Thank you, Fabrizio Freda, for showing us how to capitalize off this millennial moment. You and your incredible team at Estée Lauder (EL) have figured out something that so few really have: two billion people on this planet check their Facebook (FB) page (or Instagram, you get it) at least once a month, and more than a billion once a day. That makes every one of us aspire to look better than we do.
For the wealthy, there's Botox and CoolSculpt. For the masses, there's Planet Fitness. And for everyone there is make-up.
Your make-up.
Fabrizio is the most man-of-the-world of all of the CEOs I have met. He has both the instincts and the data to figure out what people in every part of this world aspire to be, so they can look their selfie best.
He, like Z-Man at Facebook, knows that movies are coming on hard and you really need a lot of make-up in video. He knows, like Tim Cook, that the iPhone 7 has amazing resolution -- even more of a reason to use Estée Lauder.
He knows that this is a universal precept, so he has prestige cosmetics lines that aren't out of reach. And he knows where to sell, whether it be Ulta Beauty (ULTA) because you can't price yourself out, or in those duty-free airport stores that are gold mines.
Now, last night when I went home the world had decided that Donald Trump is going to ruin everything, or that the haters of Donald Trump would ruin everything, or whatever.
But then along comes Applied Materials (AMAT) talking about insane demand that can't be met, Gap (GPS) and Ross (ROST) deliver amazing numbers and then this, the piece de resistance.
Do me a favor: if this stock gets hammered, buy some.
This may end up being the best way to play the Apple (AAPL) iPhone 8 cycle!
