Is Amazon Pay a Major Threat to PayPal?

Welcome. Industry-focused, the podcast, that dives into a different sector of the stock market each day it's, Monday November 26th. I'm your host Jason Moser on today's show we're gonna talk small cap financial. Stocks will, tackle some listener emails, will tap into Twitter of course and give you one to watch for the coming week but. We begin this week talking about the, king of e-commerce, as Amazon. Continues, to pursue the massive, market opportunity, not, only any commerce but out there in payments, we talk a lot about payments, here as you know so, joining me in the studio this, week as, usual. A certified, financial planner, Matt Franco Matt, how's everything, going, pretty. Good we took the kids up to my family in Maryland and. Just. Got back from that and I actually had a chance to use Amazon pay for some Black Friday shopping well I'm really looking forward to talk about that I have a feeling we're gonna be digging. Into that a little bit but you guys had a nice Thanksgiving weekend, it sounds like them we. Did the trip was surprisingly smooth. For a ten hour car ride with two small children holy, cow ten hours how many times didn't stop for that trip. We. Have little kids who are training. So well. We're glad to have you back here and joining us and. You. Mentioned, Amazon pay so let's just kick right off you're talking about Amazon because. There are a few different points to this discussion I think we want to get to. We're. Talking primarily about Amazon's, effort to gain more more share in the payment space and and that is through Amazon, pay now I think we can couple this discussion, also with, the, fact that according to adobe analytics black friday pulled in a record six point two two billion dollars. In online sales which was up almost twenty four percent from a year ago and, it. Was the first day in history, to see more than two billion dollars in sales stemming. From, smartphones. And i think that's where i really want to pick this conversation up, here because not, only are we living in an e-commerce world we're certainly living in a mobile world as well and for. A lot of us amazon. Pay, probably. Isn't. Top of mind yet. We're reading now that they're really making efforts, to, gain share, it, seems like initially with with perhaps companies. That are not necess fairly direct competitors, like, gas. Stations or restaurants. What-have-you. But but, it does seem like they are trying, to take a little bit more of that role in the transaction. Much like we've seen Apple. Do today with Apple, pay but it's also not just Apple right there's all these payments, companies out there trying.

To Get a, little, piece of that transaction. So talk. A little bit about your experience, with Amazon, pay give us a little bit of your perspective, here as, to what Amazon, what the endgame here is is with Amazon. Sure. Well I was on a certain. Retailers website and I can't tell you what I bought her who I bought it from because it was an anniversary gift for my wife who listens to the show so, you really, can't I was gonna say you can't, or you won't but, it's both I guess I really, can't but it was a I'd. Say like a small business like something you would see like featured on Shark Tank and, it. Kind, of struck me is somewhere that gets most of their sales from Amazon to begin with so, this was directly on their website and I. Went to check out they were having a great Black Friday sale so. I went to their website selected. My products and went to the checkout and there. Were two buttons there was a PayPal button and an Amazon, pay button and kind. Of curious cuz I'd never seen that on a merchants website Amazon really hasn't hasn't. Pushed it until recently, so. I click on Amazon pain it just took me right to my Amazon checkout, where, I have my Amazon, credit card already set up and it was just like checking out for a normal Amazon purchase it took me about two clicks and, it. Was very easy I was actually going to use PayPal and I kind. Of liked this alternative, because it lets me keep all my purchases in one place so, I'd say about you know 50%, of what my wife and I order is already through Amazon so let's we kind of organized my purchases, into one payment portal and I. Actually. Think PayPal might have something to worry about here that's. You know that's a good perspective there and III want, to I want to ask you, because the the the, initial thing that comes to mind here the where I think that they may have a little bit of a challenge. We know that today, the US consumer, isn't necessarily, all that digital. While, it focused, yet right that's still something that if we're in the very nascent stages, of this and I think it's going to take a while. For, for that behavior to really change anything. You look at something like Apple, pay for example as clever as that is. Consumers. Still aren't embracing, that wholeheartedly so, whether it's Apple pay or Google pay or Amazon, pay that, the digital while there's a big opportunity there, so that explains why Amazon is pursuing, this of course now.

