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

Amazon.com, Inc. is an online retailer that offers a wide range of products. The Company's products include books, music, videotapes, computers, electronics, home and garden, and numerous other products.  Amazon offers personalized shopping services, Web-based credit card payment, and direct shipping to customers.

<ul><li>Except 1P, every segment of the business is growing at double digit rate. Both AWS and advertising grew at 19% YoY.</li><li>I’ll discuss more about AWS later, but let’s talk more about Amazon ex-AWS first.</li><li>North America and international sales grew +9% and +12% respectively.</li></ul>

Except 1P, every segment of the business is growing at double digit rate. Both AWS and advertising grew at 19% YoY.I’ll discuss more about AWS later, but let’s talk more about Amazon ex-AWS first.North America and international sales grew +9% and +12% respectively.

Meta Platforms (Facebook) / Equity Bottom-Up

Meta Platforms Inc. operates as a social technology company. The Company builds applications and technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. meta Platform is also involved in advertisements, augmented and virtual reality.

<ul><li>Daily Active People (DAP) across its Family of Apps (FOA) decelerated to 20 mn QoQ in 3Q’24.</li><li>Even though easy comp ended in 1Q’24 and 3Q’24 faced a fairly difficult comp, Meta posted quite strong YoY growth rates across regions in 3Q’24.</li><li>Meta’s Family of Apps (FOA) ads revenue growth is comfortably ahead of both Google Search and YouTube ads in each of the last 1-yr, 2-yr, and 3-yr timeframe.</li></ul>

Daily Active People (DAP) across its Family of Apps (FOA) decelerated to 20 mn QoQ in 3Q’24.Even though easy comp ended in 1Q’24 and 3Q’24 faced a fairly difficult comp, Meta posted quite strong YoY growth rates across regions in 3Q’24.Meta’s Family of Apps (FOA) ads revenue growth is comfortably ahead of both Google Search and YouTube ads in each of the last 1-yr, 2-yr, and 3-yr timeframe.

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.

<ul><li>Let’s start with not-so-good news. For the 9th consecutive quarters, Google Network revenue kept declining. Everything else is good news.</li><li>Despite all the disruption narrative, Search keeps humming along.</li><li>YouTube is doing okay. But the highlight from last quarter was Google Cloud.</li></ul>

Let’s start with not-so-good news. For the 9th consecutive quarters, Google Network revenue kept declining. Everything else is good news.Despite all the disruption narrative, Search keeps humming along.YouTube is doing okay. But the highlight from last quarter was Google Cloud.

AppFolio, Inc. provides cloud-based software solutions. The Company offers a cloud-based property management software that allows apartment and residential property managers to market, manage, and grow their business. AppFolio conducts business in the United States.

<ul><li>Today, I have started a ~3% position in AppFolio (APPF) at $214.2/share.</li><li>Back in February this year, I published my Deep Dive on AppFolio. Since then, the stock has underperformed both S&amp;P 500 and QQQ by more than 20%.</li><li>For the uninitiated, I would encourage you</li></ul>

Today, I have started a ~3% position in AppFolio (APPF) at $214.2/share.Back in February this year, I published my Deep Dive on AppFolio. Since then, the stock has underperformed both S&amp;P 500 and QQQ by more than 20%.For the uninitiated, I would encourage you

Universal Music Group NV / Equity Bottom-Up

Universal Music Group N.V. operates as an entertainment company. The Company produces and distributes music contents. Universal Music Group serves customers worldwide.

<ul><li>While music clearly leaves an indelible effect on most of our lives, it has not been easy for capitalism to capture the value created by music.</li><li>In 1999, global recorded music industry generated $22.2 Billion revenue; it took another two decades for the industry to surpass that number!</li><li>Even though revenue in nominal dollars finally exceeded the former peak revenue in 1999 by the end of 2021, on an inflation-adjusted per capita basis consumers today spend almost half of what they used to spend on recorded music in 1999.</li></ul>

While music clearly leaves an indelible effect on most of our lives, it has not been easy for capitalism to capture the value created by music.In 1999, global recorded music industry generated $22.2 Billion revenue; it took another two decades for the industry to surpass that number!Even though revenue in nominal dollars finally exceeded the former peak revenue in 1999 by the end of 2021, on an inflation-adjusted per capita basis consumers today spend almost half of what they used to spend on recorded music in 1999.

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.