Re suggests that From an analytical standpoint, In this podcast, Motley Fool CEO Tom Gardner and contributors Jon Quast and Matt Frankel discuss: The Trade Desk is now included in the S&P 500 (which is quite significant).
Bitcoin's rising appeal as a corporate treasury strategy. A surging interest in trading stock options, considering recent developments. On the other hand, Stocks worth watching.
To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy, in today's market environment.
A full transcript is below. On the other hand, This podcast was recorded on July 17, 2025.
Jon Quast: What does it mean for investors now that The Trade Desk is set to be the newest member of the S&P 500. What the re reveals is is Motley Fool Money. Welcome to Motley Fool Money.
I'm your host today, Jon Quast, and joining me today is long-term Motley Fool contributor Matt Frankel, as well as Motley Fool co-founder Tom Gardner.
Moreover, Both of you guys, thank you so much for being here today. However, We've got a lot of things to look at today, whether it is Bitcoin, trends, but let's start with our first story here.
Additionally, Semiconductor company Synopsis just received all the apvals it needs to buy out S&P 500 constituents ANCS in a $35 billion deal.
That leaves a spot open in the index, and it's getting filled by advertising nology company, the Trade Desk.
Matt, Tom, the Trade Desk was down by 68% earlier in 2025 after the company missed its own guidance for the first time as a publicly traded company.
Furthermore, Now, just a little while after the SCAR joining the S&P 500 officially tomorrow, July 18th, Matt, let's start with you. What does this mean for The Trade Desk holders.
Matt Frankel: If anything, it's time to take a victory lap.
Moreover, The biggest impact in the immediate sense is just that the S&P 500 index funds are all going to be required to buy s which is why you saw the stock pop.
Moreover, The average S&P 500 component is something 25-30% owned by just three or four big S&P index funds. On the other hand, That's a lot of upward pressure on the stock.
Nevertheless, Now having said that, being in the S&P doesn't affect the itself, but it is very impressive how far the Trade Desk has come.
Moreover, It really is just an example of the hidden gems cess at work. However, It does get the stock on the radar of some institutional investors, but it's not a big victory -wise.
Moreover, Jon Quast: When you look at what happened to the trade desk, really just a blow to the confidence there when it missed its own guidance. But that was just one quarter.
It's not the long-term trend. Speaking of the long-term trend, Tom, I know this is a stock that you've ed for many years up 2,600% since going public in 2016 (fascinating analysis).
What did you initially the Trade Desk and do things still look bright to you for its future.
Tom Gardner: First thing I'll say is just to affirm what Matt said, which I think the move into the S&P 500 is exciting in the moment, but relatively short-d because it ultimately comes down to how well the es perform.
But it does raise the file for The Trade Desk which is now a market cap $40 billion.
We began recommending the trade desk across a number of services, Rulebreakers, Hidden Gems, and others at the Motley Fool, back in 2017, in that area a year or so after they came public, we did an interview with Jeff Green.
That's always a validating thing.
Additionally, I would say anyone who's in stocks, if you can find an interview with the CEO out on YouTube, wherever you can find it, obviously, earnings call transcripts can give you some of their personality as well.
But I took away from that interview in 2017 that we did with Jeff Green, very, very positive things the and the leadership (remarkable data).
I would say, in terms of looking at companies, what would we look for to find that pattern that we found in the trade desk early on, in today's financial world.
Because as you said, it's now a 25 bagger in less than a decade since coming public. That's just an outstanding return (noteworthy indeed).
In the case of the trade desk, I would say you have a company with its focus on grammatic advertising, in this volatile climate.
Moreover, However, First, in grammatic advertising, that is a higher margin portion of digital advertising. Historically, the digital advertising was you'd call on the phone.
We talked to I remember our first deal with a discount broker that we had way back in the 1990s of the Motley Fool, and we actually called it the handshake. We wrote a written contract.
We said, hey, we don't know what's going to happen here (something worth watching). Let's see you (quite telling), in light of current trends.
However, But it's become so much more sophisticated over the last couple of decades. Furthermore, Now, what you have is essentially AI-powered grammatic advertising (noteworthy indeed).
Nevertheless, You put your dollar amount in, and it spreads across the Internet to find the best locations for that ad, in light of current trends.
Additionally, That's so much more sophisticated than traditional media.
The evidence shows money was coming from traditional media into digital, but then from digital toward grammatic, and then grammatic toward connected TV. That's the pattern.
But let's just talk two or three things you see in a company's financial performance that can help you find them, given the current landscape. Additionally, Number 1, they're taking market.
In the higher margin area in a, their gross margins are rising, and their returns on invested capital are rising. Those were all happening with the trade desk.