I Think. That the one hold up that one hang up err I have with with Amazon. And then. The situation the process, that you just described, it. Sounds like there's. Just a little bit more friction, in, there, versus, if I go somewhere. Whatever. Website II may be and I have the option to pay with Apple pay and in. When. It says you want to pay with Apple pay and then you can just use your fingerprint. Your thumbprint to verify the transaction as. Opposed to having to go to another website and, verify, that purchase, so I guess what I'm getting at here is ultimately if it feels like Apple. And to a degree Google, have. A hardware, advantage, that Amazon doesn't have to date does that make sense. Yes. But, here's, kind of my perspective, on that I don't. Necessarily think this will steal, any market share from people who are already on Apple, pay or already, on PayPal, if you're, comfortable with something both of those are very like. You just said very easy portals. They both have Hardware advantages, over Amazon, but, there's a lot of people who are not, using digital wallets yet who, are already comfortable, with Amazon's checkout process so. I don't necessarily think they're gonna steal market, share or steal existing, customers from any of the other ones but, I do think it gives them kind of an advantage kind. Of recruiting, new, adopters, to digital, wallets yeah, probably I mean, I think you're right I think this is not we talk about this all the time it's not a zero-sum game it's. Not as if one, wins and everybody else loses I mean this is a, massive. Opportunity out, there I mean at the end of the day money is going. Everywhere I mean that's what dictates everything. Basically. Is money getting from point A to point B so so. Pursuing, even just a small piece of that pie makes. A lot of sense particularly in Amazon's case because really you get a figure from them this, is a very, easy, bet, to make I mean the. Business certainly isn't hinging, on it at the most. Mean they get just a tiny scrape, of that transaction, I mean when Apple pay is used Apple, gets a very very, tiny scrape of that transaction, it's not terribly meaningful, now it becomes meaningful if you have a.

Billion. People using it on a consistent basis, and obviously, we're not to that point yet but but even, beyond the financial implications I would imagine that the company, like Amazon is, as smart. As they are about using, data and doing things with that data just gleaning, the data from transactions. Like these. Would. Be would be seen as a, reasonable. Payoff, right. And that bet seems to really be what they're after here I've, actually read. Amazon. Is subsidizing, the swipe. Fees from merchants or not swipe fees but whatever, the swipe, fee equivalent, of digital, wallet these are they're. Actually subsidizing, the fees to. Make it to get retailers, to put the Amazon pay button on their website at a lower cost to them so, it's pretty fair to say how Amazon's really not making money on this but. They are it's it's expanding, their reach and anything that expands, Amazon's, reach data wise. Customer. Wise merchants, wise is good. For, a long term business yep. Makes sense to me and you know I I don't know that I would ever I, don't. Know that I put I, don't. Think Amazon's gonna ever really have a hardware, advantage, at least on the smartphone side, like, it may mean obviously they tried with a fire phone that was just they were late to the game try, to do something a little bit different but really there, was nothing terribly compelling to get someone to switch particularly, if you're already used to a certain operating, system or whatnot I'm. Also as skeptical. When, it comes to incorporating, things like voice assistant, technology, and actually paying for things. But. With, all that said, I mean, things change very quickly and technology, is is just evolving. Seemingly. On a daily basis, so I'm gonna be I'm gonna be interested, to see where Amazon takes this and it's. It's you know a Mazon pays been around for a while it's just not much they haven't do they haven't done much with it but. But perhaps we are entering this this. Stage, now where consumers. Are going to be a bit more open. To adopting digital, payments and, in digital, wallets and whatnot and if that's the case I mean clearly we can see there is a a lot. Of Allah. Market. Share there to pick up and so so for Amazon to try to be, a part of that makes perfect sense, yeah. To be perfectly clear PayPal. Amazon pay, and Apple pay all have tremendous, tremendous. Growth runway, so, I'm not saying that you, know PayPal's. Growth rate could go from 20 percent to 19 percent because of this I'm not saying they're gonna really suffer so, just, to be clear we still love PayPal on a long-term basis. Gotcha. Okay so you want to make sure we could respond to the inevitable, email that we get we're not saying short, PayPal long, Amazon, right. Both. Right is reasonably. To. Just, a Versa file your portfolio. And own shares in both companies right. I'd say both these are gonna be winners I could just see like the tweet storm going off in my head where those. Well. We'll get out in front of it if that does happen all, right let's take a look here a new. New topic, for discussion here we got a tweet a few, days back Matt, from. At. Chris. M underscore. Jones and, and. Chris said would love for the two of you to cover some small cat financials. For. Example a. XUV. Full, disclosure UV was my first stock and now is my largest position, so, so the bottom line is here Chris was hoping we could take a look into some more small cat financial stocks and, you. Know Matt you and I love talking stocks and when you get to find compelling, small cat financials. That's we could probably talk about that for the next four hours but, unfortunately, we're not gonna be given that much time so we thought we would take an opportunity, here, to, target, two companies each in. The small cap space that we like and. See. If we could give Chris a couple of ideas companies. That we like some things to keep an eye on with them and, we're going to start, the, discussion here with a, company. Matt you, know, Synovus. Ticker is s in V. Give. Us your your elevator, pitch for Synovus, you. Know this is a bank. That I Drive by alocs it's a southern regional bank. The. Reason I like this I like Synovus, is one.

