The Internet has been brutal to middlemen and niche players, with platform players GOOGL, AMZN, and AAPL absorbing value with each new integrated app and market entry. Online travel has been a big exception – OTAs and GDSs have thrived,
AAPL shares are up about 12% over the past month on little concrete news, as analysts looked to brighten the narrative. We remain skeptical. Today’s big AAPL event was underwhelming, with no product likely to spark significant new demand. Meanwhile,
The announced acquisition of Valspar by Sherwin Williams, while consistent with our broad view on consolidation does not really tick any of the boxes we identified. This is not a segment facing massive offshore competition, nor is it oversupplied. Both
Last week Sasol announced a “delay” to some of its US Gulf investments and suggested that its ethylene unit would now start-up in 2019 rather than 2018. The company gave cash flow management as a reason, but this is
January was hard on high-multiple TMT stocks, and thus, our model long portfolio, which underperformed the tech elements of the S&P 500 by -690 bp since our last update. In particular, the market reaction to signs of deceleration in demand
