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Pamela Anderson Wants $19.4 Million For Malibu Beach House

Pamela Anderson House

Pamela Anderson, the actress who rose to fame playing a California beach lifeguard on “Baywatch,” is putting her own California beach house on the market for around $19.4 million.

Before buying this property, Ms Anderson said she had lived right on the sand, but found that fans would come up to the property looking for her. “A girl actually ended up in our guest bedroom and had my ‘Baywatch’ swimsuit on,” she said, referring to the bright-red one-piece she was frequently photographed in. “That was it for me.”

In 2000, Ms Anderson bought a site, which backs onto a lagoon, for about US$1.8 million, records show; she said she later replaced a “shabby chic” cottage with a new home for herself and her two young sons.

“It took me 10 years to build—I put another $8 million cash into it,” Ms Anderson said in written comments.

Located in a gated community in Malibu, Calif., the three-bedroom house is about 5,500 square feet and includes a large open-plan living, dining room and kitchen area with a fireplace, a rooftop deck and an expansive pool deck with spaces for outdoor dining and sunbathing. The kitchen has slab stone counters and glass pocket doors that open to the pool. A wood-and-glass staircase leads to the main bedroom suite, which has a private balcony. There is also a one-bedroom guesthouse on the property.

Ms Anderson, who in recent years has appeared on reality television shows like “Dancing with the Stars,” noted that the property was inspired by some of California’s best known Modernist architecture, such as the Case Study Houses, experimental, modern homes designed by architects like Richard Neutra.

“I love a vintage edge/pop art sensibility and I’m an activist so it is 100% sustainable Teak that is also ‘nonconflict’ flown in from Burma,” Ms Anderson said in her comments. “I must have paid $1 million just in materials for siding. I don’t like orange—so we bleached and waxed—the finish is more blonde.”

Some of her favourite features of the property include the guesthouse, which she said has “the most beautiful view,” and the reflective mosaic tiles in the pool. Her bedroom, she said, is “just the most sensual and clean space” with a bathtub in the room and a sauna attached. Ms Anderson also installed solar panels on the property and planted an irrigated vegetable garden.

Ms Anderson, 53, said she left Canada in her early 20s to work with Playboy and is now selling to go back to her roots. She recently married her onetime bodyguard Dan Hayhurst, and the two plan to live on her ranch on the water on Vancouver Island, she said. That property was owned by her late grandmother.

“When she passed, I just let it go for 20 years while I worked and travelled,” Ms Anderson said. “I have spent the last year here renovating, landscaping, creating gardens so that we can live sustainably. Greenhouse, potter’s wheel, canning pickles and beets. I’m creating my life here now again where it all started.”

“I made it home in one piece, a miracle. I’m a lucky girl,” she said.

Tomer Fridman of the Tomer Fridman Group has the Malibu listing.

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One In Three Homeowners Want To Sell

Looking To Sell

Research released from Westpac shows that one in three Australians are thinking about selling their home with the effects of the pandemic easing and low-interest rates improving market sentiment.

More than 35% of homeowners are planning to sell in the next five years, with 12% already in the process of putting their house on the market or planning to do so in the next 12 months.

The uptick in seller confidence shows an increase of five percentage points when compared to last quarter, and double the number of homeowners that were planning to sell prior to COVID-19.

However, despite the increase, the research found 51% say they’re actively holding off from listing their property straight with the competition with other buyers listed among the top challenges for sellers.

“Home ownership preferences have evolved since the start of the pandemic, with Australians seeking more space, peace and quiet, as well as properties which offer outdoor living like backyards and balconies,” said Westpac’s Managing Director of Mortgages, Anthony Hughes.

“The low-interest rate environment, upbeat consumer sentiment, and improving economic outlook is also underpinning stronger seller confidence as we head into 2021. This will no doubt be welcome news for buyers eagerly awaiting more homes to come on the market,” said Mr Hughes.

Further, one in five homeowners are selling for reasons directly relating to the pandemic including, accommodating working from home (11%) while (25%) also seeking more space.

