Today's conversation focuses on a recent report from MBLM.com called: Brand Intimacy - Covid Update. I talk with Mario Natarelli, Managing Partner of Brand Design Firm MBLM.com. We discussed what his firm does with B2B and B2C brands, why it's important and how Covid has affected consumers and brand relevance & intimacy.  There were some very interesting changes with emotional bonds with certain brands and some behaviors will pivot back and others are changed forever. All of these will have major effects on a brands ability to navigate its industry. This was one of my favorite chats because I see so many brands that need so much help from firms like MBLM and Mario. So much to talk about. Brands Matter https://mblm.com/about-us/ https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/

Mega-Brands: Investing in Mega Trends & the Mega Brands Best Positioned to Add Value to Your Wallet

S2 - Ep 1 - Brand Intimacy Report w/Mario Natarelli, Managing Partner MBLM.com

My conversation today is with Nathan Miller, the PM and creator of the Alpha Opportunities strategy that's now available via an active ETF with the symbol, "EOPS."  For more information about the ETF, go to https://www.emles.com/etf/emles-alpha-opportunities-etf/ Conversation details: Nathan's experience: Legg Mason (Value) / Goldman Sachs (Fundamental) / SAC (Catalyst/Event) / RBC (Management / Risk Management) – Nathan spent 10 years with the same investment team at Goldman and SAC Focus: Deep fundamental  value with a catalyst – Contrarian approach – Long/Short equity with options – Somewhat sector focused in old economy: Industrials/Cyclicals/Consumer/Retail – Primarily Mid-Cap Focused – Repeatable process – Look for asymmetric risk/reward opportunities and structure them correctly Investors will recognize the company names and brands in our portfolio – many of them are actually category killers (they dominate their niche in their specialty retail category) – But buying them correctly is the secret sauce. The focus here is on permanent capital – A long term approach with a goal of maximizing returns over the course of the business cycle – allows Nathan to have a longer term time horizon. Nathan and his partners have have $100m invested in the strategy personally – 2/3 in public entity (EOPS) and 1/3 in a private hedge fund, both run with similar focuses. Value focused (earnings yield) – and if we can find a catalyst that’s even better. We tend to look at normalized earnings over the cycle. Last year is a great example of how useful this can be – Earnings fell off a cliff, but the lack of earnings (or even negative earnings) were temporary in nature. Most analysts suffer from recency bias, we smooth out earnings and look at historical average (assuming a reversion to the mean) – What looked like 20x earnings 2020 earnings was actually only 3x-5x “normalized” earnings. Note: This works well in slower-growing industries like retail and industrials, less useful in VC / startup / high-tech. We talk about Nathans views on the current market and why having portfolio flexibility is critical to generating great returns, particularly going forward.  We talk about the flexibility to be short, use hedges to protect the long book and also generate alpha on the short side. We also talk about being a value manager in a world where everyone wants go-go growth and why EOPS is a very unique and timely value focused strategy versus traditional value thats been lagging for a decade. Emles Alpha Opportunities ETF, EOPS: A great strategy for long-term compounding of returns – By having more tolerance for volatility and buying out-of-favor names, you can massively outperform the broader market over the cycle ETF product enables access, liquidity, and transparency - Ability to rebalance the portfolio and have it non-taxable to investors (tax deferred) is another benefit. 

Ep 14 - Emles Alpha Opportunities ETF Conversation with PM, Nathan Miller.

Today's conversation is a one-on-one chat with my co-Portfolio Manager on the Dynamic Brands Strategy, James Calhoun. James is a CFA and vital to all the macro and micro work we do at Accuvest. In our chat we talk about the current state of the economy, the potential risks going forward and the opportunities across the consumption theme and a recovering global economy. We talk specifically about our style factor work, his macro work on countries around the world and what part of the consumption thematic appears to be most attractive as we start the second half of 2021. 

