Ron Gross (3:07)

Week and what about from the markets? Do you think the markets are just nervous, don't like uncertainty? You know, that's what we typically say. Markets hate uncertainty. And there's so much uncertainty around here nowadays. Do you think that's why we're seeing the volatile, the big sharp moves?

Emily Flippen (3:23)

I don't think it's just uncertainty. I think there's genuine concern about the business impacts that these tariffs, if they stay in place, will have both on companies that are supplying manufacturing as well as consumers looking to make purchases. This has wide ranging implications for the performance of the broader economy as a whole. So it's not just a matter of uncertainty because I think if we came out tomorrow and said, okay, we are certain, 100% sure the tariffs as they are today are going to stick this way for the next 12 months for certain, for example, that would be certainty. But I'll tell you what, I bet.

Ron Gross (3:54)

The stock market would sell off the good kind. Understood, Matt. U.S. consumer sentiment is now worse than during the Great Recession. New data just came out. Anything here for an individual investor to do other than sit back and just watch it unfold?

Matt Argisinger (4:12)

Sitting back is very good advice. Watching it unfold, I don't know. I mean, you're better off just turning everything off and maybe going away for a week. But look, we're investors. I know that's impossible. It's definitely impossible for me. But here's what I think. If you're an investor, what you can or should pay attention to, and that is interest rates. The Trump administration only really blinked this past week when the 10 year yield crossed above 4.5%. Guess where we are today as we tape on Friday, back above 4.5%. Ron. And if you go back to April 2, which was Liberation Day as the administration called it, the 10 year was just above 4%. So we're up 50 basis points in a week. And that's through all this market dislocation. I mean, it usually doesn't work that way. Usually investors are buying Treasuries as a safe haven during times like this. That's just not happening right now. And I think that is where the real danger lies. And I think Emily kind of hinted at this. I mean, if countries like China, Japan, the uk, various members of the EU stop buying our Treasuries either because they're exporting less as a result of these tariffs and they don't have as many US Dollars to invest anyway, or much worse guys, they willfully decide to stop buying Treasuries in favor of other safe haven assets. I mean, just look at the Swiss franc as of the past week. If that happens, it will almost certainly send treasury yields much higher. And I think that would spell huge trouble for the housing market which we already know is suffering from high mortgage rates. Imagine mortgage rates not at 6 or 7% as they are now, but 8, 9, 10%. I think it also spells big trouble for small mid sized businesses who don't have as much flexibility with their balance sheets and where they source their products. It's bad for auto manufacturers, bad for commercial real estate. And then to, to Emily's point, consumers are sitting on record credit card debt and if interest rates move higher, that situation gets a lot worse. So I think it really could mean bad news for the economy. So if you're going to watch anything at all, sit back and watch this shake out, watch treasury yields, if they keep moving higher, I expect that could trigger a response by the administration to be less aggressive with these tariffs. Maybe come to the table. That'll be the trigger point.

Ron Gross (6:20)

Yeah, I was going to say that. One silver lining may be we do have anecdotal evidence that the administration does keep an eye on the bond market and on interest rates. That could very well well be the reason we got the 90 day pause. We don't necessarily have proof of that, but that certainly could be so I would encourage them to keep an eye on the yields so we don't get into too much trouble as you outlined. But speaking of interest rates, on Friday, many of the larger banks reported pretty solid results for the first quarter and met lots of data. Plenty of commentary from the CEOs. What stood out to you in these reports?

Matt Argisinger (6:59)

Well, the results. You said it, Ron. The results were actually really solid. The problem is no one really cares about that right now. I mean it's really all about guidance and kind of how these CEOs are thinking about the environment, post tariffs, post Liberation Day and what they see going forward. Here's what they're saying. If you look at CEO Jamie Dimon, CEO of the largest US Bank, JP Morgan, he's been pretty vocal this past week about the dangers of terrorists, even saying he believes that a recession is all but unavoidable now and then. He said this after his bank reported Q1 results, quote, the economy is facing considerable Turbulence, potential negatives of tariffs and trade wars, end quote. Ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatilities. What else he said? Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf, quote, we support the administration's willingness to look at barriers to fair trade for the United States, though there are certainly risks associated with such significant actions. Timely resolution, which benefits the US Would be good for businesses, consumers and the markets. We expect continued volatility and uncertainty and are prepared for a slower economic environment in 2025, end quote. And then Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, which I think is now the world's largest asset manager, quote, the sweeping tariff announcements went further than I could have imagined in my 49 years in finance, end quote. And then in an interview on cnbc, he also said, quote, I think we're very close, if not in a recession now, end quote, talking about, of course, the US Economy.

