Warren Buffett Is Making Big Buys Again

Summary

Motley Fool Money – Warren Buffett Is Making Big Buys Again

Date: August 15, 2025
Host: Travis Hoium
Analysts: Lou Whiteman, Rick Munariz
Producer: Dan Boyd

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Motley Fool Money revolves around Warren Buffett’s recent investment moves, notably in UnitedHealth and housing stocks, and broader market trends. The team analyzes major market headlines: inflation’s persistence, the complexities of Fed interest rate decisions, huge new sports streaming deals, notable 13F filings from Berkshire Hathaway and others, and the impact of AI advancements. The show concludes with stock spotlights and listener Q&A.

---

Inflation, the Fed, and the Market’s Response

[00:40]

• Headline: Inflation remains a key market concern as PPI jumps 3.3% YoY, despite tame CPI.
• Lou Whiteman Perspective [01:30]:
  • Warns that inflation is “a slow creep,” with producer costs rising ahead of consumer prices:

    "We want inflation to be a light switch... but in reality, it’s a slow creep... the PPI hinted at that." (01:30)

  • Predicts producers will eventually pass higher costs onto consumers.
• Rick Munariz on Economic Indicators [02:40]:
  • Points out that PPI often serves as a “leading or bleeding indicator” and expresses caution:

    "It's going to be very tricky. Everyone was assuming the Fed was going to cut rates next month... but I think Green Day's 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' is probably a good way to get through." (02:40)

• Fed Rate Cuts Debate [03:10]:
  • Rick expects a minor rate cut, more out of obligation than strong economic rationale:

    "I think there’s almost an obligation to have a very small, just a small downtick in the Fed..." (03:33)

  • Lou adds that the job market argument is weak and the Fed's reluctance to cut is stronger than investors' enthusiasm:

    "The Fed is much less anxious to cut than investors are anxious just for the Fed to cut." (04:16)

Market/Consumer Implications [05:00]:

• 2022’s rapid inflation differed from today’s gradual uptick.
• New tariffs may not have hit consumer prices yet; concerns about higher costs this holiday season.
• Rick notes that consumers will “feel a pinch” even if markets stay resilient.

---

Sports Streaming Shakeup: Paramount & UFC

[07:58]

• UFC Moves to Paramount: Paramount signs a $7.7B, 7-year exclusive deal for UFC content – a major shift from ESPN.

• Rick’s View [08:33]:

  • Sees it as a win for Paramount but doubts it grows UFC’s audience:

    "While it helps Paramount, I don't think it helps consumers necessarily... I don't think this is what the sport needs." (08:33)

• Reach Trade-Offs [09:24]:

  • Travis: Paramount/CBS’s combined social reach is ~32m compared to ESPN’s 300m+. UFC may get a financial windfall, but risk losing cultural relevance.

• Lou’s Defense and Context [10:08]:

  • Highlights that not all content will be paywalled (some on CBS):

    "There is a quote unquote over the air component here, right?... I don't think this is a move to irrelevance." (10:08)

  • Notes that Disney’s ESPN is also reducing broad accessibility.

• Rick’s Colorful Analogy [11:34]:

  • Questions CBS’s current reach:

    "This is Billy Joel giving up his residency at the Madison Square Garden for an exclusive engagement in an eccentric billionaire's bunker." (11:34)

• Streaming Service Bundling [12:19]:

  • The challenges of bundling disparate content in services like CBS and Fox, not matching the targeted, streamlined approach of Disney’s Hulu/ESPN+.

---

Buffett’s Big Moves: Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F Revelations

[14:41]

• Buffett & Berkshire Activity:
  • Sold more Apple shares, bought $1.6B of UnitedHealth (UNH), and added housing stocks; T-Mobile was among sales.
• Rick’s Take [15:21]:
  • UnitedHealth buy surprises:

    "There’s usually a good reason why stocks are this out of favor. And in this case it’s Warren Buffett being a contrarian..." (15:21)

• Lou’s Skepticism [16:23]:
  • Cautious about both health and housing picks:

    "I am a Berkshire Hathaway investor and... I’m really underwhelmed by this. UnitedHealth... feels like it has all the potential to be a falling knife." (16:23)

  • Wonders why Berkshire isn’t being bolder given its cash hoard.
• Big Picture [18:04]:
  • Rick: Buffett is “cautious” and moving slowly, keeping most cash uninvested while other big funds show similar caution.
• Lou’s Provocation [18:29]:
  • Suggests the moves lack impact:

    "Nothing is going to move the needle, right?... Maybe I should just buy a total market index..." (18:29)

---

Stock Rapid-Fire: “Oh No” or “Let’s Go” [20:07]

Lululemon (LULU)

• Rick [20:46]: Cautious “let’s go” — not as high-growth, but attractively valued.
• Lou & Travis [21:17]: “Oh no” — growth slowing, competition rising, brand may be losing steam.

TKO Group (WWE/UFC)

• Rick [22:34]: “Let’s go” (near-term), though skeptical about media deal’s long-term value.
• Lou: “Let’s go” short-term due to cash, but “oh no” long-term as sports TV rights bubble may burst.

Rigetti Computing (Quantum Computing)

• Both: “Oh no” — too speculative, lacking profitability; valuation not justified.

