Playing FTSE

Who spends the most time on Tinder? What’s happened to Steve W’s trousers? And who thinks that uncertainty is the new normal? Find out on this week’s Playing FTSE!   With Paul still unavailable, the Steves hold down the fort for another week. Having received their Squibbidends earlier in the day, the Steves begin with a game without a name, as Steve D asks the questions of self-proclaimed consumer goods enthusiast Steve W in another 1-player game involving working out which brands are owned by which companies. Find out who owns Scottish Power, which conglomerate owns Toblerone, and who makes Arm & Hammer toothpaste as Steve W tries to score more than 12 (Steve D’s score from the Bristol-Myers Squid Game.   After the game, it’s time for some more earnings. After a long week of Q3 reports, the Steves have two stocks each to talk about after the recent earnings calls. Steve D delivers another sermon from the mount on the growth of Teladoc. as the Steves think about growth, retention, and acquisitions. Next is Lockheed Martin, where Steve W updates us on the company’s shift from revenue growth to balance sheet powered returns and the Steves consider the company’s longer-term future. And we round out earnings with Amazon (a cyclical company doing cyclical things) and Google (which ploughs on impressively regardless).   Lastly, the Steves update on their attempt to contest Motley Fool’s David Gardner on his last ever 5 stock sampler. Four months into a three-year competition, find out what the latest scores are. Each participant has at least one company sandbagging their portfolio, as Alibaba continues to fall Peloton’s stationary bikes continue to go nowhere, and Scott’s Miracle Grow does the opposite of grow. Who will win? Find out in another 32 months…

It's the PlayingFTSE Halloween Special! With Paul unwell, the Steves don their scariest outfits and take to the microphones for a special Halloween-themed episode of the show where we talk about stocks, financial markets, and investments. This week's game has a Halloween twist to it. Steve D grapples with questions concerning our favourite pharmaceutical company in the Bristol--Myers Squid Game with a special trick-or-treat twist! How much did BMY spend on Celgene? How many ETFs own the company? And what was Squibb's first name? Find out the answers to these -- and more importantly, whether Steve D knows the answers to any of these -- in this week's game. After the game, it's on to the news and an interesting set of earnings reports. Snap's earnings came in strong but the stock responded badly, causing sympathetic drop offs from Twitter and the company formerly known as Facebook. The Steves give their different ideas about what brought this on and what it might mean for the sector more broadly. In other news, all that work we did on Paypal's acquisition of Pinterest has to go in the bin. Paypal have said the deal's off (was it ever really on?!) and the share prices have reset themselves accordingly. But with Pinterest now back where it was plus a bit more of a discount in line with the general post-Snap movements, does that make it a buy? Steve D gives us his thoughts. There's also the good and the bad of big pharma to talk about. On the bad side, Johnson & Johnson have spun out their lawsuits relating to asbestos-laced baby powder into a separate company which seems to be preparing to file for bankruptcy. Is this ok? Is it legal? And what does it mean for J&J? Steve W leads the way through a discussion of these issues. And we finish where we started. Back to Bristol-Myers Squibb. With news breaking of BMY looking at a deal to buy Aurinia, the Steves have a think about the deal, what the acquisition of Aurinia might add to BMY, and more generally, what it is about the company that makes them the Playing FTSE preferred big pharma over its rivals. All in this week's Playing FTSE Podcast!

On this week’s Playing FTSE Podcast, find out what Steve D is six series into, what Paul thinks about Squid Games, and what Steve W might have used the Oxford Owlery for.    In a busy earnings week, we kick things off with a round of WHOTube? Devised by Steve D, watch Paul and Steve W attempt to identify some (more) famous YouTubers from the sound of their voices. Paul and the Steves talk about who they regularly listen to and struggle to identify some others in a game where the sound messed up so Steve D had to put extra effort into stitching in back together again. Be nice in the comments.    Next is the Netflix earnings report. The report was strong, with beats on EPS and (net) subscriber additions, and revenue in line with expectations. We discuss the streaming service’s results and its prospects. Paul talks about computer games, Steve D talks about Squid Games, and Steve W talks about Disney.   With the news that Jack Ma is visible again, we turn to Alibaba, owned by Steve W and Paul. One of them is up on the stock, one of them is down. Paul speculates about where the price is going, Steve W speculates about the Chinese government, and Steve D talks about Stalinist Russia.   Christmas is coming and the possibility of lockdowns loom large. With COVID cases on the rise, we talk about how the eventuality of another lockdown might affect us at work and at home. Steve W talks about virus variants and testing inconsistencies, Steve D talks about working from home, and Paul talks about Tesla’s share price.   In yet more news this week, payment processor Paypal is in late talks to buy social media site Pinterest. With an offer understood to be in the region of $70/share, we attempt to make sense of the deal and figure out what’s in it for both sides. Steve D talks about the potential synergies between the two companies, Steve W talks about the valuation of Pinterest implicit in the deal, and Paul forgets what he meant to say about the deal.    Lastly, it’s on to Facebook’s upcoming name change. With an announcement that a change of name is imminent, we talk about the significance of the move. Paul discusses the metaverse, Steve W discusses the switching costs, and Steve D discusses Snapchat’s earnings, which were released while the show was being recorded.

What has Steve W been doing at the weekend? What does Steve D think is positive for everyone in the semiconductor industry? And why is Paul thinking of getting into Intel? This week’s game is from Steve W, who’s been looking at some ESG scores for The Only Way is Ethics. Paul and Steve D guess at the respective ESG scores from companies as diverse as Kimberly-Clark, JP Morgan, Total, and Diageo. The game throws up some interesting facts and leads to some interesting reflections about how important ESG considerations are, how they are assessed, and how companies might seek to artificially inflate their ESG scores. Along the way, Steve D shares some reflections on his historic Aviva holding.   Next it’s on to the recent news. On the subject of Jeff Bezos and William Shatner’s recent trip into space, Paul and Steve D think about the PR credentials of the Amazon founder. Somehow that turns into a discussion of what Paul and the Steves have been watching on the TV lately. Steve W talks about the moral of the story from Squid Game (look out for that as a future Playing FTSE game) and Steve D notes the impending legal case against Netflix from SK Telecom.   Meanwhile, it’s earnings season again! This week the big banks, led by JP Morgan reported their earnings. With the banks generally doing well on EPS as reserves for bad loans are released, Bank of America—owned by Steve W—also put up a strong showing in Q3 revenue. The other major report comes from Taiwan Semiconductor, in a sector much more familiar to Paul and Steve D. Find out why Steve W is staying out of Taiwan Semiconductor and why Paul likes the sector more generally.   We finish this week with Bitcoin. Find out why Paul thinks he has the edge on Charlie Munger in this space, why Steve W is pro owning bitcoin as a trader, and what Steve D thinks is stopping people from buying cucumbers with cryptocurrency. Only on this week’s Playing FTSE Podcast!

What’s on both Steve D and Steve W’s list of things to watch and isn’t a stock? What’s bigger than Paul thought? And what does Steve D think is the most anticlimactic thing in the world? Find out the answers to all of these things on this week’s podcast! This week, the show opens with a preview of the Playing FTSE merchandise that’s now available in our online store! We start off with a discussion of the big issue of the day—whether hoodies should have pouches or pockets—as we unveil the range of clothes that Steve D’s designed for the show. Link below for those who want to join in the action. That’s swiftly followed by a dramatic game of “it’s gross!” as Steve W and Paul take on a game attempting to guess (blindly) at the gross margin of companies of all different types. This is a good one—you don’t want to miss it. From a tense, dramatic, and exciting game to an issue that is none of those things. The debt ceiling in the US. Paul and Steve D sort out the issue, so check out why they think this is something that you should be aware of but shouldn’t be interested in, despite Steve W’s feeble attempt to pound some interest into the story.  Moving on, it’s over to Facebook. With the stock down 12.5% this month, we take a look at everything that’s going on there. Whistleblowing, outages, and threats surround the company at the moment, but Steve W thinks this might be approaching an interesting point. Meanwhile, Steve D is as interested in Facebook as he is in the debt ceiling.  On the subject of battered stocks and regulatory pressure, we turn our attention to Alibaba and the news that Charlie Munger has been adding quite substantially to the Daily Journal’s already quite substantial holdings in the Chinese online retailer. BABA stock is down 46% this year and is attracting attention from value investors. As we think about who’s buying what in these areas, find out which superinvestor Paul views negatively!  We close out the show with remote working. As Boris Johnson warns that people who choose to work remotely might either be gossiped about or miss out on promotion opportunities, three people who are appalling candidates for promotion and not interesting enough to generate gossip sit and discuss how remote work affects them. Only on this week’s Playing FTSE!