April 5, 2021 Sign Up

By Overheard on Wall Street

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." –Thomas Edison

Good morning! Hope y'all had a very Good Friday and Easter Sunday, after the S&P 500 hit the big 4K on Thursday and US jobs report absolutely smashed estimates on Friday.

We concluded the inaugural worst Work-Life Balance March Madness for banks last week on @overheardonwallstreet's Instagram (saved here). As expected, Moelis NYC stormed its way to the coveted "Worst Group on Wall Street" prize. Moelis NYC defeated Goldman TMT 58% to 42% in the championship game (tbh was much closer than we expected). The real winner here: Uncle Ken Moelis' deal flow...

1. Story of the Day: Pinterest's VSCO Girl Summer

Pinterest is in talks to acquire the anti-social network photo app VSCO (pronounced Vis-Co). VSCO is Instagram's hipster sibling, that doesn't do likes, comments or followers... oh and also doesn't do advertising. It makes money through its 2 million paying customers.

Pinterest has a market cap of about $49 billion, with 450 million users, while VSCO is valued at $550 million, with 100 million users. VSCO is a 10 year-old start-up but has remained a low key profile, shown by its rookie valuation to subscribers ratio. In 2019, Gen Z made "VSCO Girl" a personality and popularized many VSCO girl memes. Since then, the fad has faded and VSCO laid off 30% of its work force in the pandemic.

Short Squeez Takeaway: Pinterest stock is up 2.2x since its IPO in 2019 and had a blockbuster 2020 with 75% revenue growth, driven by bored teenagers with nothing better to do than digitally pinning their life away. With re-opening around the corner, VSCO could give Pinterest some much needed post-pandemic growth. We would also be surprised if Zuck and SNAPiegel don't get involved. (Instagram tried buying VSCO in 2013)

2. Markets Rundown

• S&P crossed 4,000 for the first time after President Biden announced his infrastructure plan and tech stocks rallied
  
• It took 5 years for the S&P 500 to rise from 2,000 to 3,000 but the last 1,000 point gain took only 21 months #stonksonlygoup

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Open Lending ($LPRO) +17% as its announced the pricing of an upsized secondary offering.
• (-) AMC ($AMC) -8% on plans to issue more stock.

3. Top Reads

• First-time buyers fuel Manhattan housing market revival (Fox)
• The Daily nap perk will soon vanish for millions of workers (TheStreet)
• As meme stock mania fizzles, Wall Street sees ‘Big Reckoning' (Bloomberg)
• Pandemic helps stir interest in teaching financial literacy (NYT)
• Where to invest $100,000 right now (Bloomberg)
• Cathie Wood Storms back as ARKK, Space fund lure $1 billion (Bloomberg)
• Ferrari overtaken by rivals to end years in market fast lane (Bloomberg)
• Tech companies that won the pandemic are snapping up MBAS (WSJ)
• Food delivery investors are overstuffed (WSJ)

4. Book of the Day: Living With a SEAL

Living With a SEAL is a very well written book by Jesse Itzler (husband of Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx). Jesse hires a navy seal, "SEAL," considered to be the "toughest man on the planet" to train him for a month. SEAL is a force of nature but more than a physical force, it's his mental attitude that sets him apart. 

As Jesse's relationship with SEAL evolves, so does his mind and body. He shows us that if you push your body to its limits, it can adapt. It's a story that encourages us to think outside the box and live our life to the fullest. “Don’t get too comfortable. Ever." We would recommend it to anyone that is looking for that little extra as we slide into the roaring 20s.

5. The Daily Visual

Source: @buffettscokecan Instagram

6. Tip of the Day: It's the Little Things

As the world is expected to go back to normal, so are in-person interviews. There are little things you can do to make sure you make a good first impression on your interviewer: 1) Have a resume folder, 2) Print your resume on quality paper, 3) Carry a pen and take notes when your interviewer talks, 4) Have a smile on your face (not all the time, that's creepy af). A lot of interview decisions are made in the first few minutes of an interview, and your actions during this time can be a make or break for you.

7. Memes of the Day

@mba_ish Instagram

@overheardonwallstreet Instagram

@successandthecity.ny Instagram