For splits and which Companies Might be next. Also robin hood finish not the guy in tights, the free stocktrading t. A. R. P. Why its outgrowing the competition. And as investors wait for a covid19 vaccine, powerful new treatments could soon make a difference. We look at the companies racing to test them. On the barrons roundtable, my colleagues, ben levisohn, carlton english and al root. Ben, let me start with you about stock splits. They used to be common. Weve been through kind of a drought. All of a sudden there are a couple of high profile ones. They dont change the value of a company, its like me giving you a 10 for two 5s, but investors are responding. What do you think is going on . The first thing is we actually are some high profile stock splits. We havent had these in years. Companies have been letting their stock prices just rise well into the thousands in the way they never have before, so now all of a sudden you yet two high you get two high profile companies, supposedly their stocks go up both of their stocks go up on the day of the announcement. It really got people excited. Theres this idea that maybe the companies are signaling that things are going pretty well, but nothings really changed. Its just investor excitement for these things. Though history has shown that you do get a pop after the announcement, but then the stocks tend to underperform after the split. Jack okay. So whether or not its justified, right, its happening which makes me wonder who might be next for a stock split. What do you think . Well, i think youre absolutely right. When people see these kind of moves after a stock split, they go, huh, i wonder if that could happen for me too. And theres suggestion stocks out there that trade six stocks, am, autozone, chipotle, alphabet and a real estate company. Any one of those could be a candidate. Jack carlton, i want to give you a shocking statistic from a story from this weeks barrons. Of the roughly six million online trading accounts opened in the First Six Months of the year, at least three million were robin hood accounts . What explains the popularity of this Trading Platform . Well, yeah. So, or you know, no fee trading, thats been around to some extent for a while, but when youre on robin hood, they kind of figured out how to get that young orer trader excitement around the platform. You make your first trade, you get digital confetti. I dont know that you get that jack ive never gotten that for anything. It sounds exciting. Go on. [laughter] yeah. So thats exactly e the tube of user that robin hood has been able to tap into. You also have a lot of people, you know, at home. Their looking theyre looking for something to do. Thats why theres been some concern about the surge in this kind of athome day trader that may not have the type of experience that, you know, they should have for trading on some of the products that they have. Jack i hear that robin hood is going to stop reporting the most popular Stock Holdings among its users, and there are outside Services Like robin track that have picked this up. What do you think it means for the trading in certain stocks for some of the volatility that weve seen if traderrers no longer have this piece of information . Yeah. So, you know, for a novice trader, you know, popularity might be where they want to go and, oh, everyones buying into this stock, that must mean its good, i should go into it, and they may not be thinking about the fundamentals of the company and if, you know, that stock is for their broader goals. And there has been some concern on robin hood that it gives novice traders, you know, access to products that maybe they shouldnt have, trading with leverage or options or things they a may not know enough about. So without that robin track feature, its possible that some of that volume on robin hood may go down a little bit. Jack guy like ben and i who day traded back in the late 1990s had to shout across the room to find out what everyone else was buying, so if this makes a difference. Al, i want to is can you about treatments for ask you about treatment for covid19. Were all watching for vaccines, and were hopeful that we see one soon, but even when we get one, we have to wait until it gets administered across the population for it to be effective. Meanwhile, companies are working on more effective treatments for people who already have covid that can keep people from dying. Those can make a difference right away, so im wondering what to you so from what do you see from companies that are in advanced stages of testing for treatments that they hope will be more effective than what we have now . Yeah, jack, excellent question. It feels for me, the covid therapy space seems still very muddled. But the picture is starting to get a little clearer as we get further into the year. So to your point, we all want a a vaccine, but vaccines dont treat disease, they just prevent you from getting it, and there is the problem of administering it and making sure that everyone who needs it will take it. The treatments are almost or as important, right . And the first treatment was probably gileads remdesivir. Thats an unfusion, its expensive infusion, it was for severe cases. Regeneral ron, for instance, put another antibody therapy in trials in july. What happened this week is one of the analysts on wall street said that that data could be ready by the end of the year. So what were going to get in the next few months is a lot of data about the vaccines and how effective they were and these therapies, how effective they are. So in a best case scenario, well have this menu of options, of successful therapies not approved yet or approved in limited cases but by the end of the year, hopefully well be able to say this is what you should take for mild disease, this is if you have a severe reaction to the virus and along with vaccines for longterm protection. Jack and ive seen Companies Like regeneral ron and flax sew smith klein that are in the hunt for new, more effective treatments as well. Thanks, al. Coming up, pandemic piece is saw sales are soaring. Papa johns ceo rob lynch weighs in on how long it will last. Thats next. Im a performer. Always have been. And always will be. Never letting anything get in my way. Not the doubts, distractions, or voice in my head. And certainly not arthritis. New voltaren provides powerful arthritis pain relief to help me keep moving. And it can help you too. Feel the joy of movement with voltaren. An extra 15 credit on car and motorcycle policies . Thats great thats 15 on top of what geico could already save you. So what are you waiting for . John stamos to knit