Topley’s Top Ten – July 18th, 2019

Author

Matt Topley
July 18, 2019

1.Europe Joins the Tech Stock Rally.

Euro Tech Highest in 18 Years.

Among tech companies, SAP, ASML andEricsson are scheduled to report this week, which might signal what’s next forthe shares of Europe’s best-performing industry this year – Theregion’s technology sector is up 26% in 2019, keeping up with the Nasdaq 100, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOXhas soared more than 30%

Dave Lutz at Jones Trading.

2.P/B and P/E Spreads Touch 1999 Levels for S&P 500 vs. Value.

Value stocks are trading at the steepest discount in history

Chris Matthews

3.And No Portfolio Managers Think Above Matters Yet…..2% Think Value Will Outperform Growth.

Just 2% of global fund managers think value willoutperform growth, and that’s after one of the biggest underperformance in history.

2 Charts Today From Dave Lutz at Jones…Thanks Lutzie

4.Leader of Europe Well Below Highs as Rates in Germany Go Negative.

Negative Rates Not Pushing Germany to New Highs.

5.86% of German Bunds Trade at Negative Yields.

Torsten Slok Deutsche Bank

6.New Lows in Mortgage Rates Not Boosting Building Permits

7.Dividends and Buybacks Have Exceeded Free Cash Flow Since 2013

The Capital Group

source: Capital Group. Universe is made up of2,902 non-financial U.S.-based companies that represent more than 98% of theU.S. public equity market. As of 12/31/18.

8.Netflix Never Made New Highs in this Rally

Netflix PullbackYesterday…Never Made New High with S&P

9.The Future of Protein.

Francis Scialabba

While Wall Street is stilldrooling over Beyond Meat, researchers are looking one step ahead to the nextgeneration of meat cultivation: cellular agriculture. 

What it is: Cellularagriculture uses cultures to build cell-based products outside of an organism.This can include animal-derived products, such as meat, eggs, and dairy, aswell as byproducts like silk, leather, and fur.

  • The foundations—biotechnology and tissue engineering—have already been established in clinical settings (think regenerative medicine). But unlike a “lab-grown” kidney, you don’t have to worry about putting the lab-grown filet mignon into the cow. Just don’t overcook it. 

The first hamburger grown in alab burned the roofs of taste-testers’ mouths in 2013. But it cost $330,000, and thatwas before guac. Researchers are betting that in a few years, similar meatproducts will 1) be affordable and 2) taste and feel even more like the“real” thing.

The warm reception of plant-basedmeat alternatives (like Beyond Meat) is a good indicator of future demand forcellular agriculture products. Consumers want clean, ethical, and sustainablefood, and meat farmed in a lab setting could change what it means to be“vegetarian” or “vegan.”

Prepare to debate what counts asmeat. Plant-based products have already received pushback from themeat and dairy industries over labeling. Even cauliflower rice has notemerged unscathed. 

Actually, let’s debate it rightnow. Should cell-based, lab-developed meat count as real meat? Vote here.

Boil it down

The promise: Clean,sustainable, safe meat products, without any of the ethical or environmentalproblems that plague today’s livestock and aquaculture industries.

The roadblocks: Cellularagriculture has never been conducted on a commercial scale or with priceconstraints. Customers also have to get on board.

The projected timeline:Researchers are betting that in a few years, cellular agriculture-derived meatproducts will be affordable and taste and feel even more like the“real” thing.

The major players: Meat(Aleph Farms, Mosa Meat, Memphis Meats), seafood (Finless Foods, BlueNalu), andanimal-derived products (Clara Foods, Perfect Day Foods, Modern Meadow).

10.In my first year as CEO, I struggled with all of them — but I discovered exactly how to fix each one

Alex Tsepko, Minutes

  • Workplacestress, while commonplace, is incredibly damaging —  which means we shouldn’tjust accept it.

  • Addressingstress will make both your quality of life and your workplace better.

  • Ironically,things like too much free time can add to your stress. Dealing with stress isoften about focusing on results and planning well.

Last year, mycompany, Skylum, experienced some tough times. We grewsizably, but we were also navigating new markets and facing unexpectedchallenges. Ultimately, we had to ask  —  and answer  —  some hard questions ofourselves. Today, the company is more successful than it’s ever been. But ouryear of growth and adjustment also had another side effect: Everyone in thecompany  —  myself very much included  —  struggled with new anddifficult levels of stress.

