Latest news with #Chipotle
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
We Asked RDs Their Favorite Chipotle Order—They All Said the Same Thing
Reviewed by Dietitian Kelly Plowe, M.S., RDChipotle can be a healthier fast-food option because you can customize your order. Dietitians agree it's what you fill your salad, burrito, bowl or taco with that counts. Experts suggest topping your order with lean proteins, whole grains, veggies and healthy you're a Chipotle lover, you're in good company. The chain keeps growing, with a 13% increase in revenue in 2024, totaling $2.8 billion. So, why all the love? 'Build-your-own restaurants like Chipotle are ideal places to get a meal to-go but on your terms,' says Heidi McIndoo, M.S., RD. Dietitians are fans, too. We asked several nutrition experts about their go-to order, and you may be surprised to learn that RDs enjoy burritos, burrito bowls and salads equally. One thing they all agree on, when it comes to placing your Chipotle order, is finding a nutritional balance with the add-ins used to fill your burrito, bowl, salad or taco. Chipotle has plenty of options when it comes to lean proteins, whole grains, veggies and healthy fats. Many people struggle to incorporate veggies when they order takeout, but this doesn't have to be the case at Chipotle. 'Chipotle's range of fresh vegetables makes it easy to build a phytonutrient-rich meal,' says Romy Nathan, M.P.H., RDN. 'Add as many veggies as you like—salad greens, fajita veggies, various salsas,' suggests Lisa Andrews, RD, LD. This adds fiber, vitamins and minerals, and helps you to feel full and meet your daily vegetable needs—something 90% of Americans don't do. Chipotle offers many options to get in whole grains. Brown rice and corn salsa are the most popular amongst the RDs we interviewed. 'To top it off, I like the roasted corn salsa—it's not too hot, and corn is so full of fiber,' says McIndoo. If your go-to order is tacos, you can opt for corn tortillas for whole grains. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends making at least half of your grains whole grains because they're richer in fiber and certain minerals than refined grains. If you prefer white rice, don't sweat it. Just be sure to incorporate plenty of whole grains in the rest of your meals and snacks, like oats, corn and whole-wheat bread. Dietary fats help your body absorb vitamins A, D, E and K. To meet your daily fat needs, it's best to prioritize heart-healthy fats. 'If you're an avocado fan, the guac will give you a nice dose of healthy fats,' says McIndoo. A study found that eating two or more servings of avocado per week was linked with a 16% lower risk of cardiovascular disease. So don't shy away from topping your order with guacamole. This is a healthier option than sour cream or queso. Lean proteins are low in fat, especially saturated fat. They're best for managing heart health, since saturated fat can raise 'bad' LDL cholesterol. 'Chicken or beans will be lower in fat than beef or pork,' says Andrews. You can also try the sofritas—a flavorful protein pick made from tofu. According to Chipotle's website, one serving of beans or sofritas has 8 grams of protein. Adding beans not only adds more protein, but it also adds fiber. 'Black beans give me both protein and fiber, which helps fill me up and keep me feeling fuller longer,' says McIndoo. If you want a higher-protein option that's still lower in fat, RDs suggest chicken. 'My burrito bowl is filled with the new honey chicken—a great source of lean protein,' says McIndoo. Note that carnitas are the highest-fat protein option at Chipotle, with 12 grams of total fat per serving. If you're trying to be mindful of your cholesterol levels or dietary fat intake, stick to other proteins. Save half for later. Whether you enjoy a burrito bowl or a regular burrito, RDs suggest saving half to eat for later. Some days you may be hungrier than others, but for many people, half of an order is enough to meet their nutritional needs. 'I usually go for the bowl, because it's easier to save half for another meal, which is a great way to get your fave restaurant meals while not going overboard with portions,' says McIndoo. Ask for sour cream or queso on the side. These items can be high in saturated fat, which raises LDL cholesterol. So if you're trying to be mindful of your saturated fat intake but you still want to enjoy these additions, consider getting them on the side. 'The serving spoons can be generous, and this gives you more control over how much you eat,' says Nathan. When it comes to fast food, Chipotle has some of the most nutritious options out there. Dietitians enjoy everything from salads to bowls to burritos. What's most important is what you add to your order. RDs recommend centering your meal around beans, fajita veggies, salsas, corn, chicken or sofritas, guacamole and salad greens for a good balance of fiber, lean protein, healthy fats, and micronutrients. This helps fill you up and supports your overall health. Read the original article on EATINGWELL
Globe and Mail
12 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Why Is Berkshire Hathaway Hoarding Cash?
In this podcast, Motley Fool analyst Matt Argersinger and host Ricky Mulvey discuss: What home sales data says about the economy. A traffic slowdown at Chipotle, and the restaurant chain's strong unit economics. The reasons why Warren Buffett could be sitting on a record amount of cash. Then, Motley Fool host Mary Long and analyst Asit Sharma continue their conversation about AMD, and discuss the impact of tariffs and export controls on the chip designer. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy. A full transcript is below. Should you invest $1,000 in Berkshire Hathaway right now? Before you buy stock in Berkshire Hathaway, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Berkshire Hathaway wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $659,171!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $891,722!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is995% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 This video was recorded on April 24, 2025 Ricky Mulvey: Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on more cash than any company in history. You're listening. It's Motley Fool Money. I'm Ricky Mulvey joined today by Matt Argersinger. Matt, thanks for being here. Matt Argersinger: Hey. Great to be here, Ricky. Ricky Mulvey: Good to have you on a day where we're getting some home sales data. As I was looking through the headlines this morning, I got three headlines that, all of which seem to be telling different stories. From CNBC. Home sales last month dropped to their slowest march pace since 2009. From Bloomberg, US new home sales top all estimates on surge in the South. From the Wall Street Journal, home sales in March fell about six percent biggest drop since 2022. Which one are you buying here? Matt Argersinger: I'm going to buy the CNBC headline only because I love data points that go back way long in time. The fact that we're at the slowest sales pace since 2009, I mean, remember from a moment where we were in 2009. That's right. In the midst of a global financial crisis caused in part by a housing crash. If you're telling me that we're at the slowest pace of home sales since that period of time, that's going to get my attention. I'm definitely buying the CNBC version of this story. Ricky Mulvey: Also pointing out that it's the March 1. We're only doing every March from this year. There's a little bit of trickiness within the way they're positioning this. I want to dig into this Wall Street Journal commentary though, which is that so far this spring supply is increasing faster than demand. The inventory of homes for sale is rising because some sellers who have been waiting for mortgage rates to fall have decided that they can't keep waiting. This is a big difference. I'm thinking about during the pandemic, being in a neighborhood in Cincinnati while I'm watching streams of people trying to look at one existing home and offers are getting taken off the marketplace instantly. This is one data point, Matt, but is this an inflecting point? Is this one data point? What are you seeing here? Matt Argersinger: No, I hate to say that. But I think it's one data point. Yes, inventories were up 20% year over year. Probably a good sign. But remember, this data largely reflects contracts that were signed in January and February before we had all these tariff developments. People thin were probably a lot more certain and less worried about the economy than they are today. I think sadly, the data could actually inflect downward Ricky, because you have to remember the situation we're in. We still have millions of homeowners. We're locked into long term fixed mortgage rates under 5%, under 4%, in many cases, under 3%. If mortgage rates are still above 6.5% right now, which they are, I still think the vast majority of sellers are willing to wait longer, especially now if they feel even more uncertain about the economy. I feel like, yes, we've got this rise in inventory data for March, but I don't think it's Dick's. I think we're probably still in a situation where less inventories come to the market and sellers are still in this frozen mode. Ricky Mulvey: Maybe two very different markets for existing homes and also new homes. On this coming Monday's show, I'm going to dive into some specific Home Builders with Anthony Shavon. But for now, there's a pretty odd disconnect going on with this where the data for March is showing that purchases of new single-family homes rose 7.4%. You mentioned home sellers being hesitant to leave. Home construction is still happening. You look at a company like D. R. Horton. This is the country's largest home builder and they recently reported they're telling a very different story. In their latest earnings call, sales dipped, the company's lowering sales guidance. There's a lot of questions for these Home Builders, specifically around tariffs as you mentioned. Also, worth mentioning, a lot of the people that are involved in new home construction Matt, are immigrants and that's going to be a challenge for these Home Builders. On the one side of this specific data point, you see a macro trend way more purchases of new single family homes and yet the country's largest home builder is saying, we're selling fewer homes and we expect that trend to continue. Makes sense of that. What's going on? Matt Argersinger: It does feel paradoxical, in a way. But you have to remember, the new home sale side of the housing market pie so to speak, is very small. But it's important and I think the fact that Home Builders for the most part, have kept building throughout this whole period and have kept selling homes is important. But when I see the new home sales data, what I think it tells me is more about the demand side of the equation, which we know to be strong. We've got the biggest generation of first time home buyers in history. Ricky, I think that's you. But millennials who are desperately in a lot of cases trying to buy homes and they just can't because there's really no inventory despite the small rise that we saw in March. I think that generation, by the way, like previous generations is largely unfazed by mortgage rates. I think they understand the situation they're in. They just want a home. They're getting a job, they're moving to someplace. They'd love to be able to buy a home and not rent a home. But I think on the Home Builder side, so to take D. R. Horton side, you're pushing discounts to move inventory right now. You know mortgage rates are expensive, financing is hard to get. To get deals done, you have to do discounts which hurts your sales. At the same time, you mentioned you got higher labor costs, you've got higher input costs. You now have a lot of uncertainty about the economy and what these tariffs are going to do to your business. You're putting less shovels into the ground. You're probably pushing off new development, holding that land a little bit longer than you want to. I wouldn't say this number is a blip. I think it's important that new home sales are up for the month, but I don't think it's telling the whole story about the demand and supply problem that we still have and I tend to buy what D. R. Horton is saying. New home sales are probably going to be heading in the wrong direction for the time being. Ricky Mulvey: I'm out in Denver and the rental market still significantly different than buying a home out here right now. I'll be staying in the rental market for maybe a year or two, Matt. Let's move on to Chipotle Earnings. They reported yesterday after the bell. Matt, the big story is the comp sales decline, comparable sales for Chipotle dropping about half a percent. This is the first drop since COVID and also coming off a heater, a five ish percent rise from last quarter. CEO Scott Boatwright, very quick to mention that this could be a weather problem and a macro problem, you never love seeing a CEO immediately going after the weather in the first few sentences of a call. But that's what they're going for. Are you agreeing with what they're selling here? Matt Argersinger: I will buy the macro story there, Ricky. I don't know about the weather angle. I don't know about you. I still buy burritos, even if it's rainy or cold out. But yeah, the macro story is something. If you look at what Chipotle did last year, mid to high single digit comps every quarter, they did over 7% in comps for all 2024. The negative comp this quarter was definitely a shocker, especially because Chipotle had been really holding its own. I mean, if you look at other restaurant brands, including Starbucks, which I think serves a similar demographic, I mean, they were already seeing coms fall off the table by last summer, where Chipotle really held its own. But I think it's this slowly leaking economy that we're seeing. It's lower consumer spending, it's lower consumer confidence and I think that's finally catching up even with the Chipotles of the world. Look, I think it's actually going to get a little worse going forward. I think management said they expect things to improve by the second half. They expect comps to be positive overall for the year. But you have to remember what they did last year. Look at COMMS Q2 of last year up 11.2%. That just shows you how tough the comparisons are going to get this year. Especially now that there's this elevated level of uncertainty among its customers which they said bled into April. I expect July's results when we get them will be pretty challenging. I think if you're a Chipotle shareholder, you certainly have to anticipate that growth this year is going to be a lot slower than it was last year. A lot of the growth is really just going to come on the revenue side, is just going to come from new store openings. It's not going to really come from the comp side. If you look at Chipotle's stock price, yes, it's down roughly 30% from its all time high. That's a big drop. I'm a shareholder. That hasn't felt good, but it still trades at a very rich valuation. This year's results certainly aren't going to support that any longer. Hopefully, this is a situation where 2026 is the year when things really turn around. Ricky Mulvey: I want to start seeing management credit the weather when things are going well for them. Weather is only a problem. It's only a headwind. You never hear a CEO saying, who's really nice out this spring and we saw more people coming in. Yes. Few other parts of the business results and I think it is worth mentioning why this stock trades at such a rich premium is that even with this decline in comparable sales, these are incredibly profitable businesses. Later in the call, they're mentioning that the year two cash on cash returns for a new restaurant. A restaurant that's been open a little bit is 60%, for older restaurants, it's 80%. You follow the commercial real estate market. I mean, that is blowing the socks off any office building, retail establishment. These are still incredibly strong businesses. Sales still growing six percent to about three billion dollars and they're still opening new restaurants, 57 new restaurants open in the quarter. What else in the business results stood out to you? Matt Argersinger: No, I mean, that was certainly it. Those returns cash on cash returns for store openings, it's incredible. That's why I believe the story when management says we can ultimately have 7,000 stores. I mean, of course, you're going to open that many stores if they can be this profitable. Yeah, having them observed real estate, other retail businesses, I mean, they're hoping for cash on cash returns in the high single digits, maybe low double digits so they can get it. Sixty percent in year two, that's extraordinary. Ricky Mulvey: There's a Wall Street Journal column earlier this month that had the unfortunate title of your new lunch habit is hurting the economy. There's a few key points here that I think relate to Chipotle. One of which is that the number of lunches bought outside the home were lower in 2024 than in 2020, in the height of the pandemic. Also going out to lunch right now is just stupid expensive. Hybrid office workers spending about $21 on lunch in 2024. That was up from 16 bucks in 2023. That research coming from a video conferencing company called Owl Labs. Shout out to them for finding out the cost of lunch. I still think there's a version where Chipotle wins in this environment, where people are tightening their spending, but I still want to go out to eat. If I go to Chipotle, I can get a steak bowl for about $11.50. I'm not getting the 20% tip screen. There's some headwinds here, but this is still really affordable compared to a lot of their competitors, Matt. Matt Argersinger: It is. I mean, I think of Chipotle as high quality food at a reasonable price. I think that works no matter what happens to the economy. But I have to say Ricky, lunch is stupid expensive. If I could share one anecdote, I just recently helped my wife and son move up to New York City. They're spending the spring and summer there and we rented an apartment, and I was helping the move in. Of course, when you're moving in, people get hungry, you don't have any food, you haven't been in the grocery store. I made the mistake of ordering from Uber Eats, three sandwiches from a local deli, $55 for the sandwiches. Uber Eats fees plus tip, I was close to 80 bucks for lunch for three people. Ricky Mulvey: What are you putting in the sandwiches? Matt Argersinger: I mean, they were good sandwiches. One was a meatball, one was a turkey. I think the other one was roast beef. I mean, they were good, $80 good? I'm not so sure. Ricky Mulvey: Yeah, we're seeing a similar thing in Denver and what I've noticed is sometimes the mains are still all right but now it's like a bag of chips. It's three bucks and then we're adding on more of the toast tipping environment. It makes it very unaffordable very quickly. Let's move on to this Berkshire story. Lot of Wall Street Journal today. I promise I read other news outlets. This is a column from Spencer Jacob, which I thought was good. It was actually sent to us from a listener named Chris pointing out that the annual Berkshire meeting is coming in less than two weeks. There's a question for shareholders, which is what is Uncle Warren going to do with all that cash? Right now, Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on more cash than any company ever in history including Berkshire Hathaway. It's about $318 billion. This is how he got there. He's collecting a lot of the cash dividends that the businesses send him. Also, he sold about $80 billion worth of Apple stock back in 2024. To be clear, Berkshire still has about $174 billion worth of Apple stock, so not a complete sale, but trimming some of the winners. I think the first thing people may be wondering, is this a macro signal? Is Warren Buffett battening down the hatches to buy up a bunch of stuff if the market turns south? Are you taking this cash pile as a macro signal? Matt Argersinger: I've tried to reason my way through this a few different ways. Warren is 94-years-old. Is this just him being very conservative with the time he has left? No. First of all, he's always invested with a long term mindset. He did that through his 70s, 80s when most of us would be at that point in our lives, 100% in bonds or treasuries. He was still taking risks with equities so I don't think that's the answer. I think he's probably investing like he's going to live on 20 years. But relatedly, could it be succession planning? After all, we've known since about 2021 that Greg Abel is going to be taking Buffett's place. Is he just setting up Abel with a lot of cash, a clean slate when it comes to allocating Burch's capital? No, I don't think that could be the answer either. I think if Buffett saw a compelling investment or acquisition opportunity, he'd make it probably regardless of what Abel or anyone thinks. He's certainly proven that over time. Is it because he's lost faith in the direction of the country and therefore the US economy and maybe therefore US corporate profits? No. I mean, Buffett is the ultimate optimist. We know this when it comes to the future of the US and that's regardless of who may currently be in the White House. I can't help but conclude Ricky, that I think this is actually macro sickling. I mean, forget the investments for a moment. Berkshire the corporation has 200 billion in net cash. Take all the cash, take out all the debt, and it still has over 200 billion. That's up from 35 billion a year ago. If you go back a little over two years ago, they actually had net debt of about seven billion. In a little over two years, they've gone from a net debt position to over 200 billion in net cash. I do think Buffett is making a market call here. You remember, one of his favorite market valuation tools is the market cap GDP ratio. It's often called the Buffett indicator for good reason, but it's the total market capitalization of a country stock, US, relative to its gross domestic product. He said in the past, when that ratio is above 100%, the market is overvalued when it's below 100%, that might suggest undervaluation. Depending on what source you use and how you calculate the US total market cap of stocks here, that ratio was over 200% coming into the year. That was at or near a record high. It's actually higher than it was in the peak of the dot-com boom. I'm finally here. I think the evidence is undeniable that Buffett thinks or thought that valuations were expensive, and he was preparing Berkshire Hathaway for just that. Ricky Mulvey: It's not that he can only shoot with what is it? He can only shoot with an elephant gun. When you have that much cash, your only option is to take companies private or you're looking at Coca Cola or American Express, you don't think it's that. Matt Argersinger: No. I would say it's him being patient. I think he does see a lot of clouds on the horizon. I think there's probably storms ahead, not just for US stocks, but I think for the US economy. I think Buffett believes that. You mentioned the elephant gun. He wants to make 50, 60, $70 billion blasts with first year's capital. The only way he's going to be able to do that if there are big dislocations in the market. I do think he thinks or expects there might be in the near future and that's why he's going. Ricky Mulvey: We'll keep watching. We'll see what happens. The annual Berkshire meeting less than two weeks. Matt Argersinger, thanks for being here. Appreciate your time and insight. Matt Argersinger: Thanks, Ricky. Ricky Mulvey: Up next, Mary Long and Asit Sharma continue their conversation about AMD and how macroeconomic forces are impacting the chipmaker. Mary Long: Asit a big ongoing news story that's a subsection of the tariff story has been how changing export rules have affected semiconductor stocks, in particular, how they've affected Nvidia and AMD. Last week, US government changed its export rules for certain chips last week, particularly those that are going to China. This was a big news for Nvidia which warned of a $5.5 billion write off as a result of that rule change. AMD was hit by those changes too. We on the show have already talked about the impact of that $5.5 billion write off on Nvidia. But while I have you I want to focus on what that might mean for AMD. This company is racing for closer to an $800 million impact as a result of these rule changes. Help us understand this a bit better. These rule changes impact AMD's MI308 chip. Numbers, letters, you and I talk a lot about names. What does that chip actually do? How is it different from AMD's other chip offerings? It's MI400 offerings, for example. Asit Sharma: Yeah, so the MI308 chips are, as you suggest, basically pared down versions of AMD's latest GPU series accelerators that go in data centers. They're purpose made for this market and the interesting thing Mary, is that 2025 was supposed to be the launch year for these. They have been in prototype and the R&D phase so we didn't see a lot of sales to China in GPUs from AMD last year. This was going to be the beginning of a pretty nice opportunity. If we can translate that $800 million that the company has signaled, it's going to take us right down on inventory and work in process and translate that to revenue, probably it means about 1-$2 billion in revenue each year. Now, as a function of $31 billion in estimated revenue for 2025. That's not a huge chunk. Let's say it's going to land somewhere between four and 6% of total revenue this year. But it's really about the Ford opportunity. What the US is doing, in essence and this is not just on the Trump administration. It started with the Biden administration, but the US is increasingly putting up barriers for its greatest companies that develop AI technology like Nvidia, like AMD, making it harder for them to play in what, in essence, is the world's fastest growing market or market of most demand for these chips. The companies have been working around export controls for some time. They already understand they can't sell their most capable accelerators into China. But here we have a situation where, look even the pare down versions aren't going to be able to gain the required export licenses and hence, AMD and Nvidia are getting shut out of a market even on the lower end. Mary Long: Where exactly in the production process were these MI308 chips? Were they designed but not yet built? Were they built, and there's already orders for them? Is there a stockpile of these designed manufactured chips that AMD thought it was going to be able to deliver to China that now is just going to sit there, or they're going to have to find another market for or is this more theoretical revenue that they were planning on that they have to find another way to generate? Asit Sharma: Well, I think your question beautifully illustrates what we read in the very brief description, the 8K filing that AMD released, which is to say they're hinting that it's inventory, it's prototypes, it's some capitalized R&D, and it's some product that was ready to change hands. It's really a mix of everything, but we do know from that press release that some of it was inventory. This was stuff that was already developed, probably waiting to be shipped. Total cost of all of this including some of the prototyping and investment is about 800 million. Not a huge hit for AMD when all is said and done. But really, again, to come back to this point that it is taking some future opportunity off the books. Mary Long: How much does that subtraction of future opportunity change or impact your overarching thesis for AMD? Do you view this as materially impactful to the company? Upon hearing this news, the stock market reacted like, hey, this is a big deal to both what it meant for Nvidia and AMD. How does Asit Sharma react to that news? Asit Sharma: Yeah, same way as the market, Mary. You rerate the multiple on the company to adjust for that lost opportunity. But again, you mentioned the company has good business in China. Last year, it was about 25% of revenue that AMD derived from China, 6.23 billion. But most of this was in server chips, chips that found their way into desktop computers, gaming computers. There is a whole ecosystem of chips that are below the radar of US regulators that AMD is selling in China, those really aren't going to be impacted. The impact on my thesis isn't material. I have the same view of this as I have of Nvidia is that the demand for generative AI technology and the ability to just serve up inference and also train new models is going to be huge for a long time even as we see innovations come out of China and they will because we are forcing China to innovate. These two companies will still have a lot of white space to play in, so they'll make it up elsewhere over time. Near term though, there is, of course, that little bit of rerating on the stock. It was down, I think five or 6% on the news the day that they had their press release. Mary Long: There's another branch of this that I want to touch on. It plays less to the changing export rules story, but more to the geopolitical situation, trade war situation more broadly. CEO of AMD, Lisa Su announced that the company will be producing key processor units in the United States for the first time. Historically, AMD has relied on manufacturers like Taiwan Semiconductor to build its chips. Historically, TSMC's manufacturing has taken place in you guessed it, Taiwan. Now though, TSMC has a new production facility in Arizona in the US and so more manufacturing will be able to take place stateside. The timing of this announcement, it was pretty recent. The timing of it makes it very easy to assume that, this movement, this change, this is the result of President Trump's trade war and the recent push for American manufacturing. But in actuality, these plans have been in place for a long time. Let's put the tariff situation aside for a moment. Big hypothetical, but let's just do that for the sake of conversation. What does making its chips in America mean for AMD on a cost basis? Again, putting the larger ever changing tariff situation aside for the moment. Asit Sharma: I think it's a net positive on a cost basis. You would say glancing at this proposition how could it cost AMD less to have chips manufactured in the US versus Taiwan? Even though those chips have to be shipped over assembled in different components and pieces. Well, the answer is there's some opportunity cost here that plays into AMD's calculations. What if supply chains get disruptive? What if there's an earthquake in Taiwan which is a key risk that's always been there with TSMC. What if China invades Taiwan? That's always been a key risk. For AMD, on a long term basis for its supply, when it extrapolates costs of the chips themselves to its operating margin which you and I have been talking about, it makes sense to start having some of those chips made here. I think this is a big win for TSMC, because TSMC, for a long time itself didn't believe that it could be able to manufacture chips outside of Taiwan because they have such a specialised engineering workforce there. The Taiwanese, the engineers there, work incredible hours relative not just to the United States, but other parts of Asia. I mean, these are specialized engineers who work very hard and it's extremely complex to make this advanced chip packaging. But TSMC has surprised itself. It's branched out into South Korea, it's branched out into Japan. It's branched out into Germany. It's branched out into Arizona of all places, and they are looking to have smaller and smaller node processes out of that Arizona facility which is a boon for TSMC, but it's also a boon for AMD because then that cost proposition doesn't look so bad. If it's a little more expensive to make it here in the US, well, you'll take that trade if you're AMD. Look, in a tariffs world, it makes even more sense. I think Lisa Su is feeling pretty good about those commitments and the decision to try to bring some of that manufacturing here and participate with TSMC. As a shareholder, I'm all for it. Mary Long: We'll leave it there because Shocker Asit, I believe you and I are out of time, but always a pleasure. Thanks so much for shining a light on this company and how it exists in the ever changing geopolitical landscape. Asit Sharma: Thanks a lot for having me, Mary. Always happy to talk AMD. Ricky Mulvey: As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. While personal finance content follows Motley full editorial standards and are not approved by advertisers. Motley Fool only picks products that it would personally recommend to friends like you. I'm Ricky Mulvey. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.
