I was intrigued when I saw an ad from Timothy Lutts at Cabot about their “Next Netflix” stock, pitched as the next opportunity for a $600,000 windfall. Who doesn’t want that, right?
That windfall figure refers to their recommendation of Netflix in May, 2002 — they say that $5,000 in NFLX then would have turned into $600,000 today. I don’t know if Cabot really recommended Netflix back then and recommended holding the shares the whole time (May 2002 was when NFLX had its IPO), but if they did make that recommendation the numbers do match up — the shares are up roughly 12,000%, and that would indeed get you a profit of $600,000 on a $5,000 investment if you had simply bought and held for almost 15 years (though there were also several drops of 50% or more along the way, so “buy and hold” would have required a pretty strong stomach).
And the tantalizing bait waved in front of our noses is that they’re making a pick that they think will have similar potential next week — here’s how they put it:
“Introducing The Next Netflix….
“On Thursday, March 9, we will be releasing the name of The Next Netflix—another little-known company that’s riding the trends higher, dominating its sector and richly rewarding investors along the way.”
So who is it? Well, we don’t want to wait until March 9… and we probably won’t want to pony up whatever the cost might be for their Cabot Prime service, so let’s look into the ad and see if we can name that stock. We get a few clues — here’s what I fed into the Thinkolator for you:
“… this company profits from data mining and from selling that golden information for billions of dollars.
“As a result, this data mining company has built a 90% market share in its sector and is beginning to reap the rewards—with its stock price rising 272% in the past five years. All thanks to 50% year-over-year sales growth and a whopping 194% year-over-year earnings growth.”
And there’s also a reference to some of the other major shareholders:
“Twenty of the world’s shrewdest institutional investors and mutual fund managers see Netflix-like gains here as well, together owning nearly $1 trillion in stock.
“I speak, for example, of…
- FMR LLC $17 billion
- Vanguard Group $15 billion
- State Street. $9 billion
- Price Associates. $7 billion
- Blackrock Fund Advisors. $6 billion
- JPMorgan Chase $3 billion
“They’ve gone all-in here for the same reason we have: they see this company’s 194% year-over-year earnings growth continuing for the next 10 years as its billion-person database continues to expand and the world’s biggest consumer-goods companies rush to cash in on this company’s marketing gold.”
So this is where we get to apply a little logic — first, there is no company where “institutional investors” and the like own “nearly $1 trillion in stock.” Unless you’re really free with the definition of “nearly.” There are no public companies that are worth $1 trillion right now, and obviously you can’t own $1 trillion worth of something if the whole is worth less than $1 trillion.
But still, if we assume that the holdings are reasonably accurate, we can easily narrow this down to roughly the top 100 largest companies in the world. Those institutional owners, who are major owners of essentially every large cap stock (partly because FMR (Fidelity) and Vanguard and State Street and Blackrock manage huge index funds that own large portions of all the largest companies in the world), collectively own $57 billion worth of shares. And presumably other folks own some, too.
So it’s a really, really big company we’re talking about here. Netflix back in 2002 had a market capitalization of well under $1 billion, in case you’re wondering — so that means we should probably put aside those dreams of 12,000% gains, you generally have to start pretty small to get those kinds of gains. Even if the market cap is “only” $50 billion for this “Next Netflix”, a 12,000% gain would get you to a $6 trillion market cap… and, as I noted, no public company has every yet sustained a $1 trillion market cap… (only Apple at $700 billion and Alphabet at $550 billion are even more than halfway to that mark… though, to be fair, PetroChina was very briefly a $1 trillion company around the time of its IPO, and Saudi Aramco would probably be a $3 trillion company if it were public, and, if you adjust for inflation, past Goliath’s like the Dutch East India Co. and South Sea Co would have been multi-trillion-dollar companies in their day, and even Microsoft would have gotten to about a $900 billion market cap in 1999).
I’d assume that we’ll only see a $6 trillion market cap after another bout of pretty lofty inflation, at which time $6 trillion won’t seem like quite as high a number as it does today… but I suppose you never really know.
