Welcome to another issue of Ramp Recap, a weekly newsletter covering stocks, crypto, memes, a crowdsourced portfolio, and more. If you’re reading this but haven’t signed up yet, you can join 9,042 others and get Ramp Recap delivered to your inbox each Sunday by subscribing here:
Together with Masterworks:
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Contemporary art prices outperformed S&P 500 returns by 174% from 1995 through 2020.
The $1.7 trillion art asset class is projected to grow by $900 billion over the next 5 years.
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*See disclaimer
What Happened This Week:
Greetings from the Sunshine State. I want to preface this newsletter with a disclosure that I’m currently on vacation in Florida and I spent half of my time writing this on the airplane and entirely on my phone. So apologies in advance for any weird formatting issues. It’s also a testament of how powerful these mini computers in our pockets really are.
Before we get started, I wanted to quickly mention a couple of things I noticed while traveling for the first time since the pandemic began:
The airports were packed. Masks were still required in the airport and on flights (I flew Southwest).
It appeared that the flight attendants cared more about passengers keeping their masks on during the flight than the passengers themselves did.
Why is the cutoff for wearing masks at 2 years old? What if you have a child with special needs? Toddlers are insanely difficult to control for long periods of time and it puts way too much stress on the parent. My thoughts are if you are taking a flight then either A) you are fully vaccinated and not worried about getting infected or B) you aren’t vaccinated but you have accepted the risks that come with stepping on an airplane filled with 200+ others and that there will surely be children on the plane. Just make sure to put your mask back on after stuffing your face with pretzels and soda though. *eye rolling intensifies*
No one gives a single f*ck about masks in Florida. Maybe 1 out of every 500 people I saw outside of the airports were wearing masks. That included indoor places such as restaurants, gas stations, hotels, etc.
Rental cars are criminally expensive right now. We paid $1009 for a 5-day RAV4 rental—I ran the crap out of it to get my money’s worth. In normal situations I could have purchased a cheaper car on Craigslist. It sucks but I guess that’s the price you pay for not getting to travel last year.
Random thoughts aside, let’s move on to the main topic. I actually started writing this post last Sunday but wanted to see how the rest of the story played out before publishing it.
An unprecedented event occurred last weekend in the world of golf. I get it, we’re all tired of hearing that word but it’s the truth.
Jon Rahm, currently the 3rd ranked golfer in the world, had a commanding 6-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Memorial Tournament—the same tournament he won the previous year. The winner stood to take home $1,674,000—while the runner up stood to take home $1,013,700.
As Jon Rahm finished his third round and walked off of the 18th green he was greeted by some PGA professionals who informed him that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Because of the PGA protocols in place he was forced to withdraw. Patrick Cantlay and Colin Morikawa who were both tied for second place and six strokes back suddenly found themselves tied for first place and getting ready to duel each other on Sunday. Patrick Cantlay, who won the Memorial in 2019, ended up becoming the winner, beating Morikawa in a playoff.
As reported by The NY Times: Rahm, who has won five PGA Tour events, was required to isolate for 10 days unless he tests negative in two further virus screenings 24 hours apart. Andy Levinson, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of tournament administration, did not disclose whether Rahm had received the Covid-19 vaccine; after recent revisions, tour guidelines no longer require weekly testing for players who are fully vaccinated. Vaccinated players would also not be subject to the contact tracing that Rahm underwent this week. Levinson said that the tour had tracked vaccinations among players and that more than 50 percent of its more than 200 players had been fully vaccinated.
I think you could speculate from this information that Rahm did not get vaccinated. Here was his statement:
Prize money wasn’t the only thing at stake from Rahm’s forced withdrawal. With a win at the Memorial, Rahm would have surely secured himself in the top 5 of the FedEx Cup standings (currently ranked 18th). The end of the year FedEx Cup playoff tournaments are only 2 months away and the winner will take home an astounding $15m.
Over the span of his career, Jon Rahm has netted nearly $25m in earnings, so what’s another measly $1.7m? This tournament represented about 6.8% of his total tournament winnings over his career. No matter how you spin it, it’s a tough loss. Rahm will undoubtedly question his decision for quite some time. I’m hoping he will come back with a vengeance.
