Lots More on What Earnings Are Telling Us About Prices Now

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

Samuel Rines (0:10)

I will say Buc-Ease is maybe the most confusingly amazing place on the planet.

Joe Weisenthal (0:17)

Right.

Samuel Rines (0:17)

It is a mind-boggling experience.

Joe Weisenthal (0:21)

Sam is telling us a story about Buc-Ease.

Tracy Alloway (0:23)

I heard, wait, why was it, hey Sam, why was it insane? I gotta know.

Wait, are we recording?

Joe Weisenthal (0:30)

We're recording, right?

Tracy Alloway (0:30)

Oh wait, you guys started without me. Well, you said we weren't starting. Okay, so this is off the record.

Joe Weisenthal (0:38)

I did a deadlift. One, two, three.

Tracy Alloway (0:41)

Hegemony.

Joe Weisenthal (0:42)

One, two, three.

Tracy Alloway (0:43)

Hegemony. Barges.

Joe Weisenthal (0:45)

This is an after-school special, except.

Tracy Alloway (0:47)

I've decided I'm gonna base my entire personality going forward on campaigning for a strategic pork reserve in the US.

Joe Weisenthal (0:53)

Where's the best squid in pasta?

Tracy Alloway (0:55)

These are the important questions. Are there robots taking over the world?

Joe Weisenthal (0:58)

No, I think that like in a couple of years, the AI will do a really good job of making the Odd Lots podcast, and people will think, I don't really need to listen to Joe and Tracy anymore. We do have.

Tracy Alloway (1:10)

Cha-ching.

Joe Weisenthal (1:13)

Welcome to Lots More, where we catch up with friends about what's going on right now.

Tracy Alloway (1:18)

Because even when Odd Lots is over, there's always lots more.

Joe Weisenthal (1:22)

And we really do have the perfect guest.

Tracy Alloway (1:28)

Oh, Joe, did you see Pepsi results from last week?

Joe Weisenthal (1:31)

You know what? Okay, I'm gonna admit something. I haven't been paying that close attention to earnings this season.

SPEAKER_1 (1:35)

Just generally.

Tracy Alloway (1:36)

I actually had that feeling that you weren't, but why is that?

Joe Weisenthal (1:42)

I don't know. I think I've been paying attention. I don't know, looking. I have no justification. Maybe I was thinking too much about the Fed and trying to read monetary policy stuff. And you're right.

I have no defense.

Tracy Alloway (1:56)

You know, my-

Joe Weisenthal (1:57)

Wait, how did you know I had a, how did you have this feeling that I've been slacking at the job?

Tracy Alloway (2:02)

Because, I was about to say something sarcastic. No, because I can tell. I think, you know, it's funny. After we've done the Odd Lots podcast for, I mean, it's actually coming up for 10 years in 2025 It is actually disturbing that we tend to think of the same questions.

We tend to be on the same page. We tend to not actually have to, like, tell each other that many things. Like, we can just say one sentence and we both immediately know, like, what we want to do.

But yes, I could tell you weren't paying attention to earnings. I kind of feel like earnings are, I've said this before, but I swear to God, they come up more often than four times a year.

Joe Weisenthal (2:43)

We're recording this, by the way, on February 14th, 2024, 4:06 p.m. And I'm looking at a TV right behind you, Tracy, and there is a headline, Cisco to cut 5% of its global workforce.

Tracy Alloway (2:55)

Yeah, so this is a big theme of earnings right now, which is layoffs.

Joe Weisenthal (2:59)

This I was aware of.

Tracy Alloway (3:00)

Yes, in part because they're also hitting our own industry media. But predominantly, they've been in tech so far. And it kind of raises the question about what levers companies actually have to pull to boost earnings and profit margins right now.

Do you remember we spoke to Samuel Rines last year? So Sam nailed the earnings trade last year, and he kind of has like a new thesis now. Sam, it's good to talk to you on Lots More.

Samuel Rines (3:28)

Oh, it's fantastic to be here. And at least Joe didn't make up an excuse to not be paying attention.

Joe Weisenthal (3:34)

I just admitted it. I just admitted it.

Tracy Alloway (3:36)

Joe is very good at taking ownership for his faults. Is that the right word?

Joe Weisenthal (3:40)

Faults is fine.

Tracy Alloway (3:41)

Yeah, faults.

Samuel Rines (3:42)

I mean, I was just riffing off excuseflation.

Joe Weisenthal (3:45)

Oh yeah.

Tracy Alloway (3:46)

Oh, thank you.

Joe Weisenthal (3:46)

I got it. I picked that up. I picked that up.

Tracy Alloway (3:48)

Thank you. So this is one reason I wanted to talk to you, Sam. So last year, we had this episode where we talked about how companies were basically pushing price.