They're Profitable, too they're growing very fast so. On the side of profitability. The. Return. On assets of, a little over 1.3. Return. On equity of 14% are both great numbers. The. Loan portfolio, is growing at a pretty impressive rate. About. Four and a half percent a year and there. Are big acquisitions. On, a pretty aggressive basis, and they're actually getting really good deals I, reported, earlier over, the summer, that. Synovus, decided, to acquire a bank called FCB financial, a florida community bank and they, actually wound up getting a discount to the share price generally. When you acquire a company you're paying a premium and then, that's why the shares jumped up right after the acquisition has announced so. There this will make them one of the biggest regional, banks around. They, got a great price and. Excuse. Me they expect, it to be immediately. A creative to earnings so I kind, of like, Synovus. Very. Profitable, while we're in Bank big, ambitions, okay good hey so uh Maris Bank core is is the, first one we talked about here and, listeners. Have probably heard me talk about it before a, Maris, Bank core ticker is ABC, B this. Is just a not. So, little. Regional. Bank in the in, the southeast. And the home, base is Moultrie Georgia and, full. Disclosure of my mom and dad actually live in Moultrie Georgia I've, played golf with a couple of these guys at a MERIS bank or before I mean that was not through design it was just did small town living there and so everybody knows everybody, and I do own shares of a MERIS bank or as well but, this is a company, I found back in 2011, really, at the depths of the financial crisis when a lot, of these small cat banks a lot of these tiny banks particularly, in Georgia for whatever reason, we're, going belly-up they just they had bad loan books and in really overextending. Themselves and, Amaris Bank Court has just always been a very well-run. Fairly. Conservative. Operation. Not, trying, to. Write. Checks that the bank can't cash so to speak and in, what that resulted, in over the course of the few years in that recovery from the from, the financial crisis the FDIC, recognized, Damaris main course. Excellence. In operating, and in, started, using Amaris as a partner in rolling, up some of these failed financial, institutions, to give them at least a little bit of an exit strategy so, that everything, didn't just go completely to, hell in a handbasket so to speak and so what this ultimately did for a Maris it gave them a very risk-free. Way to. Build up their. Their asset, base in their deposit, base I mean the FDIC, basically, said, yeah, any losses are gonna be on us we just want you to help us and getting these things rolled up and there's gonna be nothing really ultimately but upside there for you and in, in fast forward today that really has worked. Out for the company they they now have a total. Assets near close to 11, and a half billion dollars and. Tangible. Book value per. Share of, close, to eighteen dollars in all. In all I think that what you have here in America. Bank. Around two billion dollar market, cap that. Has grown, its presence beyond just that Georgia footprint, they. Have. I think plenty of opportunities, to continue to make some some smart, acquisitions, going forward and they certainly have done that a recent purchase of Atlantic, coast financial. As. Well as Hamilton State Bank shares it's all helping them really grow this this business out longtime. CEO, Edwin, Hortman, stepped. Down recently in, the new CEO Dennis ember, who, has been with the company for a number. Of years all the position of CEO and, CFO so, that's, all to say I expect. That that conservative. Smart. Long-term focus mentality. To, continue, here with the Maris Bank core certainly. Had developed a a long track record of success I suspect, we will see that going. Forward as well so. That's that's one of those little small cap financials, I really like speaking. Of banks Matt you wanted to, take. A trip out west and talk a little bit about, Bank of Hawaii right. Yeah. And well, since we're talking about some of your disclosures, some disclosure. I've never been to Hawaii so I've never been to Hawaii, branch I, was. Just. Like a fool a fool branch avoid that be pretty sweet actually I could if there if there was an office there I might you know sign up for it I was pitching that and or the Bahamas I would gladly take, either post. So. I've never actually been to a bank of Hawaii but I know a lot about them as a bank and they're, definitely they're one of my favorites, all cat banks I've been watching them for a little while. Not. Only are they extremely, profitable, bank, but. There. Along. With one other bank they have a pretty, dominant market, share in Hawaii if you're know why you generally, don't go to like a Bank of America at Wells Fargo you're.

