A Glimpse At The Future + A New Strategy For The Present We’ve spent A LOT of time talking about batteries lately…but that’s because we’re on the verge of a breakthrough that will change the energy sector forever. But while we wait for that technological breakthrough to arrive, there are still plenty of other ways to profit in the present day.
Several major corporations have just announced massive stock buybacks, drawing in new batches of investors…but are those investors about to walk right into a carefully-laid trap?
And for all the non-traditionalist independent investors out there, Robinhood has a new strategy to help you add additional hours to your daily profit window. Now you can take from the rich and give to the poor even after business hours have ended!
Ahhhhh, batteries…
You know, for something that has been around for CENTURIES, you’d think that people would get tired of talking about them…and yet here we are.
There’s something…captivating…about portable power.
As a kid, I used to love the old Robert Conrad commercials where he dared you to knock the copper-topped battery off his shoulder… 
[https://youtu.be/0dD-Oekbmlo] However, while I enjoyed the commercials, I didn’t really care about batteries themselves unless I needed one for my Walkman or hand-held digital baseball game.
Things have changed…
Now, as an adult in the financial world, I pay a lot more attention to batteries than I ever thought I would. I’ve even been looking into their history!
While the first battery was invented in the 1700s, the most popular form of the innovation has only been around since the early 20th Century - and stayed consistent for most of the 1900s.
However, even though batteries were always relatively efficient, science has been trying to improve upon them since they first hit the market.
In my lifetime, we’ve seen the advent of rechargeable batteries using lithium-ion as fuel–and the ability to recharge is what truly changed the game. Game-Changing Innovations Not having to throw away potentially toxic batteries while also saving money is a win/win for everybody, and the world started to see the potential of clean solutions to portable power.
However, it wasn’t until Elon Musk popularized the electric car that people really understood how portable power banks could change the way we look at transportation and energy.
The Tesla motor car changed everything.
Even though this technology existed beforehand, it took the popularity of this particular brand to really turn the world onto something OTHER than gas-powered vehicles.
But…there are a few problems.
First, rechargeable batteries have a shelf life.
There are only so many recharges that the current batteries can take before they stop holding a charge. EV owners are forced to watch as their vehicle’s mileage lowers over time.
“But Shawn, can’t they just get a new one?”
Sure, they can get a new battery–but depending on the model, that could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 dollars.
Another problem is that these batteries are powered by lithium–and there isn’t a LOT of lithium to go around…especially since China used its massive resources to secure a major portion of the world’s supply for itself. It’s also rumored that part of the reason Putin invaded Ukraine was to lay claim to their lithium-rich lands.
And while we could sit here and nitpick the problems with batteries all day, the biggest of these right now is the size.
Most EV lithium batteries are built from thousands of lithium-ion cells, and, depending on the model of the car, they can weigh up to 1,000 pounds.
That’s a big battery…which is why science has been trying to figure out a way to shrink it, find a new fuel source, and give batteries an overall longer shelf life.
Enter the solid-state battery. Changing The Game… AGAIN! Solid-state batteries use solid electrodes and electrolytes as fuel instead of the liquid or polymer gel that is found in today’s lithium-ion batteries–and this innovation could be the answer to all three of the problems I just mentioned.
Solid-state batteries (which haven’t come to market yet, as they’re still being perfected) allow batteries to be smaller with a longer shelf life, and they’re built using substances that aren’t locked down by communism or war.
Oh…and one of the companies at the forefront is right here in the US.
Solid Power (SLDP) is working on one of these batteries and is very close to being the first to go to market.
So close, in fact, that Ford and BMW have both partnered with the tiny company in an effort to be the first in line when they’re ready.
Not only that, but the company has already earmarked $62 million to increase production capacity and get ahead of inflation and supply chain issues in 2022–and that re-investment into the company could soon pay off.
But they’re not the only people on the cutting edge of battery innovation.
Money & Markets Chief Investment Strategist Adam O’Dell recently revealed his presentation on a company that could also change the EV industry with their “Infinite Energy” technology.
You can watch that presentation HERE.
Regardless, just know that you can always tell where the future of an industry is by following the money.
In the auto industry, it’s crystal clear that the future is electric cars–and they can’t run without batteries.
 | Only 2% of cars sold in the U.S. today are electric vehicles… but that’s about to change — FAST. A new battery breakthrough is ready to hit the market. It could revolutionize the $2 trillion automotive industry … and could soon make gas guzzlers obsolete. This technology is predicted to cause a 1,500% surge in electric vehicle sales over the next four years. The company pioneering this new battery could be the investment of a lifetime. Click here for details. |
Have you ever gone hunting?
I’m a little ashamed to admit that I have not.
Chalk it up to the delicate sensibilities that my grandmother instilled in me during my childhood. See, she grew up through the Depression on a farm in the middle of rural Western New York, and her only friends were the animals on the farm. During the more difficult times, she and her family wound up having to eat many of those animals to survive.
Can you imagine having to eat your pets?
Yeah…so you can see how that would leave an impression. For that reason, Grandma doesn’t eat very much meat, and she instilled that love of animals in me during my upbringing.
I was never a vegan or anything, but to this day, I rarely kill a living thing if I don’t have to–and that includes bugs!
However, I’m more open to hunting these days after hearing Joe Rogan point out that most animals in the wild either get sick, starve to death, or get ripped apart by predators, so being shot by a hunter is likely the easiest death these creatures can get. 