Ep 13 - Live and unscripted chat with my partner at Accuvest & fellow PM on the Brands Strategies, James Calhoun

In episode 12 I talk to Strategy Shares ETF's CIO & Senior Portfolio Manager, David Miller. David is a co-founder of Catalyst Funds as well as Rational Funds on the mutual fund side as well as Strategy Shares on the ETF business line.  Today we talk about 2 of Strategy Shares ETF offerings: 1. "HNDL" - Nasdaq 7HANDL Index ETF - a multi-asset high income portfolio that targets a 7% yield paid monthly. The portfolio has 2 components:  1) The Core Portfolio - 70% allocation to U.S. aggregate fixed- income ETFs and a 30% allocation to U.S. large cap equity ETFs. 2) the Dorsey Wright Explore Portfolio consists of an allocation to ETFs in various U.S. asset categories that have historically provided high levels of income, using a tactical asset allocation methodology developed in consultation with Nasdaq Dorsey Wright Investment Research & Analysis that seeks to incorporate momentum, yield and risk 2. "GLDB" - Strategy Shares Gold-Hedged Bond ETF - The strategy was designed on the belief that the best way for investors to generate income that maintains its purchasing power is to combine bonds and a gold overlay within one portfolio. TheIndexseekstoprovide100%exposure to the U.S. dollar-denominated investment grade corporate bond sector (the “Bond Component”) plus a gold inflation hedge with a notional value designed to correspond to the value of the Bond Component, with such notional value reset on a monthly basis (the “Gold Hedge Component”). Interest rates have been falling largely since the 1981 peak. There's simply not a ton of juice left in this fruit so going forward all investors should probably expect rates to stay rangebound to up, rate volatility to stay elevated and bond returns to be sub-par relative to the last few decades. Investors can just accept lower returns, lower income and more volatility out of their "safe assets" or they can research additional ways to keep getting attractive income and have some inflation hedges just in case inflation really begins to accelerate. Both these ETF strategies offer interesting opportunities for further research. For more information about Strategy Shares: https://strategysharesetfs.com For more information about the Global Brands thematic and Dynamic Brands: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/dynamic-portfolio 

Ep 12 - David Miller - Strategy Shares ETF's - We talk about HNDL, a high income ETF & GLDB, a gold hedged Bond ETF

In episode 11 I talk Retail stocks and consumer spending brands with Retail & pop-culture analyst Dan Kline from 7investing.com. 7investing is a subscription-based investment site that has very smart analysts covering important sectors and industries and the companies that appear to be dominating and offer strong investment opportunities. Dan also hosts a Youtube channel called 7investing NOW so check out the show which airs Monday, Wednesday and Fridays with great viewer question opportunities. Dan is a very knowledgeable retail investor and we dig into the retail sector across a ton of spending categories and chat about the brands we like currently. We also discuss how strong the long-term track records are for these leading brands to highlight the opportunity for investors. For more info on 7investing: https://7investing.com Also check out the 7investing Podcasts For more information on the global brands fund: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com

Ep 11 - Dan Kline 7investing.com - Great conversation about the opportunities in Retail stocks what makes a great consumer business

In Episode 10, I talk with a serial entrepreneur, Gabriel Hammond of Emles Advisors.  We talk about Gabriel's start in the business with the Energy & Power Group at Goldman Sachs and the need to create SteelPath, an investment firm that focused exclusively on energy infrastructure as well as his creation of Alerian, a leading energy infrastructure data and analytics company. Alerian created and launched the first real-time index of master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) in 2005. In 2010, SteelPath launched the first MLP mutual fund and Alerian launched the first MLP exchange traded fund. Mr. Hammond sold SteelPath and its mutual funds family to OppenheimerFunds, Inc. in 2012, but remained a portfolio manager until 2014, and he sold Alerian in 2018. In 2019, Mr. Hammond founded Emles Advisors LLC where he serves as the Chief Executive Officer. Gabriel highlights the virtues of identifying an early new asset class that has enormous return potential and placing a flag early to become the leading brand in the category. We talked about our similar paths in that regard with my creation of the Brands strategy which focuses on an important emerging asset class called "Intangible Assets" via the most relevant brands.  We spend some time dissecting the global luxury goods business and the investment opportunity it offers investors through their Luxury Goods ETF, "LUXE". The Emles Luxury Goods ETF (LUXE) invests in a portfolio of global companies that offer luxury goods across accessories, alcohol, apparel, athleisure, beauty, home and vehicles.   We also talk about another one of Emles's unique and incredibly timely ETF's, "AMER" the Made in America ETF. The Emles Made in America ETF (AMER) provides investors exposure to companies that potentially stand to benefit from deglobalization and increased manufacturing domestically. An allocation in AMER seeks to provide enhanced return potential through exposure to businesses with headquarters and manufacturing footprints based in the U.S. There's some clear innovation and important uniqueness in the current roster of ETF's at Emles.  Lastly, we talked about an Active ETF they will be launching in a month or two and focused on a very underserved, deep value and opportunistic management style. Keep checking back for that new active ETF, I know I will. For more information on all of Emles's investment strategies: https://www.emles.com/ For more information about investing in Mega Brands: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com