Eli Lilly (LLY)

• Lou [26:31]: “Cautious let’s go”—solid company, not just a ‘one-hit wonder’ with Zepbound.
• Rick [27:13]: “Lukewarm let’s go”—attractive monopoly-like positioning for now.

Reddit (RDDT)

• Both [28:08]: “Oh no”—great platform, but monetization remains an open question; stock gets ahead of fundamentals.

Celsius (CELH)

• Rick [29:34]: “Let’s go”—momentum back thanks to acquisition-driven growth.
• Lou: Lukewarm “let’s go”—can’t stand the drinks, but market loves them.

Crocs (CROX)

• Rick [30:59]: “Let’s go”—history of bouncing back from dips; international appeal.
• Lou: Cautiously intrigued—could be undervalued, though dependent on consumer trends.

---

AI & Tech: ChatGPT Upgrades and AI’s Investment Theme

[32:43]

• ChatGPT Update: GPT-5 launches, but panel is lukewarm on direct investment opportunities.
• Rick [33:45]:
  • Favors “pick and shovel” plays (Nvidia, AMD, CoreWeave) over speculative bets on specific AI platforms.
• Lou [34:38]:
  • Cautions that enterprise utility, not consumer chatbots, will define winners.
• Alphabet’s Role [35:05]:
  • Travis: Despite fears, Google remains central to AI thanks to infrastructure and strategic partnerships with Oracle/OpenAI.
• Lou [35:54]:
  • Notes risk of AI commoditization, which could benefit semi suppliers (NVIDIA) more than platforms.

---

Stocks on the Radar Segment

Lou Whiteman: QXO

• Building products roll-up led by serial acquirer Brad Jacobs. High growth ambitions, but stock “looks fairly valued” today.

"...the person behind the rollup, Brad Jacobs, he’s done this before. His last two companies, they are two of the top 10 best performing Fortune 500 stocks of the last decade..." (36:24)

Rick Munariz: BBB Foods (TBBB)

• Deep-discount grocer in Mexico, rapid expansion, comps up nearly 18%.

"It’s a fast growing deep discount grocer in Mexico... added more than 500 stores... just an overall solid growth stock that’s really not on most radars." (37:43)

• Dan Boyd picks TBBB for his own radar:

  "...as they say in Mexico, el que no ariesga, no gana." (38:29)

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the Fed’s Dilemma:

  "Prices going up while the economy's going down... there's a scary word for it, and I don't want to mention it, but it starts with a 'stag' and ends with 'flation'." – Rick Munariz (04:07)

• On Streaming Sports:

  "This is Billy Joel giving up his residency at Madison Square Garden for an exclusive engagement in an eccentric billionaire's bunker." – Rick Munariz (11:34)

• On AI Opportunities:

  "The safer catch all plays continue to be the Nvidias, AMDs and even, oh no, even Coreweave of the world..." – Rick Munariz (33:45)

• On Market Sentiment:

  "Never, ever underestimate America's desire for carbonated tang." – Lou Whiteman (30:13)

---

Overall Tone

The discussion is lively and skeptical, balancing cautious optimism with pragmatic realism. In typical Motley Fool fashion, the roundtable mixes humor, market history, and current events to guide long-term investors through volatile headlines and new trends.

---

Key Timestamps

• 00:40 – Opening discussion: Inflation & Fed rate cuts
• 07:58 – Paramount/UFC $7.7B streaming deal
• 14:41 – Warren Buffett’s 13F/Berkshire moves
• 20:07 – Stock “Oh No or Let’s Go”
• 32:43 – ChatGPT upgrades & AI platform investing
• 36:24 – Stocks on our radar & Dan Boyd Q&A

---

This episode provides a snapshot of the market’s shifting currents through the lens of world-class investors and the Foolish analysts’ characteristic approach: focus on the long term, question hype, and seek value where others aren’t looking.

Transcript

[Travis Hoium]

Warren Buffett is making big buys again. Motley Fool Money starts now. Everybody needs money.

[Rick Munariz]

That's why they call it money.

[Travis Hoium]

But you can give them to the.

[Buzz and Be]

Buzz and be from Fool Global headquarters.

[Rick Munariz]

This is Motley Fool Money.

[Travis Hoium]

I'm Travis Hoy. I'm joined by Lou Whiteman and our Disney expert for Today, Rick Munariz. UnitedHealth stock is up 10% this morning after Warren Buffett and some notable hedge fund managers disclosed positions. Paramount is private again, but making big deals in the content game. But first, we do have to talk about inflation. Inflation has been the boogeyman for the market for months. Tariffs were supposed to lead to higher costs, which haven't materialized yet. But that boogeyman did peak its head out this week. Thursday. PPI, or the producer price index, increased 3.3% versus a year ago as food, energy and machinery costs went up. Lou, I want to start with you. Is this a blip or is this actually something to worry about as we think about inflation for the rest of the year?

[Lou Whiteman]

I'm continuing with my boiling frog economy sort of thought here. We want inflation to be a light switch, right? We want it to match the headlines what we see on tv. It's just inflation here or inflation not. But in reality, it's a slow creep. And taken together, we had the CPI too, which didn't show any real uptick, but PPI did. So consumers aren't seeing it, but producers are. It suggests that there is this slow creep higher of expense. And it may be maybe the consumer hasn't felt it yet, but I think it's still really an open question of whether or not they will. My answer is yes, the consumer will feel this and the PPI hinted at that.

