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Broad Insights. Deep Analysis.

All Reports

The Consumer Feels a Little Off Kilter Heading into 2025

Key points: It wasn’t long ago that economists were bracing for a hard landing. Today, the markets are having a party. The consumer accounts for 70% of GDP, and we think they’re a bit off kilter. While growth has been good, we find that gains in both the labor market and PCE have been narrowly focused, and that doesn’t inspire confidence. Labor markets are in flux – demand for labor has already slowed and immigration

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The Elephant in the Room: What’s Ailing Global Brands?

Key Points: It used to be that investors could buy the best global brands, close their eyes, and watch their gains compound over time. That strategy hasn’t been working well, at least not in consumer land. Estee Lauder, Gucci, Nike, Disney, LVMH and Lululemon have each underperformed the market by (15)% or more over the past three years. The aim of this report is to assess what – if anything – is amiss with global

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Consumer Staples: What Makes Them Tick?

Key Points: Staples have underperformed the market on a one-, three-, five- and ten-year basis. They were paragons of pricing power for much of the 80’s and 90’s, but the group has fallen from grace. This report analyzes the stocks from both a fundamental and a tactical perspective. We also seek to understand what makes the stocks tick.

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The State of the Consumer: Some Signal and a Whole Lot of Noise

Key Points: After being steadfastly bullish on the consumer for two and a half years, we became more cautious back in July. We don’t see a major problem ahead, but our forecasts call for a considerable slowdown in spending growth. We think we’ve got the general direction right, but there’s plenty of uncertainty to go around. The data have also been a moving target, so we think it makes sense to be prepared for a

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The Distribution of Everything: Millennials, the Bottom 40%, Age-Based Forecasts

Key Points: For those interested in the distribution of things, there’s been a treasure trove of data released over the past few weeks. In this report we analyze trends using the American Time Use Survey, the Fed’s Distributional Financial Accounts, and the Consumer Expenditure Survey. We tease out important trends by age, income and generation from each of those data sets.

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In the Weeds: A Framework That Helps Us Understand What Makes Companies Tick

Key Points: This report introduces a new framework that we call “In the Weeds”. By dissecting business models into their component parts, we can understand what makes companies tick. The first iteration of the framework focuses on dollar stores, home improvement stocks, specialty retailers, and mass merchants. Over time, we intend to add other industries to our arsenal. We analyze ~25 companies on traditional metrics that include sales per square foot, operating margins, inventory turnover,

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"UP-TO-DATA" PODCAST​

A Conversation with Ted Decker, CEO of Home Depot

Today we caught up with Ted Decker, the CEO of Home Depot.  We talked about the health of the consumer, the state of the housing market, the “lock-in” effect, AI, and more.  I asked how long the hangover in COVID-friendly categories like BBQ grills, outdoor furniture and washing machines might last.  He compared the dynamic to a hurricane, which made…

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A Conversation with Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines

Conversations with CEO/CFOs:  We added a new feature to our “Up-to-Data” podcast series. This week’s issue features a 30-minute conversation with Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Airlines.  Ed has led Delta’s employees, customers and shareholders through some turbulent times.  In the process, he and the rest of the Delta team have built trust with customers (empathy), employees (no furloughs),…

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Covering the Waterfront. Coming Soon: Conversations with Corporate Execs

This installment of our “Up-to-Data” podcast is more comprehensive than most.  We take a step back to see what the latest data are telling us about the consumer.  We cover the labor market, excess savings, the wealth effect, goods vs. services, household balance sheets, inventory dynamics, the housing sector, and leisure. Coming soon: Conversations with Corporate Execs.  Many of our…

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Politics, Taxes, Tariffs, Consumer Credit, and Inventory Freshness

The Presidential election is not far away, and this installment of our “Up-to-Data” podcast explores how policy might influence consumer behavior.  When it comes to policy, there’s a lot to consider, and we’re especially attuned to distributional shifts that could occur as a result.  The presentation also takes stock of household balance sheets, including the supply of credit.  Finally, we…

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Inflation-Adjusted Retail Sales, e-Com, Home Depot, The “Lock-in Effect”, and Credit Card Green Shoots

We’ve analyzed a ton of new data over the past week.  Issue #4 of our podcast makes sure you are up to date.  It walks you through incremental data from the Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Survey, April retail sales, e-Commerce penetration, Capital One, Discover Financial, Home Depot, the New York Fed’s household debt and credit report, the San Francisco Fed’s…

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Savings, Inflation, Immigration, the Low-End, Food, and Mattresses

In issue #3 we analyze immigration, excess savings, and the low-end consumer.  Immigration has been a big contributor to the labor force, and with elections in the offing, it presents more than a trivial risk.  We track the amount of construction put into place due to the CHIPS Act.  We also offer an analysis of the US mattress industry.  We…

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