Meta Buys Away its Distraction at Minimal Cost
Meta’s $18 billion teen-addiction settlement makes $5.3 billion contingent on YouTube and TikTok adopting matching restrictions, while exempting direct messages from usage limits.
Friday, August 28, 2026
Back to today 
From X
catechwilliams on X
$PLUS Earnings on 8/5, expectations & stock disconnected from reality. Suppliers ($CSCO – 50% of product sales), competitors & customers all reporting sharp sales declines. Non-event PR today re a service they’ve been offering for 3 yrs is pumping stock; suggests mgmt is grasping
catechwilliams on X
@Mike10947310 $CVGW Sources >90% of its avocados from Michoacan, MX. $CMG purchases ~10% of tot US avocados. Its latest ESG report noted “diversifying away from Mexican suppliers.” This latest drama down there will almost certainly accelerate sourcing away from $CVGW, etc.
catechwilliams on X
Meanwhile disintermediation by OEMs going direct is accelerating. See recent commentary from partners $CSCO, $PANW $DELL, etc. $PLUS has zero discernable benefit from $NVDA and AI.
catechwilliams on X
Answer: aggressive revenue booking, financing sales, selling products at/ below cost to boost revenue and hoping to “then try to build it back up over time” per CEO. Contrast $PLUS performance w competitor and industry leader $CDW.
catechwilliams on X
$PLUS Numbers don’t add up. 50% sales $CSCO product (sales -13% MRQ, guided -11%). MRQ $PLUS sales +13% (reported yesterday). Earnings call question: “OEM Cisco have talked about bottlenecks, weak orders. You’ve been unscathed…how are you outperforming the market significantly?”
catechwilliams on X
$EXLS Highly innovative founder-CEO rapidly taking share w AI-based services. High-teens topline growth w expanding margins, higher value-add mix to attractive end-markets. 17x P/E yet to reflect business transformation. 100% FCF to buybacks. Winning customers from $ACN $DXC $WIT
catechwilliams on X
$GMS Underfollowed building products distributor, HSD growth, favorable mix shift/ margin, tracking to beat estimates, trading at 10x EPS, 7x EBITDA. Peers at >50% higher multiples. $HD just acquired lower quality peer SRS for 17x EBITDA. GMS = $240 or +150% at that multiple.
catechwilliams on X
$CART Moved forward its lock-up expiration date to 2/16 (Thursday) from the original 3/19. >65% of the shares will be eligible for sale. COO leaving, just announced a restructuring w ambitious guidance. Almost certainly did so to support the stock in advance of a secondary.
Investor Letters
All letters- Protean Funds July 2026 EVGGF $17BNVO $175B
- Hayden Capital Q2 2026 MELI $92BSE $63B
- Polaris Capital Management Second Quarter 2026 ENI $81BIX $42B
- First Eagle Investments second quarter 2026 032830 $42BBABA $288B
- Oakmark Funds 2Q 2026 ORCL $437B
- Greenhaven Road Capital second quarter APP $104B
- RGA Investment Advisors Q2 2026 ADBE $99BADYEN $33B
- Royce Investment Partners Year-to-Date Through 6/30/26 MKSI $17BONTO $14B
HMY 2026-08-24 Harmony Gold Mining: A Copper Pioneer By Capitalizing On The Gold Tailwind (Reaffirming Buy)
Harmony Gold targets copper at roughly 40% of future production, diversifying gold exposure while increasing sensitivity to commodity…
Prakhar Agarwal, CFA 4 clicks
Core Memory
Airbnb Experiences faces a supply bottleneck from manual approvals, while a farm host raised her price from $15 to $25 after stronger…
FUTU 2026-08-23 Futu Holdings: The China Discount Is Obsolete After Q2 Earnings Report
Futu Holdings' Q2 funded accounts rose 33.6%, client assets 43.6% and net income 41.6% as it shifts from mainland China toward Singapore,…
Emanuel Nemec 4 clicks
Shitcos, Griftcos, and alignment versus enrichment at $IREN
IREN awarded each co-CEO roughly 9 million RSUs, about 2.5% of shares and $400 million, in exchange for no further equity grants until…
$NU: is Nubank Capital One in 1994 or Capital One in 2006? | Vanshap Capital
Nubank's 140 million customers, 20% efficiency ratio and 30% ROE frame whether its high-teens P/E reflects a scalable fintech or a maturing…
Will Hubspot go the way of the Dodo?