Buzz Feed
a day ago
- General
- Buzz Feed
22 Extremely Kind, Loving Things Men Have Said To Women
Okay, even I, with my cold, cold heart, know rom-com material when I see it. So, when I came across this post on the popular Ask Reddit page, I had to check it out. In it, user Anxious-Guarantee111 asked, "Women, what has a man told you that touched your heart more than you let on?" and the answers are even better than you might think. Here are some of the best: "Whatever we are, I'm just glad I have you in my life. If you aren't in the future, this will be an amazing memory. If you are, I won't let you go." "Almost four years ago now, my best friend committed suicide. At the time, me and my current boyfriend had only just gotten into a relationship. I lost my mum when I was pretty young and I knew I was going to be mourning for a while. I gave him an out. Told him he didn't sign up for this and that there were no hard feelings and we could still be friends if he walked away." "He said to me that he did in fact sign up for this. He told me that when you commit to someone, supporting them when they're not at their best is in the small print of a relationship. He said he wasn't going anywhere." "That night, and many nights after it, he held me as I cried myself to sleep. He didn't expect me to be fixed overnight, he just gave me the time and space to heal." "'You can do it.' — my husband, when I was trying to decide whether or not I should go back to school at 40 when I lost my job due to COVID." "I made my boyfriend meet my whole family in one go, basically." "One of my best friends is a man; he's a physician. I got really sick a couple years ago, and I was in the ICU where he works." "My fiancé tells me I'm his best friend and favorite person." "'I feel like I can be myself with you.' I strive to find a relationship where we can both be that comfy and at home again." "'If you get hurt, I get hurt.' Something my father told me once that I remember." "'I still can't believe I'm with you, I'm the luckiest man in the world.' He said it at least once a week when we were together, big smile and eyes glowing. I still can't believe it's over." "We were talking about moving and making a place feel like home. Then he just said, 'It doesn't matter where, as long as you're there. You're my home.' It completely caught me off guard, I even teared up. I smiled for days after that." "'You are my daughter. That means my love for you is unconditional.'" "'I'll be on the next flight. You're not going through this alone.' — my fiancé after my dad passed." "I was at my brother's wedding. It was a great time, and I was feeling very good about how I looked. Things were going great, I was a little tipsy, my gown got caught on my heel and I fell right on my butt in front of the uncles' table. Not bad guys, just ones who will tease you about something for the rest of your life if they have something." "This is a dumb one but he told me unprompted that my carnitas are better than Chipotle's and I'm still floating from that." "I had a pretty traumatizing childhood and then teenage years and the effects are lingering still. My mum passed away suddenly when I was 13, then my dad basically drank himself to death last year; it's been a wild ride for sure." "He told me, 'You made me feel special' just because I couldn't wait to see him. The fact that something so simple was genuinely enough for him, and that I could tell no one had made him feel that way in a while, really moved me." "He told me he never knew what real love was before he met me. I was not his first girlfriend." "My boyfriend once said, 'I'm just here to make you smile. The rest is gravy.'" "The first time we had an issue between us, instead of blaming me and absolving himself of any wrongdoing, he immediately apologized, acknowledged what he did, and asked me what steps we needed to take to fix it. And I was just gobsmacked." And finally: "'I'll wait for you.'" If you're as dewy-eyed as I am, you might need to go put on Notting Hill or When Harry Met Sally. If you have your own similar romantic moment to share, feel free to do so in the comments! Or, check out this anonymous form. Who knows — your story could be part of a future BuzzFeed article! Please note: some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Motley Fool Analysts Check In on Chime Financial, RH, Adobe, and More
In this podcast, Motley Fool analysts Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger join host Ricky Mulvey to discuss: Macro uncertainty and market bullishness. A record amount of unsold housing stock in the United States. Chime Financial's IPO. Earnings from RH and Adobe. Two stocks worth watching:Chipotle and Whirlpool. Malcolm Ethridge, managing partner at Capital Area Planning Group and author of Financial Independence Doesn't Happen by Accident, drops by to chat about the state of cybersecurity and why investors may be a little too pessimistic about Apple's future. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center . When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy . A full transcript is below. Before you buy stock in Chipotle Mexican Grill, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Chipotle Mexican Grill wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $660,821!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $886,880!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 791% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 174% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 This podcast was recorded on June 13, 2025. Advertisement: Forgot your wallet. No problem. With Samsung Wallet, everything you need is already on your phone. Store your loyalty cards, earn rewards when you spend, and keep your travels smooth with boarding passes and train tickets ready to go. You can even tap in on public transport. No unlocking, no digging around. And yes, your payment cards can live here, too, safely stored and ready when you need them. Travel light, live smart. Set up Samsung Wallet today. Ricky Mulvey: ... It's The Motley Fool Money Radio Show. I'm Ricky Mulvey joining me on the Internet today are Motley Fool senior analysts Matt Argersinger and Jason Moser. Great to have you both here. Matt Argersinger: Ricky. Jason Moser: What's going on? Ricky Mulvey: Big news is going on. Last night, Israel struck Iran's nuclear sites and military leadership. These moves have created big questions that go beyond the scope of the content premise of this show. Like, what will retaliation look like? What does this mean for America? I want to set aside the business part because there are parts of history that exist in punctuated equilibrium. Last night was a stark reminder that our peace in the world, in America, should not be taken for granted. Before we get to the show, I'll start with Moser. Jason, any broad reflections about what's going on? Jason Moser: It's obviously not good news. It does sound like it's something that could be somewhat protracted. We've seen retaliation already from Iran, and from what I was reading, it sounds like Israel had essentially planned out 14 days of operations to ultimately accomplish their goals. Let's hope that it's not something that continues to escalate. It will lead to continued uncertainty, obviously, beyond the markets, just around the world, particularly when you consider our role here in the US in regard to all of this. Now they're saying we don't really have a role in this, but at the same time, they're saying, well, we knew it was going to happen. It just gets into a back and forth that is you just hate to see it. From an investing perspective, no surprise we've seen oil prices pop on this news. We're seeing, interestingly, a flight to the dollar, I think. Maybe the dollars still got a little bit of a reputation there. I know there were some concerns recently, and then I think your obvious winners, weapons manufacturers, government contractors, whatnot. They have seen a little bit of a boost from this. But it definitely makes you think of things beyond just investing, and it's really sad to hear. Ricky Mulvey: Matt, anything you want to add or we can keep it moving to the content promise of this show. Matt Argersinger: I'll just say, as investors, I think we yearn for certainty in an uncertain world, and this is just a reminder that there's so much out of our control and so much uncertainty, as Jason said, and that is one of the things you have to live with if you're an investor and a citizen of this world. Ricky Mulvey: Let's move to the business side. There is uncertainty. That's the key theme, trade uncertainty, geopolitical uncertainty, uncertainty about the job market and artificial intelligence, and yet, Matt, the Standard and Poor's 500 is still within spitting distance of all time highs. What's that say about the market to you? Matt Argersinger: I know. It is remarkable that we're so close to you all time highs, and we have all this trade uncertainty still. We have a new one, but we have, multiple large scale conflicts now around the world that could escalate that we don't have an end time for. Treasury yields, interest rates are still at multi-year, if not multi-decade highs. That, to me, just doesn't feel like a stock market that should be within two or three percentage points of an all time high. We can go through the positives, too, as well, though. You do have a strong labor market, we have consumer spending that keeps holding up for the most part, and the AI revolution. We have all this massive amounts of tech spending that's going to change the world hopefully in a positive way. But, Ricky, the market backdrop could not look worse for me as an investor right now, and I guess I'm just amazed by the market's resiliency and Friday's sell off notwithstanding. Ricky Mulvey: Jason, I can't tell if you were shaking your head because you just really disagreed with what Matt Argersinger had to say, or if it was because dogs were barking in the background. Jason Moser: It's the latter. I think Matty said did a lot of good things there. It does feel like we shouldn't maybe be in such a good position in regard to the markets, given the macro backdrop, given what has developed here over the last 24 hours. But I guess when you look at it at its core, we continue to see strong corporate earnings, and that's obviously very encouraging. The economy, we were talking about this last week, it is still ultimately fairly resilient. I think the most recent jobs report number is starting to create a little bit more of a belief that we will see the Fed jump in there and start cutting rates in the back half of the year. If that happens, obviously, that frees up some capital with lower rates, and maybe we see more money moving around that way and housing. But the AI conversation continues to dominate. There's just a lot of enthusiasm out there right now. I'm not complaining, but it doesn't feel like it quite squares up. I agree. Ricky Mulvey: Let's move from big macro to big real estate. Matt, since you're the real estate guy, I need you to explain this to me. It's a Redfin report saying that US home sellers are sitting on $700 billion worth of listings. That's up 20% a year ago and an all time high. Another Redfin analysis found that there are nearly half-a-million more home sellers than buyers in today's housing market. What's going on behind these numbers? Matt Argersinger: Well, can you explain it to me, because I don't quite get it either. Ricky Mulvey: You're the analyst. I'm the host. Matt Argersinger: I know. Well, what happened to those golden handcuffs that we thought homeowners had to their low fixed mortgages or the fact that inventory has been so stubbornly low for years. What happened to all that? You mentioned it. We're seeing all time high value of listings, according to Redfin, and that data goes back to 2012, and the number of homes for sale on the market is up 17% year over year, and that is at a five year high. At the same time, houses are sitting on the market for longer. Three hundred and thirty billion. Almost half the number you mentioned of home values have been sitting on the market for 60 days or longer. What does that say about demand? We've assumed that demand has always been the strong factor here, and it's the supply that's lacking. But I think there are a few things going on. People may be trying to move Ricky, like you suggested, but I don't think they're in a rush. Like, if you look at the median US home sales price, it's up 1.4% year over year. So I think a few things. Sellers want to sell but they're not willing to cut the price, at least enough to really move inventory. Second, that contributes to this affordability issue we've been having, especially for younger first time home buyers who have sticker shock. When you compare the monthly rent for an apartment in most markets and compare that to what it costs to buy a home in most markets, the spread is hundreds of dollars, if not thousands of dollars in some cases, so it's much more expensive to buy than rent. The housing supply might be getting unstuck, but maybe now we actually need to start focusing more on the demand side. If mortgage rates don't come down or sellers aren't willing to cut the price, we might still have this mismatch in supply and demand. It's just the opposite side than what we thought. Ricky Mulvey: Well, in a non cheeky response, I'm in Denver, Colorado, and it makes a tremendous amount of sense to rent versus buy for me, my personal situation in this market, and I think you keyed in on it there, which is, this is all about price. Yes, sellers can want to sell, but unless you really want to sell, you need to cut the price. Until sellers are willing to do that, this is a simple supply and demand game that's not going to go back and balance. Matt, more of a personal finance question, if you are a home buyer right now, you're not used to being in a buyer's market. So for someone looking for a home, listening to the show, any advice to them right now. Matt Argersinger: I would say to potential homebuyers, stay patient. Keep paying that relatively cheaper rent and saving for that down payment because I do think eventually something breaks your way. Either mortgage rates come down at some point soon or sellers finally start cutting prices, maybe by the end of this year, enough to move inventory. I think the power is getting on the side of the buyer. You just might have to be a little more patient. Ricky Mulvey: Up next, we're looking at big tech earnings. In IPO, yes, IPO's your back. Stay right here. You're listening to Motley Fool Money. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ricky Mulvey here with Matt Argersinger and Jason Moser. Fools, we had a big IPO this week. I can't remember the last time that happened, but also the Internet has atrophied my attention span and memory. But let's talk about the one that happened, and that is Chime, Jason. This is a company that offers banking services, but is importantly not a bank. Don't call it a bank. They do high yield savings. They do some interest-free payday loans. The stock rose 37% on its first trading day. Seems like investors are excited about the IPOs again. Jason Moser: I guess that is the case. In the first quarter of 2025, we definitely saw an increase in the number of deals. There's some reports that showed 55-76% year over year rise here in the US, and total proceeds from these offerings also increased. There is this feeling that private equity firms are looking to start divesting some holdings, which ultimately leads to more IPO activity. I think we could see in the back half of 2025 and going into 2026, I think we'll continue to see this modest enthusiasm in getting IPOs coming back to public market. We have some companies to look forward to out there. I think Stripe is a big name that folks are paying attention to. Klarna is one. They've put it on hold for now. But I think with Chime, I think the one thing to keep in mind is, remember, this IPO and you got the company value today at 10, 11, $12 billion. That's down from, like, it was a valuation of $25 billion at their last fundraise in 2021. That valuation has certainly come down, which is just, I think, something to pay attention to. Ricky Mulvey: Modest enthusiasm is the key theme that I think we should dig into. I really like that phrase, Jason. When you look at the business of Chime, the fundamentals, this is a company that handled $121 billion in transactions over the year before it went public, 8.6 million active users. When you look at the financials on the S1, you can see that nice trend line as this business scales closer to operating profitability. I know you don't like to jump into an IPO. You're patient. You like to wait and see what's happening. But the business itself here, is this interesting to you? Jason Moser: It could be. I think FinTech certainly is a fun space to follow. As you noted, this is not a bank. It partners with a couple of banks in order to be able to provide these services, the Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank. There is the FDIC angle there, which is encouraging. I think the one thing to keep an eye on with this business is the way it makes its money, ultimately, makes most of its money just through card interchange processing fees. Essentially, it's a card company. On the one hand, there's an interesting growth profile here that could be in play. Again, looking at that valuation, how far it's come down from 2021, you do have to start asking yourself in regard to the growth prospects there. The flip side, if you're looking for a payments company that's making its money off of card swipe fees, well, you got Visa and Mastercard out there right now, and those companies have just really been lighting it up here lately. There are a lot of qualities that I think make this a compelling business to follow. You got co-founder, Chris Britt, the CEO of the company and Ryan King, another co-founder who's a director. They're still with the company, as well so you have that skin in the game, which is always an attention getter. It's definitely one that I'll be paying attention to in the coming quarters, but you're right, Ricky. I think investors likely should exercise patience here and let's see exactly how they behave as a publicly traded company. Ricky Mulvey: For newer listeners, Jason did something there that you should do anytime you're looking at a new company, and that's key in on the fundamental value drivers. How does this business make money? How does this business make more money? In the case of Chime, it is those processing fees, something that you want to pay attention to. Let's get into the earnings rundown, and we will start Matt with RH. This is the aspirationally priced furniture retailer that sells inside of stores that occasionally look like Scooby Doo mansions. But the important part is that the company reported a surprise profit, and the stock jumped 20% this morning. What do you see in the results? Matt Argersinger: Well, a few things, Ricky. It was a good report, and a shout out to CEO Gary Friedman, who I think is the only CEO that can quote Pablo Picasso, Warren Buffett and Teddy Roosevelt in the same shareholder letter. [laughs] Y'all love that, but a few things. They maintain their full year guidance, as well, which is something few, I'd say, consumer facing companies have done this earning season, so that's good. One thing I am a little bit worried about, revenue grew 12% year over year. Nice growth there, but inventories up 26% year over year. Now, they've opened some big galleries over the past year, they're opening more. That explains some of the inventory build, but generally, you don't want inventories to grow so much faster than revenue over time, that can lead to trouble. They did, however, generate nice free cash flow, 34 million of free cash flow in the quarter versus a loss of 10 million a year ago. The business is sound, and the profit was nice to see for the quarter. Ricky Mulvey: When you look at Friedman's commentary, I think when he was talking about tariffs, is that when he uses the Pablo Picasso quote of every act of creation starts with an act of destruction. What a mind behind RH? But you mentioned tariffs, a slow housing market. RH is still predicting double digit sales growth. We've talked about the slowing housing market. What's that say to you about RH? What's that say to you about the economy? Matt Argersinger: I think it says to me that RH and we know this is a very unique company. It's an outlier in its space. I don't think I can glean any big insights about the economy. I think it's an outlier brand. It's aspirational. It's got a very loyal member base of buyers, and so I don't think it gives you many clues about the economy, but it does tell me that RH's business is very sound and that it's holding up very well in a lot of uncertainty. Ricky Mulvey: For newer investors, this is a letter that I would encourage you to read because Gary Friedman is a wonderful writer. It's actually a fun read, and it is also a time for you to exercise your skepticism radar. Here's a part that got my skepticism radar going, Matt. It's when he said, "Our debt is reflective of a washtub bet on ourselves. We repurchased 60% of our outstanding shares that greatly benefited our long term shareholders post the publishing of Mr. Buffett's letter in 2016-2017. He goes on to say that he makes these big repurchases when he believes the stock is undervalued. Then here's the key part. In addition, we believe another washtub bet is to play offense in the current environment by increasing our membership discount from 25% to 30%." Wait, what? You just went from repurchasing more than half of your existing shares to talking about a 5% increase for a membership discount. What is this guy saying, Matt? Matt Argersinger: He's unconventional. That's what he's saying. I have to say, when you take on a lot of debt to buy back stock, and their net debt, by the way, is almost twice where it was before the pandemic, you better be right about the business. Friedman's making a big bet on its business. Like you said, they've got a lot of real estate, they've got assets, they got inventories, a nice quarter of free cash flow. The debt right now is probably pretty manageable. Just watch out if the business falls off, though. Ricky Mulvey: The membership discounts going up 5%. We'll also call that a washtub bet. Let's quickly move on to Adobe earnings. J Mo, Adobe reported yesterday. This is a rare bird that is actually raising guidance right now. What did you find in the results? Jason Moser: I think the results were better than the market would have you believe today, stock down a little bit after the report. There seemed to be at least some minor questions regarding deceleration in subscription growth and remaining performance obligation growth into the back half of the year in quarter 4 in particular, but as you noted, they raised guidance all the way around, which is very encouraging, and the quarter was a good one. Revenue was up 11%. They saw earnings per share, $5.06 in raising the guidance, I think that's really encouraging. They raised a midpoint of $20.60 per share, which puts shares now at around 19 times full year estimates. They're going to grow earnings this year about 12% from a year ago. That multiple makes sense. That multiple sounds low for a business that has historically commanded a higher valuation, but that's ultimately why that is. Then you just have to ask yourself the question, is this company going to be able to continue to grow? Ricky Mulvey: The big question about the growth is AI. What does AI mean for Adobe? Can creators get to good enough with free and other tools? Adobe's response seems to be, if you want the best tools, you still come to Adobe. We have this product called Firefly where first time subscribers to Adobe grew by 30%. Are you buying that explanation from Adobe? Jason Moser: To a degree, yes. There are a lot of tools out there, and Adobe is considered to be one of the leaders in the space, but there's no question it's competitive position is under more attack today. We're seeing encouraging numbers with things like Firefly, like you mentioned, and how it's bringing AI into its portfolio. I just think the question really is, is this a business where AI makes it better or is this a business where AI displaces it? I think it's the former, but again, we're going to have to see the numbers, and that'll tell the tale here in the coming quarters. Ricky Mulvey: We're going to see J Mo and Matt a little later, but up next, we're taking a look at cybersecurity with Malcolm Ethridge. You're listening to Motley Fool Money. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ricky Mulvey. Malcolm Ethridge is a Managing Partner at Capital Area Planning Group, a boutique financial planning and investment management firm. He's also the author of Financial Independence Doesn't Happen by Accident. Ethridge caught up with me earlier this week to chat about the state of cybersecurity and why investors may be a little too pessimistic about Apple's future. Malcolm, an underdiscussed story that you brought to my attention is that virtually all the top officials at the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency have departed the agency or will do so in this month. That was according to an email obtained by Cybersecurity Dive. The latest spending bill that's going around slashes the budget for this agency by about $500 million. It currently spends about $3 billion a year. This is all new to me. What is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency? What does this mean for the cybersecurity companies you follow? Malcolm Ethridge: It's really one of those things that we as American citizens don't really want to have to know that it exists. Frankly, I probably hear more about it and talk more about it just because in my day job, running a wealth management firm, a lot of the clients that we work with happen to be executive level folks at some of the most important, largest companies in cybersecurity. As I'm having dinners, playing golf, whatever, casual conversation, these things tend to come up. The way to think about CISA, though, is they are the foremost or the most important cybersecurity agency within the US government structure. The DOD is the largest that people would typically think about, but CISA runs the show. They coordinate with companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, and share information back and forth to make sure that each other is aware of bigger threats that are coming at us from state agencies, more specifically our adversarial countries that actually sponsor a lot of this cyber warfare that happens. Ricky Mulvey: This overall bill actually does add spending. It adds deficit spending, but there are some cuts going on. This is one of them. Are there any companies you think in this zone, in the cybersecurity area that are particularly prone if there are federal spending cuts to cybersecurity? Malcolm Ethridge: Well, so one of the things that I think is interesting, I started investing in stand-alone cybersecurity companies about three years ago. Started making a case publicly about this on shows like MFM and others about the opportunity to invest in these companies. One of the reasons that I made that case was because at the time, the Biden administration had about $13 billion set aside for cyber defense. There was talk about the importance of increasing that number, which meant that any stand-alone cyber firm that existed at the time, was going to be bidding for contracts to help defend the different US agencies because all of our infrastructure, as you can imagine, is just years and years behind where it should be. When I say our, I mean the countries. The DOD specifically was leading the charge along with CISA, trying to get to what's called the zero trust environment, which is the standard today as far as how we're supposed to interact with our technology inside of an entity. All of the different stand-alone companies or cyber arcs, Fortinets, all the smaller ones in addition to Palo Alto, CrowdStrike, Zscaler, names like that were looking to be bidding on those bigger contracts, and that was how they were going to grow top line revenue. It just so happens that Palo Alto Networks is one of the largest suppliers of those services to the government today, and the government deciding at least showing its hand with what's happening with CISA, which I should assume means that that's going to be their stance with all the other agencies with future bills. The fact that they're reducing that expected spending at a time when they should be ramping up how much they plan to spend, means that you have to investigate a little bit closer or listen to the earnings calls a little closer for some of these companies. I've even heard as recently Zscaler's call, I'll use them as an example. They spent a decent amount of time talking about how much of their business does not come from the government, just to say to potential shareholders, nothing to worry about over here. Ricky Mulvey: A lot of these cybersecurities, at this time of federal spending uncertainty, there is a lot of excitement about what artificial intelligence means for