[Travis Hoium]

Rick, this is something that I think is a little bit confusing is so PPI is the producer Price Index. That's going to be what people making stuff are seeing from inflation costs. But the CPI includes things like housing. So how is this dynamic something that we need to kind of think about maybe a little bit differently as investors, where, you know, PBI could be that leading indicator that tells us what inflation is going to look like a few months from now, but isn't going to necessarily tell us if housing costs, for example, are going to go up.

[Rick Munariz]

That is part of the problem. But again, overall, as a leading indicator, or in this case a bleeding indicator, the fact that cpa, CPI came in fine, PPI came in hot two days later, that to me that's problematic. And I think this is a it's going to be Very tricky. Everyone was assuming that the Fed was going to cut rates next month, but I don't know if it's too soon to have a soundtrack for the month ahead, but I think green days wake me up when September ends is probably a good way to get through what should be a very volatile month in September as we work out this inflation news.

[Travis Hoium]

Yeah, that really is the topic of the day, is those Fed rate cuts. It seemed a few days ago that that was a done deal, that if inflation was relatively low, we weren't going to need to keep rates high. Rick, where's your hat at with rate cuts? Is that something that you even think about as an investor? Because it's definitely something that's helping buoy stocks over the past couple of weeks.

[Rick Munariz]

I think there's almost an obligation to have a very small, just a small downtick in the Fed with their interest rates, but I don't think it'll be.

[Travis Hoium]

Is that just because everybody's calling for it or is there an economic rationale behind it? I guess that's what I sort of struggle with, is we are seeing inflation. If that's really the concern, then I don't know why cutting rates would be the right thing to do right now. But then if you're cutting rates because the economy is weak, then that should be bad for stocks. So it's like this strange tension in the market.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah. Prices going up while the economy's going down. There's a scary word for it, and I don't mention it, but it starts with a stag and it ends with inflation. So I don't want to go there.

[Lou Whiteman]

It is, I think, important, Travis, to your point, that this whole dual mandate we talk about with both inflation and jobs, the scary thing is, like Rick says, that the job market doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't look great. It feels like the best I can figure it out, it's there isn't mass layoffs in the economy, but no one's hiring either. So we are just. And so I think there is the beginnings of an argument to cut rates on the job side. That's really hard to do with the inflation. And again, I continue to believe that the Fed doesn't want to be stuck at zero or anywhere near zero. So I continue to think that we probably will get a cut. But the Fed is much less anxious to cut than investors are anxious just for the Fed to cut.

[Travis Hoium]

What does this ultimately do for the stock market, Lou? Because the last time that we had inflation was 2022. The numbers went up really quickly. But things were also very different back then. I mean, you had auto companies could raise the prices of vehicles by $10,000 and there was no supply. So people just had to pay whatever the price was for vehicles. It seemed that way for everything. I mean, I remember going down the chip aisle at the grocery store and it seemed like prices had doubled from the last time I was there. That's probably not where we are today. So there may be whether it's tariffs, whether it's higher commodity costs, there may be higher costs. But is there a difference between the inflation that we saw a few years ago and the potential for maybe 3,4% inflation being sort of the norm? Lou?

[Lou Whiteman]

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to say, I think that is the potential. And it's hard to be overly bullish about this. Right. Taken literally, the PPI and CPI together would suggest bad news for margins because the companies are seeing higher prices and they're not passing it on. I think that they will pass it on over time. I think the if not bull case, the non bear case from here is that if this is gradual enough that we can adjust and we aren't going to get a shock to the system and that maybe there won't be a market panic. But it does feel like at best, even if you're trying to make a bull to figure out earnings growth from here, that this cost is going to be a headwind and maybe lower margins because of it is going to be a headwind for the second half of this year and into 2026.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah.

[Travis Hoium]

And let's keep in mind that the tariffs were announced a little over four months ago. It seems like an eternity ago. But the prices that we're seeing in stores today were not set in April. Retailers are making their plans months and months in advance. You know, what I have to wonder is, is Christmas time, you know, the holiday season? Is, is that going to be really when we see inflation start to hit? You know, I don't know, Rick. I don't know if that's something you're thinking about as we go towards the end of the year. Hey, are we going to see a little bit higher costs and maybe should I front run some of my shopping? Maybe time to start thinking about that.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah. Some layaway shopping. Layaway investing. Yeah. I think as an investor, as a consumer, yes, as an investor. These events don't normally correlate. I mean, you were talking about when prices spiked when the pandemic happened, that we had this. I remember when I was Paying for a 12 pack of Diet Coke was very different in 2019 and early 2020 than it was when aluminum prices and all these other things were factoring into play, or when there used to be a McDonald's dollar menu, and it really was a dollar menu. And then it just totally changed. And the market was fine with that. Stocks appreciated over that time. So I don't think it's necessarily. The market may not have a negative reaction to this, but as consumers, we will probably feel a pinch.

[Travis Hoium]

Speaking of prices going up, we are going to see higher prices for sports content. I think that's probably pretty clear. ESPN is going over the top with their app. I believe it's next week that's actually coming out. But the big news this week, we've talked about ESPN and Disney cozying up with the NFL on the show over the past couple of weeks. But the big news this week, Rick, was the UFC making a $1.1 billion deal per year with Paramount. What do we need to know about this? Because this seems like Paramount is now going to be kind of the UFC app. Yeah.

