C (3:38)

There are so many features, Ann, and I didn't know where to start, but of course I'm always looking to get interest on my money. I discovered you can access industry leading yields with Public suite of fixed income products. With With Public's High Yield Cash Account, you can earn a 3.6% APY on your cash with no fees or minimums.

B (3:54)

And you can lock in a 5% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of corporate bonds. With Public's bond account, Public combines a wide range of asset classes with the tools you need to build and manage your wealth, whether it's with stocks, options, bonds and crypto. So get started at public.com brewmarkets that's public.com BrewMarkets paid for by Public Investing.

C (4:13)

Full Disclosures and Podcast Description well, it's.

B (4:16)

Earnings season as we all know, and we've been taking a look at earnings from companies all over the place, lots of different sectors and in particular we've encouraged you to let us know if there's a company you'd like to highlight on the show. Well, Tyler in our audience left us a comment on YouTube and asked for an update on D Wave Quantum. Well, D Wave is one of the four main public pure play firms in the quantum computing space. Rigetti is another that we've talked about on the show and the goal of these companies is to create a new kind of supercomputer that makes calculations in parallel are exponentially faster with different inputs versus sequentially at speed. Right now. Now, last year, Google announced that a quantum computing chip it developed solved a problem in five minutes that would have taken a supercomputer ten septillion years. And over recent months, we've seen other examples being published, including in places like Nature magazine for mapping out proteins. So here we're going to go on D Wave. John, take us through the highlights.

C (5:14)

All right, D wave quantum ticker QBTS, which I think is a nod to Qubit. That's a basic unit in quantum computing. IPO'd by SPAC in 2022. Market cap of $10 billion. And in the share price is up over 1700% year over year. Now, this area is still largely speculative technology. The company has raised a lot of money. It's raised over $1.6 billion in the last year over. But it isn't bringing in a lot of revenue. And this is from Bloomberg. With market capitalizations that exceed $10 billion, the company is more valuable than Campbell's Soup, even though they have raised less than 1% of the revenue.

B (5:54)

That's such an extraordinary comparison. So I've got to say I'm obsessed with quantum computing. This is the place that I spent all of my time nerding out right now. And you see me nerding out a lot. I nerded out an AI for a long time. But Quantum to me just speaks to a really different step function in the art of the possible when it comes to technology. Despite that, I've got to tell you, these numbers are just mind blowing when you, when you compare that $10 billion of market cap with you ready for this number. Revenue for the third quarter for D wave was under $4 million. Right? Under $4 million. Net loss was $140 million. So this thing is burning cash. And I got to tell you, I did go and dig through some of the actual earnings presentations, going straight to the source. And there's a term that there by the company which was adjusted EBITDA loss. So that is actually a measure of profit being used to try and frankly shrink the size of the loss that we're looking at, which tells you that there really is cash burn going on in here. Now, just one last thing to keep an eye on across the sector, but also pertinent to D Wave, there had been reports that the White House was eyeing investments in Quantum broadly in the sector. Although a spokesperson for the Commerce Department said that they were, quote, unquote, not currently negotiating. Now, when asked about it, the CEO of D Wave, Alan Barrett, said and quote his response, I don't think it's the best use of the taxpayer money to fund R and D. But having said that, he did go on to say that the US could purchase some quantum computers to solve hard defense problems. Now, I read that as don't take a stake in my capital structure but do turn up to be a customer. U.S. government.

C (7:34)

Sure, I'm happy for you to be a customer. We've got a product and you can buy it.

B (7:37)

Line up to buy. Well, she and D Wave finished down about half a percent today. Rigetti is scheduled to report earnings this evening. We're going to absolutely keep an eye on that. And I think once all of them have come out with their earnings, we'll do a recap in coming weeks on what's the latest in Quantum. Who are the major players, not just the pure plays, but you've got to remember, folks, and John, I've been reading about this too. Alphabet is going after this space, Amazon's going after this space. So we'll do a roundup in coming weeks on exactly who's doing what.

C (8:05)

Absolutely.

B (8:06)

Well, let's take a look at Tyson Foods, which also reported earnings actually this morning. And that's the company behind Jimmy Dean Hilshire Farm and Ballpark Market Cap, twice the size of D wave, $20 billion earnings were at $1.15 a share, beat estimates shares up 2% today on the back of those results. But they are down 10% year over year because there have been a couple of persistent issues. Right.

C (8:31)

The issue that has been highlighted is the cost of cattle.

B (8:35)

Yeah.

C (8:35)

There has been a diminishment of cattle in North America and the prices are rising. Tyson said that beef prices rose 17% during the last quarter, while beef sales volume fell 8%. And the company also cited the lowest U.S. cattle supply since the 1950s. So of course this drives up costs for meat packers. And this is the, this is the controversy that's going on is whose fault is it that the meat prices are so high. On Friday, the Justice Department announced it's launching an investigation into meatpacking companies. They're engaging in collusion to drive up the prices. Trump sent out a message saying that he blames majority foreign owned meat packers for these price spikes. But the cattle ranchers are saying we're dealing with disease and drought and we're.

