The Capitalist Investor - Episode 167

Welcome back! The boys are back in town! All three amigos are back at it this week discussing Consumer Confidence being weak & earnings expectations being guided lower for many companies. Many people are citing that consumers are strong, but are they really that strong? What’s going on with Pete Buttigeg’s excessive or not-excessive use of private plane travel? All of this & more during this week’s “The Capitalist Investor”.

Consumer Confidence & Earnings

Is the consumer strong or weak? This is one of the hottest & most debated topics right now around the economy & stock market. At the end of the day, whether or not consumers are strong or not, consumer confidence is not high at all. Consumer’s are feeling the heat, whether they are strong or not. When you take a look at earnings, some sectors seem to be keeping forward guidance elevated and some sectors seem to be lowering guidance. What’s interesting is that those discretionary sectors that should be taking a hit in a downturn seem to be keeping earnings expectations high, while those sectors that shouldn’t be greatly impacted in a downturn are actually lowering guidance. What does this tell you about the overall consumer? The three amigos discuss this and more.

Stock Buybacks

There’s been a lot of news surrounding stock buybacks and the woke crowd seems to be running with it. There’s people going around saying stock buybacks only benefiting the stock owners and the insiders of a company, all while the employees get screwed and don’t get to see any of that money. At the end of the day, a company has an obligation to all stakeholders in a company all the way from the shareholders, the debt holders, & the employees. It’s really a fine balancing act. But the people who are against stock buybacks don’t really understand stock buybacks. Stock buybacks are essentially a replication of capitalism, since all they do is return money to shareholders for the shareholders individually to decide where that capital should go next? Should that capital stay in the company? Should that capital go towards a new investment? Will that capital be spent and flow through the economy? What a lot of people don’t really understand either is majority of middle-class America rely on pensions & 401(k)’s for their retirement, all of which benefit from stock buybacks and returning capital to the shareholder.

Pete Buttigieg’s G5

Pete Buttigieg seems to be cancelled this week. After reports that out of the past 18 flights he has taken, it has been through a private charter & has cost American taxpayers of $40,000. If you breakdown the math, that’s over $2,000 per flight. But is that really excessive and is Pete really traveling alone when he goes private? At the end of the day, people seem to be complaining about anything and everything and Mayor Pete is in the spotlight right now after showing up to East Palestine 3-weeks into the disaster. This is debated by the capitalist investor team.

 

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Keep Listening to The Capitalist Investor:
Episode 15:
Spending Strategies in a Bear Market, Ep #15
Episode 31:
Handicapping the 2020 Election, Ep #31
Episode 47:
11 Investments in Your Home That Pay Off, Ep #47
Episode 63:
Jeff Bezos and Amazon: Past, Present, and Future Ep #63
Episode 79:
7 Ways Biden Plans to Tax American Families (Part II), Ep #79
Episode 95:
5 Beaten Down Stocks to Buy on the Dip, Ep #95
Episode 111:
Special Episode – Talking Energy with Daniel Turner, Ep. #111
Episode 127:
Retail Earnings Tank & What The Heck is Greenflation? Ep. #127