Hey Snackers,
Two real things that were born out of TikTok this week: a Ratatouille Broadway musical, and a Chipotle burrito called "Guac Is Extra But So Is Miley."
Stocks fell last week as stimulus talks hit partisan road bumps. On Friday evening after market close, the FDA authorized Pfizer’s Covid vaccine (!!!).
Pfizer's vaccine gets FDA-authorized: we're talking timing, logistics, and $$$
It's hereee... On Friday evening, the FDA authorized Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in the US. First, let's take a second to appreciate how fast this materialized: Vaccines usually take around 10 years to develop — this took less than a year (record-shattering). Also...
- It's the first mRNA vaccine ever approved for human use. Unlike OG vaccines (which use a weakened virus), mRNA ones teach cells to destroy the virus.
- Next up for authorization: Moderna's vax, which is also mRNA-based (hence: ModeRNA). Both Moderna's and Pfizer's vaccines were 95% effective in trials (impressive).
In motion... Trucks carrying vaccine doses at subzero temperatures started rolling out of Pfizer's Michigan plant on Sunday. The CDC director also signed off on the vax, allowing shots to begin today.
- Who: People 16 and older can get the vax. America's 21M health-care workers and 3M nursing-home residents will likely be the first to receive it.
- How: Two shots taken three weeks apart. Pfizer plans to distribute ~25M doses in the US by the end of 2020, enough for 12.5M people.
- When: Authorities don’t expect there'll be enough supply to vaccinate the broader population until spring or summer 2021.
The profits are coming... Pfizer's vaccine will be free for Americans, but that doesn't mean Pfizer's not making $$$ from Uncle Sam — it's projected to haul in $19B in Covid-19 vaccine sales in 2021. But Pfizer's a huge company, which is perhaps partly why its stock is up only 11% this year. Meanwhile, Moderna is a young biotech with 0 products on the market. It generated just $60M in sales last year, but is expected to make $13.2B in Covid vaccine sales next year. Its stock is up 716% this year.
Who's up...
IPO or Hype-PO?.... DoorDash and Airbnb shares came in hotter than spicy pad thai in a Miami beach condo. By the time DoorDash stock hit the market, it had already soared 78% from its $102/share IPO price. It closed the week at $175, notching a $55B+ market value — more than 3X its June valuation. Airbnb IPO'd at $68, but opened for trading at more than double that. It closed on Friday with an $83B market value, more than Marriott and Hilton combined — and more than 4X its April valuation.
Young Simba energy... Disney shares soared 14% to an all-time high last week because intellectual property is king. Disney+ now has ~87M subscribers and expects 230M to 260M by 2024. If you include Hulu and ESPN+, Disney has 137M streaming subscribers (quickly catching up with Netflix's 195M). Disney unveiled an avalanche of upcoming content, from Marvel movies to a dozen Star Wars spinoffs. Aaaaand: Disney+ is getting $1 more expensive.
...who's down
Behold, "The UnZuckening"... Facebook's "family of apps" is in trouble. Last week, the FTC and 46 states served up major lawsuits, accusing FB of illegally crushing competition by buying rising rivals. Refresher: FB bought Insta in 2012 for $1B, and WhatsApp in 2014 for $19B. Now the FTC wants FB to split from them (semi-awk, since the FTC greenlit the acquisitions). The lawsuits could take years to resolve, but losing WhatsApp and Insta would be brutal for FB.
What would Elon do?... Luxury EV-maker Nio is sometimes called "the Tesla of China" (but it's way smaller): in 2019, it delivered ~20K cars compared to Tesla's ~367K. Last week, Nio announced it's issuing at least 60M fresh shares of its stock. New shares dilute the value of existing stock, so investors own less of the overall company — Nio stock dropped on the news. Two days before that, Tesla said it's issuing up to $5B in new shares (coincidence?).
What else we’re Snackin’
- Persevere: Airbnb's founders received these seven rejections when they were first trying to raise money (womp).
- Work: How to answer the seven most important job interview questions — and the dreaded "tell me about yourself."
- Hydrate: What happens to your body when you actually drink enough water (H2Whoa).
- Search: Google's top search trends of 2020 (Dalgona coffee made the cut).
- Build: Seven time-tested tactics to beat procrastination, courtesy of Stoic philosophers.
- Learn: The most populous countries in the world, visualized — China and India make up more than a third of the global population.
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This Week
- Monday: Earnings expected from Hexo Corp.
- Tuesday: Empire State Manufacturing Index.
- Wednesday: Fed announcement, Jerome Powell press conference.
- Thursday: Weekly jobless claims. Earnings expected from FedEx, General Mills, and Rite Aid.
- Friday: Consumer Sentiment Index released. Earnings expected from Darden Restaurants
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Disney and Moderna
ID: 1447248