Either At Bank of Hawaii your first Hawaiian Bank the other major. Bank out there so, they have a very big market your big great reputation, on the island don't, expect too much growth as in Geographic. Growth they're not you know you're not gonna have a Bank of Hawaii branch, in Kansas or anything like that but. Hawaii's. Economy is doing great it's growing it quicker at a faster, rate than the rest of the US so. It's one of the fastest growing economies again. Great reputation. The. One portfolio just for example grew about seven percent over, the past year most, banks were in the three to four percent range when, if you look, back at our episode, where we cover the big banks so, it's. Just kind of a testament to how strong the Hawaiian economy, is right now. Consistently. Profitable throughout, any economy, just kind of a little fun fact, after. Citigroup, completely, almost collapsed, during the financial crisis, they, brought in Bank of Hawaii's former CEO to be, the new chairman of the board so. Every. The big guys on Wall Street know how profitable Bank of Hawaii isn't how well-run it is. So. It's definitely it's not a cheap Bank stock you I put it in kind of the valuation. Category, of the US Bancorp but. Like. Just just, like Sanofi about about, a 1.3, percent return on assets and 18. Percent return on equity which is unheard, of for a brick-and-mortar, bank. So. Highly profitable very, very low to fall rate I think it was playing. A point, two percent, non-performing. Assets rate which. Is extremely. Low so. Great, economy, great quality bank great. History, of just being, a well-run institution. That's. Why it's one of my favorites hopefully, I get to visit one one day I feel like yeah this is the opportunity, to bring this thing under official coverage, here at the fool because I have to believe I mean. The annual meeting is out there in Hawaii right I mean it's got to be where they have the annual meetings and then you got to go out there I mean that just it's gotta be no brainer I will.