HubSpot trades near its 2020 share price despite quadrupled revenue and $750 million in free cash flow, with Breeze AI upside weighed…
[scuttleslops] ZTS, APO, FISV, TTD, RELY
Zoetis’s U.S. companion-animal revenue fell 6% as dermatology competition drove rebates and discounts, pushing full-year net pricing to…
The Impact of Autonomous Vehicles on Copart, A Timeline-Based Assessment - ($CPRT)
Copart faces a near-term lift from pricier AV repairs and total losses, but shrinking accident volumes could eventually force its…
Permian Basin Q2 Update – Power, Water, Solid Waste, and Data Centers
GFL’s proposed acquisition of Secure follows 19% revenue growth at Secure and 14.8% EBITDA growth at GFL, with Permian produced-water and…
Private Credit's Clock is Ticking w/ Glenn Schorr & Ken Worthington | The Real Eisman Playbook Ep 72
Glenn Schorr and Ken Worthington discuss risks in private-credit software loans, agentic AI at retail brokers, crypto use cases and bank…
RGLD · long Royal Gold INC
Royal Gold, a $19 billion precious-metals royalty and streaming company, benefits from mine production without operating mines directly.
RKLB 2026-08-26 Rocket Lab Is Becoming Much Bigger Than Neutron
Rocket Lab generated $234 million in Q2 revenue and built a $2.36 billion backlog, with Neutron priced at $50 million to $55 million before…
Pythia Research 3 clicks
The Non-linear Economics of Grocery Delivery Basket
Instacart’s larger grocery baskets create disproportionately better delivery economics than DoorDash’s, making half the basket size worth…
DKS 2026-08-22 DICK'S Sporting Goods Stock Is Hanging On By A Thread But Looks Like A Buy Ahead Of Q2 Earnings
DICK’S Sporting Goods trades at 12.8 times FY26 EPS after breaking multi-year support, while maintaining $13.50 to $14.50 FY guidance amid…
Mike Arnold 2 clicks
Walmart’s Evolution
Walmart says Medicare Maximum Fair Price rules will cut FY27 US comps by 125 basis points, while pharmacy margins and prescription volumes…
PLTR 2026-08-21 Palantir Just Turned Its Biggest Weakness Into A Strength
Palantir’s revenue rose 93% to $1.94 billion as U.S. commercial bookings jumped 149%, lifting GAAP operating margin to 47% and free cash…
Quantryon Capital 1 click
Instacart’s Unit Economics, and Implications for DoorDash
Instacart’s per-order unit economics provide a benchmark for assessing DoorDash’s LTM profitability and operating model.
[V, MA] The more things change, the more they stay the same
Visa and Mastercard have absorbed digital wallets and BNPL into their networks, using global merchant acceptance to turn supposed…
SpaceX Disappoints, AI's Free Cash Flow Shrinks, Meta Struggles | The Weekly Wrap
Steve Eisman reviews SpaceX earnings, AI capital spending’s drag on free cash flow, Meta’s struggles, and the collapse of Situational…
[scuttleslops] BKNG, ABNB, SHOP, LPX, TREX, XYZ
Booking Holdings beat Q2 guidance as room nights grew 5%; connected trips, merchant payments and Genius loyalty strengthened direct…
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Newsletters 91
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Blogs 12
Seeking Alpha 29 of 161
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Bay Area Ideas
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Dhierin Bechai
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Investor Overview
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Jaden Mealy
LL Insights
Marc Gerstein
Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT
Miletus Research
Myriam Alvarez
Petri Dish Reports
Philip Wang- Prakhar Agarwal, CFA
PV Research
Robert J. Lake
Sam Mancini
Sharon McArd
SiliconBytes Insights
Simple Investment Ideas
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Value Capital Research
X accounts we follow
Every account on this site, hand-picked.
