23. Now it’s not even five times as much, it’s twenty times as much.
I spent the weekend just relaxing.
I told John, Jennifer, and Roy to have a good weekend, and I was surprised when Jennifer showed up at lunch the next day.
I mean, I knew Americans took their weekends like they were their lifeblood, but did I ever have an employee so loyal to the company?
I greeted Jennifer with a big smile, feeling strangely touched.
“No, Jennifer, why did you come into the office on Saturday? You must have had a long week, why not get a good night’s rest?”
“Uh-oh, boss, I came out to rest.”
“Uh, what? You came in to take a break?”
What are you talking about?
“Awww, what better place to rest than here? A nice pool, a killer view of the Pacific Ocean, and free food and fine champagne? Ho-ho-ho!”
“…”
“Never mind me, get to work.”
“Huh? Well, yeah—.”
As expected, the American took the holiday like a knife.
But it was still nice.
Seeing a beautiful woman like Jennifer in a bikini, swimming, and lying on a sunbed was the epitome of Westernization.
Besides, George and his bodyguards were dying for it, so why not take care of his employees?
“Jennifer!”
“Yeah, boss, what’s up?”
“Don’t you have any friends in L.A.?”
“Why wouldn’t I? I’m from L.A.?”
Ah! That’s right.
From nob le mt l. co m
Jennifer went to the University of Southern California’s (USC) Marshall School of Business, right?
And New York is where she graduated?
“So, should we invite some of Jennifer’s friends over for a party?”
“Really, can we do that?”
“Yeah, why not? Why not?”
“Ho-ho-ho! Okay, I’ll call them right away.”
And two hours later.
“Woo, woo, woo, woo!”
“Oh my God!”
From nob le mt l. co m
Jennifer’s friends were awesome.
Is this what you mean by hanging out?
Turns out, Jennifer used to model part-time while she was in school, and these are her friends and sisters.
“hahahaha!”
“Ho-ho-ho-ho!”
“hahahahaha!”
Before I knew it, our pool was a bikini swimsuit extravaganza, and we partied until the wee hours of the night.
“Alex!”
“Yeah, George.”
“You’re such a good guy!”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
What kind of friend or boss would offer such perks?
What a fun Saturday evening.
From nob le mt l. co m
John got tired of the party, so he left for a while and went back inside.
Monday came and went, and John walked into my office with a stack of files.
“Hey, boss.”
“Uh, John.”
“Now that that’s out of the way, we’re back on the road, right?”
“hahahaha, of course!”
“I’ve got it stabilized this time, let’s see.”
“Okay, let’s see.”
From nob le mt l. co m
John set the file down in front of me and began to explain.
“The first one is United Health Group Inc.”
“United Health Group? What does it do? I thought it was a health-related company with health in it?”
“It’s a healthcare services group that deals in healthcare products and health insurance. It’s one of the hottest stocks of the 2010s.”
“Really?”
I asked, but for some reason I wasn’t impressed.
“Yes, it’s already gone up a lot, but I think it has plenty of growth left, especially with the growth of its subsidiary, Optum. It’s a healthcare information and services provider that was founded in 2011, and Optum alone is on track to reach more than $100 billion in revenue within three years, and it’s emerging as the main cash cow for United Health Group.”
“Hmmm—.”
“The current stock price is $119.27, the closing price last Friday, October 9, but I’m confident it will go to $500 within the next five years.”
Nearly quintupling in five years is a lot of money, but for some reason I wasn’t sold.
Of course, I’d have to wait and see.
“What’s next?”
“Netflix.”
“Netflix? Where have I heard of them before?”
“It’s a multimedia entertainment OTT company.”
“What’s OTT?”
The Americans love to make up neologisms from English acronyms, and they seem to be very good at it.
“OTT (Over The Top) refers to a service that allows you to watch media content, such as broadcast programs, anytime and anywhere over the Internet. In other words, rather than broadcasting content unilaterally over the airwaves or cable, as is currently the case, we serve the content that consumers want directly to them, by streaming it over the Internet.”
“Aha! What am I supposed to say, this is a service that is already overflowing in Korea?”
“hahahahaha! Korea is an internet powerhouse. Anyway, it’s up a lot now. It went from around $5 a share in 2009 to $113.33 at the close last Friday.”
“Gasoline! What’s that? It’s over 20x, and it’s already up that much?”
“I guarantee you, it’s going to go up at least 5x within a few years, because that’s where the market is already headed.”
“Hmmm, okay.”
What do you mean, more than 5x?
“Next.”
“You may recognize this company, it’s Boeing.”
“Boeing? They make airplanes?”
“Yeah, they make civilian airplanes and fighter jets, and I don’t know if you know this, but they bought McDonald Douglas a long time ago and—.”
“Oh, you can stop explaining. I’m being a dick.”
“What’s a milquetoast?”
“Hmph! It’s the Korean word for military mania.”
“Aha! I see.”
