Alex Morris: Retail Industry Deep Dive

<p>Hey guys! This episode we got Alex Morris. Alex is the man behind the substack: The Science of Hitting. This is second time we have Alex as a guest and on this episode we talk all things Retail. We covered a lot of topics ranging from why he likes retail businesses, to Target’s latest quarter reports, the bull case for Five Below, retail’s KPI and unit economics, and the difference between the Dollar Tree and Dollar General.</p> <ul> <li>[0:00] Who is Alex Morris?</li> <li>[5:50] Changing your Investment Philosophy.</li> <li>[7:50] Finding Great Founders</li> <li>[9:50] Jack Dorsey</li> <li>[13:00] Position Size</li> <li>[21:00] Managing a Portfolio.</li> <li>[26:00] Why Alex likes Retail Stocks</li> <li>[31:00] The KPI of Retail Businesses?</li> <li>[33:00] Dollar Tree vs Dollar General</li> <li>[43:00] Unit Economics</li> <li>[46:00] Target: The Canary on the Coal Mine?</li> <li>[1:01:00] Retail’s Tough Comps</li> <li>[1:03:00] Five Below</li> <li>[1:35:00] More from Alex and Closing Questions</li> </ul> <p>If you like what you heard, check out Alex on <a href="https://twitter.com/TSOH_investing" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and his <a href="https://thescienceofhitting.com/" target="_blank">Substack</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>Finally, a big thanks to the following sponsors for making the podcast a reality.</p> <p><strong>Mitimco</strong></p> <p>This episode is brought to you by MITIMCo, the investment office of MIT. Each year, MITIMCo invests in a handful of new emerging managers who it believes can earn exceptional long-term returns in support of MIT's mission. To help the emerging manager community more broadly, they created&nbsp;<a href="https://emergingmanagers.org/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">emergingmanagers.org</a>, a website for emerging manager stockpickers.</p> <p>For those looking to start a stock-picking fund or just looking to learn about how others have done it, I highly recommend the site. You'll find essays and interviews by successful emerging managers, ser