If making money in the stock market is one of your life's goals, then flip on the TV on Tuesday morning and hope that United Airlines (UAL) CEO Oscar Munoz gets torn to pieces by lawmakers.
The embattled airline CEO will be grilled during a hearing in front of the House Transportation Committee on his company's botched response to the incident with Dr. David Dao, and why it happened in the first place. Munoz will also probably get inquiries as to how a giant rabbit mysteriously died aboard a United plane in late April, and then was allegedly cremated without the owner's consent. Joining Munoz in front of regulators will be United President Scott Kirby -- a longtime airline executive who is supposed to be an operations wizard -- along with top executives of American Airlines (AAL) , Akaska Airlines (ALK) and Southweast Airlines (LUV) .
Aside from this hearing being great fodder for those on Twitter, in my opinion Munoz deserves to leave the spectacle feeling dressed down by regulators. If he does, it could be a win for investors. For seemingly forever, it has been OK for CEOs to mostly sit in their corner offices, draw out plans, sign off on things and collect big annual paychecks (Munoz received $18.7 million in total compensation in 2016). The reality is, that is no longer acceptable in this age when digital media could cause breaking news to blow up globally, in an instant. CEOs should be out, meeting regularly with their global work forces, taking the temperature of morale, seeing what is working and what's not and then crafting plans accordingly.
JUST IN: Elizabethtown KY Dr. David Dao and United have settled. No $$$ amount given. Attorney praises United CEO for taking blame. pic.twitter.com/LH9UkVt3cR
— Doug Proffitt WHAS11 (@WHAS11Doug) April 27, 2017
While Munoz probably has made the rounds each month to some part of United's operations, if he has reflected on this event surely he realizes he could have done more. Personally reviewed procedures to ensure they are in line with his values and today's environment, personally sat in a departure gate and studied employees. All in all, just more hands-on stuff as opposed to being a prototypical CEO.
And hopefully, a good number of CEOs atop America's biggest companies watch the airline hearing today or YouTube clips of it later on. It could very easily be them in front of some government body getting bashed, while at the same time raked over the coals on Twitter. If that's something that isn't too enticing, the said CEOs should be getting to work today to reassess their operating styles. Better approaches from the executive office could lead to a better organization, and that's a win for shareholders (especially as they are paying excess multiples right now to own stocks).
Read This Or Lose Out
Boy, is tech becoming a crowded trade: Tech has undoubtedly been the hottest place to be this year, as investors search for the biggest growth prospects, with as little risk as possible. But we may be nearing a point where it's a wise decision to reassess valuations on tech names. Check out the below data nugget on the relative valuation of the Nasdaq Composite vs. the S&P.
The market did embrace Amazon's (AMZN) earnings last week, despite the company's ballooning valuation. Let's see if it does the same with Apple's (AAPL) after the close today.
Ratio of Nasdaq-to-S&P now the highest since Sept 2000. (2.53x)
(via @GluskinSheffInc) pic.twitter.com/woD4rEWumB
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) May 2, 2017
In case you were wondering: Here is a photo of that aforementioned giant rabbit -- named Simon -- found dead after taking a ride aboard a United airplane. So sad.
Giant Rabbit Found Dead on United https://t.co/Kp1byXt4nt pic.twitter.com/EBfdy5Zc5H
— ipetsonline (@ipetsonline) April 26, 2017
Not for me: Many food companies have toyed around with the concept of edible food packaging as a means to improve the environment. While it's easy to understand their causes, edible packaging is sort of gross. Take for example a London-based startup that wants to you to stay hydrated by "eating" a water balloon-like blob instead of using a plastic bottle, reports Christian Science Monitor.
The blob is named Ooho (see video below) and is a seaweed-based, double-membrane capsule containing water. No thanks.
Today is The Rock's birthday: Be sure to wish Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson a happy birthday today; believe it or not, he turns 45 years old. He is a great example of doing things right in life and getting rewarded accordingly.
@BrianSozzi Thx buddy! ����
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) May 2, 2017
Do you like your Airpods: I am still not there with Apple's Airpods, too weird for me and still too much a concern of losing them on the subway. But apparently many people don't share my gripes, as seen in the below chart. Let me know what you think of yours at @BrianSozzi on Twitter.
Almost 100% of people love their Apple AirPods #tech $AAPL pic.twitter.com/b5IvWaj72G
— Brian Sozzi (@BrianSozzi) May 2, 2017
Jim Cramer and the AAP team hold a position in Apple for their Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells AAPL? Learn more now.