Ron Gross (8:27)

So in sum, thanks for cheering us up, Matt.

Matt Argisinger (8:30)

Well, there you go. So, yeah, let me sum it up too. These tariffs are dangerous if not resolved quickly. The risks are high. Expect continued uncertainty, which we keep talking about and we may already be in a recession. And remember, these are the banks and financial institutions that have a pulse, I think, in a lot of areas of the economy, which is from housing to credit, consumer spending. Wait until we start hearing from industrial companies or consumer discretionary companies, especially those that make and sell products all around the world. What will be their reactions and guidance when they report in the coming weeks? I think this is just the first salvo and it's not exactly. It's kind of sobering when you look at it in terms of what they're seeing.

Ron Gross (9:08)

On Wednesday, Constellation Brands reported fourth quarter results that beat expectations, but a weak full year earnings outlook that focused focused on the impact of yes, tariffs was the focus. Emily, how'd the quarter look to you and is it possible for us to remove tariffs from this conversation and focus on the business or they are so intertwined that we just can't do that?

Emily Flippen (9:31)

I actually think that tariffs are maybe the least interesting thing happening to Constellation Brands business today. And I understand why the narrative was around tariffs. It's like you can't open up an Internet browser without being slapped across the face with news about tariffs and how they're going to be impacting companies. And certainly, certainly Constellation Brands did say in the quarter that they're expecting a low single digit increase in their total cost of goods. That's associated with the tariffs and sourcing, of course, aluminum cans and other bottling items for the beers and the accessories, I'll say for the wine and spirits business that they sell. But all of this stuff is happening to Constellation Brands and meanwhile Constellation Brands as a business itself is actually doing a pretty decent job of a turnaround, especially considering the overall beer market. And I think it's a disappointment that there's not discussion around how strong this business has been in an incredibly weak environment for alcohol sales. If you compare their performance against other large beer makers, Boston Beer, with Sam Adams being a great example, which has seen declining, declining depletions, declining shipments, declining profitability and sales, Constellation Brands is growing and growing pretty solidly because the beer brands that it is continuing to focus on just have continued to resonate with a consumer that's a little bit more niche, that is a bit more loyal and that has led to pretty incredible market share gains really consistently for this company and otherwise weak environment. So I love that Constellation Brands has performed so well. I'm disappointed that the narrative is oh no, that small single digit increase associated with the tariffs. But I actually think fast forwarding five years from now, we're probably looking at a better business than today.

Ron Gross (11:11)

And they're selling some of their wine brands, Cooks, Maomi, that that a good move? You like that?

Emily Flippen (11:16)

I do. They're actually almost entirely divesting of their wine and spirits business. And if you look at their performance on a earnings per non adjusted basis for this quarter, you'll see the impact of that nearly $3 billion in goodwill write offs associated with the sale of that business, which has been an underperformer for them for a while. So that is obviously a ding on them. Some of the investments this company has made historically just haven't panned out. But they're really focusing on cost synergies right now and focusing on what works, which is obviously the Corona, the Modelo, the Pacificos. Those have an audience that are way more loyal than not to be offensive to Maomia, which I love. Their wine is a bit more loyal.

Ron Gross (11:54)

Coming up, we'll talk airlines, building materials and used cars. You're listening to motley fool money. McDonald's meets the Minecraft universe with one of six collectibles and your choice of a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets with spicy nether Flame sauce. Now available with a Minecraft movie meal at participating McDonald's for a limited time. A Minecraft movie only in theaters. All my bags are packed I'm ready.

Asit Sharma (12:21)

To go I'm standing here outside your.

Ron Gross (12:25)

Door welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ron Gross here with Emily Flippen and Matt Argisinger. On Wednesday, Delta reported that revenue growth stalled a bit in the first quarter and the company did not reaffirm its full year guidance, citing headwinds from the economic uncertainty around global trade. Matt, seems to me it wasn't the quarterly results but the lack of full year guidance that spooked investors. Shares were up big on Wednesday as Trump paused tariffs. But the stock got smacked on Thursday as investors continued to digest what it all means. And as I asked Emily with Constellation, I'd love to strip out the economic noise here and talk about the business. Can we do that?

