LC

Hi Sanjeev, Two suggestions that I see were not mentioned (of course feel free to ignore if they are impractical or you disagree): Can you expand the profile picture size limit? 50kb is pretty small. Maybe 2 or 5 MB? Is there options to change the forum "Look" e.g. a dark mode or other themes? Also it appears when you click a member's "profile" and it shows the post history, the viewing of those post history is not formatted. And, can you explain what the "reputation score" is and how it functions? I'll add any more suggestions as I encounter them.

There is a relatively small % which prefer this. The FT/WSJ was like this for a while, they are probably still some of the closest you can get to objectivity in news reporting. But there is a reason that most news outlets have gone the opposite way - it keeps customers engaged longer and is therefore more profitable.

Congrats on getting the new site rolled out!

Got my 1/2 pfizer shot on Sunday, other than a sore shoulder which lasted about 16 hours, no ill-effects (knockonwood)

Here's a quote and a photo for some visual aid from an article entitled "How do vaccines work"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79500-x.pdf An interesting concept

If this topic wasn't political I wouldn't be interested. Just like I'm not reading topics about the flu, common cold or hay fever. The fact that it's politicized is why it effect me (and probably almost everyone) It affects most people because millions have died.

Gotta bring back the politics section for y’all ;)

I’ve got friends who are just getting their taste and smell back after 8 months. I’m getting the vaccine because, frankly, life sucks if I can’t enjoy food and booze. Plus just look at the excess deaths over the last 12-14 months. People have no problem getting vaccines during childhood and annual flu vaccines for much less.

Consumer credit is similar in structure

Agree with kab. I bought BTI A few days ago, so cheap despite maybe not having as great brands as Altria/PM

Moral fortitude?

I posed the question but personally I lean more towards KJP's conclusion. The majority of network buildout costs (whether it be fiber or spectrum) is meant to maintain the company's competitive position. So really, I don't predict much market share being taken from competitors with Verizon's spectrum buildouts. Rather, they maintain their current share and perhaps can charge a premium to a subset of existing customers in exchange for the service improvements that 5G will bring. Perhaps 75% maintenance / 25% growth, just to eyeball it. To address LearningMachine's points (I am only a human who tries to learn occasionally, so bear with me :D ) (1) widen the moat with respect to cablecos & other telcos, But other providers are spending as well to do the same - so overall each market player treads water (2) strengthen the strategic market position with loyal customers that strengthens the monopsony power with respect to Apple, Disney, Discovery, etc., to be able to sell more services to loyal customers in the future Again it is a similar phenomena. Verizon is already the leading service partner for these consumer brands, network improvements are meant to maintain their existing position and fend off 2nd/3rd place participants, who are again also spending on network improvements (3) have some incremental revenues now and more in the future through additional monetization of that spectrum & backbone I agree with this. I think they will be able to upcharge the customer base for an improved 5G/fios network, but I am not sure how much incremental revenue they will be able to secure above inflation.

As to whether the spectrum & fiber buildouts are investments or expenses: Do they provide incremental revenues, or do they maintain current revenues?

I think the entire competency of facebook is to be the platform under which people socialize online, and the biggest risk (and perhaps, the core competency) of facebook is the ability to migrate users from platform to platform, e.g. facebook to whatsapp; facebook to instagram, as those platforms become the de-facto norm of online social interaction. Certainly there are also other core activities that facebook performs (expanding the userbase of existing platforms; usage extensions on each platform e.g. facebook marketplace), but I think those are purely ancillary. I'm not sure how to think about facebook's ability to continue maintaining their userbase across shifting platforms. How do you measure that, or estimate FB's ability to own the next Instagram? Other platforms (snapchat) have resisted FB's purchase attempts, how do we estimate whether the next big social platform will do the same? Pretty much my lack of a good answer there is what is causing hesitation.

I would imagine settlements can be netted. And brokers fronting $ is money good, I would imagine that is not a source of major instability or there are deeper issues in the plumbing, so to speak. I don’t find either explanation adequate, frankly.

I have no comment on the veracity (or the legality - CFDs are illegal in the US so they would have to have a legal structure that is right-on or over-the-line), I just thought it was an interesting take on the situation, that perhaps folks here would not usually be exposed to, perhaps for good reason! :D

I wasn't sure where to post this, but saw an interesting piece over on WallStreetBets which attempts to make clear some of the GME trading experience, I suppose informed by the recent congressional hearings on the topic:

VNT looks interestingly GARP-y.

Yeah, I would prefer the same thread, but the problem is that people won't know which books have notes and which ones don't unless people check out each book thread. Cheers! Perhaps there is a way to flag threads in the title? A star, or different color text, or some other means, to indicate that someone has (generously) posted their notes.

What app is that LC? This was Koyfin.com I just started playing with it, so I cannot comment on the data quality.

Speaking of valuation/multiple expansion: Attached is the 10 year PE and EV:EBITDA trading range.

I think it is a good idea, but do we really need another sub-forum, or we can just post any notes in the same thread of the book?

Thank you! This is quite close to what I was envisioning.

We both must be happy today. "LATHAM, N.Y., March 16, 2021 -- Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG), a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions building the global green hydrogen economy, announced today that it will restate its previously issued financial statements for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 and its quarterly filings for 2019 and 2020, which will be disclosed in the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 (the “Prior Period Financial Statements”)." Sheesh! Thanks for sharing. Frankly I hadn't checked any financial news after noon, will make the night's cocktail extra tasty :D And more generally, thanks for sharing the overall idea. You were able to articulate it well. I found this one attractive because it stacks quite a few things in my favor, essentially taking a directional bet + a hedge, all in one: -A bet against the crappy underlying business, and a crazy overall valuation, as you described previously. Normally I wouldn't short something just based on valuation or disagreeing with the underlying business/technology. -A downside bet on Memestocks/WSB exhuberance in general -Inverse exposure to both (1) rising rates and (2) a market rotation out of the tech sector, and therefore a hedge against my substantial long positions in "stable" tech co's eg. MSFT -A highly volatile stock where you can get a lot of potential exposure for little upfront costs I think if you can find effective portfolio hedges (similar inverse market exposures), which also agree with your view on the individual name, and if you can get that exposure cheaply, then that is a pretty attractive bet.