💊 Hims Launches Ozempic Competitor

MARKET UPDATE

Good Morning Investor! Crypto markets were sent into a frenzy due to speculation amongst analysts that the SEC will infact approve Ethereum spot ETFs. Clearly the markets hadn’t price this in as Ether rallied over 14% in a matter of minutes. Meanwhile on Wall Street, shares of DoorDash (DASH) tumbled 4% despite announcing a partnership with Ulta Beauty (ULTA). This was due to the Minnesota court case against Uber & Lyft reaching a minimum wage settlement which could cause cascading effects for the industry.

TODAY’S BIG HEADLINES

• Hims & Hers Launches Ozempic Competitor

• The Resilience of Luxury Carries Over to Real Estate

• The Art Market Continues to Bleed

HEALTHCARE

Hims & Hers Launches Ozempic Competitor💊

New Kid on the Block: Hold the press! The pharmaceutical world is abuzz as Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY), the reigning champs of the GLP-1 weight loss drug league, have a new challenger stepping into the ring. Enter Hims & Hers Health (HIMS), swinging a hefty discount bat with their own GLP-1 contender priced at a wallet-friendly $199. They’re playing hardball undercutting both drugmakers’ products, Wegovy and Zepbound. Congrats to any of my readers that followed me into this investment back in March, your portfolios must be feeling pretty pumped with that beefy 30% surge!

The Discount Everyone’s Talking About: In a move that’s got wallets everywhere breathing a sigh of relief, the telehealth company announced on Monday that it’s rolling out a compounded version of semaglutide. That’s the secret sauce in those trendy weight loss potions, Ozempic and Wegovy. But here’s the kicker – they’re serving it up direct to your door, prescription in hand, for just $199 a pop. To put that in perspective, Wegovy’s price tag is more like a punch in the gut at $1,349 monthly. Ouch!

The Inside Scoop: These weight loss drugs are so popular, they’re flying off the shelves faster than toilet paper in a pandemic. When demand outstrips supply by such a wide margin, the FDA allows companies to produce “compounded” or altered versions of the drug, thus giving the green light for Hims to whip up their own special blend. Looks like Novo and Eli Lilly’s blockbuster success might just have opened Pandora’s box.

Why It’s a Big Deal: Hims & Hers aren’t just winning the Telehealth race; they’re lapping the competition and taking market share from competitors such as Teledoc (TDOC). And get this – they’ve just hit their first profitable quarter, sending their stock into orbit with a 40% leap in late February. During its earnings call, management stated that their weight loss drugs could be raking in a cool $100 million by 2025. But with their new semaglutide sensation in the mix, that number could go from ‘cool’ to ‘Arctic blast’ levels of cold, hard cash.

CONSUMER DISCRETIONARIES

The Resilience of Luxury Carries Over to Real Estate👜

Tough as a Hermes Bag: In a world where economic tremors send markets into a tizzy, the luxury sector stands tall and unbothered, much like the timeless Hermes bag. Interest rates in the US have soared to a dizzying 5%, a peak not seen in 17 years, causing real estate values to do the limbo. But hold your horses – there’s a knight in shining armor that hasn’t budged an inch. The real estate tied to luxury brands is still the belle of the ball, all thanks to an undying demand that not even a global financial hiccup can shake.

The Sale Must Go On!: Picture this: the economy’s on a diet, and the Fed’s serving up a dish called ‘quantitative tightening’ with a side of interest rate hikes. The goal? To tighten those consumer spending belts. And it’s working – property prices have taken a 21% nosedive in the US and a 24% plunge in Europe since March 2022 according to the property price index. But wait – there’s an oasis in this desert of depreciation. The swanky homes of fashion giants like Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes are standing their ground, unfazed and fabulous as ever.

Value Hardened: If you thought the luxury real estate market was cooling off, think again. These high-fashion honchos are on a shopping spree, snapping up properties faster than a sample sale at a designer boutique. Case in point: Cartier’s parent company, Compagnie Financière Richemont (CFR), just bagged a prime slice of London’s Bond Street with a rent yield so low, it’s practically subterranean at 2.2%. Similar to the way bonds work, the lower the rent yield, the richer the price paid. This figure is roughly half of the Bank of England’s base rate.

Basic Economics: It’s the oldest story in the book: when everyone wants a piece of the pie but there’s not enough to go around, prices skyrocket. Luxury fashion houses aren’t just looking for any old spot to set up shop; they want the crème de la crème of real estate. And with such picky tastes, they’re driving property prices through the roof without breaking a sweat. The Wall Street Journal reports that these ritzy retailers have shelled out a whopping $9 billion buying boutiques since the start of 2023. Talk about shopping till you drop!

Fashionable Investments: In the glamorous world of investible assets, some names are like the designer labels of the stock market – think Ferrari (RACE), Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Hermes (RMS) and Prada (PRDSF). These aren’t just brands, they’re the blue chips of bling, the portfolios’ pièce de résistance. So if you’re looking to add a touch of luxury to your investments, these are the stocks that strut down Wall Street like they own the runway.

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

The Art Market Continues to Bleed🎨

Digital Drama at the Auction House: The prestigious art house Christie’s, faced a cyber showdown that almost crashed their $114.7 million art bash in the Big Apple. This hack affected the art dealer’s website just days prior to the big sale, leaving many would-be buyers uneasy over the safety of its online sales. With a whopping 18% of art sales happening online these days, this was more than just a minor glitch in the matrix.

Artistic Anticlimax: The contemporary art segment of Christie’s much-anticipated auction turned out to be more of a flop than a blockbuster, raking in a mere $80 million. That’s a far cry from the $104 million to $155 million masterpiece money they were dreaming of. Seems like the art aficionados kept their wallets tighter than a drum.

Nostalgic Notes: Remember the good ol’ days when the pandemic had everyone and their dog buying art like it was going out of style? Those were the days when NFTs were the new gold rush, and my social feed was flooded with ads promising riches from art investments. Ah, memories!

The Art Market’s Mood Swing: The art auction scene is feeling the pinch, with buyers hunting for bargains and sellers holding out for the big bucks. The result? A 27% drop in auction action compared to last year, and average prices taking a 32% nosedive – the steepest slide in seven years. Despite the downturn, the Big Three – Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips – are bracing for an 18% dip in May sales. But don’t be fooled; the private sale party is still popping, with Citadel’s head honcho Ken Griffin splashing out over $100 million for a Mark Rothko masterpiece.

MORE NEWS

Additional market-moving events🌎

AI PCs Are Here: Microsoft have announced new PCs powered by new Qualcomm AI-focused chips at their surface event. (CNBC)

Luxury Fruit: A California-based seller of specialty fruit and veggies are selling Rubyglow pineapples for $400. (CNN)

The Next Airbnb: Real estate startup Pacaso wants to help Americans purchase a second home under a co-ownership model. (Fortune)

One Comfy Step Ahead: Skechers becomes the first company to purchase an ad spot for next year’s super bowl. The company paid $7 million for a 30 second ad placement. (Quartz)

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EARNINGS

This Week’s Earnings Calendar📅

OUR PICKS

Our selections performance👾

On Monday the 11th of March, we released our “two superperformers” stock picks which we believe will provide significant outperformance compared to the S&P 500.

Here’s how the two stocks have performed since then:

• Evolution AB: 1,186.00 SEK (📉-9.63%)

• Hims & Hers Health: $19.07 (📈+30.34%)

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