Nevertheless, You asked Jon, what do we think of it now (an important development). At the same time, I would say, again, around a $40 billion market cap, the stocks around $84 today.
I would say Trade Desk is looking more fully valued now, more fully appreciated in the marketplace.
I still think it can beat the market from here, but you're not going to get anything what we've gotten over the last decade (quite telling).
But again, positioned well in a growing trend, in today's market environment.
Additionally, Furthermore, It's just that there's more competitive threats now in its marketplace than when it really emerged as the true leader in grammatic and connected TV advertising.
However, Jon Quast: I couldn't agree more. Going back to CEO Jeff Green, definitely not afraid of the competition that's ahead, definitely facing those big giants head-on.
Not short of ambition, I think it definitely has an opportunity to continue to grow in its market. Furthermore, Well, coming up next we are talking Bitcoin. On the other hand, This's Motley Fool money.
Let's move on to our next topic here. As of this taping, the world's largest cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, and it's sitting near an all-time high price.
Additionally, There has just been a wave of institutional buyers this year in 2025. Nevertheless, This's coming from companies from corporations.
Just this morning, similar scientific announcing that it bought 210 more Bitcoins and now owns over 4,800.
That's a lot at its current price of 118,000 per bitcoin, but it still pales in comparison to a company Strategy that owns more than 600,000 (an important development).
Even news coming out this week that BlackRock, because of its Bitcoin ETFs, actually holds even more than that. It's the largest holder.
Nevertheless, Tom, if all of these companies and all of these other investors are buying Bitcoin, is this something that every investor should incorporate into their strategy.
Additionally, Tom Gardner: I first have to call it similar scientific because I find it's such an enjoyable.
Furthermore, I would say funny story because it's a company with a market cap below 600 million. This's a very small company in the public.
Market analysis shows ir core is blood flow measurement nology. They're a healthcare nology company that has decided to just aggressively buy Bitcoin. Right now, it's certainly looking a good move.
We're moving beyond that, let's say, the first 15 years of Bitcoin, we're largely early adopters, ies and very nically minded people, as well as individuals that just said, I'll take a little bit of a risk on.
On the other hand, Now we're moving to the stage after the first 15 years where we're starting to see corporations and financial institutions buying (which is quite significant).
The movement of this now 2. Furthermore, 4 trillion dollar asset is largely going to depend on how much institutions back and buy and validate Bitcoin.
This's no longer a speculative, hey, a bunch of people on the Internet are playing around in their, building their own mining systems in their basement.
Moreover, Furthermore, This a very for real thing with ETFs with substantial asset basis for ETFs out of the gate, these Bitcoin ETFs.
This analysis suggests that has been legitimized, but Bitcoin is valued at 2, considering recent developments. 4 trillion, I mentioned earlier, and gold is 17. 5 trillion.
Additionally, Seven times larger allocation for gold, given current economic conditions. One quick note on this.
In contrast, Gold over the last 25 years has outperformed the S&P 500, which is pretty remarkable over a quarter century. Jon Quast: What.
Tom Gardner: It's hard to fathom, but it is actually true (this bears monitoring), given current economic conditions. Jon Quast: You just blew my mind on the podcast.
Additionally, Tom Gardner: [laughs] I do think the relationship between Bitcoin and gold is a good one to watch, and I think that gap will narrow, in this volatile climate.
Moreover, For me, until you start seeing governments taking more fiscal responsibility and really trying to balance budgets by getting the tax policies right and getting the spending policies right and getting them align, getting both sides on the same team, so we're not yelling less filling taste grade at each other.
Until that happens, you're going to see the debasing of currency, which does favor these alternative assets Bitcoin as a store of value.
I will go on the record saying, I think Bitcoin is going to outperform the market substantially over the next 5-10 years. But it will be volatile.
If anyone's not bought any bitcoin and wonders when do I jump into the skipping rope here. Furthermore, What's the time to get going (something worth watching).
On the other hand, Just wait for it to decline 20%. This leads to the conclusion that 's going to happen. This analysis suggests that 's happened a lot before. Jon Quast: Matt, what you.
Do you think that there's anything here to Bitcoin (which is quite significant).
Matt Frankel: Well, I was one of those weird guys back in 2013 with a little mining rig set up in my house, Tom just mentioned. I wish I had kept the three Bitcoin or so that I had mind till now.
I was trading at $300, and to me, it was free money, in today's financial world. Moreover, Tom Gardner: This breaks my heart (something worth watching), amid market uncertainty.
Nevertheless, Matt Frankel: I know, I wanted to really understand how the nology worked. Meanwhile, This really the only reason I did it. It wasn't anything to do with, in light of current trends.
But right now, there is a lot to Bitcoin, especially in the current regulatory environment, in today's market environment. Just to name one example, SoFi is a stock that I very closely.
