🍋 Fresh VINE hits Wall Street

Author

Short Squeez
December 17, 2021

Together With

"I came to the US with no money & graduated with over $100k in debt, despite scholarships & working 2 jobs while at school." – Elon Musk

Good Morning! Nasdaq had its worst day since September, falling 2.5%, as tech stocks were down bad. Apple fell 3.9%, AMD and Nvidia dropped 5.4% and 6.8%, while Adobe was down 10.2%. The digital kitchen trend is growing as Chipotle announced its first digital-only kitchen in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Everyone in NYC seems to be getting the omicron ahead of the holidays. Last weekend was probably a super-spreader as the SantaCon army ripped through the city. 'We’ve never seen this before,' tweeted Jay Varma, a health advisor to Mayor Bill de Blasio. From Dec 9 to Dec 12 the percentage of positive tests increased from 3.9% to 7.8%. Anecdotal evidence tells us the percentage is a lot higher at the moment.   

1. Story of the Day: Fresh VINE Hits Wall Street

Fresh Vine Wine went public on the New York Stock Exchange this week and raised $22 million in the offering (2.2 million shares @ $10 / share).

Actresses, Nina Dobrev and Julianne Hough are co-founders and have been involved in marketing for the firm since its launch. Dobrev is known for "The Vampire Diaries" TV series; Hough is both a dancer and a judge on "Dancing With the Stars."

They've helped the company place Fresh Vine's wines with retailers as varied as Total Wine, Hy-Vee and Walgreens in 32 states.

The company is still small and losing A LOT of money. For the first nine months of 2021, it reported revenue of $1.05 million and a net loss of $8.1 million (including an equity-based expense of $5.5 million lmfao).

The firm's other co-founders, Damian Novak, Fresh Vine's executive chairman, and Rick Nechio, its president, have majority ownership. The pair's private equity firm Nechio & Novak owns 43.6%, while Dobrev and Hough each own 9% of the company's stock.

Fresh Vine has had a rough start to public life. Shares closed at $7.15 yesterday, down nearly 30% from its IPO price.

"We believe that our wine is a premium experience that also offers these added health benefits that don't make you feel sick the next day. You won't have a hangover. Trust me, we have tested the product ourselves too many times," said Dobrev.

Short Squeez Takeaway: Looks like everyone is cashing in on the froth of the public markets. There has been a flurry of IPOs this year, fueled by the massive amounts of capital flowing through Wall Street. So far in 2021, there have been 393 IPOs, an 85% increase from last year. Losing $8 million a year and promoting alcohol as healthy and hangover-free, what could possibly go wrong?

Source: StarTribune, Fox

2. Markets Rundown

US stocks closed lower Thursday as investors weighed monetary moves by global central banks and fresh economic data.

Movers & Shakers

  • (+) AT&T ($T) +7% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to an overweight rating from equal-weight.

  • (+) Accenture ($ACN) +7% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue.

  • (–) Adobe ($ADBE) -10% after issuing weaker-than-expected guidance.

3. Top Reads

  • The striking race gap in corporate America (WP)

  • Oracle in talks to buy Cerner (WSJ)

  • How the taxi workers won (Nation)

  • Corner stores are the new darlings of the global tech industry (Atlantic)

  • Apple delays return to corporate offices indefinitely (CNBC)

  • Manhattan’s retail rebound threatened by surge in covid cases (BB)

  • Prosecutor in Theranos case closes by telling jury that Elizabeth Holmes ‘chose fraud over business failure’ (CNBC)

  • Peloton removes viral Chris Noth ad after sexual assault allegations against him surface (CNBC)

A Message from Masterworks: Why Are Institutional Investors Flocking to This App?

In 2018, institutional investors allocated 40% of their portfolios to hedge funds. 

In 2019, it dropped to 33%

In 2020, it sunk to 23%.

Just this month, edge funds saw the largest single-month decline since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Hedge Fund Research. 

But while hedge funds struggled, one alternative asset soared. It outpaced the S&P 500 from 1995-2020. And WSJ calls it one of the hottest markets on Earth. 

This alternative asset we’re talking about is Blue-chip art.

Normally, it’s impossible to invest in blue-chip art unless you’re a hedge fund manager like Steve Cohen—who owns over $1 billion in art. 

But with Masterworks, this investment app founded by Princeton, Harvard, and Stanford alum, you invest in this exclusive asset class at a price point most can afford.

We love what Masterworks is doing for investors. In fact, we partnered with them to give you all a special deal. 

*See important disclosures

4. Book of the Day: The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind

Everyone has something they want to change. Marketers want to change their customers' minds and leaders want to change organizations. Start-ups want to change industries and nonprofits want to change the world. But change is hard. Often, we persuade and pressure and push, but nothing moves. Could there be a better way?

This book takes a different approach. Successful change agents know it's not about pushing harder, or providing more information, it's about being a catalyst. Catalysts remove roadblocks and reduce the barriers to change. Instead of asking, "How could I change someone's mind?" they ask a different question: "Why haven't they changed already? What's stopping them?"

The Catalyst identifies the key barriers to change and how to mitigate them. You'll learn how catalysts change minds in the toughest of situations: how hostage negotiators get people to come out with their hands up and how marketers get new products to catch on, how leaders transform organizational culture and how activists ignite social movements, how substance abuse counselors get addicts to realize they have a problem, and how political canvassers change deeply rooted political beliefs.

This book is designed for anyone who wants to catalyze change. It provides a powerful way of thinking and a range of techniques that can lead to extraordinary results. Whether you're trying to change one person, transform an organization, or shift the way an entire industry does business, this book will teach you how to become a catalyst.

“Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

6. Daily Visual: Social Platforms US Adults Seek Financial Advice From

Source: Bloomberg

7. Daily Acumen: Ideas

If you don’t know why an asset has gone up you’ll probably be quick to bail when it goes down.

The best way to get someone to believe something is not to show them facts, because facts can be interpreted in different ways. It’s to make their income or approval in a social circle depend on believing it.

It’s easiest to convince people that you’re special if they don’t know you well enough to see all the ways you’re not.

Investors as a group don’t learn from booms and busts because when people say they’ve learned their lesson they underestimate how much of their previous mistakes were caused by emotions that will return when faced with similar circumstances.

The market is rational but investors play different games and those games look irrational to people playing a different game.

Average returns sustained for an above-average period of time leads to extraordinary returns.

Past performance increases confidence more than ability.

Source: Collaborative Fund (Morgan Housel)

8. Crypto Corner

9. Memes of the Day

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