you a scarf . All finished, jean. Enjoy thank you. I give. The stitch work is impeccable. Its just a double fleck pattern with a reverse garter stitch. No big deal. Is your hair this soft . Softer. Geico. Save an extra 15 when you switch by october 7th. Jack well, pizza chains are piling on growth during the shutdown. Papa johns says its north american comparable sales jumped 28 during the quarter end in june and looked even better in july. The stock has doubled in price since the Company Installed a new chief a year ago, so what does the Growth Potential look like from here . Ceo rob lynch joins me now. Rob, we spoke last in april, and you said business was picking up at the time. I see what you mean now. [laughter] what portion would you attribute to changed behavior during the pandemic, and what would you put on some initiatives that you put boo place even before this year . Well, were thinking about it as about 50 50. Theres obviously a tailwind with the pandemic and the shutdowns that have occurred as a result. As people have been more concerned about going out and sitting down to eat dinner, theyre eating at home more often, and that benefits pizza delivery. So definitely a tailwind. As you called out, 30 comps in july, about half of that is coming from strategic purity, priorities that we put in place as far back as q4 of last year when i came into the company. We laid out what our plans were, and we started to see some good momentum prior to the pandemic. We started seeing a lot of fruit from the initiatives we had put in place around innovation and technology. And then the pandemic really hasnt changed our plans at all, its just accelerated all of our actions. Jack how do you keep it though . You know, lets hope for the keep it going, though . Weve added over 5 million new customers this year, and the key is we need to keep those customers. We need the take cower of them while theyre coming into our restaurants, and weve invested a lot on our loyalty e platform and our one to to one marketing platform. Were able to leverage the information we have about them to make sure were meeting their needs, and were finding that theyre repeating. So its not a one and done phenomenon. Theyre come back more often. If we keep taking cower of them, well keep those taking care of them you said you were going to sure 20,000 new workers, you did. Now you saw youre working for 10,000 more. I have to believe its easier now to find workers than it was. What are you learning that you can tell us from the hiring process . Well, you know, its been, its been a challenge, obviously, for the last few years as the country has ebbs experienced record low levels of unemployment. And, you know, we wake up every morning to record sale es a little bit like the twilight zone. As you mentioned, we hope this pandemic goes away tomorrow, but, you know, what we feel like we can do during the pandemic to help our communities is make sure were delivering great, high quality, safe food but also give people jobs. As unemployment has definitely increased as a result of the challenges we face, weve been suring, and were ready to hire 10,000 more. We need more people. There are great jobs, weve got great teams in every one of our restaurants, and thats how we feel were able to give back to the community. Jack the companys founder left in 2018, and you came from arbys, and a couple months after you came to papa johns, he had some unflattering remarks. From where im sutting, it looks like a roast beef guy can do a good job selling pizzas. What advice do you have for a new manager who is catching some criticism from the outgoing management . You have to believe in yourself, and, you know, you have to believe in what youve done in the past has prepared you for your future. You have to believe in your team, you have to surround yourself with great people who know more than you do and help you be better at everything you trying to be. But confidence and not arrogance, but confidence and believing in yourself, believing in those around you is the key to success. Jack ive got do you about the shaqaroni. I heard you sold 2 million of these. My understanding its big, its got a lot of end pepperoni on it. Is it the pizza . Is it shaq . Do you have plans for a shaqcall zone at some point . Will you make a Charles Barkley pizza . Whats next . [laughter] you know, one of the great things about what were doing right now and a big contributor to our success and, frankly, our success moving forward has been weve pulled off any guardrails on innovation. We believe that great ideas can come from everywhere. Were soliciting great ideas from people in our headquarters, from our restaurants, from our franchisees, from our customers. Yeah, its a big pizza, but how can you have a pizza thats not big called that . Were open to anything. If barkley wants to reach out and has ideas, you know, i think he likes pizza too [laughter] perhaps we can do that. Jack i bet he does. Papa johns ceo rob lynch, thanks for coming by to talk with us. Coming up, the s p 500 heading for a new high. Has the market gone into meltdown . The panel tackles that next. I like liberty mutual. They get that no two people are alike and customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. What do you think . I dont see it. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. vo audi etron. Vo the next frontier of electric. Get an exceptional offer at your local audi dealer. But what if you could stdo better than that . K. Like adapt. Discover. Deliver. In new ways. To new customers. What if you could come back stronger . Faster. Better. At comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back. But bounce forward. Thats why were helping you stay ahead and adapt with a network you can count on, 24 7 support and Flexible Solutions that work wherever you are. Call or go online today. Jack the s p 500 index was recently up more than 50 from its march low. Even though the past decline in the last six months on jobs remains one of the largest on record. Meltup doesnt have a formal definition, and that makes out perfect for arguing about here. Carlton, start us off. Are we in a meltup . Yeah, im going to say, yes, we are. Now, im old enough to remember back in february when the s p was trading, oh, i dont know, or about 19 times earnings, and we were saying, hey, are valuations getting too high . Here we are and were at home, were not doing stuff, were not consuming the same way, and the s p is trading at about 25 time projected earnings. I think that feels a little bubbly to me. Jack ben, what do you say . I think this is a rational ponce to a completely irrational