Under the category marked "Finmeme of the Year," the 2023 Platinum Banana award goes to the âIf your boss looks like thisâ¦â Meme! [The Daily Peel... ]( December 22, 2023 | Peel #612 Silver banana goes to... [CFA Institute. ](=) In this issue of the Peel: - The BEA announced a revision to last quarterâs real economic growth rate from the 5.2% reported in their last estimate to 4.9%.
- Micron and Carnival Cruise Line had a ripe day, while Paychex and Paramount Global suffered share price declines.
- Under the category marked "Finmeme of the Year," the 2023 Platinum Banana award goes to the âIf your boss looks like thisâ¦â Meme! Market Snapshot Happy Friday, apes. Weâre doing a great job continuing to contribute to the economy this holiday season apes, with 96% of shoppers planning to âoverspendâ during the most wonderful time of the year, according to a [TD Bank Survey](=) CNBC highlighted yesterday. Nicely done team, only 4% more to go! Regardless of how that turns out, equities are loving it for now. U.S. markets continued to rally yesterday after a brief but dramatic single-day selloff allegedly triggered by the marketâs new boogeyman, zero-day options. The Russell 2k led, gaining 1.70% on the day despite falling the most by far on Wednesday. Adding icing to the cake, all 11 S&P sectors were higher on the day. The apes at WSO Alpha managed to get us in on some of the fun as well, gaining a respectable but still non-shockingly underperforming 0.99% gain. Letâs get into it. Set the standard. [image](=) If you care about the state of the world and want to set it on a better course, we have a solution that may be somewhat surprising: work in finance. At CFA Institute, our courses are deeply rooted in ethical perspective. But we donât just teach â we create codes of conduct, and impact key policy issues with global governments and regulators. Visit [cfainstitute.org/setthestandard](=) to join a global network of investment professionals setting the standard through performance with purpose. [Get Started](=) Banana Bits - Nikeâs the latest on the [chopping block](, expecting to feel the wrath of slowing consumer spending into 2024.
- Big Dawg Joey B apparently isnât too excited at the idea of a [sale of U.S. Steel.](
- The Leading Economic Indicators index [continued to decline in November.](=)
- Retail investors have started chugging the eggnog a little early this year as investor sentiment reached the highest levels since [April 2021.]( Macro Monkey Says Third Tryâs the Charm We all know the importance of four-letter words that everyone from rappers to daily financial market newsletter writers loves to use (wonder who that could be), but for today, a three-letter word is clearly soaking up all the spotlight. Well, I donât actually know if this counts as a word, but itâs still just 3 letters: GDP. We all know economists arenât particularly talented when it comes to the subjects they spend years studying, but math is hard. And thatâs why it takes a few tries before we can have some confidence in their âestimates.â And when it comes to GDP growth, not only is this one of the most preeminent pieces of data that investors and civilians alike pay attention to, but itâs one of the most challenging to quantify. Hopefully, though, the Bureau of Economic Analysis got it right yesterday. In their third estimate for Q3 GDP growth, economists did at least do something that theyâre great atâkill the vibe. Per their third estimate, the BEA announced a downward revision to last quarterâs real economic growth rate from the 5.2% reported in their last estimate to the 4.9% reading we got yesterday. Clearly, based on their above performance, markets shook this off without a second thought⦠at least in the short term. Weâll see if the gains yesterday come back to bite us, but all in all, 4.9% real annualized growth for a $25tn economy like the U.S. is still pretty damn good. Plus, 4.9% still indicates a strong uptick in growth rates compared to every other quarterly reading weâve seen since late 2021. Take a look: "... 4.9% still indicates a strong uptick in growth rates ..." [image] [Source](=) So, despite the downward revision, that rate of acceleration is still 2x that of Q2 at 2.1%. When we look under the hood, we find both good and bad news, as usual in the macro space. Plus, in only 4 months, that >30% growth from Q3â20 will be off the chart, and weâll actually be able to eyeball-read the graph again! The uptick from Q2âs 2.1% to 4.9% in Q3 is built on increased exports and mild growth in consumer spending and business investment. Imports were higher, too, pulling growth lower along with investment in nonresidential fixed projects. "We say âprobablyâ because nothing is ever certain in economics (remember when oil went negative?) ..." To translate, thatâs probably mostly a good thing. We say âprobablyâ because nothing is ever certain in economics (remember when oil went negative?), but when consumer spending, exports, imports, and private investment are all moving higher, thatâs generally a good sign. That being said, all of those above readings were exactly what led to the downward revisionâto translate again, meaning they werenât as great as we originally thought, but they were still pretty okay after all. Markets generally donât react very strongly to GDP growth readings, and this is for a few reasons. First, markets are forward-looking, so they really couldnât care less about an economic growth update from nearly 3-months ago. Secondly, GDP isnât really an indicator in itself⦠because itâs the thing the other indicators are used to make an inference about. Indicators are a predictive means to an end; GDP growth is the end. But hey, at least weâre not talking about housing again, right? This is just about the last major macro reading of the year, so hopefully, these decently good vibes will continue into 2023. Maybe if we all keep our fingers crossed⦠What's Ripe Micron (MU) $85.48 (â 8.63% â) - While my memory only seems to get worse every day, hour, and minute, it was good to hear thatâs not the case for everyone. Especially not Micron.
- After the computer memory and data storage space got eviscerated for much of 2023, Micronâs earnings yesterday give us a glimpse into an industry that recovers faster than a guy on steroids.
