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Today we are watching…
1. NintendoĀ (#nintendo)
Nintendo hit a home-run with āAnimal Crossing,ā itās best-seller in lockdown. We thought it was brilliant when the in-game Bank of Nook cut interest rates and forced players into riskier assets, I mean, minigames, but the business ties go further. The game has spawned real gray markets in China where merchants sell in-game cosmetic items. Itās forbidden by Nintendo, but Chinese gamers donāt know any different. The direct winner from this is Tabau, hosting the merchants. The indirect winner is Nintendo, as more people will hear about the game! Ā
2. PG&E Corp (#pacgas)
You might remember PG&E, the utilities giant responsible for the āCamp Fireā disaster in Paradise, California. It couldnāt brunt the legal fees and went under, but today, it emerges from bankruptcy restructured, and still listed. PG&E has a natural monopoly with regulated returns, thatās why income investors used to love its dividend, and thatās what makes it interesting now: itās earnings projections for 2021 have credibility, and theyāre $2 billion. Post-bankruptcy share count thatās $1 in earnings per share and given todayās stock price, thatās a price/earnings ratio of 9. Itās peers trade in the high teens. Thereās a lot hinging on peers still being comparable and regulators being kind, but the road to forgiveness starts today.