situation. I mean, just think, there was this disease that caused us to hut down the entire country. Shut down the entire country. And then that could have led to some sort of depression if nothing was done, but then we saw this onslaught of support from the fed and the government. The feds doing more now and faster than it did after the financial crisis. The fiscal support has been enormous. Its almost impossible its not impossible, but almost for a company to go bankrupt, and consumers are saving during a recession. This is crazy stuff x. Yields are so low on treasuries that the only place to put money is in the stock market. Ill start to worry when things start going back to normal. Jack so the bad news gives us all that stimulus. Dont we need to keep that . Should i be worried things are start going too well and investors will get concerned . Absolutely. I think if you start seeing things go well, you start seeing rates go up, yields go up, people start to get scared and start saying, oh, maybe those multiples are too high. Thats when you have to worry. Jack okay, im putting you down for team not a meltup. Everything else has gone crazy. Al, youre the tie breaker. Are we in a meltup right now with the stock market . Well, seeing as i directly report to ben, i will go in the its a totally reasonable reaction. But part of a meltup fear of missing out, and things were getting better, and then you mix in there what carlton was talking about with millions of new retail trading and zero commissions, and you have this recipe for a meltup. But things are still getting better, right in the economy is still improving. So for at least the next three months i say meltup, and then i say bring it on. Jack its a meltup, but it could get even meltier. I i spoke recently with the u. S. Stock chief over at credit suisse, and he said were as carlton says, about 25 times earnings in the stock market right now. Historically, the average is closer to 15 times. He says stick with stocks, but you better get used to it. He says we could see price to earnings ratios for the broad stock market in the mid 20s for the next decade because rates are going to remain low, and even if growth remains slow, we could see these expanded valuationses. I mean, ben, when youre faced with that kind of menu as an investor, if youre a cheapskate like me, how do you bring yourself to stay in it with prices this high . You think about what could come next. Stocks look expensive if we believed that the earnings expectations are what they are or that theyre not going to be better or worse. If earnings come in worse than people are expecting, the markets even more expensive. But if theyre better, than the stock the valuation come down, and thats what happened this last quarter where the earnings were supposed to come in around 125, and i think they calm in around 130 or so. If the market can keep surpassing this estimates, it might be cheaper than it appears. Jack i find this discomfort over valuationses comforting so long as the prices are going to stay high and were not going to tank sometime in the years ahead. Thank you all for these perspectivings. Up next, round table members give their investment ideas for the coming week. Stay right there. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Accident forgiveness from allstate. I am totally blind. And non24 can make me show up too early. Or too late. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. Weve always put safety first. And we always will. For people. For the future. And there has never been a summer when its mattered more. Wherever you go, summer safely. Get 0 apr financing for up to five years on select models and exclusive lease offers. Jack lets talk about stocks. Carlton, i had plans this past week to do some aggressive teeth whitening to beautify myself for television. I never got around to it, but i i see here that you like align are technologies, and theyre in a teeth straight thenning business. Tell me about the product and what you like about the company. Sure. So they make the unvisi line clear liner, a braces alternative. The stock has held up really well during the downturn, and thats even with dentist offices closed. You do have to go to a dentist to get the product. The stocks done well. Dentist offices are reopening, and if you check out the internet, theres all these articles on how to look better on your zoom calls, people learning makeup and lightening tips. Also i think people have been looking at themselves maybe too much a little bit, so i think that there are some catalysts for a align. Jack my trick to just turn off the camera, but i take your point. [laughter] some people out there want to be seen, and i guess this can help with that. Hey, ben, andrew berry has a positive story in this weeks barrons act merck. Can you about merck. Can you give me a couple of bullets . Sure. Merck is a really successful pharmaceutical company, but you wouldnt know it by looking at us stock which is down 8 this year, and this is when stocks like regeneron are soaring. The stock is cheap. It has a great cancer drug that they have a patent on til 2028. So people are starting to worry about that a little bit. Its also working on covid vaccines, but its not really getting rewarded for out. People will start to give it more value for the cancer drug because theyre going to get more comfortable with the pipeline. Jack and, al, bank of america recently upgraded tesla. You say to sell. Why . Well, it was a bit of a it was a longterm affair, and he went from sell to hold, and he even took a few shots at the company in his upgrade report. Listen, i am not a tesla bear, but the stock is up 20 since announcing a split. It just closed at an alltime high. It is 26 above its 50day moving average. You dont have to sell everything. You can sell a little when things are this good. So i am a profit taker in tesla for a little while. Jack the hate upgrade. I learned something new. Carlton, ben, al, great ideas and thank you. To read more, check out this weeks edition at barrons. Com and dont forget to follow us on twitter. Thats all for us. See you next week on barrons roundtable. Lou good evening, everybody. The prosecution of the conspirators against donald trump atop the Obama Justice department and fbi has officially begun. Former fbi attorney Kevin Kleinsmith is to plead guilty to a single felony charge of falsifying a document. Kleinsmith changed the wording of an important i pail in 2017 email in 2017. That change was to suggest the opposite of the truth, to suggest that former Trump Campaign aide carter palm was not a source carter page was not a source wor