B (9:26)

Doing our best to mitigate all of this. They're just trying really hard. The other piece here, just when it comes to beef, don't forget that there is a decent amount of beef that's imported from South America. Right. And so we've got the overhang of tariffs on this as well. So I have a quick story for you which is not, you know, it's not about the stock, but back in the day, this is about 10 years ago, I was looking at investing in a company that specializes in cleaning meat packing facilities.

C (9:52)

Okay.

B (9:54)

Now, these facilities in the United States, I don't know if you know this, are actually FDA regulated. Right. The standards of cleanliness for these plants is so high that they are actually subject to pretty stringent rules in the same way that, like drugs need to be manufactured in a very clean environment. And so my task was to go and visit a meat packing plant in the very small hours of the morning, and I was asked to go and observe the cleaning taking place.

C (10:16)

And how did that go for you?

B (10:18)

Well, the experience certainly stuck with me. Here I am talking about it years later. But it was just a really fascinating insight into some of the things that we take for granted. Right. As it go to a grocery store and you see all these products on the shelf, when you actually go and look at the value chain, when you go and look at the supply chain and all the steps in the process to get it there, this is where I'm a complete nerd and I enjoy all of this, whether these are in the public markets or the private markets.

C (10:42)

Well, I remember the headline of Boar's Head.

B (10:44)

Yeah.

C (10:44)

Meat processors that are out of Virginia and they face scrutiny and shutdown over some of practices that their facilities were not clean enough.

B (10:53)

Yeah. It's just really, really critically important because the risk of disease if you don't get this right is is really outsized. Well, at Tyson, chief executive Donny King said on the Call today that the beef segment quote remains our only soft spot. He actually said when it look at other product categories, look at other meats, they're actually doing pretty well. He says. At Tyson, chicken processors, for example, have actually benefited from cheaper livestock feed, which is expense when raising poultry. And that's as a result of falling grain prices. I seem to have spent a lot of time in this industry because I've looked at it by chicken farms as well, for what it's worth. Plus, higher beef and pork prices have actually turned more consumers towards chicken nuggets and wings. So you're seeing a substitution in different kinds of protein as these prices shift around. So overall, Tyson's chicken sales volumes up 4% in the fourth quarter. Lots going on. Well, let's take a quick break. When we come back, where do stock tickers actually come from? And now a word from our sponsor, Vanguard. This one's for the financial advisors out there. Hear me when I say stop falling for flash. A few flashy funds aren't enough to give a firm credibility when it comes to bond markets. Something with more substance. Look to Vanguard.

C (12:00)

Vanguard bonds are institutional quality. That means top grade products across the board.

B (12:05)

Some managers out there promise big returns, but those usually come with big risks. And that can mean a rollercoaster ride for investors. Vanguard takes a steadier approach. They don't go all in on risky bets. Instead, they focus on reliability and consistency.

C (12:17)

And consistency is key.

B (12:18)

So if you're looking to give your clients consistent results year in and year out, go see the record for yourself@vanguard.com audio that's vanguard.com audio all investing is subject to risk. Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor did you know.

D (12:33)

You can opt out of winter with VRBO? Save up to 1500 dollars for booking a month long stay. When thousands of sunny homes are waiting for you, why subject yourself to the cold? Put the snow shovel down, put the parka back in the closet and don't you dare scrape another windshield. Slip into some flip flops. Consider a sunless tan and use the monthly stays filter to save up to $1,500. Book your warm getaway at vrbo.com John.

B (13:02)

We have a question from the audience today.

C (13:05)

That's right, Bella in Colorado wrote you discussed the offer to take Papa John's private and mentioned how fitting its PZZA pizza ticker is. While the deal might be rescinded, I am still curious what would happen if that ticker if it were taken private, would another pizza company be able to get their hands on pzza? Could a new company go public and take that ticker? Please explain.