Matt Argisinger (13:07)

Well, let's try, Ron. So it was actually a record quarter for Delta in terms of revenue. Pretty surprising. Revenue was up 3.3% year over year, 13 billion and growth was particularly strong in the premium segment of the business. So first class business class revenue there was up 7% year over year. International revenue was also pretty strong and even corporate revenue was higher year over year. And Delta generated 1.3 billion in free cash flow during the quarter, paid down about $500 million in long term debt. So all fairly positive and kind of aligned with what CEO Ed Bastian said near the beginning of the year, which was that 2025 was going to be Delta's best financial year in our history. That is not really working out right now. Maybe not so much because even if you go back a month ago, Delta had actually guided for 6 to 8% revenue growth this quarter. So that's a big comedown from that. And according to Bastian, things actually started to slow back in February. Well before these tariff announcements or any hint of them. The company slashed its first quarter forecast. It did maintain its full year outlook back then though. That, as you mentioned, Ron, that has now changed. They're not reaffirming that full year outlook anymore. The company has pulled its guidance. It's still expecting to be profitable this year, but a far cry from where the company thought things would be coming into the year. I think you have to worry a lot about the state of the consumer here and what travel demand is going to look like, say over the next six to nine months. You mentioned the consumer sentiment numbers at the top of the show. One thing that's got to be helping Delta a little bit though over the past week is the fall in energy prices that we've seen. It's a big cost input for every airline, including Delta. That will undoubtedly help Delta's margins and probably help the company remain profitable for the year, if not growing.

Ron Gross (14:51)

On Thursday CarMax reported worse than expected fourth quarter results and while it said it was making progress towards its financial goals, it will remove the timelines associated with them due to the potential impact of broader macro factors. And Emily, I know I sound like a broken record here, but the macro environment is hard to escape. Do your best. Tell me how CarMax's business is doing.

Emily Flippen (15:16)

Yeah, I actually think the business is doing a lot better than people expect, especially again given the narrative right now. And I understand that the market is in part selling off CarMax for a few different factors. Of course, one aspect of the tariff implication for CarMax and any other business that is operating in the auto parts industry is that the used car parts that it needs in order to fix and resell vehicles on its platform, those are likely to increase and that's likely to hurt margins, at least in that narrow perspective. There's also an element of okay, used car prices are likely to increase with the tariffs as well and that could hurt demand for used cars. That could certainly pride some people out of market. And management was so uncertain of this environment that they did pull that guidance for vehicle sales which is concerning to investors adding to the uncertainty. So you can make the logical argument there for the interim of like, okay, I understand what's happening here to CarMax, but I actually think that a little bit longer term, taking it one step further, we're likely to see similarly to what we saw during the pandemic, that used car prices are likely to go up and that could price some people out of the market. But it's actually a boon for a lot of leaders in the space like CarMax when the prices of used cars go up, especially in comparison to something like a new vehicle, because new vehicles will also increase, making used cars look relatively more attractive for consumers who can make a purchase. Plus, higher costs means higher fees for CarMax. So all of that is to say I actually think they could make up some of the margin here and the future may not be as negative for CarMax as some investors are pricing in.

Ron Gross (16:46)

Today'S so all Things considered, does CarMax go on your radar or you staying away?

Emily Flippen (16:51)

If I had a radar stock this month that I thought was an attractive value that I could make a 22nd, 32nd pitch for it. CarMax would certainly be up there digging into it this morning and in preparation for our show here, it reminded me this is an incredibly strong, profitable company, market share leader with a lot of tailwinds if you're willing to hold and overlook some of the near term uncertainty.

Ron Gross (17:12)

Sounds good On Tuesday, RPM International reported fiscal third quarter results that came in weaker than expected. And the maker of dayglo and Rust Oleum blamed unfavorable weather conditions and said that sales would be flat in the fourth quarter. Matt, RPM does a lot of business overseas, so it's got the trade situation plus the weather to contend with. How'd the quarter look to you and does it tell us anything about industrial activity in general?