[Rick Munariz]

So you sort of figured, hey, Paramount. Plus they're like, it's almost like a bottom feeder of the premium streaming services. You know, once in a while it'll have a hit show, but it's not something that's just solely totally driving the platform. And Paramount itself was having issues again. That's why it's gone through all these transformations. The fact that it was able to sign this seven year, $7.7 billion deal, that's quite a jackpot pull to me. This is the kind of thing where, while it helps Paramount, I don't think it helps consumers necessarily when they have to keep this movable feast to find content. But I do think it's interesting. But I don't know if it's in the best interest for ufc. I mean, I saw what Joe Rogan had to say. I saw what a lot of fans used to about MMA were saying after this. But I don't think this is what the sport needs. The UFC needs to draw a larger audience.

[Travis Hoium]

Yeah, I want to put some numbers to this. And this is from Ariel Helani reported that the social exposure for ESPN, 300.8 million followers across Twitter, Instagram, and I believe it was TikTok, Paramount, CBS, 32 million. So ESPN has 10 times the reach. If you're UFC, you have to think about two things. You have to think about, how much money do we have coming in the door? This was probably the biggest check they were going to Get. But you also have to think about how many people are going to be watching us. Do we want to be MLB and sort of be somewhat irrelevant to the younger generation? Lou, this is a real tension for these companies who are trying to play two games at once here.

[Lou Whiteman]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. First of all, I got to give some credit to Paramount. Plus for those of us who do enjoy second and third tier English soccer, they are already a go to app. So enough with this UFC only. But Travis, it's a good point, but there's a few things to consider. Like unlike what MLB has done with Apple TV and MLS has done with Apple tv, there is a quote unquote over the air component here, right? Or the old fashioned there is Paramount brings CBS and some other outlets. So it's not just all behind the paywall. I don't think it's just going to disappear off the face of the earth. And I think it's also fair to say, look, we can't compare it to what has been ESPN is changing too. This idea of just all access everywhere from anybody is going away. Things are going behind paywalls. It's just a question of whose paywall are you going to I don't think this is a move to irrelevance. I mean if anything Disney's deal, it was a double dip for UFC fans because you had to subscribe and then pay per view. Pay per view goes away here which is a benefit for the fans. But I think comparing it to know 5 years ago deal which included a lot of just over the air or on your cable box for free. I don't know anyone ESPN or anyone that is really going to highlight that going forward. So I don't think it. It's hard to just say well what we had five years ago was better to lose point.

[Rick Munariz]

Travis I think that the whole the CBS angle is interesting because it won't all be on Paramount. Plus once in a while they'll have kind of like content available freely through cbs, which is a great way for the UFC to remain relevant. But to me this is still It's Billy Joel giving up his residency at the Madison Square Garden for an exclusive engagement and an eccentric billionaires bunker. This is going to be a problem because again this is CBS of 2025. This isn't CBS of 2015, 2005 or the 1980s. Sorry, this is not the same reach that CBS used to have anymore. It is a changing media landscape. So I don't think that this is what UFC needs beyond just the instant payday of the $1.1 billion a year that they'll be getting in the whole process.

[Travis Hoium]

Thinking about what these companies are bundling together is interesting too. You're right, CBS is going to have some of this UFC content, but it's going to be along with their other flagship content, which is, you know, CSI and content that, you know, kind of young males who are typically going to be the UFC watchers are not going to gravitate towards the same things on cbs. So does, you know, does that name CBS mean anything to them? Fox is kind of running into the same thing. They announced that they're going to be at least an option to bundle in with ESPN for an additional $10 a month. But Fox is trying to sell Fox One with some college football games and Fox News, which doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense together. At least it seems to me if you're trying to build a streaming service, at least the Disney, Disney plus, that's for families. Hulu, the general entertainment, espn, it's just sports. All these other ones are kind of mishmashing everything together. But, but am I overthinking this, Lou?

[Lou Whiteman]

Maybe. I mean, the truth is we don't know how it's going to end up. My pushback on Rick's analogy and kind of what you're saying is I don't know if ESPN is Madison Square Garden going forward either. I think the days of, like you said, the cbs, the over the top, it's going to be there for the NFL, it's going to be there for your college football game of the week. But I think increasingly wherever you are, you are going to be in some sort of a limited access pay to play world and so why not max out the money?

[Travis Hoium]

TKO is going to be fascinating to watch because they're playing both sides. WWE signed with ESPN and obviously ufc, which they also own, signed with Paramount. So they're kind of playing all of these cards here. Next up, we are going to talk about some of the big buys from the biggest investors in the world. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.

[Navy Announcer]

You say you'll never join the Navy, that living on a submarine would be too hard. You'd never power a whole ship with nuclear energy, never bring a patient back to life or play the national anthem for a sold out crowd. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Start your [e-mail] America's Navy forged by the the sea.

[Travis Hoium]

The day every Investor waits for 13F filing day is today. That's when big hedge funds, big public Investors like Warren Buffett have to file what's called a 13F tells us the stocks that they actually own. In the quarterly filings, we get kind of what those values are, but we don't necessarily get these specific stocks. The interesting one that came out last night was Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway disclosed what they own for the quarter, continued selling shares of Apple. But the one that's getting a lot of news today, rick, is buying $1.6 billion worth of UnitedHealth. Shares of UnitedHealth are up 10% on that news. What do you take of it?

