Invest in private companies, publicly?

Tickergeek market update:

Today’s big headlines:

• Invest in private companies, publicly?

• Estée Lauder’s recovery

• Ozempic is cheaper than you might think

Invest in private companies, publicly?🚀

There’s a multitude of exceptional enterprises remain inaccessible to us through public markets. These are, of course, private entities such as Stripe, SpaceX, Databricks, and many others. However, a new avenue has emerged that allows us to gain exposure to these businesses.

How can this be achieved? This opportunity materialized last week when a novel US fund, Destiny Tech100 (DXYZ), made its debut. The fund’s primary focus is on holding private businesses, providing investors with direct exposure to some of America’s most valuable private entities. Notably, the space-faring SpaceX, which currently constitutes a 35% holding within the fund, along with 22 other companies in its portfolio. The fund has plans to expand this to encompass 100 holdings.

The demand for such an investment opportunity in the public markets is palpable. This was evidenced by the shares of Destiny Tech100 surging over 177% in its initial two trading sessions, before stabilizing with a flat trading day on Monday.

The fund’s current holdings are as follows:

The list also includes additional fintech darlings such as Brex (4%), Revolut (3.4%), Stripe (2.6%), Chime (1.9%), Public (1.5%), Klarna (1.2%), and Plaid (0.5%).

However, there is a caveat to this enticing proposition. The fund is actively managed and carries a hefty 2.5% annual management fee. Furthermore, due to the nature of startup funding and the infrequent release of financials, this investment is particularly challenging to evaluate.

sources: (destiny)

Estée Lauder’s recovery💅

What’s happening? The esteemed cosmetics brand, Estée Lauder (EL), has weathered considerable upheaval over the past year, culminating in a significant 38% decline in its share price during this period. However, it appears that the company has now successfully navigated through this turbulence, at least according to market analysts.

Presently, there is widespread anticipation of a “Cinderella-story turnaround” for the business. This optimism has prompted analysts at Bank of America (BAC) to upgrade their rating of the stock from “Neutral” to “Buy”. They have also increased their price target from $160 to $170, representing a 12.5% increase from the current share price.

The analysts have stated, “As a result, we raise our 2026 financial year EPS estimate from $5.50 to $5.85, with our earnings sensitivity model suggesting potential upside to $6.49.”

Estée turns to Amazon: In a strategic move to expand distribution across channels, Estée Lauder has decided to launch its Clinique range of products on Amazon (AMZN). This is a first for the company and is aimed at reaching a broader customer base. However, the bear case for this projected turnaround is contingent on the Chinese market. If the Chinese market continues to exhibit weakness, these projections may not materialize as expected.

sources: (proactiveInvestors)

Ozempic is cheaper than you might think💉

Novo Nordisk (NVO) has experienced remarkable success over the past year, largely attributable to its GLP-1 weight loss and diabetic treatments, Ozempic and Wegovy. These treatments have generated such substantial revenue for the company that they have significantly impacted Denmark’s GDP.

In the United States, the treatment costs consumers approximately $1,000 per month. A recent study revealed that a month’s supply of Ozempic could be produced for a mere $5. With such an extraordinary profit margin, it’s no surprise that Novo’s profits have skyrocketed to $12 billion, propelling the company to surpass LVMH as Europe’s most valuable company.

Despite the exorbitant price, the demand for Ozempic currently exceeds the supply that Novo Nordisk is able to produce. The company is investing billions to increase its production capacity to meet this demand. The lingering question, however, is whether the price will ever decrease.

sources: (guardian) (the study)

Additional market-moving events🌎

• The debt is mounting: S&P Global (SPGI) downgrades Paramount’s debt of $14.6 billion, given the concerns over its declining TV-cable business.

• Antitrust ripple-effect: Microsoft (MSFT) have announced they will be selling their Teams application separately from the Office suite in Europe to avoid EU antitrust penalties. Big tech are clearly concerned.

• Is gold the next cocoa?: Gold prices have now reached a new all-time high, with spot gold surging to $2,254.71 per ounce. We have even witnessed U.S. gold futures climb up to a price of $2,275.60 per ounce.

Notable earnings this week💵

• Dave & Buster’s (PLAY) will report Tuesday. Analysts estimate $603.41M in revenue (+7.03% YoY) and $1.07 in earnings per share (+33.75% YoY).

• Blackberry (BB) will report Wednesday after hours. Analysts estimate a loss per share of $0.03 (-50% YoY).

• Levi’s Jeans/Levi Strauss Co (LEVI) will report Wednesday after hours. Analysts estimate $1.53B in revenue (-9.54% YoY) and $0.20 in earnings per share (-41.18% YoY).

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: 1,330.60 SEK (📈+1.40%)

• Hims & Hers Health: $15.62 (📈+7.95%)

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