Westpac Senior Economist Matt Hassan said demand for housing has surged following the improved economic outlook and is running well ahead of supply.

“It is absolutely a seller’s market at the moment. Sales have seen a big lift over the last four months and are up over 36 per cent on a year ago, resulting in a significant tightening in supply with listings across the major capital cities now at a 12-year low,” said Mr Hassan.

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Unprecedented Weekend Auction Results

Auction

Following last weekend’s bumper results, Saturday, March 6 produced more impressive returns with each capital city recording a weekend auction clearance rates above 80%.

The unprecedented result saw Adelaide (97.1%) and Brisbane (close to 90%) as standout markets.

Sydney, meanwhile, reported a rate of 86.8% – down on last weekend’s record-breaking 90.0%, but up on the 90.5% reported over the same weekend last year.

The median price for houses sold at auction in Sydney was $1,704,000, higher than the previous weekend’s $1,645,500 and 17.5% above the $1,450,000 recoded over the same weekend last year.

The upper north shore reported the top clearance rate results at 90.8%.

Despite being a holiday weekend, Melbourne posted another strong Saturday with a rate of 80.6% – slightly lower than the previous weekend (82.0%) but well ahead of the 71.9% reported for the same period last year.

Melbourne recorded a median price of $948,000 for auctioned houses,  lower than the previous weekend’s $1,002,500 Prices however were 10.9% higher than the $855,000 recorded over the same holiday weekend last year.

Data powered by Dr Andrew Wilson of MyHousingMarket.com.au

 

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How Margin Debt Works

Margin Investing

Margin debt is a sometimes-overlooked but key part of the stock market that is particularly pertinent right now.

It is the money that investors borrow from stockbrokers to buy securities when they can’t or don’t want to fund the entire purchase with cash. Say an investor wants to purchase 100 shares at $50 each for a total of $5,000 but has only $2,500 to invest. That individual could buy the rest of the shares on margin. The same process can be used to buy exchange-traded funds.

Investors frequently use margin to get more bang for their investing buck. “The pro of margin is that it increases your purchasing power,” says Jeff Deiss, director of wealth planning at ACM in Ridgewood, N.J.

The downside is that brokers typically charge interest on borrowed money. And if the individual starts losing money on the investment, the stockbroker might ask for additional cash as security or collateral. That decision and how much cash will be required will depend on a variety of factors, including the remaining value of the investment, how much money the investor owes the broker and the requirements of the broker.

“Buying on margin comes with a lot of risk, and if you are going to use margin, it is probably a good idea to have some cash on the side,” says Mr. Deiss. Investors who don’t have the required additional cash may be forced to close out their positions at a loss.

A large amount of buying on margin also can be detrimental to the stock market as a whole.

Margin Debt

At the end of January, customer margin debt at U.S. brokers regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, jumped to $799 billion from $562 billion a year earlier, according to data provided by Finra.

Some analysts say that jump in margin debt came from individual investors, who turned to online trading amid pandemic-related lockdowns. A combination of new easy-to-use trading technology, ultralow borrowing costs and stimulus checks from the federal government helped fuel the phenomenon.

“For younger folks, it’s kind of the drug of choice,” Mr. Deiss says.

The problem is, when there is a lot of margin debt concentrated in a few stocks, those stocks tend to see wild price swings, says Fabiana Fedeli, global head of fundamental equities at Rotterdam-based asset-management company Robeco. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the recent increase in margin debt coincided with higher participation levels by individual investors, she says.

Indeed, certain stocks that became popular with individual investors also saw price volatility earlier this year. “The minute that the margin couldn’t be met, some of the positions had to be sold immediately,” Ms. Fedeli says. “It gives volatility to the market,” she says.

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Covid-19 Fuelled S&P 500 Selloff Last Year. Here Are Some Lessons Learned.

S&P show trades falling

A year ago, the longest-ever bull market ended.

The comeback in the stock market since then has been nothing short of astounding.