the needs for cybersecurity as spoofing becomes easier. Spearfishing, we're talking before we started recording about how it just becomes immensely easier for adversaries to fool companies and people. I think that's one of the reasons you're seeing a lot of these companies, including Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, CrowdStrike, at or near all time highs. It's a lot of that excitement around artificial intelligence or maybe not excitement, but recognition of the need for cybersecurity spending, but I know you've become more bearish on this space. Do you think there's something that investors are missing with that story? Malcolm Ethridge: Well, I'm not necessarily bearish on the space. I'm hesitant to cast such a wide net and say anything calling itself AI security, cybersecurity with an AI tilt, we should throw money at it without really investigating. If you think about just not that long ago, anything online calling itself ABC company .IoT, Internet of Things, was automatically a thing that investors were throwing money at cause that was the new wave. That was where we were going as far as technology is concerned. Then 2022, maybe, anything .ai, all of a sudden investors are just throwing money at it. I hear stories of people who are doing Control F and doing ChatGPT searches for how many times did this company mention AI on the earnings call? That's the thing that they're using to determine whether they should invest in this company or not. When we hear companies talk about using AI in their cyber defense capability, that doesn't necessarily mean much of anything. When we talk about what AI has allowed bad actors to be able to do, there's this new thing called a zero click attack which basically is a text message that comes to you or an email that comes to you that you don't even have to interact with it the way you do with a phishing scam. You don't need to click on a bad link. The fact that you opened it and it's in your environment, it now can talk to the AI agent inside of whatever that device is. If Siri was a little bit smarter, it would be vulnerable to this. Maybe Apple is at an advantage by being at a disadvantage with their AI component so far, but Microsoft Copilot is an example. Every one of the large language models has their own version of a Copilot, which is vulnerable to these types of zero click attacks because the AI is the thing that's acting as if it's you coming into the environment and telling it, give me access to this information because I am Malcolm. Give me access to this set of data and then share it with Ricky because I am Malcolm, and I normally will share that information with. That's what we have to be concerned about and guard against. That is what a lot of these cyber companies are using AI to help defend against, but not everybody. Just because the CEO gets on the earnings call and says, AI or we've struck a new partnership with XYZ company doesn't necessarily mean that that's where your dollars as an investor should go. Ricky Mulvey: In cybersecurity, where are your dollars as an investor going? Have they changed? Malcolm Ethridge: Right now, the only two companies that I own as a direct cyber investment are CrowdStrike and Zscaler. The reason being one, I do believe that when it comes to AI, those two companies are leading the charge as far as being able to build to meet that, AI-enabled bad actor who can run these attacks at scale. But separately from that, I like the flex model that both of them have adopted, which both CEOs say was born out of a request from their core customers. Hey, we don't want to have to go through a procurement process over again from scratch. Each time you want to add an additional module that you have to offer. It's a pain in the butt. Can you give us a way to flexibly move between one product and another on your platform? Both companies said, hey, listen, sounds reasonable. Let's throw some capital at figuring out how to solve it. Both have rolled those flex models out very recently, ZFlex and Falcon Flex, I think, is what they both call them, respectively. I think that's a place where both companies will grow their annually recurring revenue, which is the core target financially that they are telling shareholders to focus on. That is a story I can buy into and I love. I sold out of CIBR, the First Trust Cybersecurity ETF, recently because I noticed that the underlying holdings inside of that ETF are no longer cybersecurity-focused the way you'd want them to be. The top five holdings in there were CrowdStrike and Palo Alto. Yes, but also, AVGO is that Broadcom is the Number 1 holding. At a 9-10% weighting, depending on which day you look at it. Also, Infosys also Cisco. These are companies that, yes, they tangentially have an AI component. They have exposure to AI and by mandate, this particular ETF doesn't require the majority or all of your revenues to come from cybersecurity-related activities. It just has to be one of your service offerings. But because of the way it's structured and the growth that has happened in legacy tech or old tech, whatever you want to call it, that's really gotten the holdings inside of that ETF out of whack. If you're looking for something like a pure play, something like BUG is probably a better way to play it. But then you're investing directly into small caps and that might not be where every investor wants to be. All that to say, I've decided rather than go the ETF route today, I've pivoted to just owning the two lead horses in the race and then I'll figure it out from there. Ricky Mulvey: A good reminder for people to check under the hood when they buy an ETF because the headline might not always be what you're getting. For me, that's something that's attractive as an ETF for cybersecurity, especially, this is a space that I know I'm less knowledgeable about. It's hard for me to parse through the earnings calls and say, so is this one the best at using AI agents or do I want zero trust or do I want a holistic approach, like CrowdStrike? That's been to my detriment since a lot of these companies have done fabulously well. One other story I wanted to hit with you is Apple. They just had their developer day. We got liquid glass and it was a lot about the user experience, but what did you think of Developer Day where Apple's at right now? Malcolm Ethridge: Apple is in a tough spot in the sense that we as investors are looking to them and saying, what's next. You listen to Mark Zuckerberg over at Meta talk about what's next, and it sounds fascinating. Or you listen to some of the smart folks over at Alphabet talk about what's next, and it's fascinating. You see these new partnerships that are being struck with Open AI and all the different companies that they've either committed to acquiring or partner with. You look around and you say, well, where's Apple. Apple is usually one of the loudest voices in one of the trendsetters, if you will. We as consumers, don't really have a consumer facing AI tool yet that satisfies that. Most of what we've done with AI so far for the last three years, since ChatGPT hit the scene, has been at the enterprise level. It's a workplace tool. For Apple, maybe the liquid glass reconstruction is meant to mirror what the vision goggles will show you and there's a goal to tie those in together because we've been told a few times by some futurists in the space out of Silicon Valley that the physical device is no longer going to be the way that we interact with apps 5-10 years from now. Maybe for Apple, this is a bridge to get you used to the interface of the liquid glass, and then everybody will put on the headset and feel less out of place. Maybe, I don't know. I don't know anybody internally on that team who's told me anything. But in the meantime, investors are looking and going, but that's not exciting to me today. That's not enough of a reason for consumers to line up outside of an Apple store the way they were in 2007. To say, I've got to have that next device. However many iPhone owners there are in that number that are supposed to be upgrading all at once and what they refer to as super upgrade cycle, that hasn't come to fruition because Apple Intelligence wasn't really what we were told it was going to be. I personally got the iPhone 16 only because I was holding a brick of an iPhone 8 or SE or whatever it was and I literally needed a new phone. But for most people, they looked at it and went, so for Apple, they really need to be able to tell a compelling story about how they're going to participate in the next leg of AI enabled smartphone device interaction, whether it's the MacBook or the iPad or the watch or anything else. They haven't yet. But I personally have gotten to a place where I feel like we've been saying that about Apple for the last two years. We saw with "Liberation Day," when tariffs were enacted, the freak out moment there, we saw, as the president of the United States was attacking the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook on Twitter, what happened to the shares there. We saw at last year's WWDC, where everyone was underwhelmed. Then, again, this year, all that taken together and the lack of movement in the share price in one direction or another. Leads me to believe we've reached peak pessimism on Apple shares. I, as an investor, actually just added to my position in the company earlier today before we recorded. That's why I'm allowed to share it with you without violating our trading rules. But I think, personally, this is about where we go as far as Apple shares are concerned, because all the bad news is out there, and investors still seem to be sticking with it and giving Apple the benefit of the doubt based on what they've been able to do for the last 20 years. Ricky Mulvey: Perhaps an underappreciated capital allocation story. They've been aggressively taking shares off the market, and they still, I think, have a $100 billion buyback plan. Good place to end it. Malcolm Ethridge, appreciate your time and insight. Thanks for joining us on Motley Fool Money. As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about in the Motley Fool, may have formal recommendations for or against, don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. Our personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and are not approved by advertisers, advertising or sponsored content, provided for informational purposes only. See our full advertising disclosure. Please check out the notes in our podcast description. Up next, radar stocks, you're listening to Motley Fool Money.