But investors see signs of an economic recovery. Paypal is embracing bitcoin, allowing users to not only buy and sell the cryptocurrency, but to use it for purchases as well. Is it time to add it to your portfolio . And snapchat reported a jump in users and revenue, and it actually made a profit, sending the stock soaring. Other companies that rely on digital ad sales are reporting next week. On the round table, my colleagues, ben levisohn, carlton english and jack howe. Ben, lets start with a look at the market. It was down a bit this week as that stimulus offer remained just out of reach, as it always seems to be. Covid cases surged. But youre looking under the hood, as always, and you think its not all one story. Thats right. I mean, look at the market right now, i dont see a lot of worry either about stimulus or about covid, for that matter. What i do see is some worry about technology. We had all the big tech stocks, a lot of it took it on the chin. Apple down 3 , intel dropped 11 , ibm down 3 . It was really more, i think of a tech story that people just didnt want to own these stocks. But other areas were strong, small caps, even the price of copper was rising. Jack so that, along with small caps, suggests maybe the market is actually getting a little bit more optimistic about the economy. Thats right. Youre seeing the small caps, youre seeing dr. Copper, saw regional banks gain 7 , and youre also seeing companies that kind of had missed out, they werent the covid plays that the everyone loved, but Companies Like invisiline, it gained 40 after reporting earnings that were twice as big as market expectations. Seems that people, now that they can go back to the dentist, really do want to get their teeth straight for going to meetings on zoom. We also saw Las Vegas Sands gain 12 after reporting earnings, and the earnings werent great, but they did say they see business normalizing. I think thats what the market is looking ahead to. Jack the market certainly prices things in before the rest of us can see it. Interesting about the bank stocks. Yeah, they add a good week, but its been a horrible year. The opposite of bitdown and all this cryptoplay, and this week bad boy bitcoin got a stamp of approval from paypal, jack. Yeah. And not just bitcoin. You mentioned you can buy and sell and shop with these cryptocurrencies, it also includes bitcoin cash, life coin. I know bens been holding out for cling on, i keep trying to tell him thats not cryptocurrency, but were well past the point where you can dismiss bitcoin as cupid of make believe kind of make believe internet nerd money, right . When i first wrote about it nine years ago, it had jumped from over half a penny to just over 10, this past week it topped 13,000 after a pretty big move. And you have serious people who own it. I spoke with, you know, Mohamed Elerian a while back, he has some bitcoin. The key with the paypal deal, its made possible by a license from new york state. As you have a little more regulation, i think you can attract some more of these big commercial players. You want it to be adopted more widely as a currency, but people are excited about it because of the big price moves. And you dont want currently necessarily having currency having big price moves if youre wondering whether its too late to buy. I would say, no, its not too late to buy a scratchoff lottery ticket, i just wouldnt make it part of your core investing approach. Jack some people think as more and more Central Banks pump money into the economy, bitcoin will become kind of a digital gold. So i think like gold, maybe a small part of your portfolio, but dont bet the house on it. Carlton, or lets go to you to talk about the fact that while ben referred to some bad news on big tech, a certain sliver of technology did really well. Those companies that rely on advertising. Whats going on there . Yeah. So if you looked at the results from snap, the Parent Company of snapchat this week, they had said they had seen a return to normal levels and in some cases even pick up, so that pushed the stock up more than 50 this week. And thats also been for some of the smaller players such as pinterest which was up about 20 this week. Whats interesting is analysts say that people go to that site with purchase intent. Theyre looking at pinterest because youre about to be cooking something, planning something or decorating something. Either way, thats where advertisers are going to want to get in front of that customer because they say theyre going to be shopping for something very soon. Jack yeah, its a really interesting dynamic. People collect pictures of lamps, couches, blenders, whatever theyre thinking of buying, and then they kind of put their ideas there. If you could find a way to monetize that more efficiently than now, thatd be pretty cool. What are you looking at in next weeks earnings that might give us a clue of where this is all going . Yeah. So next week were going to see pinterest report results as well as facebook, twitter and alphabet. And, you know, a trend in ad buying is going to be great for the bigger names as well. I dont know that well see the type of return that snap saw earlier this week, but, you know, it does bode well. Of course, some of these have regulatory headline issues, but any positive trend in ad spending is good for them. Jack thanks a lot, carlton. Coming up, our next guest predicted this weeks doj antitrust lawsuit against alphabet, are more on the way in nyu professor Scott Galloway weighs in on that and more. Thats next. [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. Jack the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against google this past week alleging anticompetitive behavior by the tech giant. Entrepreneur, podcaster and Nyu Stern Business School professor scott gal predicted this dc galloway predicted this back in 2017. Scott, weve got a lot to cover. Weve got to start or with google. How strong is the governments case, and in your mind, what would be the ideal outcome for this . So i think the case is strong as if youre looking at the legitimacy of their concerns, i think its very strong. The fear is that this was purposely planned as an attempt at an october surprise which will lessen its veracity because a lot of lawyers who have left the doj claiming they werent ready. I think theyre smart to