The S&P 500 took just 126 trading days to swing from a record to a bear market and back to a new high—marking the fastest such recovery in history. That was even as market prognosticators warned stocks were due for another bout of selling, based on the growing death toll and unprecedented job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. is still in the midst of the same pandemic that led to the spring selloff. And the market’s future remains mired in uncertainty. Just last week, surging bond yields sent many of the most popular technology stocks of the past decade sliding.

The stock market is now barely above the point where it began the year. This coming week, traders say they will be keenly focused on inflation data, which may add to the recent debate over whether inflationary pressures are picking up.

Whatever the data show, many investors say the ups and downs of the past year have reminded them that some investing truths are eternal. Among them:

The markets look way ahead of us

Stocks bottomed out March 23. The next day, a furious rally sent the Dow up more than 11% for its best session since 1933.

The pandemic was far from over. In the same week, politicians and health experts declared New York City the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.K. went into lockdown and Japan postponed the Tokyo Olympics.

How was a market rally possible?

Investors like to cite the adage that markets are forward-looking. There is no clearer example of that in recent memory than what happened last year.

Those buying stocks last spring weren’t necessarily doing so out of a belief that the pandemic was close to an end. They were betting on the future turning out to be better. And they were right. Companies are expected to report a 3.9% increase in earnings for the fourth quarter of last year. That is a modest increase, but nevertheless would mark the first quarter of year-over-year growth since the end of 2019, according to FactSet.

An investor waiting for a clear turning point on the pandemic—say, the first vaccine approval—would have missed much of the market’s ride higher.

“It’s hard, it feels counterintuitive for a lot of investors, but if you only focus on buying things that were loved in the past, you’ll always be buying high and selling low,” said Don Calcagni, chief investment officer of Mercer Advisors.

The moment was also fleeting for stay-at-home stocks. Many of them soared in the first half of last year. But as scientists pushed closer to developing safe and effective vaccines, momentum for those trades faded. Domino’s Pizza Inc., Zoom Video Communications Inc. and McCormick & Co. have one thing in common: their shares peaked last fall.

What was bad news for stay-at-home stocks was good news for companies in the travel business, which began rallying in the final months of 2020. While the S&P 500 is essentially flat this year, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., American Airlines Group Ltd. and Delta Air Lines Inc. have notched double-digit increases on a percentage basis.

Cycles move quickly

If last year’s selloff felt like it happened with vicious speed, that is because it did. It took just 16 trading days for the S&P 500 to fall from its Feb. 19 record into a bear market, or a 20% drop from that high. That marked the index’s fastest-ever such descent, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The comeback that followed was also historically swift. (Though it probably didn’t feel like it for weary traders.)

“You’re really going to either have to play the speed game all the way around, or you gotta grin and bear it, be patient and just hang on and really stick to your buy and hold strategy,” said Richard Grasfeder, senior portfolio manager at Boston Private.

The pace of the action in more speculative corners of the market—think bitcoin, dogecoin or any of the “meme stocks”—has been even wilder.

On Jan. 28, for instance, GameStop Corp. started the trading day at $265, down 24% from the prior afternoon. It swung as high as $483 and as low as $112.25 before ending the day somewhere in between at $193.60.

“The fact that with technology, information moves so fast…I think you can make the case that it has really sped up market cycles,” said Ben Carlson, director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz Wealth Management.

Stock pickers love volatility, but it doesn’t always love them back

The feeling that markets are moving faster than ever should be a boon to active managers. Analysts have long argued that the professionals have the best opportunity to prove themselves when there is plenty of dispersion: meaning the gap between the market’s losers and winners is wide.

But that didn’t pan out in the first half of 2020, a period rife with volatility. Just 37% of U.S. large-cap equity funds managed to beat the S&P 500 over the first six months of last year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. (The firm hasn’t yet released its full-year report on active managers.)

Will stock pickers buck the trend in 2021?

So far, they are off to a good start. Bank of America found 70% of U.S. large-cap mutual funds beat their benchmarks in February, the highest share since 2007.