Matt Argisinger (17:39)

Well, lots of headwinds for RPM and lots of headwinds in general for industrial activity even coming into this quarter. And all the tariff news, really two big challenges for them. They had record results last year in last year's fiscal third quarter, so comparisons got tough. But weather was a big problem in the quarter. If you don't know rpm, they serve primarily in the construction industry and in much of the country you had a fairly lengthy winter and then a lot of unusual storm activity in the south and the west, which really affected them. The slow housing market also continues to have an impact. That's been a story for a few years now. Until that picks up, RPM's consumer business is really going to struggle. So sales were down 3% overall pre tax operating profits, this is a business with high operating leverage were down around 30%. With regard to tariffs though, the good news for RPM is that they tend to be fairly insulated for the most part. The company manufactures products in the countries or regions where it sells them. They do small amount of cross border activity. So it sounds like a situation for RPM where sales might be slightly down for the year with lower margins. But here's something, Ron, you and Emily can be excited about.

Ron Gross (18:41)

Okay.

Matt Argisinger (18:41)

RPM is acquiring the pink stuff.

Ron Gross (18:44)

The pink which I'm sure if you've.

Matt Argisinger (18:46)

Ever done like an industrial cleaning of a bathroom you've definitely used or at least should use. So the pink stuff joins other cleaning products within RPM's portfolio, including Krud, Kutter, Mean Green and Conctobium, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. I mean, that guy sounds like the 1927 Yankees. When it comes to cleaning portfolio lineup, I love it.

Ron Gross (19:06)

All right, fools, we'll see you a little bit later in the show. Up next, an interview with Martin de los Santos. He's the CFO of Mercado Libre, an e commerce giant and the largest company in Latin America. You're listening to Motley Fool Money. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ron Gross, Motley fool senior analyst. Asit Sharma caught up with Martin de los Santos, the CFO of MercadoLibre a few weeks ago at our Market Volatility Summit. In this clip you'll hear how Mercado Libre became resilient and the long term opportunities for Meli Motley fool members can access the full interview and replays from the event@live.fool.com Martin I wanted to start.

Martin de los Santos (19:59)

Just looking at this company in general. MercadoLibre has such a history of dealing with formidable challenges from hyperinflation and geopolitical events within Latin America to providing fintech and lending services to populations that often are new to the banking and credit systems. So what makes MercadoLibre such a resilient business?

Asit Sharma (20:21)

Yes, I mean we were founded back in 99 and we turned 25 years last, you know, in 2024. So those 25 years, as you can imagine in Latin America operating in 19 different countries, we've seen it all, you know, you know, things going sour very rapidly. Maybe Venezuela as an example, hyperinflation in Argentina. Then things coming back as we are seeing it today, Brazil, Mexico. So I think we went through a lot during those years. I would highlight a couple of things. First, we operate in commerce and fintech in a region where there's a lot to be done in those two fronts. Right. Production of commerce continues to be very low compared to other places. So we are riding a secular trend of people moving online. The same with fintech. I think the banks have done a really poor job of including financially most of the population in Latin America. So that generates an opportunity for us. So that's one thing. I will also highlight the culture of the company. Our CEO, our chairman, continues to be Marcos Halperin who was the the founder of the company. Not only him, a lot of people who were with him at the beginning continues to be with the company. So we have a very strong culture of entrepreneurship, willingness to take risks. Many times in the history of our company we have to reinvent ourselves or take big bets. And that's a big part of our success. A culture of excellence, execution, bringing good talent, teamwork internally while competing because we operating in very competitive markets to the outside. So I think I would say that we operate in a region that has tremendous opportunities, both commerce and fintech. And we also have a culture of executing and operating in Latin America that has helped us to be resilient and to be successful in this. I mean, in Latin America we came from being a startup of five people in the garage 25 years ago to last year. We became the most valuable company in Latin America and we have done that I think by culture and execution and the quality of people that we brought into our team.

Martin de los Santos (22:28)

I liked one thing that you mentioned between the culture and the execution, which is the ability to take a risk, to take those big bets. How are things different now that you sit in the chair of a CFO to make sure that the bets have a commensurate payoff for the risk and also maybe in some cases to be the person who's encouraging the company to take those risks?