narrow it. At some point tomorrow needs to be today. This was overdue. Theres some concern that while google has been lining its troops up at the border, the doj has misprepared, but at the end of the day, its time to get on with it. Lets rock. Jack so in an ideal world, would you see a separate youtube, a separate waze, a separate Search Company . I think antitrust would be a big part of the solution. Letting advertisers who are really having more than one option such that if youtube is suggesting alex jones video more times than the new york times, the bbc, the telegraph, the guardian combined, i think youd find youtube has an incredible capacity to clean up their act in the face of competition. So i think a breakup is a great start. Jack obviously, theres a lot of thought that google was just the first big company to see Something Like this. Amazon, facebook if, do you see them as being vulnerable does awc or become a separate company . I think the next one will be facebook. I think right now theres more negative sentiment against facebook. I think amazon spins awc, but i think they do it prophylactically. My prediction is by 2025, aws will be the most valuable company in the world. The largest cloud player gets everyone buying their stock regardless of how crazy irrational the multiple is. Ing i think awc will be independent, but i think bezos will decide to spin it prophylactically. Jack the stocks arent really getting hurt, and i think its because investors think, well, thats fine, id own separate Great Companies instead of one great company. Youve also made the ca case this is more than economic, that there are actual societal benefits to breaking up. You hinted at it before with the alex jones on youtube or whatever. Can you get into that a little bit more . Why would instagram versus facebook be better than instagram being part of facebook . Well, if instagram has incentive because of more competitors to not, to insure or that certain types of content or maybe age restrictions or identity dont result in our teen depression doubling, if you talking about has incentive youtube has incentive to be a better citizen. The legitimacy of our elections has been questioned because the largest Media Company or platform in the world, facebook, continues to be weaponized by bad actors. They have no real reason to clean up their act because we dont seem to want to regulate them, and theres no competitors. I would argue as citizens, as parents, as consumers, as tabs payers, weve paid an increasingly nor mouse noneconomic price at the hands of these monopolies. Jack when the democrats came out with a long report on antitrust at google, jim jordan alleged anticonservative bias, most recently the hunter biden story, of course, in the news. What are your thoughts on that topic . These are media companies. At some point, part of the problem is they have to replace the algorithms that just want more clicks or more engagement which leads them to pick normality the over fact or more enragement which is damaging for society. But, yeah, theyre going to have to insert humans which will implicitly involve a bias. So far that bias seems to be leaning right, actually. 7 of the 10 most viral stories on facebook are from conservative outlets. So theres no getting around it. Theyre media companies, every Media Company from from cnbc, the to the new york timeses to barrons has a bias, get over it. The notion that its conservative, the facts dont support it. Jack real quick, you have spoken high will have of airbnb, i think you new e it might be more exciting than the world recognizes. We expect maybe that ipo possibly in december. Yeah. Incredible network effects. If you and i wanted to start a ridehailing company, we just need local spry and demand. Supply and demand. 95 in an airbnb are from all over of the world, and theyve going into an ecosystem where everyones on their heels, and theyre going to be on their toes. The Hospitality Industry is licking its wounds, and airbnb yes, bs going to show up with billions in capital. Jack wow, that ice impressive. Scott galloway, thanks a lot more joining us, i recommend his podcast with carol swisher. Coming up, cocacola is dropping hundreds of brands in a rethe structuring of the business. Whats next for the beverage company, and should it be part of your portfolio . The panel tackles that right of after this. Nonvalvular afib can mean a lifetime of blood thinners. And if youre troubled by falls and bleeds, worry follows you everywhere. Over 100,000 people have left blood thinners behind with watchman. Its a onetime, minimally invasive procedure that reduces stroke risk and bleeding worryfor life. Watchman. Its one time. For a lifetime. Look at this human trying you know what he will get . Muscle pain. Give up, the couch is calling. I say, its me, the couch, im calling. Pain says you cant. Advil says you can. To listen, is to hear more than whats being said. And offer the answers that make someone feel truly heard. I understand, lets get started call a Dell Technologies advisor today. Jack in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, cocacola has been focusing op new areas. Will the company break out when the economy gets back to normal . Its our barrons cover story this week. Associate editor andrew barry joins us now. Thanks for coming on the show, andrew. This week you report that consumers around the world drink an amazing 2 billion servings of coke products every day. The stock, however, really hasnt done much for 20 years. You see good things happening inside the company that could change that. What are they . Well, coke has a dynamic and relatively new ceo, james case city, whos been trying to accelerate and improve new product introductions at the company. By its own admission, coke has not been a great innovator, and quincys been trying to change that. The company rolled out this year in this country aha which is a flavored seltzer as well as a energy true, coke energy, and next year plans to introduce coke with coffee as well as experiment with an alcoholic beverage, a hard filter. And to make room for some of these newer drinks, coke plans to prune its beverage portfolio and potentially get rid of half of its 400 top brands. The Company Recently moved to end production of tab which was its original diet soda dating back to the 1960s. Tab