Much of that outperformance appears to have been driven by the fact that technology stocks have underperformed lately. Technology has a big pull on market cap-weighted indexes like the S&P 500, so active managers who haven’t heavily weighted the sector in their own funds have historically struggled to beat the market. This year, it seems a number of fund managers got the timing right. Many are holding on to more shares of companies like banks, utilities and energy producers, which have held up better in the market pullback.

On the other hand, investors who have made a name for themselves betting big on technology have been stung by widening losses. Among the highest-profile casualties of the past few weeks: Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management LLC, whose funds have sizable holdings in companies like Tesla Inc., Roku Inc. and Square Inc.

The growth versus value debate has played out countless times over the past decade, with little reward for value investors. But with rising interest rates putting pressure on long-loved corners of the market, money managers like John Allen, chief investment officer of Aspiriant, are feeling hopeful.

“We believe this is going to be a decade where active investing prevails,” Mr Allen said.

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MyTheresa Is E-Commerce for Luxury. The Stock Might Be the Cheapest Thing It Sells.

MyTheresa

Bricks-and-mortar fashion boutiques have been in a tough spot during the pandemic. Small stores, after all, aren’t set up for social distance. Online retailer Mytheresa has been able to fill the void. The website caters to wealthy shoppers looking for help in finding their next designer handbag, pair of shoes, clothing item, or accessory.

Mytheresa, based in Munich, went public in the U.S. in late January, raising about US$350 million for the company. The listing grew out of the bankruptcy of Neiman Marcus, which purchased Mytheresa in 2014. The small-cap has a market value of about $2.2 billion.

Mytheresa stock (ticker: MYTE)—technically an American depositary share of parent company MYT Netherlands Parent—was recently trading just below its $26 initial-public-offering price after having jumped to $36 shortly after the debut. The stock could recover those losses and more in the coming months.

“They are at the intersection of two higher-than-average growth trends in retail: luxury and e-commerce,” says J.P. Morgan analyst Matthew Boss.

Luxury buyers have been slower to adopt e-commerce. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, some 12% of global luxury sales happened online, compared with a 20% share of overall retail. The gap is closing. A recent study by consultancy Bain estimates that the share of luxury goods sold online could nearly triple to more than 30% by 2025.

Meanwhile, the overall luxury market is growing by about 7% annually.

The tailwinds put Mytheresa in an enviable position, and the company should get a further boost from its expansion in the U.S. and China, which are currently just 10% of sales each. (Europe was 60% in its latest fiscal year.) The company now has collections for men and kids, and it could expand into categories like jewellery and furniture in the future.

Mytheresa isn’t your typical money-losing tech start-up. The company, which reports in euros, earned €6.4 million ($9.9 million) in its latest fiscal year on €449 million in revenue.

Sales have grown an average of 22% over the past two fiscal years, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, have grown at a 30% clip. For the fiscal year that ends in June, analysts are forecasting revenue growth of 25%, to €560 million. Analysts, who track adjusted earnings, expect the company to make €30.4 million this year, up about 60% from the adjusted figure last year.

“We are dealing with high-net-worth individuals who like to spend money—that’s a great customer base, and our core asset is this customer,” says Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger.

The customer focus has helped the company earn a consistent profit, with a gross profit margin of about 45% and an adjusted Ebitda margin of about 8%. Other e-commerce players at Mytheresa’s early stage of growth have been years away from turning a profit.

If Amazon.com is the “Everything Store,” Mytheresa has taken the opposite approach. The site carries about 200 brands, fewer than luxury e-commerce rivals Farfetch (FTCH) or Richemont’s (CFRUY) Net-a-Porter. A recent search for “black dress” on Mytheresa’s U.S. site yielded just over 2,000 results, versus more than 7,000 at Farfetch.

Mytheresa’s most loyal shoppers get access to personal shoppers, styling and concierge services, and other perks like invitations to exclusive designer events and parties.

CEO Kliger says there’s a fine balance between presenting products in a way that’s helpful to shoppers and overwhelming them with an endless assortment. His company is focused on curation and more-abstract shopping desires, he tells Barron’s.