Asit Sharma (22:50)

Yeah, it's not only my role, I think it's the role of the senior management team. We keep on thinking about the trade off between growth and profitability. In fact, we have a name for that within Meli, we call it Grow Fit because we operating many different verticals have tremendous growth opportunities while at the same time they require investments. So if you look at the history of the past five, five, six years, we improve significantly the profitability of our business while at the same time we continue to deliver very high growth in both E Commerce, Fintech, advertising at the different verticals. However, when we look forward, we don't shy away from investing even if in the short term that might put some pressure on margins because the main thing for us is to make sure that we do capture those opportunities that we had ahead of us and not necessarily to maximize short term profits. We do have a long term perspective on the business but that's a trade off that we do it all the time deciding whether to invest and sacrifice a little bit of margins to capture opportunities in the future. And the whole company and the whole senior management team is thinking in those terms then in terms of risk taking, I think it's the nature of our business. Right. You mentioned I used to run the credit business which we started back in 2017. That's probably the ultimate one that you need to manage and to deal with risk. And we take it very, very cautious in the way we manage that risk. But in other cases in the history of our company, maybe 15 years ago we, we took a big bet on adapting our platform to mobile and that required a lot of risk and mindset of really changing the way we were doing things. And if we didn't do that, we wouldn't have a company today. Ten years ago we started with logistics which is critical for E commerce solution. If you think about it, 10 years ago we didn't touch one single package. Today, last year we have 1.8 billion packages is delivered through our own fulfillment infrastructure or logistic infrastructure. So in those type, those type of bets that you know, when you need to take risk and make sure that you invest behind the long term growth opportunities. That's what differentiates mainly from other companies that might not be willing to take those risks.

Martin de los Santos (25:04)

I wanted to ask you about some overall metrics that you use as you look at the business. I used to work for a company where while we had so many drill down metrics, the owner would come in every day and he said I just need one number to run this business. Now that wasn't true. You need more than one number to run a business. But it taught me something that people like yourself often key in on a few metrics almost on a daily basis. So how do you gauge the health of mercadolibre from day to day?

Asit Sharma (25:34)

Yeah, we are a very data oriented company. I mean we go to business reviews that are so deep in terms of analysis and data that that is true. It's hard, it's hard to keep up with all the businesses. It's very complex Mercado Libre today so it's important to have some big picture views and then you can drill down whenever you see something that you want to go into more detail. So many different businesses, 19 different countries. So you can imagine that the metrics are hundreds. But I would say that obviously top line metrics. GMB on our commerce business is very important Users last year I mentioned we have have 100 million users or 100 million buyers on our commerce platform. In terms of engagement transactions per user is a metric that we follow very closely. That's on the commerce side. On the fintech side obviously Number of users 61 million monthly active users last quarter. TPV for the acquiring business then credit book asset under management that has been growing more than 100% year on year is a, is a metric that is very important to see engagement with our platform and then frequency of use in fintech is very important to have principality. We're seeing people who have engaged with more than one product and how often they engage with different products. That's something that we pay a lot of attention then in the credit business. Obviously the traditional metrics, MPLs, the spreads of our books, the different books and so on, the repayments of our credit card for instance which is a product that you need to invest to build the cohorts. I would say those and obviously you know, financial metrics at the end of the quarter, at the end of each month are very important now to, to see top line growth as well as profit margins. Those are the two ones that the two metrics that tells us how we are doing in terms of growth it right profitability as well as growth and.

Martin de los Santos (27:31)

Strategically where you sit, where are you focusing the organization to create the most value? When we look out over a very long time horizon, is there a specific activity or investment that's going to create the greatest yield as we look beyond, say the medium term that you like to talk about within the management team and encourage employees to think about?

Asit Sharma (27:51)

Very important to have an owner's mentality. We are fortunate to operate in a platform in a company that has, as we like to say, has more doors to be open than hands to open them. We have opportunities everywhere we see in commerce, we're just getting started. The operator is very, very low. We continue to grow a very rapid pace north of 30% year on year, twice the speed of the market. So we are continuing to gain market share even after 25 years. We're growing at startup rates. On fintech in Mexico, less than half the population have a bank account. Less than 15% have a credit card. The opportunity is immense as well to continue growing advertising. We mentioned it before. Everywhere you look at Meli, there are opportunities. We're fortunate to have a lot of resources to take on those opportunities. 18,000 developers, a very well, very strong balance sheet to invest. We generate lots of cash even though we are investing on our business as well. I think the big challenge is when you don't have a clear constraint is how to make sure that you are investing in the right things, things. And that represents not only choosing what to invest, but also choosing what not to do. Right, not to get. And also to make sure that you are investing on things that really have a good payout and they actually result in growth going forward. So that's something that continuously my team and my colleagues at the C level are continuously looking at and at the end of the day is maintaining this growth feed mentality that we have been operating. We want to make sure that we hit the growth targets while not shying away from investing. Even if in the short term we might put some pressure on margins. We don't mind. We don't run the business on a quarter by quarter basis. We run the business for the next 25 years.