This doesn’t make usunique. According to The American Institute of Stress,80 percent of employees today experience stress at their job. CEOs and companyleaders suffer the most, with a majority reporting feeling regularly overworked, exhausted,and anxious. The problem is so pervasive that it now feelscommonplace and almostrequired of working and keeping a good job.

The truth, however, isthat workplace stress is remarkably damaging  —  both to our health and to our generaleffectiveness in the office.

It’s the ultimatedistraction. It tires your brain and prevents you from applying 100 percent ofyour mental energy to whatever task is at hand.

So if you’re attempting toachieve any kind of goal, stress is something you need to combatrather than accept. Here are the four primary types of stress  —  and how to manage them.

Stressor 1: Having too much work

Focus on results, and prioritize from there. Nattakorn_Maneerat/Shutterstock

Problem: Companyleaders and managers constantly have things todo, along with people who rightfully need our attention and time. Trying tocomplete all these tasks runs us down and drains our focus and happiness.

Solution: Focus onresults, not the workload itself. Many of us  —  CEOs included  —  tend to focus on the amount of work we have, as ifthe number of nights we spend at the office is indicative of our success. Guesswhat? It’s not. So instead, prioritize your individual responsibilities inaccordance with your short-term and long-term goals. This will help youdetermine what you actually need to do today in order to achieve yourmost pressing goals. If you have a new product you’re launching in two months,for example, ensuring that launch is successful is likely your most importantgoal. You should make sure that everything you do furthers your progress inachieving that end. To help you make such determinations, use metrics and data.Then eliminate, delegate, or ignore processes and tasks which won’t contributeto your growth.

Stressor 2: Having too little work

It may seem paradoxical, but more free time can add tostress.funkyfrogstock/Shutterstock

Problem: One of theways CEOs manage major influxes of work is by delegating tasks. But withdelegation comes more free time. I experienced this first hand. As Skylum grew,suddenly I had roughly 70% more free time, and I had to figure out how to bestspend it. As I discovered, this can be even more stressful than having too muchwork; I felt like I wasn’t adding as much value as before, and I fearedemployees might get frustrated.

Solution: Focus yourenergy on new and specific goals. One of those goals in my case was buildingand managing highly effective teams. Sure, I wasn’t running PR and marketing bymyself anymore, but I could help ensure those who were now in charge hadeverything they needed to be successful. Once you’ve identified your new areasof focus, apply yourself to add as much value in those verticals as you can. Asyou grow, this is what your role as a CEO or manager will always look like:identifying areas of weakness at your company, and then applying yourself toaddress those as best you can.

Stressor 3: Losing connection with your team

Stay in touch, and stay grounded with outsideadvice. Shutterstock / UfaBizPhoto

Problem: You alwayswant to stay connected with your team, but as a company leader, this isn’talways possible. I’m reminded of this whenever I’m on the road for longperiods. You worry about whether your team will suffer without direct access totheir leader. You also worry that without you managing or directing things,productivity, engagement, or happiness might dip.

Solution: It’sthreefold:

  1. Utilize a variety ofchannels to maintain communication  —  Slack, email, Skype.

  2. Identify “opinionleaders” and “influencers” within the company you can partnerwith to relay your messages and help you manage morale from afar.

  3. Get feedback from outsidesources, such as your family or other founders. Your situation is not unique,so solve it by talking with folks who’ve gone through it before.

Stressor 4: Things not happening as fast as you’d like

It can take time to see progress on big projects. Shutterstock

Problem: This one,again, is especially hard for company leaders; you want things to grow and movealong quickly, but often, they don’t. And you won’t always have control overthat.

Solution: Take timeto reflect and evaluate the effectiveness of each individual component of yourcompany. Determine whether disparate teams are putting in maximum effort towarddelivering the result you want. If they’re not, weigh potential solutions, anddecide whether those folks may need a bit of a nudge. If folks areworkinghard, recognize that sometimes, progress simply can’t be rushed. I find thatwith big projects, you often don’t see results for more than six months or ayear after you start working. So in those moments, turn your attention tosomething else  —  somethingthat is in your control and that you can have a tangibleimpact on.

At the end of the day,stress management is necessary. And the best way to go about doing it isto look at your sources of stress objectively, and work smart to identifysolutions. Your solutions may look different than those which I ultimatelyemployed, but I’m confident the methodology will be the same.

Alex Tsepkois the CEO ofSkylum Software.

Readthe original article on Minutes.Copyright 2019. Follow Minutes on Twitter.