Customers looking for a specific Burberry coat, Chloé handbag, or pair of Gucci sneakers are better served buying directly from the designer.

Mytheresa’s website and app, now set up for spring and summer, are currently promoting multibrand compilations including “sandal season” and “talking-point pieces.”

The unique edit, to use the fashion-industry parlance, stands out to customers. Some 90% of Mytheresa customers surveyed by Cowen analyst Oliver Chen said they were likely to recommend the site to a friend, and 75% of them browse it weekly. Nearly 50% of Mytheresa’s customers spend at least $30,000 on luxury goods annually, the survey found.

Investors have been far more stingy when it comes to Mytheresa stock. The shares trade for 2.8 times this year’s estimated sales, versus 8.2 times for Farfetch and 4.5 times for The RealReal (REAL)—both of which are losing money.

Mytheresa could rally as investors reconsider that valuation gap. J.P. Morgan’s Boss has a price target of $38 on the stock, 50% above its recent close.

For now, Mytheresa stock is a luxury play at a bargain price. The sale is unlikely to last.

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A Contemporary Beachside Pad Hits The Market

Freshwater Property

A contemporary waterfront pile, footsteps from the sands of Freshwater beach has just come on the market.

This 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom, 3-car parking residence designed by award-winning architecture firm Brewster Hjorth spans three levels and maximises its coastal appeal through the use of raw timbers, off-form concrete, copper adornments and glazed glass doors and facades to soak in the incredible views.

The first-floor homes the open-plan kitchen, living and dining areas and is privy to high-ceiling and a glazed façade that overlooks the ocean. It’s also here that timber features of Spotted gum, Ebony and Oregon come to the fore.

The kitchen is replete with Marblo resin benchtops, stainless steel side benches alongside Gaggenau and Miele appliances. Also on this floor is the butler’s pantry, which offers temperature-controlled wine storage, a bathroom and a home office that can be converted into a guest room with a murphy bed.

Downstairs sees the bulk of the bedrooms, all of which enjoy built-in robes, alongside a home cinema, laundry, bathroom and storage room.

The master suite sits alone on the top floor and is privy to a walk-in-robe, ensuite and its own rooftop courtyard.

Also on the top level is the deck which offers panoramic watery views and is the ideal entertaining space with its own outdoor kitchen.

Further,  two private rear courtyards are lined with a tropical garden, while a hot and cold outdoor shower is ideal for a post-swim rinse off.

Throughout the home sees a combination of terrazzo and timber flooring, which is all heated underfoot while a keypad entry and Sonos surround system round out the tech features.

Settled in the sought-after retreat of Freshwater Basin, the residence is a short stroll to Freshwater Village and Harbord Diggers and an easy walk to Manly beach.

The listing is with Clarke & Humel Property’s Michael Clarke (+61 402 425 486) and Mike Dunn +61 409 317 335). 48 Ocean View Road Freshwater, NSW, price guide, $10million.

Clarkeandhumel.com.au

This article was originally published by Robb Report ANZ

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Rocket Stock Is the New Meme Trade. Move Over, GameStop.

Rocket

The individual investors that powered GameStop Corp.’s meteoric rise have a new target: Rocket Cos., the parent company of Quicken Loans.

Shares of the mortgage lender surged 28% since the end of last week. Nearly 377 million shares traded hands on Tuesday alone, more than a 10-fold increase from the previous day. After surging 71% on Tuesday, the stock lost some steam on Wednesday, falling 33%, or $13.59, to $28.01.

Like GameStop, Rocket is heavily shorted. As of this week, 46% of its shares available for trading were being shorted by investors betting the price would fall, according to S3 Partners, a data-analytics firm. That was up from about 33% in late January and 17% in mid-September, according to FactSet.

Trading of Rocket shares was halted several times this week because of its volatility.

Individual investors on WallStreetBets, the Reddit community that gave birth to GameStop’s rise, have been encouraging each other to buy the stock in recent days and sharing evidence of their own massive gains. They have relished in the company’s name——Rocket——an apt one for their goal of higher prices.