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, I think especially with UnitedHealth, a lot of people, even in the weeks leading up to this, my whole social feed was erupted with unh, is just so cheap right now. How can this happen? How can this be? But there's usually a good reason why stocks are this out of favor. And in this case it's Warren Buffett being a contrarian at a time when there seems to be a lot of contrarians out there. I mean, it's encouraging if you are a long suffering UnitedHealthcare investor. But to me, it's not one of my favorite picks that Warren made this this past quarter.

[Travis Hoium]

Lou, the other thing Buffett, and we should mention Greg Abel. Greg Abel is going to be taking over as CEO. So he definitely has his fingerprints all over these moves. We don't necessarily know exactly who's making the final calls there. But the other thing that he was buying was housing stocks. This is something that I think a lot of people have been bullish on for a long time. Is this, is this again, a play on interest rates? Is this a recovery of the economy play? What could they, what could be going on here?

[Lou Whiteman]

So, Travis, full disclosure, I'm not Warren Buffett, and me questioning his stock picks takes a lot of hubris. But I am a Berkshire Hathaway investor and look, I'm really underwhelmed by this. Everything you're talking about real quick, UnitedHealth, that scares me because healthcare is changing and I don't think anyone knows how this will end up. And I don't think it's a given that yesterday's winners will be tomorrow's winners. This feels like it has all of the potential to be a falling knife you don't want to catch. And then you mentioned the home builders. I think this is a logical play on big macro. We need more homes over time, but the headwinds in this industry are still very, very strong at best. This is early. I want to know, you know like, if home builders look attractive today, why not just get back into repurchasing? Why not initiate a dividend as, as a shareholder, you know, I'm not going to question Warren Buffett. I'm not going to like just go hide, you know, you know, run away and have a temper tantrum. But this is, this is very underwhelming, kind of the moves they're making. Both selling.

[Travis Hoium]

Rick, the other one that they did sell is T Mobile. You know, that was one that you brought up. I think that is interesting. But a lot of little moves at the margins. Buying more Pool Corp, you know, Nucor, just some interest. With as much cash as they have on the balance sheet, they could be buying stocks like crazy. They could also be continuing to raise more cash as they can generate a pretty good income just from Treasuries. But what is the overall takeaway from at least Buffett's moves? And you know, he's kind of mirrored a lot of the big hedge funds this quarter.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, and I think you mentioned it. They have a lot of money. They didn't put anywhere close to all of it to work, which is just a very cautious stance, which I think is probably the right approach right now. I'm not necessarily a fan of all the moves that Berkshire Hathaway made, but they do make sense to me. Some of them do. And yeah, so. But again, not a full commitment. It wasn't necessarily a very bullish move by still keeping the cash hoard so large.

[Travis Hoium]

Lou, what are your final thoughts here?

[Lou Whiteman]

So this is intentionally provocative and I am not selling Berkshire Hathaway, but I look at all this and nothing is going to move the needle, right? I mean, selling Apple as much as Apple's gone doesn't.

[Travis Hoium]

Well, they could go out and buy one of the big tech companies like Alphabet seems to fit a lot of.

[Lou Whiteman]

The things that Alphabet likes, but they're not. And that's kind of my point. Increasingly, like I say, I'm not dumping the shares, but why bother? If this is what the portfolio is going to be, then maybe I should just buy a total market index and get a little bit of a dividend on the side too, or something. I feel like that there needs to be just something more in the quarters to come. It doesn't need to be overnight. You don't want to be not patient with Warren Buffett and Berkshire, but it feels like that the status quo, quarter after quarter of just nibbling at the edges, I don't know how long that's going to go on.

[Travis Hoium]

He's been complaining about having too much cash to invest for quite a while and we're getting to that point where unless he finds another Apple idea, but it's a tough position to be in. Next up, we're going to be playing oh no. Or let's go with some big stock moves. You're listening to Motley Fool Money.

[Buzz and Be]

Support for this podcast and the following message comes from America's Navy. The Navy offers new graduates hands on training and experience in careers like computer science, aviation and medicine, plus education. And sign on bonuses. Parents help your grads start their career [e-mail].

[Travis Hoium]

After earnings season. We have some big stock moves to talk about. Some companies who are performing pretty well but their stocks are down. I want to get an idea whether these stocks are oh no, they're really in trouble. Or is this a back the truck up moment? And let's go. So those are your options. Lou and Rick, the first stock that I want to talk about is one that always seems to look like a value. Shares are down another 10% over the past month. That's Lululemon. But revenue was up 7.3%. Of course, that revenue growth rate has come down, but net income was down. Rick, are you an oh no or a let's go with Lululemon stock?

[Rick Munariz]

Right now I'm a let's go, but not with an exclamation point at the end. To me, Lululemon is not the same growth Stock it was five, 10, 15 years ago. That is not the Lululemon you're getting now. It's a more competitive landscape. In athleisure. You have the tariff concerns which are weighing on just about everybody. But again, I think the fact that the valuation here is at a point, yes, it seemed like a value stock and almost a value drop that's tripping people up. But I do think that Lululemon will appreciate from here and it's a good buying spot here.

