Tale of the Tape

Good evening, everyone. The market of stocks got mangled. 😬 The Russell 2000 and Nasdaq Composite both tumbled more than 3.5%. 

Only 47 stocks in the S&P 500 closed positive. Here’s the daily heatmap of the Index, it’s quite the bloodbath:

Every sector stumbled. Consumer discretionary and tech both tumbled more than 3.5%. Utilities was the best of the bunch— $XLU only lost 0.90%. 🙏

The ten-year treasury yield ticked 1.61%— its highest level since February 21, 2020. 👍

Crypto was quiet. Bitcoin bounced around 50K while Ethereum hangs just above 1,500. Coinbase filed its S-1, and plans to go public via direct listing. 🎉 See more on this below. 

Deutsche Bank gapped and gained 2.5%. $DB closed at its highest price since August 2018. Is the European bank back???

GameStop finished up 18%, but the stock opened up 85% and tumbled intraday from $180 to $108.73. We’ll see if the MemeStock madness continues. 

Twitter closed at an all-time high. The company shared some lofty goals and the stock gained 3.71%. $TWTR is up nearly 50% in February, compared to the measly 3% in the S&P. Can social stocks stay hot? Time will tell… 👻 ⏳

After the close, AT&T announced a DirectTV spinoff through its billion-dollar deal with TPG. Apparently, it’s not just consumers cutting the cord. 🤷John Stankey, AT&T’s CEO, shared:

This agreement aligns with our investment and operational focus on connectivity and content, and the strategic businesses that are key to growing our customer relationships across 5G wireless, fiber and HBO Max. 

Here are the closing prints: 

S&P 500	3,829	-2.45%
Nasdaq	13,119	-3.52%
Russell 2000	2,200	-3.69%
Dow Jones	31,402	-1.75%

SuperTwitter

Twitter had itself a day. Not only did the stock reach a new all-time high, it also introduced a slate of features to bring in more revenue, capture additional value for users, and allow better content moderation.

Sound like a lot? Here’s a quick breakdown of the platform’s new features:

• Super Follow: Users can now charge followers for access to tweets/newsletters/community groups/exclusive badges. This looks like Twitter’s effort to compete with direct payment sites like Patreon, Twitch, and yes, even OnlyFans. 🤭

• Safety Mode: This moderation feature will allow users to automatically block and mute accounts that “use insults, name-calling, strong language, or hateful remarks.” 

• Communities: Think Facebook Groups… but on Twitter. 

Twitter also shared new goals— here’s the site’s thread. They’re pretty ambitious, wanting to double revenue to $7.5B+ by 2023.

Here’s $TWTR’s daily chart:

And the monthly:

Coinbase To Go Direct

Coinbase plans to go public. 👀

The company filed its S-1 and commented: 

Coinbase intends to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ‘COIN.’

The exchange also highlighted its crazy-profitable last year. After all, Coinbase made over $1.1 billion in net revenue in 2020: 

We have grown quickly and in a capital-efficient manner since our founding. For the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, we generated total revenue of $1.3 billion and $533.7 million, respectively, net income (loss) of $322.3 million and $(30.4) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA of $527.4 million and $24.3 million, respectively.

Stay tuned for more info about the potential direct listing. In the meantime, check out Coinbase’s quarterly volume since 2018: 

SEC Wars II: Attack of the Doge

Tom and Jerry. Mario and Bowser. Elon Musk and the SEC. 🥊

Today, the regulatory agency announced its investigation of Elon Musk’s Dogecoin tweets.

This marks Elon’s second run-in with the SEC, an organization he really, really doesn’t like. 😂 The first time the two clashed was over Musk’s infamous “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured” tweet, which resulted in Elon stepping down from his Chairman position. He also racked up more than $40M in fines. 

Only time will tell who’ll win this round. So far, the only real loser is $DOGE-X holders, who are down 5% on the day (they’re still up 859% YTD, though). Lol. 

Energy’s First Lady 👑 ⚡

The Senate just approved President Biden’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Energy— former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. 🙌

Granholm received majority support from 64 US Senators, with only 35 opposed. Even representatives from Republican fossil-fuel producers like Montana and North Dakota voted in her favor. 

During her Senate hearings, Granholm said resources used for EV batteries can be “mined responsibly” in the US. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, however, isn’t on board: 

[Biden] has declared war on American energy and American energy workers and I just can’t stand by as this administration tries to crush Wyoming’s economy.

Jennifer Granholm will have huge responsibilities, like overseeing nuclear weapons and the emergency petroleum reserve. Here’s Reuters with more on the nomination. 

Earnings Round-Up

DoorDash and Airbnb both reported earnings as public companies for the first time. After the close, $DASH dropped double digits and $ABNB barely bounced around. Here are the details:

Airbnb
EPS: ($11.24) vs ($8.81) est
Revenue:$856.26M -22% YoY

Although the company posted poor numbers, Airbnb Co-Founder and CEO Brian Chesky said:

Our performance in 2020 showed that Airbnb is resilient and inherently adaptable. Travel is coming back and we are laser-focused on preparing for the travel rebound.

DoorDash
EPS: ($2.67) vs. ($0.67) est.
Revenue: $970M +225% YoY

Earnings This Week

Be sure to know when your stocks report earnings. Here’s the earnings calendar. 

Links That Don’t Suck

👀 Free investing workshop: IBD is hosting a virtual event on the basics of fundamental analysis, technical analysis and market timing*

📈 The Rational Actors Guild

⛽️ Bentley Unveils Its Final Gas-Powered Sedan, and It’s a Head-Turner

🚲 Peloton’s Transition to a Lifestyle Company

⚾️ Why Baseball Is Obsessed with the Book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow‘

⌂ Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation CEO Stuart Graff on Missions, Milestones, and Future Plans

💨 The State of Mississippi Gets Its Very First Wind Farm

✨ NBA Stars & The Power of Niche Fashion Brands

🎶 Kirk Franklin: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert