Apple's Wearables = 1 Starbucks

iPhone is too good... You're not replacing/upgrading your pocket's best friend often enough, and that's a problem for Apple. But now it's found 2 saviors. 1 was expected, 1 is a surprise:

• Services (sales up 18% last quarter): You knew about this one — Apple's made $46B over the past year in sales of iCloud, Apple Music, etc. And (starting today) Apple TV+.
• Wearables, Home, and Accessories (up 54%): Apple's AirPod and Apple Watch division is living its best life — it's grown over 50% for two-straight quarters.

Apple's side hustles are entire companies... That Wearables division has the same sales as Starbucks. Services is bigger than Delta. And since 3/4 of Apple Watch sales are 1st-time Watch buyers, there's room to grow. But Apple's getting greedy — CEO Tim Cook thinks new $249 noise-cancelling AirPod Pros complement the regular ol' $159 Airpods. He thinks you should buy both.

Whip out the celebratory Boston Creme... Dunkin' shares rose 6% after its earnings report — the stock's tripled over the last 5 years as it dropped the "Donuts" from its name to focus on getting America to run on it. Investors are rewarding last quarter's commitment to the 4-part grand slam of chain restaurant profitability:

1. Premium items: The 1 specific beverage mentioned in the entire earnings report: "Cold Brew" — Dunkin's new higher-priced option doesn't get latté-style barista art, but does drive profits.
2. Breakfast: To make breakfast your daily habit, Dunkin' added menu items like the new Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich — it goes nationwide on 11/6.
3. Digital Loyalty guilt: 25% of transactions in some cities are now paid with the "DD Perks" app. Dunkin' increasingly tempts you to return for that Coolatta with points.
4. Delivery/Pick-Up: There's fast food peer pressure to deliver via 3rd party app. So even though your coffee routine is probably delivery guy-free, Dunkin has partnered up with GrubHub, just in case.

Tapped out... Too much investment pain. WWE stock dropped 16% Thursday after its 3rd quarter earnings revealed serious injuries to its pro wrestling business model:

• Sales rose just 1%, profits got erased by 2/3, and bodyslams doubled. That last part wasn't real (we were acting).

WWE runs a good, clean operation... with 3 business lines: Media/TV, live events, and consumer products (picture action figures and t-shirts). Its media division gets most of the love from investors, bringing in about 78% of total revenues. WWE does TV HBO-style — cable and streaming (plus pay-per-view):

• TV: Like HBO, you can watch WWE Smackdown on cable through its deal with Fox.
• Streaming: Like HBO Now (and soon "HBO Max"), WWE will happily collect your $9.99/month in return for streaming access to Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker. But subscriber numbers dipped 9% to 1.5M.

• Un-pinned: Pinterest stock plummets 20% after its loss doubled on spending to expand expand Pinterest boards internationally
• Stuffed: Kraft Heinz shares surged 13% even though its Velveeta-powered sales fell another 5% — investors hope it's hit a turnaround point
• Powdered: Estée Lauder enjoyed its 11th straight quarter of sales beating analysts' expectations as it pumps out more makeup at airports
• Early: Disney's streaming service, Disney+, arrives this month — and it's already got a million signed up pre-launch
• Snuffed: Marlboro-owner Altria writes-down its investment in Juul by $4.5B after the latest ecig health issues

• The big October Jobs Report
• Oily earnings from Exxon Mobil and Chevron

Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Beyond Meat

ID: 1000371