Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahnke break down Shopify (ticker: SHOP), a leading e-commerce platform company enabling e-commerce merchants across the world to seamlessly manage nearly every part of their business in one place. Shopify has been locked in a power struggle with Amazon, as the two present distinct visions for the future of e-commerce: Amazon tries to pull merchants to its marketplace and to conform with its standardized shopping experience, while Shopify empowers merchants to manage th...
May 25, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 629
Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley break down Visa (ticker: V), the global payments powerhouse that acts as the invisible engine behind billions of transactions every day. Visa doesn’t issue cards, lend money, or handle customer accounts — instead, it operates the network that connects banks, merchants, and consumers in over 200 countries. Whether you’re tapping your card for a coffee, shopping online, or sending money abroad, there’s a good chance Visa is taking a small slice behind the scenes. ...
May 18, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 628
Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke break down Adobe (ticker: ADBE), a leading software company providing end-to-end solutions for creative professionals, from design and creation to marketing and performance measurement. Through apps like Photoshop and After Effects, Adobe offers an industry-leading suite of productivity tools for creatives, including freelancers designers, Hollywood design studios, and everyone inbetween. Excel is to the financial world as Adobe is to the creative world, you mig...
May 11, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 629
Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley break down Mercedes-Benz (ticker: MBG), one of the world’s most iconic automakers known for luxury, engineering, and performance. From the invention of the automobile to perfecting the engineering craft, Mercedes has shaped the way the world moves — and it wants to continue to do so, now with a stronger focus on EVs and in-car technology. In this episode, you’ll learn how Mercedes grew out of the industrial revolution and invented the modern car, how its legacy ...
May 04, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 628
Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahnke break down Comfort Systems (ticker: FIX), a specialty contracting company providing installation and maintenance services for the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing needs of schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, restaurants, data centers, manufacturing facilities, and a range of other customers. Comfort Systems is something of a serial acquirer, snapping up regional contracting companies at attractive prices and plugging them into a broader holding company structu...
Apr 27, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 627
Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke break down Uber (ticker: UBER), a ubiquitous tech giant that has changed how the world travels. Uber became profitable annually for the first time in 2023, and as its user growth accelerates, the company appears to be achieving modest economies of scale, making it an increasingly attractive business. In this episode, you’ll learn how Uber has scaled across the world and invested in competitors in areas it couldn’t win, why Uber isn’t as negatively exposed to aut...
Apr 20, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 626
Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley break down Nike (ticker: NKE), the global leader in athletic footwear and apparel. With a legacy built on innovation, iconic athlete endorsements, and a brand that resonates across generations, Nike has long been a dominant force in the sportswear industry. But after years of consistent success, the company is now navigating through one of its toughest stretches in decades, facing slowing sales, margin pressure, and growing competition from younger, more trendy ...
Apr 13, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 625
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahnke break down Reddit (ticker: RDDT), an emerging social media giant. Reddit became profitable for the first time in 2024, and as its user growth accelerates, the company appears to be achieving economies of scale, making it a very promising business. In this episode, you’ll learn why Reddit is such a unique social media platform, how it cultivates community and authenticity, why the company is surprisingly tied to the hype around AI, what Reddit ...
Apr 06, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 624
In today’s episode, Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley break down Moncler (ticker: MONC), an emerging leader in luxury outerwear. Known for its iconic down jackets, high-profile collaborations, and strategic expansion into new markets, Moncler has established itself as a powerhouse in the luxury fashion industry. As the company focuses on strengthening its direct-to-consumer model and expanding the luxury streetwear brand Stone Island, it’s positioning itself for more stable and profitable growth...
Mar 30, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 623
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahnke break down Hershey (ticker: HSY), a company about so much more than chocolate. From Hershey’s Kisses to Reese’s, Skinny Pop, and Dot’s Pretzels, Hershey’s is home to a number of iconic brands and is turning into an increasingly diversified snacking company. In this episode, you’ll learn how Hershey’s was founded, why chocolate brands are hard to scale internationally, why Hershey’s is diversifying into salty snacks, what Hershey’s is doing abo...