“Well, that’s the fighter jet side of things. It ended a long time ago when I lost the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) business to Lockheed Martin’s F-35. The F-15E Strike Eagle is over, and the F-18E/F Super Hornet is over when the Navy pulls the plug.”
“Is that so?”
“There’s really not much left for Boeing in defense. The C-17 Globemaster transport is also retired, and all that’s left are the CH-47F Chinook and AH-64E Apache in helicopters, and it’s not going to be easy.”
“hahahaha, you’re right, but aren’t civil aircraft cruising? Airbus’ A380 is looking like a near-failure, but Boeing’s got the 777 sweeping the airlines, the 737NG still dominating the market, and the new 737MAX coming soon, so Boeing is a solid investment.”
“Well?”
Wow, there are some things in life where pushing is good for investing.
“Why is that?”
“Well, this is something that’s been trickling out of the circles lately, and it’s that Boeing isn’t what it used to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, like John was saying earlier, they merged with McDonald Douglas, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, when they merged, they also merged McDonald’s bad habits. Well, it gets complicated, so to make a long story short, the number-crunchers at MD took over Boeing, and in the process, they got rid of a lot of Boeing’s skilled engineers in the name of cost-cutting. Cost-cutting? That’s a nice word, and at least it’s not an option for a company that makes flying things. MD has a history of doing that, and they’ve even killed the DC-10 airliner, right?”
“That, is it?”
There’s something refreshing about this.
I always felt like a grade school kid in front of a professor with John.
“Whatever, no Boeing. They’re already talking about quality control crap, and they’re going to have a big accident, and you know what a big accident means for an aircraft manufacturer.”
“Whew, I’ll take Boeing off the list.”
“Okay. It’s not a stock you can eat a lot of anyway, right?”
“Yeah, right.”
From nob le mt l. co m
John gave up on Boeing this time, too.
I didn’t like this one either, no matter what the beads said.
“Next up is Activision Blizzard, Inc.”
“Starcraft?”
“hahahahaha, right out of the gate.”
“Well, it’s a popular game in Korea.”
“Yeah, and Activision Blizzard is currently at $32 a share, which is up a lot from the low teens a few years ago, but I think it still has upside.”
“Okay, I’ll look into that. What’s next?”
“Mastercard. Another 2010s bubble stock, but at least five times—.”
Heh! What’s wrong with five times, man?
“And, what’s next?”
“Tesla Motors.”
“Tesla?”
“The electric car made by that nerd Elon Musk—.”
“Oh, Tesla? Isn’t that a little dangerous these days? I think I saw something about that in the news once?”
“Absolutely not, as I was once a Wall Street legend—.”
“Can we leave out the Wall Street legend part?”
I’m getting a little tired of this.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Anyway, I assure you, Tesla will be our future.”
“Ho-ho, is that it?”
“Yeah, Elon Musk might be a little crazy, but he’s got a real eye for the future. Couple that with his brash drive, and this thing is bound to succeed.”
“How has it been performing lately?”
“Earnings are, frankly, very poor. We sold about 30,000 units last year, 2014, and we’re expecting 50,000 units this year. Our net loss was $290 million in 2014, and we’re expecting $900 million this year.”
What the hell, are you crazy?
You want me to invest in a company like this?
I squinted and opened my mouth to speak.
“John.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Are you sure you don’t have something else in mind?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Are you saying you’re getting back at me for doing something crazy with AMD?”
“Oh no, no, no, don’t get me wrong. This is real, real! Tesla is leading the electric car market, and they’re unbeatable with Autopilot, and those two things will eventually rule the world.”
“Hmm, really?”
“Yes, believe me, boss!”
“I see.”
From nob le mt l. co m
Judgment shall come to the beads anyway.
“What’s the stock price right now?”
“Uh, $44.14 as of last Friday’s close, but I think this is going to be over $1,000 someday. Definitely!”
What?
It’s not even five times that now, what’s a multiple of 20?
“Okay.”
“Tesla, please, seriously consider it.”
“Eh, okay? What’s next?”
“Well, it’s a company called Equinix, Inc, which you probably don’t know about.”
“Yeah, I’ve never heard of them?”
“Well, in a nutshell, it’s a company that specializes in data centers.”
“Ah! I see what you mean.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty high right now at $269, but I don’t think it’s too bad.”
“Okay, okay.”
“Next up is Qualcomm, which is Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and to be honest, this one is a little bit ambiguous.”
“Ambiguous?”
“Yeah, the company is stable, but I think there’s a little bit of upside. It’s at $57 right now, and it’s definitely going to go up, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you put a point on stability, because I think it’s going to triple at best, and that’s going to take some time.”
Then no.
“Next up is NVIDIA Corporation, which I’ve mentioned before.”
“Ah! NVIDIA! I know a little bit about NVIDIA, hahahahaha!”
It’s nice to see a company I recognize.
This is a company I’m secretly looking forward to seeing.