But anyway… what is this company they’re pitching as “The Next Netflix?”
Well, the numbers do not match up perfectly… but they’re awfully close. Thinkolator says “The Next Netflix” must be… Facebook (FB)
Yep. Really. Little ‘ol $400 billion Facebook.
Why the match?
Well, Facebook has recently had 50% revenue growth year over year… which itself is a ludicrous growth rate for a large cap company. If you screen for companies with market capitalization over $50 billion and revenue growth of 40% or better, you’re left with only about 20 companies to choose from. Some have growth because of recent acquisitions or mergers, like Broadcom or Chubb, some because their industry perked up suddenly like BHP Billiton, or because they’re coming out of a nasty trough like Toyota or Honda or Banco Bradesco, but those that jump out as real “growth” companies on the list, with some reasonable expectation of sustained growth at something like that level are Alibaba, Facebook, NVIDIA, and Tencent, all large tech companies.
And, of course, the only one of those that is close to 272% five year growth on the stock chart is Facebook. Which hasn’t technically been public for five years yet, though it’s close. NVIDIA’s growth is far more impressive at 750% or so (almost all of that just in the past year), and Tencent is also substantially higher at 375%. Facebook is currently up 259% from its IPO, though you could turn that into 272% if you chose a different day over the following few months — as you might remember, FB stock fell almost 50% in its first year before starting to climb in mid-2013. And in case you’re wondering, Netflix is up about 1,300% since the Facebook IPO.
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Facebook also has had earnings growth of close to 194% — that’s the number it hit in the March quarter last year, so it’s a little stale and recent quarters have been slightly less impressive (the current earnings number is 160-170% as of December, depending on whether you look at basic or diluted earnings per share). But still, a pretty good match as far as teaser clues go.
And Facebook is, indeed, the ultimate data mining company. They do know more about a billion+ people around the world than anyone else, and they are turning that knowledge into profits — so far, mostly by using the data to sell more effective advertising, but who knows how the data will be used in the future.
So yes, I can’t come to any other conclusion on this one. Cabot is pitching Facebook as “The Next Netflix”, and presumably that’s more because investors underestimate how FB is transitioning from social networking to monetizing the data they collect than because it has the same kind of long-term share price appreciation as Netflix had when it was a small cap company (The argument from Lutts is that Netflix transitioned from mailing DVDs to streaming video, also misunderstood at the time, and that this is another misunderstood transition opportunity). And presumably they’ll be releasing that “free” report about it on March 9 (I’ll keep an eye out then to see if it really is free).
And since Facebook is one of the largest companies in the world, and among the most popular and widely-held stocks despite the recurring panics that their money balloon might pop (because of Twitter or Instagram a few years ago, or Snapchat today, or whatever competitor gets teens excited and worries FB shareholders until they see another quarterly blowout from Zuckerberg et al), we can rest assured that this recommendation, assuming the Thinkolator is correct, will not have any impact on the stock.
So you’ve got plenty of time to think it over and decide whether you want to own FB shares (or, if you already have money in widely-diversified funds, you can rest easy knowing that you probably already own a few shares — Facebook is 1.5% of any S&P 500 index fund, or about 5% of the Nasdaq QQQ ETF for folks who are allocating more to big-cap tech stocks).
I own Facebook shares, it’s been one of my largest personal holdings for a few years (currently it’s my second largest individual stock position, after Berkshire Hathaway), and with a forward PE of only 20 (2018 estimates are for $6.72 in non-GAAP earnings per share) I think it’s still reasonably valued… but I don’t expect the shares to be able to turn $5,000 into $600,000 anytime soon.
How about you? Think Facebook is as misunderstood and high-potential as Netflix was in 2002? Think Cabot’s maybe being a little silly with that comparison? Have an opinion on Facebook at all? Let us know with a comment below… it is, after all, your money, so your thought is the one that matters.
P.S. In case you’re curious: If Facebook rose 12,000%, it would be just shy of having a $50 trillion market cap. I’d personally settle for a couple hundred percent over the next decade, assuming that all keeps going along swimmingly for Zuckerberg’s little dorm room project and he keeps building on Facebook’s dominance with artificial intelligence, more video, and more messaging monetization… but we’ll see.