Look Into that later, this week Matt it. Was wrapping up here and Chris had made specific, mention here of a company Universal Insurance, Holdings I believe this is the company said this has grown into his biggest position, and. Let me take Chris I think that's not actually such a bad move here from what I have seen with universal, insurance Holdings this is a pretty compelling company, or this is the largest, private. Personal, residential. Homeowners, insurance company in Florida. In. And again when, I say Florida let's. Be very clear most, of their business is in Florida, only 26, percent, of. Their total insurer business, is outside of, Florida, so this is a Florida play they they are in 16, states but right now this is a Florida play they are seeking to expand. That footprint. And in, diversified, geographically. Speaking but, but generally speaking I mean we love the insurance business from the investors, perspective because. Insurance is one of those it's one of those things that's always gonna be needed in. Particularly, if you're a homeowner I mean chances. Are you've got a mortgage you gotta pay that mortgage and your mortgage company's gonna require it and even if you got your mortgage paid off I mean nobody. Nobody owns a home and gonna have some type of insurance on it so. So it seems like universal, insurance Holdings, has. Been focusing, on its its primary, market of flora Florida, for a number of years here. It is a small company one and one and a half billion dollar market cap but, I tell you he bought this thing five years ago you're feeling really good about it stocks up close to 300 percent since then. Now a big measure for us when we look at insurance companies is is. Through book value and and we can see through universals, Book value that they are growing in 2013. That book value was at five dollars and 20, cents per share versus. Today which is 15 dollars and 20 cents per share. Obviously. That. That indicates, the company is growing and, growing you. Know it a healthy rate another. Metric. That we look to with, insurance companies to understand if they're writing good books of business, is the combined ratio, and we like to see that combined ratio under 100. Percent that tells us that they are writing good business profitable, business in the, combined ratio, for, universal, in 2017. Chopped up at eighty four point four percent, and that actually was a little bit up historically. From what we've seen in years, past so, I think it's. A well-run business CEO Shawn downs has been there for a while has plenty of experience in the industry and, I think the risks with a business like this particularly. In a state like this is is the. Natural disasters, right I mean, Florida, is known, for. Its, storms, but. I think the flip side of that and I would push back a little bit on every, insurance company in Florida is planning, for that stuff it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when so, so I like to believe that management, is certainly keeping that on.

Their Radar as well and in the way that insurance companies, tend, to hedge that risk, is by reinsurance. So. So all in all it does look like universal. Insurance Holdings, it, looks like they're doing a lot of good things with the business based on the metrics the business looks very healthy strong, balance, sheet appears, to be very capable management. There as well Chris. I think you could feel pretty good about owning that one, so hey congratulations, on your gains and here's to many many. More dollars in the future but. But Chris thank you for the question, we always love taking a look at new, stops and this gave us a chance to, dig. Into a few new names and hopefully, give our listeners a few additional ideas. For their watch list okay Matt let's take a look at some email, questions. We've pulled in over the past couple of weeks we had a, question from Jay, ATO in, Oshkosh. Wisconsin. He, says I love your podcast, and I enjoy listening to you on the other podcast, as well thanks, Jay you know I like being on those podcasts I think he's talking about me method I'm not sure yeah. Question on reads, and. I'm gonna give you this question Matt because you're a wreath guy is there any difference, in investing, in REITs stocks, versus. Other equities, I think, I've heard in the past that. There are different, tax implications. With these stocks is that, true. Yes. That is absolutely true. Provided, that you hold them in a taxable account most. Dividend, stocks qualifier have, what are called qualified, dividend status which. Gets favorable. Tax treatment think. Long term capital, gains rates are, the same rates that apply to qualified. Dividend C generally. Most people pay a fifteen percent dividend tax rate if you're in any of the middle tax brackets, um. So. If you have a reach though, it's, considered pass-through business income for the most part so. You are. Generally, taxed at your ordinary, income tax rate for, a REIT now. There are a couple kind of caveats, dimension, one, you, read dividend, is actually a combination of, a qualified, dividend and a non-qualified, dividend, just, depending on the quarter and the particular, REIT most. Of it is usually, ordinary. Income with a little bit that you'll get a favorable tax treatment on the. Second thing is that, thanks. To the tax reform bill, wreaths. Are actually considered qualify, for that pass-through, deduction, as, small business income, so. Whatever. Income. You do get from read so you could take a 20 percent deduction for, that before. Your ordinary income tax rates are applied so, there's, a lot of moving parts here that situation, is definitely a little more complicated with REITs than. It is for other stocks. But that's why I love the I always. Recommend REITs and retirement, accounts so you don't have to worry about this but, yes if you hold them in a regular brokerage account there are big tax differences, and the. Long story short is that REITs are a little more complicated, alright good information, to know now Jay has a follow up as well. Another topic you hit on last week was Buffett's large investments, to the big banks, in the last quarter you guys talked about how it should be a good environment for the big banks with rising, interest rates can I assume the, same opportunity.