Ron Gross (29:43)

Coming up after the break, Emily Flippin and Matt Argisinger return with a couple of stocks on their radar. Stay right here. You're listening to Motley Fool Money. In every heart there is a room, a sanctuary, safe and strong to heal the wounds from lovers past. As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about and The Motley fool may have formal recommendations for or against. So don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley fool editorial standards and are not approved by advertisers. The Motley fool only picks products that it would personally recommend to friends like you. Welcome back to Motley Fool Money. Ron Gross here with Emily Flippin and Matt Argisinger. Fools We've got time for two quick stories before we hit stocks on our radar. So let's start with the Walmart news. On Wednesday, Walmart withdrew its earnings guidance, citing uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration's newly imposed tariffs, specifically on China. Emily the health of Walmart can tell us a lot about the health of the consumer and frankly, the economy as a whole. What did you take away from these actions by Walmart management?

Emily Flippen (31:17)

Unfortunately, my takeaway is that things will likely get worse before they get better. The silver lining to this is that Walmart did reaffirm its sales guidance. So they actually have are perceived to have a little bit more clarity into how consumers are behaving versus what their bottom line may look like, which is obviously heavily impacted by things like tariffs and any negotiations there. So not only does Walmart really act as that bellwether for how consumers are behaving, but it's also really easy to forget that Walmart's a little bit of a bellwether and a leader for other businesses that look to Walmart for guidance. And so many companies are likely watching Walmart's decision here to pull back guidance on their bottom line and they could pot adopt a very similar kind of wait and see approach here as it applies to their own guidance. And that can almost turn into a self fulfilling prophecy of economic slowing and leading to a market sell off, all because of the cautiousness around things like earnings guidance. Now I think that could be a dramatic interpretation of course, and I'll just quickly mention that Walmart does have much more complex supply lines than a lot of other small businesses. So their certainty and clarity there could be more opaque than other companies. But the fact that they are a bellwether for both consumers, which we focus on as well as other business, is a bit of a red flag.

Ron Gross (32:30)

The new Superman movie is scheduled to hit theaters this July. As listeners know, I am kind of a Superman fanatic. Really looking forward to it. Admittedly the movies haven't always been so super, but there is a new sneak peek out there. I know you have both seen it, so I'm curious to ask, do we have a hit on our Hands or a dud. And did you have a favorite part of the sneak peek? I'll go to you first, Matt.

Matt Argisinger (32:54)

Well, I mean, how can you not love Krypto coming in there? Krypto the Superdog coming in to rescue Superman from whatever ails him in that particular scene. But, no, I mean, look, I think it looks awesome. I think Gunn did a fantastic job with the Guardians of Galaxy movies. I like that he's bringing a lot of interesting characters into the Superman movie, including. Looks like Hawkman's in there. Looks like Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern character's in there. And so I'm excited. I'm gonna go see it with my son for sure.

Ron Gross (33:19)

Emily. A hit or a dude?

Emily Flippen (33:21)

Well, let me put it this way. You're barking up the wrong tree, because I am not a superhero movie watcher. But I will say this. I watched the trailer at your bequest, and the. I didn't know that the creepy CGI dog had a name. Nice.

Matt Argisinger (33:35)

Creepy CGI dog.

Emily Flippen (33:37)

There was a lot of CGI in that trailer. And CGI has come a long way. I don't know what I'm talking about as it applies to cgi. I will say it was obviously cgi, though, and I do think it's a little bit of a red flag if you're having to bring in other superheroes. Right. To attract excitement. What does that say about Superman?

Ron Gross (33:54)

All right, well, I am hopeful. And my favorite part was when the Fortress of Solitude rises out of the snow as Superman gets closer, almost like it could sense where he was. And I love that part. So very cool. All right, fools, a quick personal note before we hit stocks on our radar, this will be my last Motley Fool Money radio show. It has been the joy of my career to play a small part in the financial journey of, as Chris Hill would say, our dozens of listeners. Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you for 16 wonderful years. Thank you all very much. I really appreciate it.

Matt Argisinger (34:32)

Ron, can I just say. Yes, Matt, 16 years. Actually, 17 years at the Motley Fool. You've been a colleague, a mentor, a leader, most of all, a friend. I wish you the very best in retirement, and we will do our very best. It will be a lot harder now, but we will do our very best to keep this show firing on all cylinders.