Disclosure: I own shares of Facebook, Alphabet and Apple. As per Stock Gumshoe trading rules, I won’t trade in any of those stocks, or in any other investments covered, for at least three days following publication.
Well 6000% on FB seems a bit optimistic. They will be master of the world if this happen. Could it be some Chinese company? They like Chinese companies at Cabot.
Nothing else matches those clues, though Goodwin at Cabot still focuses on china for his emerging markets letter at Cabot.
For me, I can not understand how Facebook can make Big Money in the future.
Also I put a small $500 with One Option CALL 2019-$200.
IN today at $4.25 x 100= $425.
Now I`m on Facebook
Part of the problem is that it’s hard to imagine companies being so big — but an effective duopoly on internet advertising, particularly mobile video advertising, is phenomenally valuable even today — and though it’s a very profitable market, it’s also still very small and immature compared to the potential. We’re currently in a position where the market itself is growing even as the two strongest companies (alphabet and facebook) continue to each grow their share of the expanding market. That’s worth a premium valuation, even if it Facebook isnt likely going to go up 1,000% anytime soon.
There are some stocks that I don’t invest in for ethical reasons. FB, Google & Twitter (IMO) censor what gets published on their sites. I know first hand that Twitter removes posts that are pro-Trump. I also don’t invest in fossil fuel companies because I believe we should be supporting green & clean energy sources. The same goes (for me) with health insurance companies. Yes, that keeps me out of several mkt sectors. I steer more toward tech companies, hardware, software, AI, VR and Augmented R. I’m holding off on MJ stocks until Sessions reveals his final stance on legality.
If Twitter is removing pro-Trump posts, then how is it that he Tweets so damn much??? 🙂
The larger problem is self-censorship at this point, I expect — almost any possible view is out there, but because of the push toward hyper-personalization we only see the views that are comfortable for us and our circles of like-minded friends.
Polarization increases as extreme positions seem mainstream within the communities we traverse online, and as leadership goes to those who can be least flexible, and the path to compromise and consensus is lost.
I think there was once an obscure businessman, by the name of Drucker, who was heard to mutter, “Consensus is the absence of leadership.”
The article reminds me of MKAU. They are up approx 250% this year from 0 to 2.5. The rub, March 3 is the official launch of Clikia. Clikia is a television content streaming app currently offering 104 channels and in trials. I am experiencing the app and it is flawless. Subscription will be ranging from $0 to $30. You can try Clikia by searching your Google App store for Clikia. As far as an investment? MK automotive PE 1.9 runs a chain of Las Vegas auto repair shops…? Clikia has ways to go. If they earn several thousand subscription still maybe not to late?…
That’s an absurdly tiny penny stock, market cap of only $900 thousand. Not sure why a tiny automotive diagnostics is trying to launch an online gateway for OTT video.
I don’t know anything about this one, but feel compelled to share
my standard warning about nano-cap companies: penny stocks this tiny are extraordinarily dangerous and easily manipulated … usually, in my experience with companies this teensy, the only reason they’re publicly traded is that it makes it easier to fleece people. be careful, and good luck.
Anyone who thinks Facebook is just a social media company probably still watches their movies on VHS players they bought from Blockbuster years ago. I’m Facebook long, dumped my entire 401k from my previous employer into a rollover IRA 2 years ago. I also like Hortonworks (HDP) in the Big Data mining space as well, good time to buy in.
I think you’ve missed the mark here. I think the original Cabot article was saying that the 20 institutional investors collectively own almost $1 trillion in stocks. Not that they own $1 trillion in the specific stock being teased, but that they own $1 trillion in other stocks (so presumably know what they are doing), and that they have loaded up on the stock being teased.
They also refer to it as a “little-known” company, which to me leaves Facebook out of the equation.
The collective investors probably own at least $20-30 trillion worth of stocks, but you might be right on that bit. The specific holdings of $50+ billion for those half dozen institutional managers in this particular stock mean it’s a very large capitalization stock, and Facebook is the only one that’s a decent match for the other clues.