Is There for smaller, banks such as axis or a bank, we just talked about a minute ago Amyris Bank whore. Yeah. And it's. Definitely the opportunity is definitely there, but. If they remember that certain, banking, products are tied to short-term interest rates in summary tied to long-term interest rates for. Example if a bank is a big credit. Card business, credit. Card rates go up immediately when the Fed raises rates so. Those. That those businesses, are already seeing a big benefit, as the Fed has hiked rates about eight times so far in this cycle, on the. Other hand if, you. Think you don't have a big credit card operation, and you rely on long. Term rates such as mortgages, and auto loans. Those, really haven't kept pace with the shorter end of the spectrum so. It depends which end of, the yield curve is moving as to, which banks benefit the most it's not really small cap versus large cap, it's how, is their loan portfolio, made up as. In like short-term loans like credit cards versus. Long-term loans like mortgages, and and, auto auto. Loans that are not at variable, rates that kind of move. With longer-term, Treasury, yields not the federal funds rate so. The. Short answer to your question is yes but look. Into how the bank makes its money and it'll tell you what rates need to rise it's, a great point that's a great point indeed now, we have one more question from land and boring, and land and come on man you're not boring just, kidding, Wayne. Says I really enjoyed the industry focus podcast thanks. Lane and we enjoy doing them I have a question about the war on cash podcast, from November 19th, 2018. Jason, and Matt mentioned that they like the buybacks, of Visa, but. Are okay with small dividends. To future, to fund future growth. I'm confused, don't don't. Both buybacks, and dividends, decrease, the amount of cash to, fund future growth, and he goes on to say he would personally preferred dividends over buybacks, that's. Obviously, cash in the pocket but on the other hand increasing, dividends generally, represents, a much stronger commitment. By, management in the faith of the business because companies generally do not like to cut the dividend and dividends provide a more, direct, reward, to shareholders, in. Landin yeah I mean I think you make a very good point here that regardless of whether it's a dividend or a buyback, the company has to fund that one, way or another. Now. When you have a business like Visa or MasterCard, for that matter that is as big as they are right. And and, have. Very. High margin, business models as they both do, that's. The, nice thing about that that type of investment, opportunity, for investors is that while, the growth is going to be there the growth will generally, be organic. And it'll be tied to general, consumer spending these. Are business models that generate, a lot of surplus. Cash, they have to do something with it and. So, there's only so much they can reinvest, in the business, for they start perhaps getting a little bit outside of their circle of competence, and you start seeing, some deteriorating. Returns, on those investments, so, you reward your shareholders either through a dividend, or share repurchases, I tend. To prefer dividends. Just because like you said that Landon they are cash in the pocket but by the same token these. These companies do know that material, buybacks over the course of time can play out on the share price as well I mean the fact the matter is when you reduce that number of shares outstanding that's. Going to give you a little bit of a different look on the value of those. Shares right, it should in theory make them a little bit more expensive over time all. In all I mean we like to see a healthy mix there and just feel like with Visa and MasterCard. Perhaps. The opportunity, there is to grow that dividend, a little bit more substantially, over time and that's what we'll be hoping. That they do but. Landon. Thank you very much for the question and indeed, Ju. As well, okay, well tap in to Twitter here real quick just for a couple of comments one. From at cricket, 9 9 2 3 8 nee Raj says, he was delighted to learn about the XLF. Holdings, spyder. Etf for. Financials, thanks, for introducing it, and with Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan as its, largest holding it seems a no-brainer investment. The market is certainly giving, a wonderful opportunity to buy this stock, basket, and mat that, fund is what you were talking about just a couple of weeks ago right that's. Correct. It's. Basically if you don't want to put all your money in one bank stock which it's, not practical for most people listening to owned you know ten banks that's like Warren Buffett does so. If you know if you're not comfortable owning an individual, bank you're not worried about you you know you're not really sure which. One's healthy, which one's not healthy which, ones growing in the right way which ones growing in the wrong way things like that.

