👉️ Retail Sales Are Down In January: What Does This Mean For You? 🤔 

👉️ IPOs: The Ins and Outs of IPOs and What You Should Know 📈 

👉️ The Profit Academy: Your Shortcut to Smarter Investing 🤑 

Retail Sales are Down in January 📉 

Sales fell by 0.9% month over month in January to $723.9 billion, reversing the 0.7% increase that happened in December, with the majority coming from Christmas spending.

On a year-over-year basis, sales rose by 4.2%.

Core retail sales, which exclude autos and parts, dropped by 0.4% month over month, while sales excluding auto and gas declined by 0.5% month over month.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers saw a 6.4% year-over-year gain, and food service sales rose 5.4%.

This weaker than normal data suggests that consumers are being cautious about their spending but could aid in the support of Federal Reserve cuts, which could lead to a benefit in the stock marker short term.

With that being said, the market is overextended on a P/E basis, and stocks are trading at wild valuations.

I would caution investing in stocks trading at all time highs right now as we could see a correction in the coming months.

But that doesn’t mean don’t invest, it means that we should take the extra time to value the stocks we’re buying ensuring they’re trading at fair valuations.

IPOs - What are they and how do they work?

In the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship…

Where time is money and building a passive income source is the ultimate goal…

The allure of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) is hard to resist.

Especially when it comes to achieving financial freedom, the key to taking care of your own and your family's financial concerns.

But what exactly is an IPO?

An Initial Public Offering is the process through which a private company becomes a public company by offering its shares to the public for the first time.

It's like the grand opening of a blockbuster movie but in the financial markets.

An IPO is a big step for a company as it provides the company with access to raising a lot of money.

This gives the company a greater ability to grow and expand.

The increased transparency and share listing credibility can also be a factor in helping it obtain better terms when seeking borrowed funds as well.

A company will consider going public once it reaches a private valuation of ~$1 billion, also known as “Unicorn Status”.

However, companies of all sizes can IPO provided they have strong fundamentals and meet listing requirements.

So how do companies IPO?

Think of it as a company's debut on the stock market.

The company hires investment banks, like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, to help determine the offering price, manage regulatory requirements, and sell shares to eager investors like yourself.

Now, the exciting part…

What are the potential rewards and risks?

When it comes to rewards, think of companies like Google and Facebook.

They were once IPOs and early investors saw huge returns as these companies continued to grow.

But like anything related to money and wealth, there are risks associated too.

For certain companies, the hype might not match the reality.

Which will make investors like you feel the burn of a poor IPO.

One thing we have to realize as investors is that many times the hype around an IPO is what drives the share price.

But like all good investors do, we have to understand the intrinsic value of the company before we invest in anything.

Make sure you do your due diligence.

Let's look at these 5 hot prospects that are set to IPO soon or have already IPO’d

1) APUS - Apimeds Pharmaceuticals US: Price $4 - $5 (Expected IPO Feb 21, 2025)

2) NNNN - Anbio Biotechnology: Price $5 - $6 (Expected IPO Feb 19, 2025)

3) AARD - Aardvark Therapeutics Inc.: Price $16 (IPO’d Feb 13, 2025)

4) XHLD - TEN Holdings Inc.: Price $6 (IPO’d Feb 13, 2025)

5) SAIL - SailPoint Inc.: Price $23 (IPO’d Feb 13, 2025)

Make sure you’re aware of the risks when investing in recently IPO’d companies.

Happy investing!

Alex (The Dividend Dominator)
Founder and CEO of Dividend Domination Inc.
Follow me on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn

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