had a tiny sales and were a fraction of diet sodas, so it really didnt make much sense for coke to continue to produce it. Jack andrew, in addition to those internal operating improvements as a company, you see some macroeconomic tailwinds that could help out from a possibly falling dollar to just an improvement in the pandemic that could bring more people into restaurants and so forth. Yeah. Coke is an underappreciated play on a reopening of the Global Economy that could come next year we effective covid19 vaccine. Coke gets about half of its sales from out of home consumption of its beverages. Its in restaurants, bars, sporting events and other venues, and that business has been hard hit by the pandemic. But the headwind that coke has had this year could turn into a tailwind next year, and coke has already seen some benefits from increased out of home consumption of its beverages recently and, you know, coke is the leader in the Soda Fountain business right now, and you can see that from the freestyle machines in many fast food restaurants that allow you to create a customized coke drink from 32 different beverages. Right now you dont even have to touch the machine, you can have it download an app. Its jack howe, i like those new machines. I like too far half a mellow yellow, half vanilla dr. Pepper, just a splash of barqs root beer. I have some concerns, just a few. Earnings never seem to grow, right . Its on the wrong side of the obesity trend. Restaurants could shut down in winter people might not want to go inside, might not be able to eat outside. Its not the cheapest stock the around. Im going to stop there before i a have to start on my toes on television, but my question is, is the bull case Strong Enough to outweigh all of those potential concerns . Well, things are Getting Better at cocacola. Actually, contrary to perception, the carbonated soft drink business, which is about 70 of their sales volume, actually, continues to grow globally. Even brand coke is growing. So if the company can get some success from innovation and new products, its a good bet it can hit its annual growth target at 79 gains in earnings per share. Plus you have a 3 plus dividend yield which is about double the yield in the overall market. So its a reasonably good combination. Its a pretty safe stock right now. Andrew, i have to ask, i was in the supermarket the other day, whats up with those mini coke cans . Coke, basically, has rolled out smaller cans, the7. 5 ounce variety, part of the companys strategy to address the obesity epidemic. Those cans of coke have about 40 fewer calories than a 12ounce can, and many consumers prefer them. Plus, they have doubled the profits for cokes bottlers and for coke itself in those 12ounce cans. So arguably, you know, many gains from those cans. Jack thats a nice trick to sell half the amount of liquid for the same price. Carlton, real quick, you want to ask about alcohol, i think. [laughter] i do. Andrew, im just curious your thoughts on coke getting into hard seltzers. Its a sector that has a lot of brand loyalty. Are they too late here . They may be too late. I think coke is dipping its toe in the water to see how it goes. I dont think they have marley high expectations, and ill really doesnt matter all that much. So well see how that goes next year. Jack cc thanks a lot, andrew. Great shelf space, we know that. People like the seltzer, they might buy. Up next, round table members will give their investment ideas for the upcoming week, so stray right there. Movies . Ill get snacks no, i cant believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on our Car Insurance with geico. I got snacks ohhh, i got popcorn, i got caramel corn, i got kettle corn. Am i chewing too loud . Believe it geico could save you fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance. vo im a verizon engineer and today, were turning on 5g across the country. With the coverage of 5g nationwide. And, in more and more cities, the unprecedented performance of ultra wideband. The fastest 5g in the world. It will change your phone and how businesses do everything. Im proud, because we didnt build it the easy way, we built it right. This is the 5g americas been waiting for. Only from verizon. Adapting. Innovating. Lsetting the course. 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Jack, i had hoped to tell you this off a air because i dont want you crying on the show jack oh, no. May is us s, for the first time in 159 years, wont have santa claus at its flagship store. You wont be able to sit on his lap this year. I think its a good time now to consider the implications of a sociallydistant christmas. Ubs has done some survey work, they think there might be a 1012 dechain in sales of soft decline in sales of soft line goods like clothing. Thats a massive decline. They see the biggest increase that theyve seen since the great recession. So its significant. They are most bearish on the department stores. Thats macys, its nordstrom, and its kohls. But they think people will shop early, so you might see good numbers before you see bad numbers. You might want to sell, you might want to think about selling during november. Jack so you scared me. I thought you were going to tell me you werent getting me a present. Santa claus, i can live without him. Its on its way, buddy. [laughter] jack if youre not bringing huge, extended family together for christmas, you dont have that get that gift for the great aunt. So candle sale gotta plummet. [laughter] carlton, what do you think about that . And also give us your actual ideas. Its that time of the show. So i do think one thing that is going to benefit, it e wont be candle sales, but im looking at irobot. Investors took profits, but i like this stock going into the holiday season. I think that stay at home trend is going to continue, and i see it having a positive holiday season. Jack ben, what do you have for us . Mgm resorts international. Las vegas has great earns, its been going sideways for the last couple months, it could break out. Jack thanks for that, ben, carlton and jack. Check out this weeks edition at barrons. Com. Dont forget to follow i on twitter barronsonline. Be healthy, wear your mask, and well see you next week on barrons roundtable. Muck muck think, phase one trials for the covid19 vaccine. But first, lets take a look