[Lou Whiteman]

I'm, I'm. Oh no. And I hate to be because I it's quality stuff and I really do believe in the stuff. It's another reflection on that, but I do feel like this was a bit of a fad company and this isn't just a one quarter thing, Travis. This has been trending in the wrong direction for a long time now. There are more affordable options that have at least pretty good quality. That's always bad news. I don't know. I'm not convinced they can get it back.

[Travis Hoium]

If I got to break the tie here. I have to agree with Lou. The Local Lululemon store which was kind of in an upscale mall here, closed became, it became an alo store. I, I think and maybe I'm saying all these names incorrectly. It's not really, it's not, I'm not the target market there. But that is just sort of shows that they are not necessarily the brand that they once were. So little warning signs there. Even though the stock is pretty cheap at about 14 times earnings. We talked a little bit about the changes in streaming where UFC and WWE are going. The market has reacted positively to TKO Group who owns a lot of this content. Shares are up 13% over the past month. Revenue was up 10% last quarter. Net income nearly doubled. That's before really any of these new deals kicked in. So Rick, is TKO Group a little bit too rich in oh no. Or are you let's go with their shares.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, so I'm going to go with the let's go. And I'm not excited over the TKO deal with Paramount. I think it's bad for consumers in the short run, bad for the league in the long run and eventually bad for TKO investors in the long run. But I get it. Live Sports continues to be that one thing that defying gravity amongst the media network. So it's great to be in that driver's seat with two very strong products out there that people demand to see. I think the company is doing fine and I think yeah, it's a let's go.

[Lou Whiteman]

Near term I'm a let's go because there is a lot of money coming in and that's good. But I'm a long term investor and long term I'm oh no, because I look, I'm going to call it guys, this feels like a top for sports fees. There is a gold rush going on right now among sports leagues as these streaming services try to just grab territory. I think for a lot of these leagues it'll never get better than this. And I think, you know, certain properties, NFL maybe will sustain but I don't think it gets any better than this deal. And so for long term I, I, I think you got to adjust down over time.

[Travis Hoium]

The stock looks expensive at 110 times earnings but forward PE ratio is 34. Rick, the, the thing I wanted to ask you about is these new deals that we're talking about. TKO typically doesn't have the same cost structure as a lot of bigger leagues who have unions where there's a revenue share with players. Are they going to actually be able to push their margins higher so they get you know, they double their fee from moving from ESPN to Paramount. Do they get to keep that extra 5,600 million dollars or is there going to be some sort of work stoppage on the horizon?

[Rick Munariz]

I think you've answered the question right there. Yes, they're going to keep it initially, but down the line, again, if the money's coming in, the talent will want to get paid. And obviously we've seen the WWE over the year where you can dump talent if they ask for too much, if they want too much. But I think it's a different story now. So, yeah, it is something that I still think margins will overall improve. I think they know this and I think they will reward their talent and their content producers in the process.

[Travis Hoium]

Let's move on to quantum computing. Rigetti Computing shares are up another 31%. The stock is just absolutely on fire. But revenue was down 42%. Not that that really matters because this is not. This is a sort of a pre revenue company. Net income was negative, so that growth is kind of irrelevant. But Lou, is this a oh no. Or let's go.

[Lou Whiteman]

I mean, I really want to say neither, but that's cheating. But look, you know, they hit every buzzword in the world. They are cloud, they are AI, they are quantum. Yeah, I don't know what any of that means, Travis, and I refuse to. Maybe it's just a solid investing, but for me, if anything, it's an oh no, let's see actually what you do and how you make revenue from it and what the profitability is. Then maybe let's talk. But for now just my brain's not big enough for this.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, I'm going to go with oh no. And to me it's not the numbers. So Travis, the stock up 31%. You see revenue down 42%, income growth negative. Those are scary things. But you're not buying into Rigetti Computing for what happens in the next quarter or even in the next year. This is a future story on quantum computing which is going to continue to grow. It's a long term play and I don't want to focus too much on this. But yeah, valuation wise, even looking a couple years out to when it becomes more of a reality, I'm not convinced. So I'm going to go, oh no.

[Travis Hoium]

$5.8 billion market cap, despite not really proving out a business model. I just struggle with those. But it continues to, continues to go higher. Let's move over to healthcare. Eli Lilly shares are down 11% over the past month despite a 38% increase in revenue. Net income almost doubled. Lou. Oh no. Or let's go.

[Rick Munariz]

I'm gonna.

[Lou Whiteman]

I'm a cautious. Let's go here. This probably wouldn't be my first choice here but I ref. I'm too old to believe that this is just a. That this is a one hit wonder that it's just Zepbound or nothing. This is a really, really good company that. Yeah. Opportunities and risks involved with GLP1s. But I think, I mean I wish they had a better dividend. You can actually get better dividends out of some of these that are maybe more attractive.

[Travis Hoium]

Just 0.9% today.

[Lou Whiteman]

Yeah. But think that we are getting overly caught up in that one product. I guess they need to build out the rest of a pipeline and actually do more. But I think they have an in. This isn't. Again, it's not an enthusiastic let's go. But I would rather. I'd rather walk towards this than away from it.