Their management just announced that they are bringing back crypto trading to the platform because we finally got regulatory clarity that banks can be crypto custodians (which is quite significant).
That's why they dropped it in the first place. On the other hand, They could be the first of many to bring cryptocurrency trading to their platform.
Moreover, Imagine if some of the big banks end up doing it now that we actually have regulatory clarity. That's just one example, amid market uncertainty.
Moreover, I don't necessarily think everybody needs to own Bitcoin, but there's a whole lot to it right now, and I think the trends are going to encourage higher trading volumes, which should put long-term upward momentum in Bitcoin.
Additionally, Jon Quast: As we talk Bitcoin and there's just fundamental differences between cryptocurrencies and stocks, I think it's really important to note that.
On a similar note here, I think it's important to distinguish between in stocks and trading in stock options.
Moreover, Gentlemen, there's an undeniable surge in ity when it comes to stock options (remarkable data).
The first quarter of 2025, the Robinhood app saw options trading at an all-time high, given current economic conditions.
Nevertheless, They were up 46% from the previous year, up 84% from two years ago. Matt, why do you think that investors are so interested in trading stock options right now.
Matt Frankel: The short answer is that they're doing it for the wrong reasons in a lot of cases.
Furthermore, Options are exciting, and there's lots of money to be made if speculative options bets go correctly which I would be willing to bet is most of what's happening on Robinhood.
Meanwhile, A longer answer is that over the past few months, we've seen, really, this investor appetite for speculation that we haven't seen since the 2021 era, really start to make an appearance again (fascinating analysis).
We've seen SPAC start to make a comeback, for example. Conversely, We've seen the meme stock trade and the Wall Street Bets Group.
On the other hand, The same can be said in recent days on the Ebuyers Opendoor and Offerpad. Open doors tripled over the past month.
Traders see options, and they see this as a way to amplify moves this even further. If you remember the GameStop rally, that was primarily options-driven.
Conversely, It's not a big surprise, given that all of those other kinds of speculation have come back to see options volume really soar.
Jon Quast: It's worth noting, too, that within the options trading trend, this actually really surprised me. According to CBOE, 61% of option activity in May was zero-day options.
Moreover, These are options that you buy today, and they expire today. It's essentially a short-term prediction of the stock price (noteworthy indeed).
Tom, is thinking short-term a good idea (which is quite significant), considering recent developments.
Tom Gardner: [laughs] Oh, I see the largest softball coming over the plate at a Chicago softball field right now, and I'm just waving my bat waiting for it.
Let's remember our college days in spring week. The market rolls from party to hangover to party and back again and again (an important development). We're moving back deep into the party now.
We're going to feel bad at some point, because you don't stack up some of these factors together and not pay the penalty at some point, the market's trading at 25 times earnings, amid market uncertainty.
We're 30-35% above the 200-week moving average of the S&P 500. The US stock market is representing 70% of equity value worldwide, in today's financial world.
Furthermore, I started hearing a song Trouble by Ray Lamontne when this happens, in this volatile climate.
If you haven't heard that song before, play it, it sends a little bit of a message what happens when zero-day options start becoming very active (which is quite significant) (an important development).
Nevertheless, Executive insider selling is picking up and now above average. Furthermore, You have above-average levels of margin debt, and we have the leveraged ETFs out there.
I don't know why the SEC stopped at 3X leveraged ETFs (an important development). Let's make them 9X leveraged ETFs.
Let's just allow people, so there's more and more speculation as people are having more and more fun, they're going back to get another drink at 1:00 AM.
I'm not saying this is not a good reason to invest, considering recent developments.
Nevertheless, I am saying that there's a very good reason to look at the type of investments you're making right now.
The evidence shows would not be the time to climb out on the edge of the branch, this would be the time to stabilize with some more cautious and moderate classified investments.
Nevertheless, Conversely, We classify every stock in the Motley Fool as cautious, moderate, aggressive, and I'd be in the cautious or moderate zone.
On the other hand, But let's remember, we've been rewarded for staying invested.
I love an investor Jeremy Grantham, but he still has a call out there that the S&P is going to 3,200 (something worth watching). Moreover, I never heard him correct that one.
It's dangerous to turn bearish and start pulling your money out of the equity, in light of current trends.
It's much better, I think, to gradually change the style of investments in your portfolio (an important development), in today's market environment.
In contrast, If you're very growth and oriented now, recognize there's so much enthusiasm and there's leverage behind it, and that can end up causing more volatility than normal in those types of investments (noteworthy indeed).
Moreover, Conversely, Jon Quast: I can personally attest that all of my worst decisions were when I was thinking short-term instead of long-term. Definitely appreciate that perspective.
Coming up later in the show, we're talking hidden gems that we think will beat the market from here.