The Wealth Effect Paradox: Why Rich Consumers Are Spending Big While Markets Wobble

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
This is Invest Talk from KPP Financial, helping investors make sense of the markets one day at a time. Here's your host, Luke Guerrero.

**Luke Guerrero** (0:16)
Hey there, everybody, and welcome to the Friday, June 12th, 2026 edition of Invest Talk. I'm your host, Luke Guerrero, and I'll be with you over this next hour as we dissect the market and talk about the stories that affect your portfolios and your investment lives. Now, before we go forward with our regularly scheduled programming, I do want to mention at the top of this show that we do have an upcoming Invest Talk Wealth Webinar. It is set for June 30th from 12 to 1 p.m. Pacific time. The title is Beyond the Yield, How to Invest for Your Income Needs.
If you're interested, head over to investstock.com and register.
The webinar, as always, is free for everybody. All right, now just a bit, we'll talk about today's market performance and run down our show topics. But let's kick things off by answering a caller question now.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:11)
Hi Justin and Luke. I'm calling today about, take your OMAB, O-M-A-B, it's a airport in Mexico. I know you guys are bullish on Mexico.
And I was just wondering if you could take a look at the stock, if you think it is worth getting in, and what you feel about just the airport sector, I guess we call it that. Thank you very much. Have a great day.

**Luke Guerrero** (1:31)
Ticker OMAB, as I pull things up, is actually a name that we looked at recently. It's a name that we actually get a decent amount of calls on. It is a Mexican airport company, but they trade on both the NASDAQ in dollars and the BMV Mexico.
Now, this company is a Mexico City-based airport operator. They manage 13 airports across North America and Central Mexico, including Monterrey, the largest and most important Mazatlan, Chihuahua, and San Luis Potosí. Not even going to say that one. They also operate cargo hotels and VIP lounges. Now, Mexico is a market that we do like. And this airport has been benefiting from increased growth as well. Passenger traffic was up 4.7% year over year. Domestic traffic up 5.7% international was pretty much flat. And they start revenue up 4.1% year over year. But at the same time, they're still seeing cost pressures from contracted services. And so net income in pesos was actually down. Over the past six months, this name is kind of ranging a little bit year to date. It is down 6.44% over the past 52 weeks. It is down 3.36%.
But the margins are pretty solid. I mean, EBITDA Margin sitting at 73.4%. They have really low leverage. They pay a solid dividend. Looks like their dividend is sitting at 4.9% right now.
And the tariff related increases, I mean, they've kind of already hit the bottom line of this business. They're factored in already. One thing that worries me is something that I mentioned at the top, which is international traffic. Net income fell 4.1% on 20% cost inflation. You have peso depreciation. It kind of creates this structural USD return headwind for US investors. Because if you're investing in a company that trades in pesos, even if it's on the US exchange, the company itself's revenue is derived from pesos. And so the price is going to adjust in dollar terms based upon the strength or weakness of the currency. And that's been a real headwind here. So this is probably the purest near-shoring infrastructure play in the Mexican space with great margins. But I think given the likelihood that US dollar strengthens, should there be some sort of resolution to the Iran conflict, means at least in the short to medium term, on top of how the Mexican peso has performed, for a US investor, I don't know if I'd enter this right now.
That is OMAB, thanks to the call. Now we had a great show yesterday. We looked into the story about Florida's home insurance reform, and how it's working, and how it could reshape the entire market. We also answered a listener question on SCHD, which is the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF. It was submitted by a listener on AM 1220 in the Bay Area. If you happen to missed yesterday's show, I encourage you to go check it out. And remember, the best way to never miss an episode of Invest Talk is to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Now, on to today, where our main story is about the Wealth Effect Paradox and why rich consumers are spending big while markets wobble. Even as geopolitical tensions roll financial markets, wealthy consumers are defying the gloom. Private jet demand is surging at events like Monaco and Cannes, and Broadway just recorded a record $1.9 billion season. This divergence between financial anxiety and high-end consumer spending raises important questions about where the real economy stands.