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Today's big stories

Home Depot beat analysts’ expectations, but investors are worried the US retail chain’s winning streak is set to come to an end
Our analyst has created a custom metric for tracking your investments’ environmental impact – Read Now
HSBC posted better-than-expected earnings and announced it’ll be investing more in Asia

Brush With Success

What’s Going On Here?

Home Depot announced better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday, but investors aren’t sure the home improvement retailer’s winning streak can last.

What Does This Mean?

Between rising real estate prices and the sheer amount of time everyone has on their hands, home improvement is where the heart is. And that suits Home Depot – whose sales growth is still higher than it was before the pandemic – just fine.

But it might prove a double-edged sword, with the company’s next few earnings updates at risk of falling short of the high bar it set for itself last year. And that’s to say nothing of the stiff competition ahead for shoppers’ dollars, when the vaccine rollout leaves DIY projects secondary to out-of-home experiences. That’s making investors nervous that Home Depot’s pandemic gains won’t hang around, which might be why they initially sent the retailer’s shares down.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: A diverse DIY business is a happy DIY business.
At least Home Depot might benefit from the resurgence in sales to plumbers, builders, and electricians, all of whom are more likely to be invited into folks’ homes when vaccines are in full effect. And this is where Home Depot has the edge over close rival Lowe’s: 45% of the former’s sales come from professionals, compared to the latter’s 25%.

The bigger picture: Department stores are back, baby.
Some retailers are already seeing the return to pre-pandemic spending in action: Macy’s, for one, just delivered its first profitable quarter in a year. And there are other signs of life for department stores, with new data showing that January saw the sector’s first sales bump since 2019. Macy’s even reckons its own sales could grow by 20% this year – an encouraging sign, if still 13% below the company’s pre-pandemic target for last year's sales.

You might also like: How to work out which retailers will be the post-pandemic winners.

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2. Analyst Take

Just How Green Are Your Investments Anyway?

What’s Going On Here?

Investors are looking more closely than ever at the environmental impact of their financial decisions these days.

So we thought it might be interesting to do a thought experiment, and imagine a brand new measure of investment performance: the price-to-emissions ratio.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a good way to get a sense of the amount of carbon dioxide a company releases into the atmosphere in relation to its market value.

And turns out, some firms are 100,000 times better than others.

We looked at bitcoin too: it’s received a lot of press about its environmental impact lately, sure, but it’s actually not as bad as some companies – particularly those in the energy space.

So that’s today’s Insight: how to calculate a company’s price-to-emissions ratio, and how certain investments stack up by that metric.

Read or listen to the Insight here

A high-flying investment opportunity

An investment in Parallel Flight Technologies is more than just off the beaten path: it’s up in the air.

Parallel Flight Technologies is raising capital for game-changing tech that allows drones to carry heavy loads for over two hours – ten times longer than what’s currently available.

That means they have big potential in three fast-growing industries: the $10 billion wildfire suppression market, the $20 billion healthcare market, and the $65 billion industrial logistics market (estimated by 2025).

Parallel Flight’s innovations have already led to partnerships with NASA, NSF, and USDA, and the company’s now on the cusp of commercialization.

And you have an opportunity to buy into Parallel Flight via StartEngine today.

You can find out more about Parallel Flight here, and get invested from $500.

Find Out More

Disclaimers:

To learn more, please read the offering circular and select risks related to this offering. This Reg A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.

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Red Envelope Days

What’s Going On Here?

HSBC posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday, but Europe’s biggest bank by assets admitted it’ll need to start wangling its way into Asia’s good books sooner rather than later.

What Does This Mean?

HSBC has had two big challenges to contend with lately: the bank’s been making less from the money it’s lent to its customers due to ultra-low interest rates, while simultaneously having to set aside enough cash in case those customers couldn’t pay back their loans. And even though last quarter’s election and pandemic-driven chaos drove a surge in investor activity and, in turn, transaction fees, it wasn’t enough to stave off a steep fall in profit from the same time the year before.

So to turn things around, HSBC promised more cost-cutting measures – like additional layoffs – and a focus on faster-growing markets. But it might be a case of seeing is believing: investors sent the bank’s shares down regardless.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: Asia might be the place to be.
HSBC makes most of its money in Asia, and that segment of its business looks like it’s about to get even bigger: the firm’s intending to scale down operations in the US and Europe, and invest $6 billion in fast-growing Asian economies. It’ll do that by looking after the wealth of the region’s well-heeled, in hopes it’ll become the go-to bank for the Singaporean, Chinese, and Hong Kong elite.

The bigger picture: An Asia-centric investment idea.
If you need proof of Asia’s economic acceleration, look no further than the fastest-growing of the bunch last year: Taiwan – which just raised its outlook for 2021 – is expecting its economy to grow at its fastest pace since 2014 this year (tweet this). That’s mostly down to the combination of a successful coronavirus containment strategy and strong global demand for all the tech products it produces – which add up to more than half its total exports.

You might also like: How to pick the best banking stock.

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💬 Quote of the day

“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.”

– Jim Carrey (a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer)

Tweet this

🐓 What the Flock?

So all this time stuck in your coop, just steps away from your kitchen, has left you feeling peckish all the time.

And hey, we get it: it’s easy to reach for a salty bag of chips or a bar of chocolate in such fowl times.

But instead of letting an unhealthy diet rule the roost, we recommend trying Flock chicken chips instead.

Not to crow on about them too much, but they are available in original, salt and vinegar, and BBQ flavors.

And if that doesn’t egg you on: with zero grams of carbs, zero grams of sugar, and 13 grams of high protein, you can feel completely guilt-free about it too.

They’re pretty plucking good: try Flock today.

Try Flock Today

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🌎 Finimize Community

🐣 The decade is young

So we can all agree that the 2020s haven’t got off to the best start, but there’s plenty of time for more booms, more busts, and more of everything in between. So to help you get your portfolio tweaked to perfection, we asked the Head of FX Strategy at Equals Money to give you his predictions for the 2020s. And he said yes. Nice fella.

🚀 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
👋 Clubhouse Weekly Stock Market Chat: 6pm UK Time, February 25th
🙋 Investing in Women: 6pm UK Time, February 25th
🌈 Financial Planning for the LGBTQ Community: 2pm New York 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
💥 The 2020s: Boom Or Bust?: 1pm UK Time, March 2nd
💪 The Power Of Thematic Investing: 6pm UK Time, March 2nd
💆‍♀️ The Investor Mindset: 1pm New York Time, March 5th
🌍 Investing In Biodiversity: 6pm UK Time, March 3rd
👣 Invest Your Money, Save The Planet: 6pm UK Time. March 9th
📲 What’s Next For Tech?: 6pm UK Time, March 10th

📚 What we're reading

A restaurant worker’s life (Eater)
Lava, lava everywhere (Insider)
It’s been swell, Daft Punk (Pitchfork)

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Finimize - 🌱 How green are your investments?

Today's big stories

Brush With Success

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Just How Green Are Your Investments Anyway?

A high-flying investment opportunity

Red Envelope Days

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

🐓 What the Flock?

🐣 The decade is young

Older messages

🐘 How to size up your investments

🔥 The hot new financial trend

🤭 Buffett ditches Apple

🤫 Palantir's in for a bumpy ride

😷 Investors bet on coronavirus

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