The internet, as we are all well aware of now, has become virtually ubiquitous. What are now reasonably simple artificial intelligence devices and applications, like Siri, Alexa and Google Home, will one day surely be morphed and programmed to not only search and scan the internet for answers, but to provide critical and, most amazingly perhaps, logical thoughts and answers.
One of the current uses the internet provides consumers is product searches and queries. In a new research report, the always forward-looking analysts at Jefferies have started coverage of Google search queries and how they could relate to stocks in their coverage universe.
The Jefferies team noted this in the report while unveiling the new analysis:
We introduce a new periodical which aims to highlight brands and products trending on the Internet and drills down on a few things that could have real stock impact. Many new products and trends that ultimately impact company results are first apparent in search, web/app traffic and social media. This report surfaces some of the trends most relevant to the Jefferies’ universe and this particular edition delves deeper into how a few products may affect covered stocks.
Jefferies examined several high-interest products that were directly connected to companies the firm covers with equity research.
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Quip Toothbrush
This product has exploded on the internet, as it is providing consumers with a more reasonable and less bulky electric toothbrush that provides sonic action. The product provides numerous quality enhancements to the electric toothbrush, and these positives were cited on the company’s website:
1) The perfect brush
2) Bristles with just the right amount of sonic vibrations and guiding pulses to help simplify better brushing. No needless modes. Just what the dentist ordered for a wholesome two minute clean.
3) ADA Seal of Acceptance
4) Sensitive, silent sonic vibrations
5) 30-second quadrant timer
6) No more bulky brush or wired charger to weigh down your day. quip’s slim design and travel-ready holder that suctions to bathroom surfaces helps make your twice daily routine easy and enjoyable, wherever you love to brush.
7) Fresh brush head refills delivered every 3 months before they become unhygienic and incapable of cleaning for just $5 with free international shipping. You can get our anti cavity mint toothpaste in your refills, too.
This product has been going crazy with consumers, and the Jefferies team points out how it could affect companies they cover by saying this:
Analyst Kevin Grundy is much less certain that Quip’s entry into Target will catapult the brand in the same way that it did for Harry’s, particularly given less pricing disparity vs. existing competitors and somewhat less convincing points of differentiation, based on his research. As a result, Kevin sees the risk from Quip as manageable for the industry incumbents in his coverage, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG | PG Price Prediction) (Hold), Colgate Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL) (Hold), and Church & Dwight Co, Inc. (NYSE: CD) (Buy) with their respective oral care portfolios more levered to manual toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other accessories, as opposed to electric toothbrushes.
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Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty
Famed singer Rihanna’s massive popularity and social media presence have made Fenty Beauty, the cosmetics brand launched in September 2017, a huge success. It is regarded for its broad inclusive nature across skin tones and gender, especially its Pro Filt’R foundation. The original foundation launch included 40 shades, and the line has since expanded to include 50 shades. This message from the singer is on the website:
FENTY BEAUTY WAS CREATED FOR EVERYONE: FOR WOMEN OF ALL SHADES, PERSONALITIES, ATTITUDES, CULTURES, AND RACES. I WANTED EVERYONE TO FEEL INCLUDED. THAT’S THE REAL REASON I MADE THIS LINE.
In addition, Morphe X James Charles has hit the Google search leader board, and Jefferies analyst Stephanie Wissink made these observations on how it could have implications for Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA), a stock the firm has been bullish on for some time now:
James Charles has nearly 14 million Instagram followers (10x increase in 2 years) having broken onto the beauty scene in 2016 as the first male ambassador for Cover Girl. Morphe + James Charles palette launched on morphe.com on November 13 and at Ulta stores on November 16. Ulta has noted on its last two conference calls that Morphe remains one of its strongest selling/growth brands within mass cosmetics. The Morphe + James Charles palette retails for $39 – well above the typical mass priced palette, owing to the power of brand collaborations to stretch the upper bound of price permission for a brand. Stephanie notes that while the palette is unlikely to move ULTA’s comparisons significantly, it does show that ULTA has access to exclusive brands and benefits from the social halo.
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Transformers’ Bumblebee
Yet another product benefiting from huge exposure is Bumblebee, a fictional robot character from the Transformers franchise. In most versions, Bumblebee is a small, yellow with black stripes Autobot, with most of his alternative vehicle modes inspired. For Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS), which is Buy rated and on the Jefferies Franchise Picks list, the “Bumblebee” movie has been huge for the product. The analyst noted this in the report:
Hasbro renegotiated its long-standing film making partnership with Paramount in 2017 with the first installment of the collaboration being Transformers Bumblebee, which premiered Dec 21. With a roughly 40% smaller production budget than the prior series of Paramount sole funded films, Bumblebee has demonstrated the resiliency of the franchise brand and deep appeal, especially on a global basis. Box office tallies put international earnings at 72% of worldwide gross and Japan has yet to open.
The report also mentioned that Transformers’ Bumblebee has been even more successful than expected, as evidenced in the search trends on Google, which are gigantic, and should drive profit for Hasbro despite concerns initially it would be a break-even proposition.
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The bottom line to all of this is that Jefferies is on the cusp of innovative research that utilizes analytics and data from the internet to be applied to its solid fundamental research on the companies it covers. This is important, because if you are late to the game in finding some of the critical data that is applicable, you could be behind the competition, and on Wall Street that is a losing hand, especially in 2019 and going forward.
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