Investing: “It’s not supposed to be easy. Anyone who finds it easy is stupid.” – Charlie Munger
Over the past 2 years, McDonald’s stock is up over 70% while Chipotle’s is down 38%.
Was this expected to happen? Not exactly.
In July 2015, Chipotle’s stock had advanced 70% over the prior 2 years while McDonald’s gained only 4%.
At the time (2 years ago), most everyone was bullish on Chipotle and bearish on McDonald’s. A few reasons why, beyond the wide differential in recent stock market performance:
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A customer satisfaction survey of fast food chains ranked Chipotle #2, trailing only Chick-fil-A. In the same survey, McDonald’s was ranked #17, dead last.
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Another prominent survey at the time reported that “Americans trust Chipotle, but not McDonald’s.” Only 30% of respondents said they would invest in McDonald’s, down almost 10% from the year prior.
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A headline from business insider read as follows: “McDonald’s CEO has a misguided obsession with Chipotle that could drive business into the ground.” The article noted that same-store sales at McDonald’s had fallen for six straight quarters while Chipotle’s business was “booming” with same-store-sales growth of 17%.
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Another publication asked: “Does McDonald’s have a Plan for Growth?” The article called the new McDonald’s CEO’s plan for a turnaround a “fiasco” which “doesn’t change the long-term issues the company faces: perceived low-quality food that consumers are increasingly rejecting, and bloated menus that slow food delivery and escalate tensions with franchisees.”
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Moody’s downgraded McDonald’s debt, following similar moves from S&P and Fitch.
First-level thinking in July 2015 would have consisted of the following:
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Chipotle is great company and McDonald’s is bad company.
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I think Chipotle’s earnings will rise and McDonald’s will fall.
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I want to buy Chipotle and sell/short McDonald’s.
Second-level thinking in July 2015 would have consisted of the following:
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Chipotle is a good company but everyone thinks it’s a great company. I think Chipotle’s earnings will rise less than people expect. By extension, Chipotle’s stock is overloved and overvalued.
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McDonald’s is a good company but everyone thinks it’s a bad company. I think McDonald’s earnings will fall less than people expect. By extension, McDonald’s stock is underloved and undervalued.
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I want to buy McDonald’s and sell/short Chipotle.
With the benefit of hindsight, selling Chipotle and buying McDonald’s in July 2015 may have seemed like an easy decision. In reality, it was anything but. As Howard Marks wrote:
“Anyone who thinks it is easy is a first-level thinker … first-level thinkers see what’s on the surface, react simplistically, and buy or sell on the basis of their reactions … the first-level thinker simply looks for the highest-quality company, the best product, earnings growth or the lowest p/e ratio. He’s ignorant of the very existence of a second level at which to think, and of the need to pursue it.”