Investment Idea #6 - Pepsico

What is the common denominator for the following: sugar, cocaine, potato chips, gaming and Netflix?

The human brain is weak. We are wired to succumb to temptations easily and we slide down slippery slopes and are unable to get back on our feet without tremendous effort. That is why it is so hard to lose weight, or stop swiping those TikTok videos or quit drinking or smoking. The common denominator for the above question is addiction. We just cannot stop ourselves when our brains from crazy over those dopamine hits. No pun intended but we are, in essence, not too different from zombies always going crazy for brains. They also cannot help it.

Businesses that leverage on this weakness become cash generating machines as consumers cannot stop consuming their products. Think sugary drinks, addictive games, new seasons of Game of Thrones and salty snacks. It gets so bad that governments have to clamp things down. Cocaine is illegal in most countries as with most drugs.

Many countries has imposed sugar tax and China restricted kids from playing games after 10pm. But that does nothing to stop these companies from churning cash because people simply cannot stop themselves from wanting more. They will still consume even if you raise prices, reduce the volume per pack or even reduce the quality of the product.

Our idea today is one such consumer company with market cap of over USD250bn, which is roughly the size of New Zealand’s GDP and almost twice the size of Ukraine’s GDP and amazingly, a tad smaller than our Little Red Dot’s GDP. We shall discuss its investment thesis, moats, risks and valuation.