Ron Gross (34:51)

I appreciate that. Thanks, buddy. Very nice. All right, fools, we have time for a couple of stocks on our radar, so let's close out the show that way. And I will bring in our man Dan Boyd to ask a question. And pick his favorite. Emily, you're up first. What do you got at?

Emily Flippen (35:07)

I'm looking at Dexcom this week. It's nice to have a little bit of positive news in a world that is changing around us so rapidly. And some of the excitement here for Dexcom did get drowned out by tariff talk. But Dexcom did see a little bit of a revival this week because they did get FDA approval for their newest continuous glucose monitor. That is a Dexcom G7. It could be worn for up to 15 days. So that's extending the life versus their previous model. It puts them in more direct competition with Abbott, who's one of their competitors, which also has the Freestyle Libre, which can up to 15 days and ahead of Medtronic. So a definitely move in the right direction here for Dexcom. And CGM penetration for diabetics worldwide is still so much lower than what it should be, considering the health benefits that it can bring. I will say, though, I always have in the back of my head just the fear around a couple of things. One is weight loss drugs leading to a decline in type 2 diabetes. That could eat up some of the market here for Dexcom as well as actually a potential cure for something like diabetes. That's further down the line, but a lot of research and time is being spent into it considering it is such a and expensive disease.

Ron Gross (36:12)

Dan, you got a question or a comment?

Dylan Lewis (36:15)

You know, Dexcom is one of these companies that the name doesn't really match up with what they do. The name to me is like something out of Superman. Very sinister. But what they do, very good for society. I don't know what to do here, Emily.

Emily Flippen (36:31)

That's a good point. And I will say Abbott sharing its name with Abbott elementary sounds like the friendlier of the options. But I like Dexcom more despite the name.

Ron Gross (36:39)

All right, Matt, you're up. What do you got, Ron?

Matt Argisinger (36:42)

I'm looking at Robinhood Markets, Ticker H O O D. This is kind of an unusual one for me, but I just want to stress this is a true radar stock, a company I'm just beginning to take a look at. But I heard a great interview with Robinhood's chief brokerage officer last week. If you look at where young people, I'm talking mainly Emily's age, where they're going to open up brokerage accounts. It's not Fidelity. It's not Charles Schwab. It's certainly not interactive brokers where I tend to toilet oil. It's Robinhood. Nearly 26 million funded customers. Many, I think most of which are in their 20s and 30s. And when that large cohort of investors matures, starts opening retirement accounts, trust accounts, getting mortgages, doing more sophisticated trading. I mean, I think Robinhood is really growing its offerings to meet like a whole range of financial services. They also have the Robinhood Gold membership, which is approaching 3 million accounts. It offers members higher levels of market data, greater margin access could be dangerous, and then higher interest on cash and accounts. I have to say I'm a shareholder in Schwab and I will probably be a shareholder in Schwab for a long time. But I'm going to take a if I'm going to make a long term bet on a brokerage company, I might also want to have exposure to a brokerage company that has the most young people coming to it because it's likely to prosper right alongside that growth over time.

Ron Gross (37:57)

Dan, got a question?

Dylan Lewis (37:58)

Yeah. When I hear Robinhood, I associate it with meme stock like GameStop and AMC and all that jazz. Is this a company that actually has legs or is it just something that's going to be a flash in the pan?

Matt Argisinger (38:13)

Dan, I thought the same thing. It's kind of the meme stock brokerage, but the fact that they have 26 million funded customers and that has continued growing way past the Gamestop and AMC stuff that we saw several years ago, that gives me confidence that it has long term staying power.

Ron Gross (38:27)

I too am a Charles Schwab shareholder, not a Robinhood one. But I'll take a look. Could be interesting. Dan, you got a favorite for your watch list?

Dylan Lewis (38:34)

Well, it really seems like Dexcom is like the smart choice, but Robinhood, I feel like is the more interesting choice. So can I do both on your last day?

Ron Gross (38:44)

Ron, you can do whatever you want, dad. Both of this.

Matt Argisinger (38:49)

That's awesome.

Ron Gross (38:50)

All right. Emily Flip and Matt Argisinger, thanks for being here, my friends. That's going to do it. For this week's Motley Fool Money, our tremendous engineer is Dan Boyd. I am Ron Gross. Thanks for listening. The Motley Fool Money radio show. We'll see you next week.