Ep 10 - Gabriel Hammond, Emles Advisors & the LUXE ETF. This ETF focuses on the insatiable appetite for luxury goods & the Brands that dominate the category

Today I have the honor of talking retail trends with the leading expert in retail & brand strategy, Doug Stephens. Doug is an award winning author with 3 books analyzing the retail industry and his latest book, Resurrecting Retail is my new favorite. Doug has the ear of the major brands for important strategic decisions made inside boardrooms. The knowledge he has of the retail industry, its forward-looking trends and which brands are remaining highly relevant offers enormous advantages for executives in the industry as well as investors who want to invest in these great brands. In today's conversation we talk about Amazon and where he thinks this great business is headed next. We talk about other great brands like Nike and Target and what the future needs to look like for brands that want to compete in an e-commerce world. I enjoyed talking about the U.S. retail industry and contrasting it with China's up and coming e-commerce driven retail landscape. We talked about experiences being small nuggets of content which when added up make for a total experience through the eyes of the consumer. Experiences are what will keep physical retail from being relevant yet very few brands have strong expertise here.  There are too many insights in this book to list them all but suffice to say it's a great summary of the trials and tribulations of the retail industry, how it's being affected by the pandemic and more importantly, what it will look like post-pandemic. Doug discusses in detail how the leading brands have benefitted from Covid and what lies ahead for brands that rapidly accelerated their digital capabilities and are paying keen attention to the new customer experiences that will be required to keep consumers engaged in physical stores. I loved the discussion of what the shopping center of the future will look like.  As a fund manager that dedicates to identifying the most relevant brands serving global consumers, Dougs expertise has paid serious dividends in helping me identify the brands that also should be great stocks. Doug states in the book that "brands are the new church and state". I could not agree more. The brand, its willingness to innovate and even self-disrupt in order to grow will matter even more into the future. We touched on the concept of a few brands being "Apex Predators" which gave me new things to think about as a stock picker. The retail industry has a lot of work to do in a post-pandemic world and Dougs insights through his book and his podcasts will be super important for CMO & C-suite conversations. The most relevant brands just "get it" and they will continue to survive and thrive at the expense of the others who simply do not. Bottom line: this book is entertaining, provocative, insightful, honest, and delivers on its mission to readers. It's the best book I have read in a very long time.  This book is more than an examination of the retail industry, it shows the future of how we will all shop and what will drive our behavior and allows us to connect the dots back to some serious investment insights that can translate into future potential gains.  To learn more about Doug and his consultancy business: http://www.retailprophet.com To buy Resurrecting Retail on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Resurrecting-Retail-Future-Business-Post-Pandemic/dp/1773271431/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=resurrecting+retail&qid=1621052234&sr=8-2 For more information on investing in Mega Brands: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com 

Ep 9 - Doug Stephens, RetailProphet.com, author of Resurrecting Retail: The future of business in a post-pandemic world

