Electric vehicle stocks are up big; Bank Stocks Already Had a Wild 2020. Then November Got Even Crazier; Lunch with Bill Ackman; COVID Alert app
1) I'm incredibly bullish on how rapidly I think we (and the rest of the world) will adopt electric vehicles ("EVs") – for reasons I outline in this video, which I first released in April.
Anyone who listened to me back then and bought pretty much any stock in the sector has made a fortune, as you can see in this table, which Bread Crumbs Research recently posted on Twitter:
These 20 stocks are up an average of 574% in the last six months!
It's very important to keep in mind, however, that when a sector takes off like this, it inevitably attracts all sorts of stock promoters. For example, I've written about Nikola (NKLA) extensively (most recently here)... here's a short report on Workhorse (WKHS)... and activist short-seller Andrew Left of Citron Research has recently tweeted warnings about Electrameccanica Vehicles (SOLO) and Blink Charging (BLNK):
This is an exciting sector that's going to grow rapidly for many years to come, but it's not clear who the long-term winners will be – and many companies will fall by the wayside – so you need to do your homework and be careful!
2) My friend Doug Kass of Seabreeze Partners and I have been pounding the table on bank stocks, which have been ripping higher lately...
Here's an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about it: Bank Stocks Already Had a Wild 2020. Then November Got Even Crazier. Excerpt:
The past few weeks in particular sent bank investors whipsawing. The day after the election was among the worst days ever for bank stocks when compared with the S&P 500. Three sessions later, news broke that a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech SE proved better than expected at protecting people from Covid-19, and banks had one of their best days.
Investors, for their part, can't quite decide what to think. They increased their allocation to banks by more than for any other sector this month, according to a Bank of America (BAC) survey. At the same time, betting against banks remained the second-most popular trade in the survey.
3) For the third year in a row, my friend Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management is auctioning off lunch to benefit charity. He promises, "I'll make it worth the person's while" – and he certainly delivered on this for the first winner in 2018, as this article highlights:
Canadian-based entrepreneur and investor Andrew Wilkinson, the CEO of tech holding company Tiny, shelled out $57,700 for lunch with Ackman in 2018. Ackman was so impressed with Wilkinson and his business partner that he has now invested $40 million with Wilkinson and is his largest investor.
You can bid here – but you'll have to top the current high bid of $60,000.
4) I recently downloaded a COVID Alert app on my phone. It only took a couple of minutes to set up, and it will notify me if I've spent time near someone who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
It's now available in 14 states and Washington, D.C... with five more states expected to come online shortly. Here's a Washington Post article with the list and further information: A COVID-fighting tool is buried in your phone. Turn it on. Excerpt:
Here's a phone alert you wouldn't want to miss: "You have likely been exposed."
The coronavirus surge is upon us, and your phone might be able to help. About 100 million Americans now have the ability to get pop-up notifications from local health authorities when they've personally spent time near someone who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
But exposure notifications only work if you and the people around you turn them on. Yes, you!
There's early evidence this anonymous smartphone technology works – but so far isn't helping very many Americans. In August, I wrote about the first of these state-sponsored alerts, Virginia's Covidwise app. In the three months since, only 488 people have used the state's app to send alerts about a positive diagnosis to others.
The alerts use software built by Apple and Google into iPhones and Android devices to detect when people (or the phones they're holding) get into close contact with each other. That might sound like a privacy invasion, but they figured out how to track encounters between people in a way that's anonymous – and doesn't store your location – by using the Bluetooth wireless technology in phones.
Best regards,
Whitney