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A Capital
AltayCap
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BDC
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catechwilliams
Charles Frischer
Chris Camillo
Clark Square Capital
Cluseau Investments
Colin King
Connor Haley
Conor Maguire | Value Situations
Convequity
David Orr
Deep Sail Capital
Devin LaSarre
DOMO Capital Management, LLC
Edwin Dorsey
Evan Tindell
Farmer
Fierce_beast
Fred Liu
Gavin Baker
Ian Bezek
Idea Brunch
JabroniCoin.USD
John_Hempton
junkbondinvestor
kab60
KEDM.com
Laughing Water Capital
Lee Roach
Little Owl Research
Maius
Maj Soueidan
marginofdanger
mavix
Mike
Mikro Kap David
Multiples Capital
Myles
Nat Stewart
Negligible Capital
Odd Diligence
Odd Lot Arbitrageur
PAA Research
Pernas Research
Porter Collins
Prepared Remarks
Psyop Capital
Raging Capital Ventures
Red Dog Capital
RiverRoadPartners
Rusholme Capital
Sahil Khetpal
SG
Tim Eriksen
Timyan Bank Alert
Todd Wenning
ToffCap
Trevor Scott
Voss Capital
Yaron Naymark
Investor letters we follow
- 1851 Capital
- Aikya Investment Management
- Akre Capital Management, LLC
- Alluvial Capital Management
- Alpinum Investment Management AG
- Ariel Investments
- Artisan Partners
- Askeladden Capital
- Asset Value Investors Ltd
- Baron Funds
- Berkshire Hathaway
- Biglari Holdings
- Bireme Capital
- Bristlemoon Capital
- Broyhill Asset Management
- Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management
- Cedar Creek Partners
- Choice Equities
- Confluence Investment Management
- CrossingBridge Advisors
- Crossroads Capital, LLC
- Distillate Capital
- Dodge & Cox Stock Fund
- Donville Kent Asset Management Inc.
- FPA Crescent Fund
- First Eagle Investments
- Forager Funds Management
- Fred Alger Management, LLC
- Giverny Capital
- Grandeur Peak Global Advisors
- Greenhaven Road Capital
- GreensKeeper Asset Management
- Grey Owl Capital Management
- Halvio Capital
- Hayden Capital
- Heartland Advisors
- Hoisington Investment Management
- Horizon Kinetics
- Intrepid Capital
- Invenomic Capital Management
- Janus Henderson Investors
- Kaydan Wealth Management
- Kernow Asset Management
- LVS Advisory
- Laughing Water Capital
- Lindsell Train Limited
- Macro Ops
- Maran Capital Management
- Markel Group
- Massif Capital
- McIntyre Partnerships
- Merion Road Capital
- Myrmikan Capital, LLC
- O'Keefe Stevens Advisory
- Oakmark Funds
- Palm Harbour Capital
- Palm Valley Capital
- Patient Capital Management
- Pendelhaven Asset Management B.V.
- PenderFund Capital Management Ltd.
- Pershing Square Holdings
- Polaris Capital Management
- Polen Capital 5Perspectives Growth Opportunities
- Polen Capital U.S. Opportunistic High Yield
- Praetorian Capital
- Protean Funds
- RGA Investment Advisors
- Rowan Street Capital
- Royce Investment Partners
- Sequoia Fund
- Southeastern Asset Management
- Third Avenue Management
- Tweedy, Browne
- Upslope Capital Management
- Vulcan Value Partners
- Wedgewood Partners
- Weitz Investment Management
- White Falcon Capital Management
Sectors
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