In episode 8, I have a wonderful conversation with Barry Schwartz of Baskin Wealth in Toronto. Barry's a very smart investor of high quality, stable companies. Baskin runs a core equity portfolio that holds some significant exposure in Mega Brands like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Costco, Visa, JP Morgan, Amazon, Netflix, Activision, Ferrari, Domino's Pizza, Vail Resorts, and more.  We talk about the firm's target client and running their core portfolio plus some bonds where appropriate. Barry focuses on 5 core criteria: 1. Moat businesses 2. Tailwinds for opportunities 3. Great management & culture 4. Strong history of smart capital allocation decisions and ROI 5. Attractive valuations Portfolio focus: think like a business owner and don't sell the companies that execute.  We talk about his selling regrets last year in the pandemic and a reminder to stick to the quality businesses even in the face of short-term adversity. We talk about portfolio sizing and managing risk along the way while being tax sensitive. Clients have benefitted greatly because of this strategy and have some tremendous long-term gains. Great story on Ferrari and what got them into the position. For more information on Baskin: https://baskinwealth.com and info@baskinwealth.com For more information on the Dynamic Brands portfolio: https://www.globalbrandsmatter.com/dynamic-portfolio 

Ep 8 - Mega Brands - Barry Schwartz conversation "7 billion people like to buy things every day, that's why we love consumer brands"

In episode 7, I talk to Leland Abrams, a  fixed income Portfolio Manager and specialist in the highly under-owned and under-appreciated Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) market.  My conversation with the Portfolio Manager from the Catalyst Enhanced Income Strategy Fund (EIXIX) is very insightful. We talk about the bond allocation for Advisors and investors and why it's likely time to think outside the box for income and capital appreciation in the "safe" part of the portfolio. It's quite possible the part of our portfolios we have rarely worried about could become the source of angst at a part of our lives when we have less time and interest to take losses.  It's been the best of times in bond-land for 30+ years, times may be changing.  There are some very intriguing options for those willing to look outside of the plain vanilla fixed income categories. The Mortgage market is enormous in size, everyone understands a mortgage and now there's a high income strategy available to retail investors. For more information on the Enhanced Income Strategy Fund:  https://catalystmf.com/funds/catalyst-enhanced-income-strategy-fund/ For more information on Leland & Wynkoop: http://www.wynkoopfinancial.com Analytics: A Brands Core Equity and an Enhanced Income Strategies Fixed Income allocation compared to benchmarks: https://tinyurl.com/kxcraf6r --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

Ep 7 - Mega Brands - Let's talk about Fixed Income with a very smart strategy & asset class that's under-owned

In episode 6, I have a great conversation with Fintech & payments specialist Warren Fisher from Manole Capital. Manole runs a suite of separate accounts and a long/short hedge fund dedicated to this important and disruptive thematic. We talk about his definition of fintech, his presentation called "the death of cash", bitcoin and crypto along with the recession resistant digital payments industry. The leading fintech stocks have had extraordinary runs over the last few years but if you widen the lens this thematic is likely in inning 2 on a global basis.  For more information on Manole, https://www.manolecapital.com The death of cash presentation: https://www.manolecapital.com/death-of-cash Manole portfolio info: https://www.manolecapital.com/portfolios February 2021 Newsletter: https://b9f3c509-36e7-4c54-97bf-174f29a2aa48.filesusr.com/ugd/43315f_1231219e5a7f4c05a341821cf51c8550.pdf Retail trading update: https://b9f3c509-36e7-4c54-97bf-174f29a2aa48.filesusr.com/ugd/43315f_ca99482f463e4fffbda93cf323cd2cba.pdf --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

Ep 6 - Mega Brands - An epic conversation with a Fintech & payments specialist investor Warren Fisher, Manole Capital

In episode 5 I have a great conversation with a fellow global consumer investor. We discuss how we discovered each other and why we dedicate our investments to the $44 trillion global consumption theme. Sharif manages his fund in Dubai and runs a concentrated portfolio of the teams best consumer ideas. We talk Canada goose, Spotify, RH, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, travel stocks and where we see important spending trends headed in 2021. Virtually every investor is underweight the global consumer stocks and the travel stocks in particular at a time when the momentum factor will highlight their strength which brings in more buyers strictly looking for momentum ideas.  Safehouse's website is www.safehousecap.com @Shariffarha --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

Ep 5 - Mega Brands - A special conversation with Sharif Farha, PM from the Safehouse Global Consumer Fund

