Monday Nov.16, 2020

🥙 DoorDash delivers an IPO filing

_When you "Accio" the order to the wrong address_
_When you "Accio" the order to the wrong address_

Hey Snackers,

Forget primitive AirPods (we say, while trapped in a tangle of headphone wires)— the future of minimalist audio could be NoPods. This “sound beaming" device puts music in your head...without headphones.

The S&P 500 stock index hit a fresh high Friday thanks to vaccine optimism. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell as pandemic-winning tech stocks dropped.

On the pod: Disney has been unprofitable in 2020, but investors are eyeing the magical 74M Disney+ subscribers that it racked up in barely a year.

Nom

DoorDash drops juicy details pre-IPO and reveals its biggest ambition

Drooling all over the S-1... DoorDash released its IPO paperwork on Friday, and didn't hold back with the high-res food pics (so many poke bowls). Companies that are going public have to file a prospectus with the SEC so investors can get informed. Here's what DoorDash delivered:

  • #1 food deliverer in the US: DoorDash has an enviable 50% share of the market. Uber Eats has 26%, Grubhub has 16%, and Postmates (which Uber's buying) has 7%.
  • Sales more than tripled to $1.9B from January to September compared to the same period in 2019. 18M customers, 1M Dashers, and 390K merchants now use DoorDash's platform.
  • It's still not profitable. Buuuut: DoorDash significantly cut its net loss from $533M in the 2019 period to $149M in 2020.

Pad thai, Netflix, repeat... DoorDash's growth was driven by the pandemic/lockdowns, which also boosted Grubhub and Uber — their stocks are up over 50% this year. But it warned investors growth may not continue at the same appetizing pace. To continue growing, DoorDash needs to expand beyond the saturated, hyper-competitive food delivery market.

DoorDash is going full "Delivery Everything"... It bragged that if it can deliver unmelted ice cream, it can deliver anything — and that's exactly what it's trying to do. In addition to restaurant and grocery delivery, DoorDash partnered with CVS for pharmacy delivery and Macy's for clothing delivery. Mom-and-pop shops could be next. An all-in-one platform could keep "promiscuous" customers loyal and reduce the need for endless promos. That's why DoorDash mentioned "food" 169 times in its S-1 and "logistics" 200 times (#priorities).

Highs

Who's up...

Big vax energy... BioNTech stock soared 15% for the week after the German biotech announced the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with Pfizer was more than 90% effective in final-stage trials. Dr. Fauci said a vaccine could be approved at 50% to 60% effectiveness, so 90% is huge — but results are preliminary. BioNTech also got a boost from its earnings: quarterly sales from customer contracts more than doubled from last year.

Slap a sticker on... for "cool factor." VF Corp is the uninspiringly-named company behind Vans, North Face, and Timberland — now VF is snatching up Supreme for $2.1B. The iconic streetwear brand is best known for its red logo (it's everywhere). VF shares soared last week, making the biggest 1-day jump in over 30 years. Investors hope Supreme's digital savvy will rub off on VF — but some worry Supreme could lose its hype factor as a part of VF.

Lows

...and who's down

Muted and booted... Zoom shares dropped 19% last week on the Pfizer vaccine breakthrough. Good news for "Reopening Stocks" like airlines could mean bad news for pandemic winners like Peloton, whose stock plunged 20%. An effective vax would help bring back face-to-face, decreasing our (desperate) reliance on the Zoom life. Also potentially concerning for Zoom: its competitor Hopin grew from 5K users to 3.5M users this year, and just raised $125M.

Not McLovin' it.. Beyond Meat stock plunged 20% for the week as investors chewed on two protein-packed patties of puzzling news. First: Beyond served up a surprising quarterly loss and disappointingly low sales. Second: McDonald's unveiled its own plant-based burger — "the McPlant" (niiiice). Beyond said it co-created the McPlant patty, but McDonald's made zero mention of that in its announcement. Awk.

What else we’re Snackin’

  • Work: 5 strategies for reinventing your career in uncertain times. Be brutal about what you need to leave behind.
  • Sweat: The difference between jogging and running — don't ask your marathon friend if they want to go for a jog.
  • Act: 10 common things that make people immediately less likeable (humble brag < full-on brag).
  • Focus: To avoid being constantly distracted, we have to face our fear of psychological discomfort (deep).
  • Enjoy: The Japanese 80% rule that could help you live a longer life (everything in moderation... including moderation?).
  • Cook: 9 easy Thanksgiving side dishes from Michelin-starred chefs, because we need all the help we can get.

🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to start getting Snacks daily? Sign up here for our daily market newsletter.

This Week

Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Uber, Google, and Disney

ID: 1413586

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