- Losses narrowed to just below expectations last quarter, reporting a $0.95/sh loss vs the $0.99/sh loss analysts were anticipating. Revenue surprised to the upside as well, but the real fun stuff came in Micronâs guidance. Management upped the ante from projected revenue of $5.03 billion to $5.3 billion in their next quarter.
- Prior to yesterday, most industry analysts were still down on this name, but the report shows that similar to digital ad markets, memory and storage spending by most businesses tends to snap back really quickly. If only my human brain memory could do the same⦠Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) $19.19 (â 6.20% â) - For maybe the first time since the pandemic destroyed the business model for cruise operators worse than the U.S. destroyed Hiroshima, this industry player is actually bringing its shareholders to the carnival.
- Sorry for the cringe⦠and the offenseâ¦. firing on all cylinders today. Anyway, Carnival managed to squeeze through analyst expectations to a solid quarter in its latest quarterly release. Losses totaled only $0.07/sh when adjusted for one-time gains/losses, while analysts had been expecting a $0.12/sh loss.
- More importantly to markets this quarter, however, Carnival was able to deliver an upside surprise on revenue as well, raking in $5.4bn vs. the expected $5.32bn. A close call, to say the least, but as always, a beat is a beat.
- And speaking of beats, management was also particularly upbeat when looking into next year. The company expects nearly 30% EBITDA growth and (hopefully) a staunch decline in â[suspicious deaths](=)â this year. What's Rotten Paychex (PAYX) $118.90 (â 7.01% â) - Is earnings szn back? Nobody told me, but here we go again, apes. This one, unfortunately (for shareholders, at least), wasnât as pretty as the two above.
- Paychex must not have gotten the memo that youâre actually not supposed to miss revenue estimates this quarter. Analysts were hoping for $1.27 billion, while the firm only delivered $1.26 billion. Just pathetic, missing by a whole 0.7%.
- EPS, on the other hand, clocked in at $1.08/sh vs the $1.07/sh, so it couldâve been worse. But clearly, the top-line miss signals a lack of resilience in Paychex sales, which came to the forefront last quarter as B2B spending on services like this dried up. Paramount Global (PARA) $15.77 (â 2.77% â) - Donât you love it when way smaller companies try to call what is clearly an âacquisitionâ a âmergerâ? Yeah, welcome to Paramount Global.
- Late in the day on Wednesday, news dropped (and then their stocks did too) that Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discoveryâtwo media titansâwere in talks to âmerge.â At a market cap of about $28bn, Warner Bros is nearly 3x larger than the $10bn Paramount, so I think we know who's buying who here.
- However they label it, we know already that the controlling shareholder of Paramountâs parent company, Shari Redstone, is looking for a sale like most of us are looking for bulge bracket IB jobs.
- Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav has reportedly been in talks with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish, signaling that both sides are particularly keen on a sale. The consolidation in media continues, and it looks like we have another industry titan on our hands. Thought Banana Platinum Banana: Finmeme of the Year After the brutal assault that market gods levied on our portfolios from sea to shining sea last year, 2023 became a year of anxious success. It was like we were all just waiting for that seemingly inevitable crash, but even a series of bank runs in March and an uptick in inflation couldnât stop us. Basically, the gain$ have been unstoppable. But, amid that wall of worry, we climbed all throughout 2023, something was needed to keep our mental health from falling as far and fast as our accounts did in the year before. That something? Memes. "... solid memeing is the ultimate cure for poor mental states." Weâre no scientists, of course, but weâre also pretty damn sure that solid memeing is the ultimate cure for poor mental states. So, itâs time to bless, honor, and sanctify one meme that spreads joy and market accuracy further and wider than any other by bestowing them with the highest possible honor in finance, our third official Platinum Banana award for 2023. The 2023 Platinum Banana Award for Finmeme of the Year goes to⦠The âIf your boss looks like thisâ¦â Meme! [image] Anyone with a cell phone and a finance degree knows what the meme and the image above are referencing. "... not only were these memes damn hysterical ..." But just in case, recall that itâs meant to represent an âold schoolâ boss (a.k.a. dressed like sh*t), and the captions of the meme would usually convey sentiment suggestive that theyâd be able to avoid a recession, they wouldnât allow WFH and other things like that. The idea was for this to represent a reversion to more aggressive corporate America, back when wearing that shoes and pants combo wouldâve been considered the drip of the day. And not only were these memes damn hysterical, but they perfectly encapsulated sentimentâour fears of recession, our desire to WFH to play Battlefield in between calls, and more. After all, they say art imitates life. Congratulations to our lucky winner. You can find plenty of examples of gold captions on this template right on the [WSO IG]()⦠but you might have to scroll for a minute. Still, given this baby took home the high honor of a Platinum Banana, itâs gonna be worth it. The Big Question: What other memes captured market sentiment well in 2023? How will we meme our way through 2024? Banana Brain Teaser Yesterday â Josh is writing a book. He starts on page 1. When he finished, he used a total of 228 digits. How many pages does he have? Answer 112 pages. Today â How many times do the hour and minute hands cross each other in a twelve-hour period? Shoot us your guesses at vyomesh@wallstreetoasis.com. Wise Investor Says âDo you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? Itâs to see my dividends coming inâ â John D. Rockefeller How would you rate todayâs Peel? [All the bananas]( [Decent]() [Rotten AF]() Happy Investing, Patrick & The Daily Peel Team Was this email forwarded to you? [Be smart like your friend](. [ADVERTISE]() // [WSO ALPHA]( // [COURSES](=) // [LEGAL](=) Don't want The Daily Peel? [Unsubscribe here](=). Click to [Unsubscribe]( from ALL WSO content IB Oasis Corp. (aka "Wall Street Oasis")
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