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Today's big stories

Disney’s stock rose after reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings
There are four good reasons you might not be too late to profit from bitcoin – Read Now
The UK economy shrank by the most in 300 years, and things will probably get worse before they get better

Magical Kingdom

What’s Going On Here?

Disney’s stock really is the happiest place on Earth: the entertainment giant reported better-than-expected earnings late on Thursday, and investors initially pushed its stock up on Friday.

What Does This Mean?

Investors’ main focus last week seemed to be on Disney+ and its expectation-busting 95 million subscribers. But the streaming service isn’t actually that important to Disney’s bottom line: its subscription income only accounts for 7% of Disney’s total revenue, and it’s still losing more money than it makes.

The bigger stories were Disney’s other direct-to-consumer businesses – ESPN and Hulu – and its long-standing television network operation. The success of those segments offset losses from its theme park business, whose sales more than halved last quarter – and brought a $120 million loss with it.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Investors are paying for what they didn’t know.
The initial 1% rise in Disney’s stock was subtle but significant. See, the company’s share price theoretically painted a pretty accurate picture of what investors were expecting to see. But analysts hadn’t banked on so many new Disney+ subscribers, or how effectively the company’s savvy cost-cuts would keep its theme park losses in check. The latter’s even set Disney up for a bigger-than-expected jump in profit when its parks are fully up and running, which might’ve been why investors sent Disney’s shares higher on Friday.

The bigger picture: There’s plenty of room on the screen.
The average American household has three video-streaming subscriptions, and Disney+ and Netflix are at the top of the leaderboard: the former boasted seven of the top ten movies streamed last year, while the latter held the top spot for TV shows. That suggests there’s room for both of them to earn screen time – as long as Disney+’s planned price hikes aren’t too much of a turn-off.

You might also like: How to choose between Disney and Netflix.

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2. Analyst Take

Is It Too Late To Buy Bitcoin?

What’s Going On Here?

With bitcoin prices now nearly five times higher than they were a year ago, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re too late to join the party.

But in the grand scheme of things, you might still turn out to be one of the cryptocurrency’s early adopters.

See, buying bitcoin isn’t such a speculative play any more: it could offer realistic solutions to important problems, like high inflation, currency devaluation, and payment settlements.

That might be why Elon’s all in: Tesla announced last week it’d be investing in the cryptocurrency and accepting it as a form of payment.

And the world’s biggest investors, for their part, have only just started to recognize its long-term potential.

So today’s Insight is simple: four reasons bitcoin still makes a good investment.

Read or listen to the Insight here

Raise a glass to Bright Cellars

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Rule Sh*tannia

What’s Going On Here?

Fresh data out on Friday showed the UK set a dire record last year: the country's economy shrank by the most in over 300 years.

What Does This Mean?

Economic growth data isn’t perfect: it’s a lagging measure, so it arrives too late to make much difference to investors’ forecasts. But it is useful to lay bare the pandemic’s effects around the world, from the US economy’s 4% shrinkage last year to the eurozone’s 7% – and now the UK’s 10%. Still, the Bank of England’s not wallowing in self-pity: its chief economist reckons the UK could surprise most forecasters and announce annual growth of 10% or more by this time next year (tweet this).

Why Should I Care?

For markets: There’s good news and there’s bad news.
On the positive side, the UK economy unexpectedly grew by 1% last quarter compared to the one before. That was mostly down to plenty of government spending, as well as the boost the hospitality industry earned from relaxed restrictions around Christmas. But that wasn’t enough to rescue the year as a whole, and hopes aren’t high for this quarter either: between a still-rampant health crisis, a potential post-Brexit collapse in exports, and new strains on the country’s financial services sector, most economists think the UK economy will shrink yet again.

Zooming in: There’s opportunity in a crisis.
The UK does have a couple of things going for it: the country’s ahead of the curve in its vaccine rollout, and a big rise in the household savings rate suggests there’s cash just waiting to be spent. Both factors could set Britain up for a robust recovery, and it could be its beaten-up services sector – which accounts for 80% of the country’s economy – that stands to benefit the most. That benefit should show up on certain companies’ bottom lines, and they might see their long-ignored shares suddenly back in fashion.

You might also like: The UK stocks set to benefit the most.

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💬 Quote of the day

“I don’t want to be a master. When I’m learning something, I’m in my element.”

– Chick Corea (an American jazz composer, who died last week)

Tweet this

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🌎 Finimize Community

🎮 No n00bs here

Gone are the days when sitting around playing video games was an unproductive pursuit: there’s big money in gaming these days – and especially in arena-filling eSports events. And who better to show you how you can make the most of the industry’s growth than head of product at VanEck, whose gaming and eSports ETF just topped $1 billion in assets under management…

🍃 The Biggest ESG Trends Of 2021: 6pm UK Time, February 16th
🎈 Navigating a Stock Market Bubble: 1pm UK Time, February 17th
👦 The Millennial Effect: 6pm UK Time, February 17th
🎮 The Boom in eSports ETFs: 6pm UK Time, February 22nd
♻️ The Path to Carbon Neutrality: 6pm UK Time, February 23rd
🚀 Unstoppable Investing Trends: 6.30pm UK Time, February 24th
🤔 How to Diversify your Portfolio: 6pm India Time, February 24th
🌱 The Science Of Sustainable Investing: 4pm UK Time, February 25th
🙋 Investing in Women: 6pm UK Time, February 25th
🌈 Financial Planning for the LGBTQ Community: 2pm NYC Time, February 26th
💪 Q&A with Finimize CEO, Max Rofagha: 1.30pm UK Time, February 26th
🔥 The Easy-Does-It Wealth-Building Strategy: 7pm Singapore Time, February 26th

📚 What we're reading

Too many d*cks in the workplace (Slate)
The trading icon we need right now (Reuters)
Money can’t buy you a vaccine (The Cut)

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Finimize - 🤘 No Disney show left unwatched

Today's big stories

Magical Kingdom

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Is It Too Late To Buy Bitcoin?

Raise a glass to Bright Cellars

Rule Sh*tannia

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Diversify your crypto holdings

🎮 No n00bs here

Older messages

📈 This stock market is weird

💪 Hedge funds pick their top stocks

🧟‍♂️ Total comes back to life

👀 Tesla backs bitcoin

📉 This is America

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