[Rick Munariz]

I'm also very lukewarm. Let's go. And again, seeing the revenue and the earnings growth right now. That's right now this is a company that's basically in a two company monopoly right now. There's a lot of companies fighting for this space. And while there has been good news for Eli Lilly and for Novo Nordisk in that some of the other treatments have sort of like basically fumbled on their way to the end of the Phase 3 finish line clinical trials, I do think that Eli Lilly is still attractively priced here. And again, when you are successful and you're making a lot of money, you will find ways to buy. You will acquire growth. If you can't make it in house.

[Travis Hoium]

Reddit is one of the hotter stocks in the market, up 64% over the past month. I've completely missed this one. So revenue has jumped 78% when they went public. I didn't think they would be able to post those kinds of numbers. And now net income is positive. Rick, is Reddit stock and oh no at this valuation or let's go.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah. I'm going to say oh no for the stock, but I'm a big fan of Reddit so I think the company itself is great. To me it's impressive how when the company was going public just a couple of years ago, this was a matter of no, this is terrible. It's not going to be able to be monetized. These communities of communities, they're going to basically have a revolution. And it happened early on with API and other stuff that were just other issues that were happening. But I think Reddit is the stock itself, I think has extended itself overextended the reality of the situation and the fact that there will be monetization challenges once we get to that point, which will probably happen sooner or later. So I'm an oh no.

[Lou Whiteman]

Yeah, I am too. I love the platform. But oh no, we've just seen it with so many of these, whether it's Twitter, Pinterest, it's. The monetization is hard. They might have some levers to pull. But I, I want to see it to believe it.

[Travis Hoium]

I didn't have you two as Reddit heads, but I guess here we are. Their content continues to end up everywhere in artificial intelligence. So it seems like that will be a tailwind as these AI companies try to figure out how to get up to date information. Apparently Reddit is the best place to get it right now. Let's move over to the company from Rick's neck of the woods. And what I have sitting next to me is a can of Celsius Stock is up 25% in the past month, year over year. Revenue growth was 84%. That does include the aligning new acquisition. Net income is up 28%. Rick, have things turned around and is this a let's go.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, so I'm going to go with let's go. I mean the stock has more than doubled this year. So it's one of the many surprising stocks that have more than doubled. And again, it's all, it's not organic growth. But the Celsius brand, after three quarters of negative growth did grow 3%. Obviously 84% was all basically the Alani Liu lifting. But I think they found themselves a great brand and more importantly was that their profitability came in a lot stronger than expected. So this is a company that was able to integrate with Alani Liu in April and just in three months was able to make it very profitable and help on the bottom line. I'm definitely, I think as far as the stock has gone, I do think that there's some potential upside at least the next three quarters here.

[Lou Whiteman]

Never, ever underestimate America's desire for carbonated tang. All right. Because yeah, this, this is. Let's go. I personally, I can't stand the stuff. People just drink water. But I do think that, yeah. That Rick's right. I, I'm a very lukewarm. Let's go. I, I think they have their momentum back.

[Travis Hoium]

It's, it's one of those. I feel at least a little bit better about myself drinking a Celsius than a mountain Dew. I don't know if I really should, but I guess I'm the average American. Let's end things with the company that I think Rick and I are licking our wounds on. Crocs is down 16% over the past month. Revenue was up a little bit. Guidance was really weak. Is this an oh, no moment for Crocs or such a good value that it's let's go?

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, I'm going to say let's go. And I get it. This is not the same. There are holes in the shoes, there's holes in the stocks, there's holes in the company. And the hey, dude thing should have been a hey, don't acquisition, but add it all up together. Crocs is the kind of company that when it does take a hit, history tells you get back in. This is not a flash in the pan, a trendy one trick pony. They find ways to become relevant here and abroad. It's an international play too. So I'm bullish on Crocs and when the stock sells off, I think it's usually a good opportunity. History tells us to, you know, slide in some comfortable shoes.

[Lou Whiteman]

Yeah, I mean, I was skeptical about this one. I sort of get it though, guys. I might be a tentative let's go or I find it intriguing just kind of as value over value trap. I still don't like buying into investor trend or consumer trends and that still scares me. But they have reached a point where I don't think they're going out of business. So maybe, maybe I need to get a little bit. Maybe I need to try a pair on. Rick.

[Travis Hoium]

I was at Vikings training camp yesterday and there was a bunch of kids running around with no shoes on and I was trying to figure out what was going on and they were trying to play football in Crocs and decided that it was better to just take their shoes off. So apparently the kids are still wearing Crocs. Next up, we're going to talk a little bit about ChatGPT's latest update and get to the stocks on our radar. You're listening to Motley Foreman Girl to be with you.

[Rick Munariz]

It's my favorite thing. I can't wait till I see you again.

[Travis Hoium]

You say you'll never join the Navy, Never climb Mount Fuji on a port physics or break the sound barrier. Joining the nail Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Learn [e-mail] America's Navy forged by the sea. 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 is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. To see our full advertising disclosure, please check out our show Notes the big news in AI for the week was ChatGPT getting an upgrade to GPT5. Rick is this something or nothing for either ChatGPT or the rest of the tech space right now?

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, to me this seems to be that rare case where the pick and shovel plays are more impressive than the blueprints. An upgrade that makes GPT stronger, deeper and less buggy. Great. But this doesn't necessarily a race that I'm going to be racing to buy Microsoft with this 49% stake in OpenAI. This is still a very race with a very blurry finish line. To me. The safer catch all plays continue to be the Nvidias, AMDs and even, oh no, even Coreweave of the world than the actual companies behind the platforms.