“The $RKT is fueled and ready for liftoff,” one user wrote early this week.

The company stock symbol, RKT, was mentioned in nearly 16,000 Reddit comments on Tuesday, according to data from TopStonks.com, a website that tracks equities mentioned on Reddit. That is up from just over 6,000 on Monday and less than 1,000 on most days last week.

Rocket announced last week it would pay a one-time dividend of $1.11 per share later this month, citing its “highly profitable and capital light business model.” Some investors saw the move as a way to fend off short sellers. Short sellers are obliged to pay any dividends to the broker they borrowed shares from.

The company’s excess capital at the end of the fourth quarter made the dividend possible, Rocket CEO Jay Farner said at a conference Wednesday morning.

“We were pretty proud to be able to offer that to our shareholders,” Mr Farner said. “We think more of dividends as special dividends because we want that flexibility to make the right investment for the long-term growth of the organisation.”

Rocket has other upsides. Rising mortgage rates are boosting earning potential for mortgage lenders just as the crucial spring home-selling season kicks off. The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 2.97% recently, its highest level since August.

Detroit-based Rocket is the largest mortgage lender in the U.S., according to research firm Inside Mortgage Finance. Its $323 billion in home loans in 2020 easily surpassed the $221 billion originated by its closest competitor, Wells Fargo & Co. Its large size and strong brand—it ran two Super Bowl commercials—set it apart from other non-bank lenders.

Before Rocket’s blastoff, shares of nonbank mortgage lenders had done little to impress investors in recent months. Some of the lenders that listed their shares on the public market in recent months significantly downsized their offerings. Some never made it to market because of tepid investor interest.

Shares of Rocket hadn’t strayed too far from their listing price of $18 in the seven months since the company’s IPO. The stock soared to more than $31 in its first month but quickly returned to near $20.

The first sign of liftoff came late last week, when Rocket reported impressive fourth-quarter results. Shares rose almost 10% on Friday. The news of a sizable dividend prompted Rocket’s initial jump in stock price, said KBW analyst Bose George.

“The initial move made some sense, but since then, fundamentals haven’t been driving it,” Mr George said. “It’s other factors that we have a harder time assessing.”

Shortly before its public-market debut last summer, Rocket announced an ambitious expansion target: cornering 25% of the mortgage market over the next decade. Its market share currently stands at about a third of that, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

Rocket said last week that its mortgage originations more than doubled in 2020. It said it expects continued high origination levels despite weakening margins.

The amount lenders earn when they sell each loan has started to drop. Quicken’s gain-on-sale margin was 4.41% in the fourth quarter, down from the third quarter but well above the 3.41% it recorded a year earlier. It expects its first-quarter margin to be between 3.6% and 3.9%.

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert helped found Quicken Loans in the 1980s and still holds the majority of its shares.

Ali Habhab has watched the stock’s recent ride with interest but doesn’t plan to sell his shares any time soon. Mr. Habhab, who is 25 years old, instead hopes his returns will bring him closer to his goal of retiring at 40. He bought 1,000 shares in Rocket shortly after the company’s IPO in August.

Mr. Habhab, who works in automotive manufacturing, said he was familiar with Quicken Loans long before parent company Rocket decided to go public. Mr. Habhab lives in Detroit, where Rocket is based, and has friends who started careers at the company or one of its subsidiaries.

“With all that factored in, it was a no-brainer to put some of my money where it belongs and where it will grow,” Mr Habhab said.

Another major nonbank mortgage lender, UWM Holdings Corp. is up 27% so far this week.

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Jeffrey Epstein’s New York Townhouse to Sell for Roughly US$50 Million

Epstein New York

The New York City townhouse of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is in contract to sell for roughly US$50 million, according to two people familiar with the transaction. If the deal closes, the townhouse would be among the most expensive homes to sell in New York over the past year.

The property had been on the market for just seven months, a reasonably quick turnaround for a townhouse with such a high-price tag, especially given the property’s connection to Mr Epstein, these people said. However, it sold at a significant discount to its original asking price; it came on the market for $88 million in July, and the price was later lowered to $65 million.