In this episode of Mega Brands I caught up with fellow investor and friend, Sean Avory. Sean is the CIO of Avory & Co in Miami and the firm manages $300 million for large institutions and high net worth families. Sean and his team run a highly concentrated portfolio if innovators and transition stories. Some names you will recognize and others you will not. That's what's cool about their portfolio. We hold a few names in common and we both have outperformed the market handily but accomplish it in very different ways.  Sean also holds cash and sells puts to collect premium while waiting for their favorite stocks to fall to levels where they want to own the stocks. Sean is a strong outside the box thinker and connects the dots better than most I follow.  I love talking to him about markets and the themes that will drive strong innovation into the future. I absolutely love that he's not just another momentum investor, the world is littered with those who just buy the best momentum stocks and use no process for stock selection.  We talk about a theme he really likes today which he calls "social commerce" and also the "freelance economy" $FB $SQ $PYPL $PLNT $OMCL $FIVR.  Sean can be reached at https://www.avory.xyz/ and their portfolios are available at $500k minimums. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

Ep 4 - Mega Brands - Special conversation with Sean Avory, Avory & Co @_SeanDavid

In this episode of Mega Brands I chatted with veteran tech investor, Paul Meeks. Paul has been a dedicated tech investor for over 30 years. He currently is the Portfolio Manager for the Wireless Fund, WIREX which he took over 11/2018 with very successful results. The fund is very concentrated and is dedicated to technology investing across a variety of industries and thematics driving technology adoption here and abroad. We talked about the stocks we own in common (Brands fund and Wireless Fund) and some of his favorite tech stocks now and for the long-term. We also talked about the tech industry currently given its recent pullback and the sentiment shift away from tech and into value and cyclicals. This is a great conversation for a very important part of the market. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

Ep 3 - Mega Brands - Special tech investing interview with veteran investor Paul Meeks from the Wireless Fund WIREX

Episode 2 of Mega Brands we talk about 3 things: 1. The new Brands Index after our December re-constitution. I unveil the new consumer and B2B brands that were added. Our goal is to track the important mega themes serving global consumerism over a lifetime of spending. From pampers to starting a family, buying that first house, saving for college and getting your hips replaced, the consumption theme never stops making it the largest investment theme available to investors. We talk about the addition to the genomics revolution, artificial intelligence, digitization, and the consumption supply chain brands helping consumer companies serve their customers better. 2. How to implement an allocation to the global consumer in a portfolio, what a reasonable weight in the portfolio might be and how it can help enhance returns and add  some "know what you own and why" logic. 3. The new Top 30 brands using the Brand Relevancy scoring system in aggregate and using the Mega Brands screen which is a sub-segment of the >40 factors I assess. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

Ep 2 - Mega Brands - Investing in the $44 trillion global consumer spending theme via Mega Brands

This is the kick-off episode of the Mega-Brands Podcast Series where we discuss the $44 trillion global consumption investment opportunity with particular emphasis on the Brands that are resonating with global customers. I explain our proprietary Brand Relevance Scoring System, why it was created and what qualitative and quantitative factors are utilized. I'll list the highest ranked 25 Brands from the 2019 Brands Index and talk about the portfolio value these names would have added looking backward. Using some return assumptions going forward, I talk about when some of these great brands could reach the $1 trillion market cap club.  Our goal is to invest in the Mega-Trends happening around the world through an allocation in the most relevant brands serving consumers and businesses.  We focus on lifetime spending categories and the brands that appear best positioned to benefit from these Mega-Trends. Our goal is to produce strong investment returns primarily by investing in a well recognized, "know what you own" portfolio.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

Ep 1 - Mega-Brands: An introduction to Mega-Brands & our Brand Relevancy Scoring System

Mega-Brands is a podcast for investors & Financial Advisors who want to keep track of the most powerful mega-trends happening around the globe. In these podcasts we discuss the $44 trillion/year global consumer spending theme as well as other trends like: Artificial Intelligence, Digitization, and the Experience Economy. Let's make some money investing in Mega-Brands! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/megabrands/support

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Mega-Brands: Investing in Mega Trends & the Mega Brands Best...

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