Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives, MBI Deep Dives

MBI Deep Dives

Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives

MBI is the abbreviation for “Mostly Borrowed Ideas”. Why “Mostly Borrowed Ideas?” As a generalist, I do not have a background in any particular sector. I enjoy navigating across industries, businesses, and countries to learn, understand, and connect the dots. In any case, most ideas and innovations are incremental in nature. Very few of us are smart enough to come up with truly original or groundbreaking ideas. I am Abdullah Al-Rezwan. I was born and brought up in Bangladesh. I went to University of Dhaka for my undergrad and majored in Finance. After working three and half years in Equity Research (Sell-side) covering Financial Sector in Bangladesh, I left Bangladesh to pursue my MBA in the US. I graduated within top 10% of the class from Cornell University's two-year MBA program and worked on the buy-side following my graduation. During my time at Cornell, I won two stock pitch competitions and also became finalists in four other competitions. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a generalist in the US large cap team at Madison Investments and covered a wide range of companies from UnitedHealth to Amazon and Boeing before US immigration reality paused my career in investment management. As my work authorization expired, I moved to Canada in January, 2021. Then in early 2022, I was able to return to the US.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Despite following Big Tech closely for the last 5 years, this sentence from today's call still somewhat surprised me!</li><li>The scale and the height of success of Google truly boggles my mind.</li><li>Over the last year or so, Google has had its fair share of skeptics, including yours truly. </li></ul>

Despite following Big Tech closely for the last 5 years, this sentence from today's call still somewhat surprised me!The scale and the height of success of Google truly boggles my mind.Over the last year or so, Google has had its fair share of skeptics, including yours truly. 

<ul>
<li>While I have sold my shares in Alphabet last month, I remain a very curious observer.</li>
<li>Here’s my highlights from today’s earnings.  While almost every single revenue segment grew by double digits, Google Network was down ~2% YoY and ~10% from 4Q’21.</li>
<li>The Network business may not be terribly important given it’s a relatively lower margin segment compared to Search, but it may be indicative of the general direction of where the open web is heading.</li>
</ul>


While I have sold my shares in Alphabet last month, I remain a very curious observer.
Here’s my highlights from today’s earnings.  While almost every single revenue segment grew by double digits, Google Network was down ~2% YoY and ~10% from 4Q’21.
The Network business may not be terribly important given it’s a relatively lower margin segment compared to Search, but it may be indicative of the general direction of where the open web is heading.


Meta Platforms (Facebook) / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>During the weekend, I asked my twitter followers: What do you think Facebook's DAU to MAU ratio was in 2009?</li><li>The number that got the highest votes was ~80% even though I mentioned the most recent number was ~68%.</li><li>I asked this question a couple of friends in real life too and they too picked the ~80% number.</li></ul>

During the weekend, I asked my twitter followers: What do you think Facebook's DAU to MAU ratio was in 2009?The number that got the highest votes was ~80% even though I mentioned the most recent number was ~68%.I asked this question a couple of friends in real life too and they too picked the ~80% number.

<ul><li>Now that Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon all reported their quarters, we now have better context to how their quarters went.</li><li>So, while I will mostly discuss Amazon's earnings in this update, I will briefly touch on some broader themes as well.</li><li>Overall revenue was slightly below the high end of Amazon's guidance.</li></ul>

Now that Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon all reported their quarters, we now have better context to how their quarters went.So, while I will mostly discuss Amazon's earnings in this update, I will briefly touch on some broader themes as well.Overall revenue was slightly below the high end of Amazon's guidance.

Independent Research, US Dominant Players, Investment Talk

Investment Talk

Independent Research, US Dominant Players

Investment Talk is for readers who wish to learn about companies that are potentially outside of their own circle of research, as well as those who are longing to become part of a community of like-minded investors and learn more about investment research. I would describe myself as a long-term investor who typically takes a 3Y to 5Y outlook, before reassessing once that period matures. I follow the adage that one should research, reach a conclusion, and then verify and continue to hold so long as the thesis remains intact. My own investing style is one that seeks to find dominant players within their respective market who have shown signs of monopoly or oligopolistic behaviour, unlikely to be disrupted, in tandem with discovering market disruptors who have a high likelihood of disrupting their respective market. Equally (and weighted accordingly) I seek to discover more nuanced, misunderstood, situations with a shorter time frame.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>I was today-years-old when I learned that Europe has its own version of the Magnificent 7; the basket of giga-cap US tech companies comprised of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.</li><li>The GRANOLAS Dubbed the “Granolas” by Goldman Sachs in 2020, this basket was chosen because it echoed themes present amongst the Mag 7 (back then it was just “FAAMG”) .</li><li><p>Namely, they were market leaders in the STOXX 600 Europe Index, they had grown to become an increasingly larger share of the market, and their earnings had far outpaced the broader index.</p><div></div></li></ul>

I was today-years-old when I learned that Europe has its own version of the Magnificent 7; the basket of giga-cap US tech companies comprised of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.The GRANOLAS Dubbed the “Granolas” by Goldman Sachs in 2020, this basket was chosen because it echoed themes present amongst the Mag 7 (back then it was just “FAAMG”) .Namely, they were market leaders in the STOXX 600 Europe Index, they had grown to become an increasingly larger share of the market, and their earnings had far outpaced the broader index.

United States

Alphabet, Inc. operates as a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides web-based search, advertisements, maps, software applications, mobile operating systems, consumer content, enterprise solutions, commerce, and hardware products.

Alphabet (GOOG US)

Alphabet 1Q'24 Update

Despite following Big Tech closely for the last 5 years, this sentence from today's call still somewhat surprised me! The scale and the height of...

MBI Deep Dives

Alphabet 4Q'23 Update

Here’s my highlights from today’s earnings. While almost every single revenue segment grew by double digits, Google Network was down ~2% YoY and...

MBI Deep Dives

Meta's Moat

During the weekend, I asked my twitter followers: What do you think Facebook's DAU to MAU ratio was in 2009? The number that got the highest votes...

MBI Deep Dives

Amazon 1Q'24 Update

Now that Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon all reported their quarters, we now have better context to how their quarters went.

MBI Deep Dives

Europe's Magnificent Eleven

The GRANOLAS Dubbed the “Granolas” by Goldman Sachs in 2020, this basket was chosen because it echoed themes present amongst the Mag 7 (back then...

Investment Talk