Mar 23, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 622
In today’s episode, Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley break down Nintendo (ticker: NTDOY), a global gaming powerhouse. With its legendary franchises, expanding digital services, and a growing presence beyond gaming, Nintendo is evolving into a broader entertainment empire. As the company focuses on building an everlasting ecosystem and shifting toward recurring revenue streams, it appears to be achieving greater financial stability while maintaining its reputation for innovation. In this episode...
Mar 16, 2025•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 621
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down Airbnb (ticker: ABNB), a dominant and disruptive business in the hospitality industry. Airbnb has changed how the world travels, convincing millions to spend a night in a stranger’s home, similar to how Uber convinced the world to ride in strangers’ vehicles. Shawn explores how Airbnb got its start, the business’s economics, and whether the company is an attractive investment at current prices. In this episode, you’ll learn the sec...
Mar 09, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 620
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down Blue Owl Capital (ticker: OWL), an emerging giant in the world of alternative asset management that specializes in private credit. Blue Owl has quickly grown its assets under management to over $230 billion and is one of the few SPACs from 2020 to work out, yet Shawn explores whether the company is a good investment at current prices. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how Blue Owl was born out of several mergers, how the private cre...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 619
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down VeriSign, a company that underpins the functioning of the internet. VeriSign acts like a toll road, collecting fees from anyone using website domains ending in .com or .net, in exchange for managing the global domain registry system and making these domains accessible. VeriSign is a fascinating company with the fifth-highest profit margins in the S&P 500, and its shares have been increasingly snapped up by Berkshire Hathaway of lat...
Feb 23, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 618
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down AutoZone, ticker: AZO, a 100-bagger stock that continues to wow investors with its massive share repurchases after already buying back more than 90% of its total shares outstanding in the past two decades. AutoZone is a seemingly mundane auto parts retailer, a common store you’ve probably driven past or visited dozens of times, but its returns on capital are anything but average. Shawn goes through the company’s surprising origin s...
Feb 16, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 617
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down Vital Farms, a company that sells pasture-raised eggs with a cult-like following. Vital Farms missed the memo that eggs are supposed to be a commodity and instead has brought the “premium egg” market mainstream. Shawn goes through how the company has scaled its business sustainably and ethically through a network of family farms, why the brand has such incredible customer loyalty, how they can continue growing, and why the stock ma...
Feb 09, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 616
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down Alphabet — the parent company of Google, which is one of the most valuable companies in the world and probably an important part of your everyday life. Shawn explores how Google got its start, how Alphabet makes money from seemingly-free services like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Earth, and what to make of how AI and regulatory threats could reshape Alphabet’s business model. Shawn paints a high-level picture of the most importan...
Feb 02, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 615
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down John Deere, a company as American as Levi’s blue jeans and apple pie. John Deere is a fascinating business because it has survived for nearly two hundred years and remained an industry leader for much of that time, continually building their world-famous green-and-yellow tractors. Deere is about much more than tractors, though, and you might be surprised to learn that its story is really about cutting-edge technology. Deere’s equip...
Jan 26, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 614
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down what you might call a beautiful compounder. That is, Ulta Beauty, one of America’s largest retailers for cosmetics, skincare, and hair care products, with an impressive track record of generating returns on capital while benefiting from industry trends where beauty enthusiasts increasingly see beauty products as being key to their wellness and self-care routines. Shawn outlines what has worked well for Ulta, why its customers are s...
Jan 19, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 613
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) tells the story of Coupang, the “Amazon of South Korea.” Coupang’s Bom Kim is an impressive founder & CEO who has led the company to incredible growth, with almost half of South Korea’s population becoming active customers of Coupang. And Coupang’s overnight delivery actually puts Amazon to shame, while few companies create as much value for customers as Coupang does with its RocketWOW memberships, which are similar to Amazon’s Prime subscript...
Jan 12, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 612
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) breaks down Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., ticker: MSGS, which is the holding company that owns the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers. MSGS is one of the few publicly-traded equities that allows retail investors to directly own professional sports teams, and few franchises are of a higher profile than the Knicks and Rangers. Shawn covers the business model of professional sports teams, why sports franchises are trophy asset...