Yes, strange – it’s clearly a large company, given the numbers, but they say it’s “little-known,” which of course doesn’t fit FB.
Copywriters do that all the time — “little known” is a subjective term that doesn’t actually mean anything, generally you have to focus on the specific clues, not the squishy terms.
Why is it that some companies let their IPO run so high $ price, I’ve always wondered why. Does anyone know the answer to this question?
They walk a fine line — they want to generate excitement by having their stock go up after the IPO to bring in more attention and more investors, but the board also has the fiduciary responsibility of selling shares of the company at the best price they can get.
I have to say that while it is the elephant in the room, I’m not feeling it. Advertising comes from businesses and I personally can tell you that it’s not the same anymore. It’s really become a place to talk/chat/post for people that have the time. People that have the time usually don’t have money to spend. Unless the 3-9 announcement is a takeover/merger ( got me ? ), or they unveil their new self driving car plane boat complete with wireless pilot, I believe the book may grow but the bankbook will not.
I agree with you, Tony. Lucky for me though I invested in FB back before I was able to access it here in China where I live. Later started using a VPN and after looking around on FB wasn’t much impressed. Just not my thang I guess. LOL
Guess you could say this is one instance where having less knowledge helped my investing decision! hahaha
The 3/9 announcement is just the release of the recommendation by the Cabot folks that they’re pre-hinting at now, nothing from Facebook itself.
As to the value of the company, I’ve been skeptical at times myself — but with only $25 billion in revenue out of the global ~$200 billion in digital ad spending it’s still got a lot of growth potential, and digital ad spending itself is growing about 10% a year. Perhaps the number of users or the engagement will peak at some point, but it hasn’t yet — 1.25 billion people spending half an hour a day using Facebook to watch videos or read news or chat, imagine if that continues to grow? People in the US still spend five hours a day, on average, watching TV, there’s lots more time that Facebook could suck out of us.
I feel better about myself and the world when I spend a month or two not being engaged on Facebook, personally… but I still feel plenty good about my portfolio being pretty heavily into Facebook shares as long as the user count increases, the engagement time from each user goes up around the world, and digital ad spending continues to rise much more rapidly than the global economy is growing. What I like as a consumer doesn’t necessarily mean much about what will be profitable and successful.
It may or may not be Apple but they’re not saying that this company is a $1 trillion company. They’re saying that the institutional investors collectively have $1 trillion invested in the market. That’s why they are listing the billions of dollars Fidelity, Vanguard and the like have invested in the market. So there are easily 20 major institutional investment company who, together, have poured $1 trillion into securities.
No, you’re misreading. The trillion dollars may be a reference to the size of those investors, I suppose, if they’re being sneaky. But I think it’s just an exaggeration. Those multibillion-dollar holdings by Vanguard, Fidelity, etc are clearly a reference to their holdings in this specific stock with the implication that they’ve gone “all in” because they love the stock so much (that itself is an exaggeration, since much of those holdings are just index fund positions).
Those firms all have assets under management in the multi-trillion-dollar range ($4-5 trillion each for Fidelity, Vanguard and Blackrock, for example), and those numbers approximate their recent exposure to Facebook shares.
I mean FB
Hmm. Could it be YouTube (Google) working on an online stream with the networks etc. for a reasonably priced fee?
I like the potential of that YouTube deal, particularly because they’re talking about implementing “Cloud” DVR services to help differentiate it from the fairly weak “cord cutting” initial offerings that are available now. Though, of course, Alphabet is one of only a handful of companies that’s larger than Facebook and it’s certainly not the stock being teased.
Youtube just announced that it will stream live TV for $35/month, and it already sells movies. With FB´s video and live video capabilities, I imagine that FB could do the same.
I just returned from a vacation in Vietnam. One thing that is apparent is that over the last 5 years, Facebook has given their population a way to share real information rather than just the “official” version provided by the Communist central government. Our tour guide has said, it has been one of the biggest factors in educating people, allowing political opposition to form, and bringng their people into this century. What is that worth?