While I questioned the protocols that were put into place by the PGA, they were followed to a T and no exceptions were made.
Andy Levinson was even asked if there was an option that would allow Rahm to play Sunday’s final round by himself if he stayed at least six feet from others. Levinson said the tour’s medical advisers did not recommend participation in a competition the day after a confirmed positive test. Which is complete bullshit in my opinion.
If he felt fine and was asymptomatic why not let him play? I would bet most if not all of the field would have agreed to let Rahm play by himself. However, I do agree with the argument that the rules can’t be changed in extenuating circumstances. That being said, I do believe they should be updated in the future because of Rahm’s situation.
Golfers don’t have salaries. Their earnings are directly correlated to their performances in each tournament. This isn’t the case in the other major sports (NFL, MLB, NHL) where they have set salaries and can get bonuses for making the playoffs. Each professional sport also has their own Covid protocol that seems to be working and that all players agree to.
Golf has seen a major resurgence since the pandemic began. While my own course closed down for a few weeks, management suddenly realized that golf is the one sport where you can truly socially distance yourself from others. You play with your own clubs, you’re outside getting exercise, and there is no need for physical contact between players (unless someone hits into you).
The takeaway: While professional athletes aren’t required to get vaccinated, one has to question why they would choose not to with so much money on the line, not to mention the much higher chance of contracting Covid from contact others. Wins on tour are extremely tough to come by. I wonder if this example has encouraged more athletes to get vaccinated or if they still accept the risks. Either way it’s ultimately still their decision and a personal one.
As tweeted last night, it looks like Rahmbo is ready to come back this week and dominate the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
Performance Update:
Now let’s see how the People’s Portfolio did this week…
We locked in three straight weekly gains even while I was on vacation. I couldn’t help myself to checking my stocks while sitting on the beach (flex). It’s an addiction but there are worse things to be addicted to.
On Friday, we voted for NVIDIA to remain in the portfolio for another 10 weeks. Even the mighty Apple couldn’t overtake NVIDIA in this week’s poll. We are sitting on a 29.93% gain with NVIDIA over the past 20 weeks. It has been a great performer for us this year thanks to everyone and everything needing chips.
Caterpillar (CAT) is on the chopping block next week for the 1st time. We’re currently holding onto a -4.22% loss over the past 9 weeks as it dropped 10% this week.
Our portfolio is currently -6.68% on the year and continues making headway week after week on closing the underperformance gap and trying to get back to even.
Captain put together this Regatta of WeRamp stocks to see how the conversation has changed over time.
Keep an eye out for the new Twitter poll every Friday. It’s your democratic duty to vote each week. Follow along in real-time with nearly 300,000 others on Public.
Portfolio News Highlights:
The biggest stories affecting our portfolio this week:
Caterpillar Breaks Bad (IBD)
Upcoming Nvidia Stock Split Sets the Stage for Buyers (InvestorPlace)
Coinbase teams Up With 401(k) provider to offer crypto investing (Yahoo Finance)
Shopify buys Primer, the augmented reality home design app (SA)
Is Penn Stock A Buy As Barstool Sports Betting App Expands Further? (IBD)
Economics of Hulu, Netflix, Redbox and Blockbuster (Investopedia)
Square to Spend $5M on Solar-Powered Bitcoin Mining Facility (SmarterAnalyst)
What Else We’re Reading:
Blogs/Articles:
The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax - Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen, and Paul Kiel (ProPublica)
You Can’t Invest Without Trading. You Can Trade Without Investing. - Jason Zweig (WSJ)
Life Is Change: Heraclitus’ Insightful Idea Can Change Your Life - Peter Burns (Mind Cafe)
Still Using Book to Market for a Value Metric? Read This. - Elisabetta Basilico, PhD, CFA (Alpha Architect)
Books:
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World - Cal Newport
Need new reading material? Visit my Amazon page for my most purchased book recommendations.