[MUSIC]. Ava Liu: Hi. This is Ava from Vanta. In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly and earning customer trust has never mattered more. Vanta helps companies get compliant, fast and stay secure, with the most advanced AI automation and continuous monitoring out there. Whether you're start-up going for your first SOC 2 or ISO 27,001, we are growing enterprise managing vendor risk, Vanta makes it quick, easy, and scalable. I'm not to say that cause I work here. Get started today at Ricky Mulvey: Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ricky Mulvey, joined by Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger. It is time for radar stocks. Each week, our analysts pick a stock catching their attention, not just because they think it will go up or not only because it could be catching their attention for a variety of reasons. Our man behind the glass, Dan Boyd, will hit them with a question, concern or a backhanded compliment. We'll go with J. Mos first what you got this week. Jason Moser: Taking a look at Chipotle, CMG is the ticker and this is a stock I've owned for many, years and I anticipate owning for many more years to come, primarily because I like the food, but it's also a very well-run business. To that end, though, stock has had a lackluster to date, down about 15%, as we've got new leadership in place there. We don't see it all that often when they announce a new offering at Chipotle. It's every once in a while, but it's worth noting when they do it. I thought this was interesting news. They're bringing a new dip to its menu, an Adobbo ranch, Ricky. It's the first new dip since the company introduced its Queso Blanco and it will be available starting on June 17. I think it's just going to be something to watch and see how it's received. Typically, when they bring something new to the market, it's usually well-received because it's backed by a lot of data. They're not batting 1,000, but pretty darn close. Now, I'm not much of a ranch guy myself, so I'm probably not going to be trying this, but I do know that people love them some ranch. I think, like I said, new leadership there in CEO Scott Boat. He's got some big shoes to fill, taking over for Brian Nichol, and bringing new things to market that sell are going to be very important. This will be an early litmus test, I think. Ricky Mulvey: Dan, question about Chipotle it's ranch offerings or a comment about Jason Moser's pronunciation of Queso Blanco. No comment there, Ricky, I am a Chipotle shareholder and it's done very well for me, but I'll go on record and say that ranch is terrible and people that have to dunk all their food and ranch have the palate of children and should be ashamed of themselves. I mean, power ranking of condiments, there is Ketchup number one, maybe a good mustard, nice relish on a hot dog. Ranch can be there, and it doesn't have to be for everything and every time. But, Jason, it is a nice offering when you go to Chipotle. Let's go to Matt before we get too deep into the argument. Matt Argersinger, what you got this week? Matt Argersinger: Ricky, I'm going with Whirlpool. Ticker, WHR obviously leading appliance maker here in the US. Earlier this week, the Commerce Department announced that increased steel tariffs would also apply to consumer appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators and washing machines. Guess who makes a lot of those here in the US? Under the new rule, imported home products will be taxed an additional 50% depending on how much steel they contain. US manufacturers like Whirlpool have long complained that Chinese and other foreign-made appliances have avoided tariffs on their products, which are often made with relatively inexpensive parts and cheap labor, making Whirlpool's products less competitive. This is a positive development if you're a Whirlpool shareholder. Ricky Mulvey: Dan, you were talking trash about this company before we started recording, but any questions or snarky remarks about Whirlpool? Dan Boyd: Well, I want to be honest with the listeners here, Ricky. When Matt brought this up as his radar stock today, I thought it was a hot tub company and I was about to disparage it because, come on, who's buying hot tubs in 2025? But now that he's mentioned that, it doesn't make hot tubs. It actually makes important home pipes. Maybe I'm thinking it's a good bet. Jason Moser: Eight percent yield, 8% dividend yield, roughly. Ricky Mulvey: That's good to watch for the dividend investor, Dan Boyd. What's going on your watch list this week? Dan Boyd: Well, I'm already a Chipotle shareholder, and I'm very happy with them. I'll go with Rupple. Ricky Mulvey: A twist. That's going to do it for this week's Motley Fool Money Radio show. I'm Ricky Mulvey. That's Jason Moser. Matt Argersinger. Shows mixed by Dan Boyd. Thanks for listening. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Dan Boyd has positions in Amazon and Chipotle Mexican Grill. Jason Moser has positions in Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon, Block, and Chipotle Mexican Grill. Matthew Argersinger has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Block, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Redfin, and Whirlpool and has the following options: short September 2025 $90 puts on Whirlpool. Ricky Mulvey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Block, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Cisco Systems, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and Zscaler. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom, Palo Alto Networks, RH, Redfin, and Whirlpool and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft, and short June 2025 $55 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Motley Fool Analysts Check In on Chime Financial, RH, Adobe, and More was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Chipotle rival releases unexpected new menu item on the same day
Choosing between a burrito and a burrito bowl is already difficult enough, but when two restaurant chains offer very similar options, making a choice becomes almost impossible. Chipotle needs no introduction, but to those who may not know, it's a fast-casual restaurant chain whose food is inspired by Mexican flavors. It's known for its food bar, which allows customers to customize burritos, bowls, tacos, quesadillas, and salads however they desire. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter The Mexican chain was established in 1993. Since then, it has gained a massive clientele and grown to nearly 3,800 restaurants worldwide. Two years later, Qdoba was founded, which is also a fast-casual Mexican food chain with a menu and concept similar to Chipotle's. However, its footprint is much smaller, with over 750 locations in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Related: Chipotle offers a wild new deal, but only for some customers After over 30 years in business, Qdoba decided to kick off a major expansion plan this year by closing multiple new franchise development agreements to expand its footprint in key U.S. markets. Since then, a battle between the two Mexican chains has ignited. On its website, Qdoba emphasizes that premium toppings like its queso and guacamole can be added to any entree at no extra charge. This seems like a slight shade to Chipotle (CMG) since it has experienced some backlash over the last few months for allegedly reducing its portion sizes and adding surcharges for items it used to offer at no extra cost, like double meat and a side tortilla. Related: Chipotle CEO sounds alarm on concerning customer behavior Chipotle recently revealed it is opening new locations in Mexico, a market Qdoba has yet to reach, and will soon replace a former Qdoba location in Raleigh, North Carolina. These strategic moves might be pure coincidence. However, this latest incident could prove the rivalry between the two chains to be true. On June 17, Qdoba launched the new Habanero Lime Steak, which consists of grilled steak tossed in fiery habanero sauce, lime juice, and fresh cilantro. This latest protein addition can be added to bowls and burritos and customized with any toppings desired. The new Habanero Lime Steak is available for a limited time. It can be ordered in stores, online, or via the Qdoba app at participating locations in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. However, that's not the only new menu item launching that day. More Food News: Portillo's has major news for breakfast fans this summerHershey creates new guilt-free candy that's a dream comboMcDonald's menu adds new happy meal fans will love Chipotle announced the release of the new Adobo Ranch a week prior, marking its first new dip in five years. This latest menu addition also launches on the same day as Qdoba's at all locations nationwide. These latest incidents could be serendipitous, but the timing is definitely suspicious. Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