An. Index. Fund like the XLF, especially. One like that that has very low fees can. Be a great way to just get exposure to the whole sector if it does as well as Warren Buffett thinks it's going to good, deal good deal we also have a tweet from at Bucky. Cat and Bucky. Cat wonders, if buying Eventbrite. Stock gives you a discount, on buying tickets from them because I buy a lot of event, tickets from them between Eventbrite. And ticket, fly. And listeners. They may remember that Eventbrite, was the stock my, one to watch last. Week I believe it was a, little, bit of a. Little. Bit of a direction. Away from a direct payments, company but the relationship, with the, payments. Companies in the space and just generally, speaking the company itself I think, had a lot of opportunities, for investors, in Bucky CAD yeah I don't know if you get discounts, there that would be pretty sweet but it's good to know that you're buying a lot of tickets from them because they I own Eventbrite, shares and that in all honesty should mean their share price uh you. Should be going up but in, the future if you keep them in mind all those tickets, yeah. I mean a lot of people would own a lot there a lot more stocks, if they would offer a discount a, lot more people would buy things like Fitbit stock. I. Think, Berkshire Hathaway is the only one I know of that gives discounts, to shareholders, yeah and all of its subsidiaries that would be pretty sweet if that was a more consistent behavior of the shareholders, discount, that would utilize that all the time I think but if you're a Berkshire shareholders you, can get a discount on Geico auto insurance, yes yeah, that's good that's a good point there and if you go to the Berkshire meeting there's all sorts of opportunities to buy the stuff that you. Know from the companies that they own particularly, See's candy, that line always seems to be stretching out the door, well. As always we love it when you reach out to us via email. So, please email us here at industry. Focus at fool.com and. Of course you can get us on twitter @ MF, industry. Focus, keep. Doing it because clearly if you do it we're, gonna answer your questions here on the show because we just did it all right okay. Matt it is about that time this, week we're gonna wrap things up with our one to watch what, is the stock that you'll be watching this week it's. Not really a financial sector stock I'm, looking at Amazon oh we, we we talked about them quite a bit they're. Down roughly 25, percent from the highs and, I. Think I, think. That their new payment system is gonna have some traction like. I said I personally think, they're gonna, that. PayPal and the others are gonna lose a little bit of their growth trajectory, because, Amazon, has. A big existing, customer, base for this to this, to really play well with. And not just because of that I think Amazon's a good value I thought, Amazon was a pretty decent value at about two thousand dollars a share yeah, so I really think it's a good value now and. There's. Talk of them you. Know offering some kind of co-branded, checking account product so, maybe they will be a financial sector stock after all. This. Week yeah I put nothing past them that's a good one I'm. Gonna go with Tiffany. This week ticker is TI F and, I know this may seem a little bit of an odd pic because it's not directly, a financial. But. I've covered Tiffany, for a number of years now and what, I have found is that Tiffany, is a very good indicator, of how. The economy is, doing and, how the market, thinks the economy, is going, to be doing here in in, the coming quarters and we're of course at a point right now you, know what we're in right now Matt is what I like to call the Larry David, economy, is everything, is pretty pretty.

Pretty, Good and. I and I hope that that will continue but I think on Wednesday when Tiffany's earnings come out we'll get a better idea, management. Recently had raised guidance, last year or last quarter which. Was impressive, I thought they're gonna be investing, a lot in their New York flagship. Store here in the coming year and, that really does matter for a company like Tiffany that depends, on that physical presence in. What they do that. I think is just so phenomenal they really protect that brand so well because it is a luxury. Brand they, don't resort to fire sales you're, not gonna find big cyber. Monday half-off. Deals with Tiffany they protect that brand and again, do a very good job so. That when times are good like they are right now the, stock feels it and it looks like it's feeling it right now when times get a little tough certainly. The stock feels it again and honestly I think that's where investors need to consider potentially. Investing in a business like this is when is when a times, get a little bit tougher and I'm sure on Wednesday we'll get a better idea of what management sees coming around here for the next next. Full year certainly the holiday quarter guidance, just a lot of things you can glean from this. Luxury. Retailer, and Tiffany's so we'll keep an eye on it, Matt. Thanks, for joining us this week always, appreciate, you skyping in glad you guys had a good Thanksgiving. It helped you had the same yep it was nice and quiet and I'm still full. As. Always people on the program may, have interest, 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 the. Show is produced by Austin Morgan, format Frankel, I'm Jason, Moser thanks, for listening and we'll see you next week.

2018-12-26 09:30

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