Published on 6/13/2022
Okay, lots of bad and very little good going on in the market right now. Everyone’s portfolios are being hit hard and a recession seems inevitable. The only good news is that if you have the ability to invest into the market right now it will probably pay off big in the long-term. That is not great news for most, because most do not have the funds to do such investing during this tumultuous time. But C3 is going to keep moving forward and we are going to keep providing you with the best moral investing content we can.
First, a bulleted list of the bad…
- BTC is around $23K and the Crypto Market as a whole is below a Trillion Dollar market valuation.
- BTC could dip to $20K and ETH is probably going down below $1,000. This is because of all the panicky pulling out by investors because of the Inflation Rate and the Fed becoming more aggressive on rate hikes.
- 75% of Fortune 500 CEOs believe that a recession is inevitable. Companies are lowering their future quarter predictions all over the market (Target, Microsoft, Nvidia and so many others).
- Fed GDP tracker is dangerously low.
- The national average for gas is well over $5/Gallon.
- Crazy hikes in the prices of meat and egg are here and still coming.
- We are close to the bottom of the market but the bottom has still not hit yet.
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Alright, on to the picks for this report. Some new blood here and that C3 has not reviewed in the past. This report includes some real morally ambiguous assets, not a lot of clear-cut winners and losers from the moral standpoint. Moral Screenign Key: GOLD=Passed, PURPLE=Barely Passed, RED=Failed.
Avantor (AVTR) – AVTR is a Fortune 500 that most have never heard about. AVTR is in the chemicals and materials business and provides time critical products to governments, biopharma companies, health care organizations and a few other major industries. AVTR beat quarter one earnings and analysts across the board do not think anything will slow AVTR down in the near future. From what C3 can gather, AVTR does not explicitly participate in bad practices, but they are so big and produce so much it is difficult to say whether or not some of their products are used for illicit purposes.
Alibaba (BABA) – BABA is a Chinese owned business and plays too nicely with the CCP for it to get a positive moral rating from C3. The retention rate of active users being over 90% is a huge reason why so many analysts are bullish on the Amazon of the east. BABA is somewhat threatened by rival Pinduoduo who had more active buyers in 2021. However, it does not seem that most analysts care as BABA is a getting buy ratings from all over the market.
Purple Innovation (PRPL) – The company that makes the popular Purple Mattress has made it into C3’s curation report because it tanked a few months back after hitting highs in the $8 range and some think it can rebound. PRPL is not all that big and has plenty of room to grow with its already established products. Add in some innovation and more sleek marketing and PRPL could be a winner in the long-term. That is a big COULD though. The Mattress game is not an easy one to win at. Lots of competition and a lot of people sticking with mattresses for way too long. The fact that Purple Innovation did not receive a Purple score is a bit of a bummer for us with OCD.
Smile Direct Club (SDC) – A dental service company that does not really do anything bad morally but does not seem like a financial win. C3 is a bit perplexed as to why so many people are talking about SDC. SDC made it into the report because it met are popularity requirements, but we as analysts do not really see the potential at the moment for SDC to be a winner. Their business model is cool and could be the way of the future, but people just do not know about it and people seem to not really be enticed by their services in big ways. Either way, at least one company with a GOLD moral rating made it into the report.
Robinhood (HOOD) – Everyone knows the popular trading platform and most of C3 readers probably know how woke the HOOD newsletters are. But other than a little bias in their newsletter they do not fund or support any of the hot topic issues C3 generally covers in our moral analysis of a company. HOOD is really cheap to buy right now and if their stock dips into the $7 range then their public stock would be less cash then they have on their balance sheet, which practically never happens. Therefore, a lot of people are looking to buy HOOD, because in some sense it is almost free right now. Not to mention the HOOD still has a really strong subscriber base.
The Honest Company (HNST) – HNST is a baby supply company that provides organic products for little ones (Think” Diapers, Wipes, Bath & Skin Care). HNST has gotten some favorable ratings by analysts as of late and a lot of this hype is coming from the marketing efforts of HNST. HNST is not all that unique in terms of the services they provide (high quality baby products) but they do have celebrity owners and backers and their marketing keeps improving. Since HNSTs IPO they have essentially crashed but the market seems to be hopeful for a recovery for HNST. Nothing egregiously bad morally from HNST, but they do participate in all the Pride nonsense going on this month.
VanEck Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ) – LGBT Legislation, Abortion Philanthropy, Pornography, Abortion Legislation, Exploitation, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Abortifacients, IVF, Gambling, and Alcohol are things you would be supporting if you invest into BUZZ.
S&P Global (SPGI) – (The maker of the S&P 500, not the index itself) The commodity markets king is showing their strength with strong margin expansion and a solid cost structure. No true challenger is threatening S&P right now and that makes SPGI earn a strong buy rating from many analysts. Morally speaking, SPGI is a tough one to rate. SPGI does not do any direct supporting or funding of abortion, pornography, human trafficking, or transgender legislation. SPGI does not even donate heavily to one political party. However, SPGI does create investable assets that include some nefarious companies. Are gut is saying to rate SPGI as RED, but our algorithm is putting it as a PURPLE company.
As always please spend time in prayer with our Lord Jesus Christ and speak with friends and family before making any major financial decisions.