Topley’s Top 10 – August 24, 2020

1.  Gold Has Beat Buffett Berkshire Since 2000.

despite drama with crimea and oil prices russian stocks are still beating the S&p 500 through August 2020
click to enlarge

And Just Like That, Buffett Likes Gold  by Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors, 

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/2020/08/21/and-just-like-that-buffett-likes-gold

2. Tesla Valued at $1 Million Per Vehicle vs. GM < $10,000 Per Vehicle.

Barrons

·         https://www.barrons.com/articles/tesla-grabs-the-headlinesbut-general-motors-could-be-the-next-hot-ev-stock-51598056559?mod=past_editions

 

 

Now Even a Tesla Dating App

If someone purchasing a top-of-the-line Tesla Model X a year ago had instead bought the company’s shares, he or she would be sitting on a paper profit of three-quarters of a million dollars by now. But then, while money can’t buy you love, that Tesla might.

Owners of a car that regularly needs to be hooked up to an outlet have just as much trouble hooking up as the rest of us. Now a new dating service, the Tesla Dating Co., seeks to make it easier.

“It became a big part of their identity,” says Ajitpal Grewal, the Canadian e-commerce entrepreneur who is developing the app. “Suddenly it hit me: These people would be perfect for each other.”

The site requires applicants to prove Tesla ownership before joining. Yet Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, the man who named his four vehicle models so that they would spell “S-3-X-Y,” has no affiliation with Mr. Grewal’s venture

It is hard to imagine a similar app for, say, Fords or Toyotas, but then how many owners of those cars can name the chief executive of the manufacturer, much less worship him? This one describes itself as being for an “exclusive community of like-minded Elon stans…the kind of people that really understand you.”

Tesla Owners Can Find Their Electric Flame–A new dating app exclusively for Tesla owners helps the eco-conscious hook up with something other than a power outlet

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-owners-can-find-their-electric-flame-11597939040?mod=itp_wsj&ru=yahoo

 

3. Bank Stocks 0.9 times Estimated price to book(P/B) Versus a low of 0.6 Times During the Global Financial Crisis in Early 2009 and an Average of 1.1 Times Since 2005

Stone’s Weekly Market Guide Bill Stone

Chart of the Week: Banks within the S&P 500 have recently begun to outperform the S&P 500 with the relative performance bottoming on August 6th. Interestingly, the outperformance coincided with the better than expected July jobs report and the low in 10-year U.S. Treasury yields. Not surprisingly, the bank index is typically positively correlated with Treasury yields but the correlation has been rising since the S&P 500 bottom in March (see chart). The July payrolls report, which reflected an almost 1.6 million increase in jobs, was a significant positive surprise with the U.S. economy losing some momentum due to the increase in COVID infections and some economists expecting further job losses. Outperformance of the banks has also helped spark outperformance from the value versus growth indexes, which also bottomed on August 6th. With the financial sector comprising 18.6% of the Russell 1000 Value index versus 10.0% of the S&P 500, the value outperformance is logical. Value strategies in general have been outperforming since at least early August although banks are certainly not the only reason for value outperformance. In our view the improved economic outlook, as signaled by the payrolls report, has helped drive the turn in value and smaller-cap stocks. With the benefit of some lucky timing and extreme relative valuations, we highlighted the opportunity in value and smaller stocks in our report on August 3. If in fact the economy continues to mend, bank stocks continue to look interesting at less than 0.9 times estimated price to book(P/B) versus a low of 0.6 times during the global financial crisis in early 2009 and an average of 1.1 times since 2005. The estimated dividend yield is also enticing at almost 3.6% if dividends remain unaffected by the need to conserve capital for loan losses.