The property was the most valuable of Mr Epstein’s extensive property portfolio, which also included homes in Paris, New Mexico and Florida. Mr Epstein’s home in Palm Beach is in contract to sell to developer Todd Michael Glaser for an undisclosed sum, The Wall Street Journal reported in November, though the deal hasn’t yet closed.

Listed by Adam Modlin of Modlin Group, the Neoclassical Upper East Side townhouse dates to the 1930s, when it was commissioned by Herbert N. Straus, an heir to the Macy’s department store fortune. It was later used as a school and was formerly owned by Leslie Wexner, the billionaire retail tycoon and a onetime close associate of Mr Epstein.

Mr Epstein paid $20 million for it in 1998, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The house spans about 28,000 square feet across seven floors and has oak entry doors, imported French limestone with carvings, sculptural figures and ornamental ironwork.

Mr Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019, before he could stand trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. The proceeds of the sale are slated to go to his estate, which has created a compensation fund to adjudicate claims from Mr Epstein’s alleged victims.

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XPeng To Offer Cheaper Batteries. The EV Industry Continues to Mature.

Xpeng

Batteries and battery- management systems are to an electric vehicle what a high-quality internal combustion engine is to a gasoline-powered car, so battery decisions can make or break an EV maker. Chinese EV maker XPeng is making a battery decision it hopes will give it a leg up on the competition.

XPeng (ticker: XPEV) is going to start selling LFP-battery-powered electric vehicles soon. China’s Ministry of Industrial Information & Technology recently announced that XPeng was using LFP batteries in vehicles.

LFP is short for lithium-iron-phosphate. Iron is the “F” in that acronym because its elemental symbol is “Fe.” Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are a little cheaper than top-of-the line lithium-ion batteries, which contain elements such as cobalt and nickel.

LFP batteries are more cost-effective, but with a trade-off. They don’t pack quite as much punch as their more expensive cousins, so the range of the cars that use them is affected.

XPeng, in this case, probably doesn’t mind because most drivers don’t need 482 kilometres, or even 320 kilometres, of daily range. The benefit of a lower purchase cost, for many car buyers, far exceeds the downside of a lower per-charge range. The company will continue to offer vehicles with top-of-the line lithium-ion batteries as well.

It’s an interesting decision for investors to ponder. Offering different batteries in an EV is a little like offering different engines in traditional automobiles. In traditional cars, however, engine options are usually tied to horsepower and speed. In the case of EVs, battery options are more about range.

Billions of dollars are being invested in the EV industry to come up with more powerful, longer-lasting batteries. QuantumScape (QS), for instance, is working on revolutionary solid-state battery technology. QuantumScape doesn’t have sales yet, but it is one of the most valuable automotive suppliers in the world. That’s how important batteries are to the EV industry.

QuantumScape’s batteries will, holders of the stock hope, be less expensive for the same range as existing technology. Commercial offerings are years down the road, though. XPeng’s move is another way to offer less expensive EVs today.

A lower- end XPeng model P7 costs about 230,000 yuan, or about $35,000. With LFP batteries, that price might drop 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, or perhaps $3,000 to $5,000. XPeng declined to comment on new pricing for EVs with the less expensive batteries, but noted that the information will come out soon.

It feels like a sound strategic move and one that investors can expect other EV makers to copy. Car buyers are still learning how to buy EVs. Range and cost, compared with traditional cars, can be a mystery. As options such as LFP batteries proliferate, buyers will begin to feel more comfortable comparing EV models, just like they do when selecting what engine they want in their automobile.

XPeng stock was up 3.3% in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up about 0.5%.

The rise might not be due to the batteries, though. XPeng stock has been on a wild ride lately. Shares dropped 11% Tuesday after investors digested news that deliveries in February were lower than in January. February, however, was affected by the Lunar New Year holiday. Monthly deliveries at Li Auto (LI) and NIO (NIO) dipped as well.

Year to date, XPeng share are down about 26% after finishing 2020 up almost 200% from the stock’s $15 initial public offering price.