While I’m not a hunter, I do understand a few things about the practice, including the basic premise that you need to lure your target in with some kind of bait.
For animals, regardless of species, food and sex seem to be the best lures.
Mating calls, pheromone scents, and tempting piles of food have been drawing in animals for the kill for as long as humans have been hunting. It’s A Trap…Kind Of! 
But now let’s apply the principles of hunting to the business world.
In the last few months, a record number of US companies have announced stock buybacks, luring in retail investors like bucks hearing a hunter’s call.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, so let me clarify: I’m not saying that stock buybacks are traps. I am, however, saying that buybacks are often used to make a company’s stock more attractive.
Right now, many US companies need to bring in more investors in the face of problems that they didn’t have to worry about just a few years ago.
Inflation, supply chain issues, and now the war in Ukraine are starting to take their toll on profits.
US companies are having to resort to a time-honored tradition that’s proven to keep investors interested: buying back their own stock in order to limit the supply and push up the price of shares left in the float.
And 2022 looks to be the year of buybacks.
Goldman Sachs has revealed that US companies have approved a record $319 billion worth of stock buybacks this year, blowing right by the $267 billion of 2021. Best Time EVER For Stock Buybacks The best part? They’re choosing the absolute best time to do this!
Shares are down across the board, with the average stock’s price in the US Russell 3000 index down over 30% this year, meaning companies that choose to buy back shares are getting a HUGE discount.
That may be the biggest factor for why a record number of buybacks will be happening in 2022. It’s just too good of an opportunity to pass up!
Companies across multiple sectors have announced their plans.
Exxon Mobil (XOM), Dupont (DD), Western Union (WU), and Twitter (TWTR) are just a few of the bigger companies that are going to drive their share prices up through buybacks.
So, what that tells us is that if we want to make a quick little profit, we might want to buy into them before the buyback happens and then sell shortly thereafter for a nice return.
Look, if they’re willing to give us a timeframe of when this is going to happen, we’d be remiss to let it pass without any action.
Is it a winning lottery ticket?
No…
But neither is it a losing one. It’s like hoping to win $10K on a scratch-off but getting $25 instead. Are you thrilled? No… but you’re also happy you didn’t lose money–and this is an all-but-guaranteed slam dunk.
I’d rather be the animal that raids the trap of the food than the one that gets caught.
Darwinism at work!
According to a rogue economist, this one chart proves the stock market is on the cusp of crashing by 70%, maybe more. (There’s a $15 trillion reason it hasn’t happened yet.) See the full story behind this remarkably accurate chart here…
Robinhood is taking its service to the next level. This week, the popular online trading service announced that they will be expanding the trading window on their app by four hours. 
Users will now be able to trade from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “The brokerage, which is popular with individual investors, is expanding its trading hours in an attempt to combat slowing growth tied to trading revenue. The company previously only allowed for a half-hour of trading before the market opened and two hours after the market closed.”
Robinhood released a statement in which they said, “Our customers often tell us they’re working or preoccupied during regular market hours, limiting their ability to invest on their own schedule or evaluate and react to important market news. They’re juggling a lot, from full-time jobs to school, families, and side gigs.”
Now that is customer service with a smile.
Robinhood needed a jolt, and so far, this latest gambit is working.
As of this writing, shares were up 25% for the day. But to be fair, that is misleading given that shares only rose from $13 to $16. It’s a nice gain, but it isn’t as big a jump as it seems.
Robinhood has been struggling the past year, with shares down as much as 28% for the year.
Like many services (I’m looking at you Peloton), Robinhood skyrocketed to prominence during the early days of the pandemic, benefitting from investors who had a little extra time on their hands.
The app was a disruptive technology when it came on the scene back in 2013. The old Wall Street brokerage boys had been charging commissions for trades through a process that was cumbersome. Robinhood cut out the middleman by allowing retail investors to trade stocks on their own terms from their own smartphones, commission-free.
The app was also geared towards millennial and Gen Z investors who were often overlooked by the old guard investors on Wall Street.
The modern market movement away from traditional institutional investing has been gaining for the past decade.
Words like DeFi, crypto, blockchain, and meme stocks didn’t even exist even a decade ago. Back then, Robin Hood was just a dude who dressed in green tights and stole from tax collectors to give to the poor, and he wouldn’t have had any idea what an investing app was.
Here are a few intriguing stats for you to share with the boys at trivia night:
One-third of daily trades are made by individual investors, and they account for 40% of trades on peak trading days.
Oh, and those darn millennials aren’t so dumb after all. 60% of people ages 25-34 say they invest more every year than the year before.
We here at Money and Markets like to consider ourselves disruptors as well.
In fact, we offer you the best of both worlds: You can come to us for investment advice and trade alerts, and yet our services also allow you to trade on your own terms. We are here to help you.
Heck, you can even use our StockPower rating system (available via the search bar at Money and Markets.com) to look into more than 8,000 stocks and check out our Green Zone rating before deciding what stock to buy or sell on your Robinhood app.
Just throwing that out there for your consideration.
If you want even more help with investing, we offer investing services from our Money and Markets Chief Investment Strategist Adam O’Dell. You can check out his Wednesday Windfalls and Home Run Profits services if you so choose.
Together, we are great disruptors! Wall Street will never be the same!
For more quality content like this, and to learn more about the Money Moves team and the Green Zone Rating System, CLICK HERE! | 
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