Jan 05, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 611
The Intrinsic Value Podcast by The Investor’s Podcast Network is hosted by Shawn O’Malley. This podcast is inspired by 10 years of interviews with the world’s best investors here at The Investor’s Podcast Network. Shawn applies those lessons while breaking down and valuing a different business every week. From outlining how companies make money to understanding their competitive advantages, competitors, growth opportunities, and, of course, estimating their intrinsic value, this podcast will hel...
Jan 01, 2025•2 min
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) chats with Clay Finck and Kyle Grieve of our We Study Billionaires podcast. Shawn reflects with Clay and Kyle on some of their favorite moments as Millennial Investing hosts in the past, from chatting with William Green to discussing whether we are in an “Everything Bubble” and how passive investing has affected markets. You’ll learn how Clay has evolved as an investor since joining The Investor's Podcast Network, how Kyle built out his stock ...
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 610
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) goes through the best-selling book Zero to One by the prolific investor Peter Thiel, who’s best known for co-founding PayPal and Palantir and for being the first outside investor in Facebook. Thiel is a highly contrarian thinker, and the book organizes his notes from his time at Stanford lecturing to the next generation of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs. You’ll learn Peter Thiel’s favorite question to ask in interviews, the difference between ...
Dec 23, 2024•56 min•Ep. 609
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) shares his favorite lessons from the billionaire investor Mohnish Pabrai, who some know as the “Indian Warren Buffett.” Pabrai is a master investor, a close friend of Charlie Munger, and a wonderful storyteller, too. You’ll learn what it means to circle the wagons in investing, how a few big decisions will end up mattering the most throughout your investment career, how GEICO changed Benjamin Graham’s perspective on investing, why Nick Sleep t...
Dec 16, 2024•56 min•Ep. 608
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) takes you into the classroom of legendary investor Joel Greenblatt, sharing his biggest takeaways from watching Greenblatt’s lectures at Columbia. Greenblatt is a wildly successful investor, professor, founder of the Value Investor’s Club forum, and best-selling author of some of the most popular stock investing books ever written. You’ll learn how Greenblatt thinks about the upside and downside potential for investments through three case stu...
Dec 09, 2024•57 min•Ep. 607
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) discusses the concept of hidden compounders, where some of the most boring businesses can make the best long-term investments. Compared to well-known compounders like Apple and Amazon, which have well-known track records in compounding returns for investors, there are loads of lesser-known companies with less obvious competitive advantages that operate in less exciting industries with equally impressive track records in recent years. You’ll le...
Dec 02, 2024•54 min•Ep. 606
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) explores the fundamentals of, and merits in, being a long-term, quality-focused investor, using John Huber’s success and philosophy as an example to follow. Huber is the rare money manager who truly aligns incentives with his investors by using the template created by Warren Buffett back in his days before Berkshire Hathaway. You’ll learn about what makes Huber’s fee structure special, Huber’s philosophy for investing long-term in high-quality...
Nov 25, 2024•55 min•Ep. 605
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) explores the highs and lows of famed investor Martin Whitman’s career. Whitman is the founder of Third Avenue Management, which, at its peak in 2006, managed 26 billion dollars across a handful of funds. For nearly two decades, Whitman outperformed market benchmarks with average annual returns of 12 percent. Whitman’s approach to investing is unique, and in this episode, you’ll learn about why the balance sheet is just as important or more imp...
Nov 18, 2024•58 min•Ep. 604
In today’s episode, Shawn O’Malley (@Shawn_OMalley_) discusses how companies can age just like people, how to define and understand the corporate life cycle, why the corporate decline phase is both inevitable and almost always poorly managed, how to invest across the corporate life cycle, plus so much more from studying Aswath Damodaran and recent research from Michael Mauboussin & Dan Callahan of Morgan Stanley. Aswath Damodaran is a renowned professor of finance at NYU who recently published a...
Nov 11, 2024•58 min•Ep. 603