B (13:26)

Well, first of all, shout out to Bella because this is the second question that she sent in and actually second, excellent questions. So thank you very much for your engagement here, Bella. Well, look, we love fun tickers here at Brew Markets. So really excited about the chance to talk about how companies get a hold of them. Well, to answer, we decided to go right to the source to one exchange these tickers star on. So we asked our friends at Nasdaq how the ticket allocation process works and here's what the NASDAQ team had to say. When a company requests the ticker symbol from nasdaq, the root of it is one to four characters long and must be unique. It can't already be in use by another company, a spac, an ETF or equity product. Now, once reserved, Nasdaq can hold a symbol for up to two years for the requesting company, even, by the way, if it's still private in that time and waiting for its moment to go public. Now, if a company does IPO and uses that reserved symbol, it's retained as long as the company remains publicly traded. Now a company may decide to change its ticker due to rebranding, strategic shifts or mergers. For example, you may remember in 2022, Facebook changed from ticker FB to meta meta, reflecting its new focus on the metaverse. At least at that time, if a company is acquired or delisted. So that includes being taken private as Papa John's for a moment looked like it was going to be. It's simple, returns to the pool and can be reassigned. For example, the ticker via. So that's via or via, depending on how you pronounce it moved from Viacom after the media company was bought by Paramount and it went over to Via Transportation, the software company that IPO'd in September. So Bella yes, if Papa John's gets taken private or is acquired and Ticker PZZA frees up, then another pizza company, or even a non pizza one for that matter, can go get that symbol. A huge thanks to our friends at Nasdaq for the scoop on how it works. And just to finish the thought on tickers, we surveyed the production team here on the show to see what our collective favorites are. So we've got fun, which is the ticket for Six Flags Love Luv for Southwest Airlines, which started flying from Dallas's Love Field Airport all the way back when. There's also Hog Hog for Harley Davidson, which references the nickname for its motorcycles, Fizz F I Z, Z for National Beverage, which makes Lacroix and other fizzy drinks. And there's D Nut D N U T for Krispy Kreme and Worth Fwoof for Petco. I just want to wrap up with the single letter tickers like F for Ford and Z for Zillow. I call these the Madonnas or the Zendayas of the Markets. Well, drop us a note and let us know your favorites.

C (16:06)

Absolutely. And if you have a question for Anne, send an email or voice memo.

B (16:10)

To brewmarketshoworningbrew.com well, it's 4:00pm on the east Coast. There's our closing bell. The market's wrapping up after a busy day we don't have a ticker tape. We'll throw it over instead to our human ticker, our producer, John.

C (16:22)

That's right. And as you mentioned up top markets surged higher today after indications that there is progress towards reopening of the government. The S&P 500 finished up 1.5%, the Dow finished up 8.10of a percent and the Nasdaq finished up 2.25%. Shares in Wendy's were down over 5% today after the fast food chain announced it plans to close hundreds of US restaurants over the next few months in an effort to boost profits. The new round comes on top of a closure of 240 US Wendy's locations in 2024. At that time, Wendy's said that many of the 55 year old chain's restaurants were simply out of date. Shares in Wendy's ticker wen were down 48% year to date. Ken Cook became Wendy's CEO in July after the company's previous CEO, Kirk Tanner left to become the President and CEO of Hershey.

B (17:10)

I gotta tell you, John, there's a special place in my heart for Wendy's. I remember as a kid when I was taken to the dentist if I was really good and I sat there and I had my teeth examined, my treat was to be taken to Wendy's to get an ice cream sundae.

C (17:22)

Oh my gosh. Cold, frosty on bare teeth. Sounds terrible. That sounds like a punishment.

B (17:27)

No, it was amazing. All that sugar and all that good stuff when you were a kid. It was amazing. Well, look, as a final thought, there was a press release, a news release came out of Berkshire Hathaway today. So everyone, whenever there's anything that looks like it could come from the oracle of Omaha, that's Warren Buffett. The whole market sits up and takes notice. Well, today Warren Buffett was basically talking about converting some of his shareholdings to place them instead with four family foundations, which actually is a good sign. It means there'll be engagement from the family over the much longer term. Despite the fact that as of the end of this year, he will no longer be the CEO and he's going to instead be executive chair. He took the opportunity to write a letter because he will no longer be writing Berkshire's famous annual reports, annual shareholder letters or quote, talking endlessly at the annual meeting. He says, as the British would say, I'm going quiet. Well, that was how Buffett began his latest shareholder letter, again likely to be his final as the 95 year old CEO of Berkshire Hathaway passes the baton onto his successor, Craig Abel. Now, there was just one line that actually caught my attention. I've got the printout of this eight page letter in front of me. And he does say in here, here, quote, I will continue talking to you and my children about Berkshire via my annual Thanksgiving message. Amazing to me, John, that even now, even in his last two months, he's saying, I consider the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway and my children basically all part of my family. Just shows his commitment to the company that he founded. That's it, folks, for today's Brew Markets Daily.

C (19:04)

Brew Markets Daily is hosted by Anne Barry and produced by John Crow, Tarek Abdelatif and Emily Millard, technical direction by Uchenawa Ogu and Brittany De Taco handles audio. And the president of Morning Brew Inc. Is Devin Emery.

B (19:15)

Well, wake up tomorrow with the Morning Brew newsletter and tune in to Neil and Toby on Morning Brew Daily tomorrow. By the way, the equity markets are open, the bond markets are closed. We have a special show for you.