[Travis Hoium]

Core Weave has taken a hit. Are you worried about their depreciation schedule? This is something we don't talk a lot about on the podcast, but you know how long you're expensing those GPUs, which may just burn up in a couple of years, seems to be really important to investors right now.

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, it's accounting and also it may be it's a commodity game at the end of the thing. But again I still think that these are the plays that are going to do better right now until we decide the platform that comes out on top.

[Lou Whiteman]

Yeah, Core Weave scares me for just what you said. The one thing on Chat GPT I'd say is that the chatbots are getting all the attention because that's what people are interacting with. And so some of this like wow, I don't think the chatbot was this good. But we're talking about the consumer. It's the enterprise is what matters. So even if it isn't as warm and cozy or whatever with the chatbot this time around, if the programmers think it's better, that's probably good news for the company.

[Travis Hoium]

It is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. The company that keeps coming up in this is Alphabet, so they are the other big competitor with Gemini. The interesting news to me this week was that Oracle, who is OpenAI's partner on these massive Stargate data centers, announced that Gemini is going to be on Oracle's Cloud. Meanwhile, some of ChatGPT anyways is running now on Google's cloud. So it seems like even though they are the biggest competitor in the, in the company that everyone thinks is going to be disrupted by OpenAI, they seem to find their way into these markets. So is that a reason to say maybe? The easy answer is just like Rick said, some of these bigger companies like Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, what do you think, Lou?

[Lou Whiteman]

I do think there's a risk that even if AI goes as planned, there's some sort of commoditization effect. So yeah, I do think that that's at least something investors need to watch. And Nvidia should, like Rick said, Nvidia should work out fine even if that happens, right?

[Travis Hoium]

We like to end the show with stocks on our radar along with some comments and questions from from our producer Dan Boyd behind the glass. Lou, you are up first. What, what is on your radar right now?

[Lou Whiteman]

So I'm looking at QXO and yeah, Dan, I know. Sponsored by Sesame street, right. But no, QXO is a building products rollup. It's in its early stages, just one deal so far. But the person behind the rollup, Brad Jacobs, he's done this before. His last two companies, they are two of the top 10 best performing Fortune 500 stocks of the last decade. So there's a great track record here. QXO reported earnings and revenue both topped expectations this week. They say they are on track to double EBITDA at Beacon Roofing Supply, their first acquisition. I'll be honest, the stock looks fairly valued right now. But QX's goal is to use MA to be five times as large within a decade. A lot of risk there, a lot of deal making. But it's but an intriguing track record. I'm very, very interested in how this plays out.

[Travis Hoium]

Dan, what do you think about qxo?

[Dan Boyd]

I think that it's great that the spirit of Ron Gross is still here at Motley Fool Money. And we've got Old Economy Lou coming at us once again. Lou, here's a question for you. Brad Jacobs. He's successful, sure, but can he please start an interesting company?

[Lou Whiteman]

You know what the funny thing is, some of the best investments are outside of the interesting space. And thanks for the compliment. Ron Gross may long live on this show.

[Travis Hoium]

Rick, what is on your radar?

[Rick Munariz]

Yeah, so I'm going with BBB Foods ticker symbol tbbb. It's a fast growing deep discount grocer in Mexico and you're thinking grocery stores. Mexico, it's gone from zero stores 20 years ago to more than 3,000 right now posted great results this week. Revenue is up 38% largely on expansion and added more than 500 stores, but comps were up nearly 18%. You don't see see double digit comps very often, especially when it's stacked on top of double digit comps from a year ago. So this is a company that's a low cost product, razor thin margins, but it's able to make it work. Operating profit's great. Just an overall solid growth stock that's really not really outside of most radars. Really is outside of most radars to investors right now.

[Travis Hoium]

Dan, how do you feel about investing in grocery stores in Mexico?

[Dan Boyd]

Grocery stores in Mexico is a little bit daunting, I'm not going to lie. Grocery stores of course have razor thin margins and are just sort of, I don't know, maybe not my favorite kind of investment. But as they say in Mexico, el que no ariesca, no Ghana. So Rick, my question to you is Mexican food.

[Travis Hoium]

What's your go to Mexico?

[Rick Munariz]

I'm a good fan. I'm a fan of chimichangas if you have to get down to actual Mexican food. But yeah, no pain, no gain, no risk.

[Travis Hoium]

As you mentioned before Dan, what is going to be added to your watch list? QXO or tbbb?

[Dan Boyd]

You know, as much as I like to make fun of boring companies, I do like boring companies, Travis, but I'm quite interested in tbbb. So I think I'm going to go south of the border with Rick Minares today and put TBBB on my radar.

[Travis Hoium]

Rick, have you shopped at a BBB store?

[Rick Munariz]

No, they are only in Mexico. I have not been in Mexico in about 1012 years. So I, I said no, I have not shopped in but I it's a deep discounter. I get it.

[Lou Whiteman]

Dan, the 12 year old boy inside of you is really upset that you think getting a new roof is boring, but going to the grocery store is exciting. Good point.

[Travis Hoium]

Blue for Lou Whiteman, Rick Minarez and our production magician behind the glass, Dan Boyd and the entire Motley fool team. I'm Travis Hoyam. Thanks for listening to Motley Fool Money. We'll see you here tomorrow. Sam.