its creators do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information provided nor do they guarantee any specific results from such use of information.