Market Cap Game Show: An Un-Carrier, an Un-Company & an Un-Tripled Stock

In this Rule Breaker Investing podcast, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner welcomes Motley Fool favorites Emily Flippen and Mac Greer to the stage as they test their knowledge on the price tags of 10 public companies.

From semiconductor giants to convenience store champions, from cutting-edge cybersecurity firms to energy drink dynamos, the competitors tackle stocks both familiar and surprising.

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Will you outscore Emily, Mac, or both? Play along, challenge your market cap intuition, and discover the surprising values of companies you know and love (and maybe a few you've never heard of).

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. To get started investing, check out our beginner's guide to investing in stocks. A full transcript follows the video.

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This video was recorded on Dec. 18, 2024.

David Gardner: The price per share of a stock tells you almost nothing. It's the price to buy one share of the stock, but how many shares does the company have outstanding? In math, we multiply two multiplicants together. But the price per share is only one multiplicand. If you don't know the other one, you can't do any meaningful math or figure out much of the world around you. Well, Fools with a capital F know that you need to know the shares outstanding and then multiply that by the price per share. Now you know the actual full value of the company. It's full price tag. It's market capitalization, market cap. Well, to teach this lesson inexorably and unforgettably, we invented a game. That's what I do. The date was August 9th, 2017. The Market Cap Game Show was born and we've been playing every quarter since, oh, and you're playing, too. I designed it that way, so you can play along against my guest stars, against your spouse or partner, against your kids. Can you outscore my talented contestants this week? It's that time of the quarter again, 10 new stocks, three guest stars, Emily Flippen, Mac Greer, and you. Only on this week's Rule Breaker Investing.

Welcome back to Rule Breaker Investing a delight to have you with us. The penultimate Wednesday of every quarter is dedicated to the Market Cap Game Show. So, yes, we, you are about to play a game. The game is all about estimating the value of companies, the market cap, the market's price tag on each company. Retail shopping experiences all feature prominently displayed price tags as you walk down the aisle of a grocery store or at your local Best Buy but many investors don't know the real price tags of the stocks that are available on the shelves of the stock market. They think it's the price per share. It's not. As I said at the top, it's that price per share times the number of shares. That gives you the real price tag of the company, the market cap. So this is a quiz show around the market caps of some of our favorite stock. I welcome on two favorite investors of mine who compete head to head. Speaking of which, Mac Greer is a producer with The Motley Fool. He works on our premium podcasts, stock reveals, The Morning Show, and Fool events. Outside of the Fool, Mac enjoys spending time with his family, dealing with his Beagle's separation anxiety, and listening to Taylor Swift's All Too Well, the 10-minute version, of course, welcome Mac.

Mac Greer: Thanks, David.

David Gardner: Emily Flippen is an advisor at The Fool, where she helps lead the stock advisor team with fundamental research on companies, particularly those that exemplify David's six traits of a rule-breaker stock. Outside of her work at The Fool, Emily has enjoyed a brief stint on reality TV, continues to enjoy her failed attempts to train her cats, and is hopefully going to enjoy and I'm serious about this and is hopefully going to enjoy celebrating her marriage as of this afternoon. Emily, welcome.

Emily Flippen: Thanks for having me. It's just a courthouse. We're just going to the courthouse.

David Gardner: You're getting married today.

Emily Flippen: I am.

David Gardner: This will never again happen on the Market Cap Game [laughs] Show, that one of our contestants is getting married.

Emily Flippen: You can't know that for sure.

David Gardner: So full disclosure for those keeping score at home, we recorded this episode on Friday, December 13th. Remember Friday the 13th? It was just a few days ago. I want to note for you both, Mac probably already knows this. In addition to it being Emily Flippen's future anniversary day, it's also Taylor Swift's birthday.

Mac Greer: I had no idea.

Emily Flippen: It's also my dad's birthday.

Mac Greer: Oh, my God. What a great day.

David Gardner: What a great day to talk about market caps.

Mac Greer: Absolutely. I mean, when I think Friday the 13th, I think market caps.

Emily Flippen: And Taylor Swift.

David Gardner: Of course, the third player and to us the most important is you. That's right. You, our dear fellow Foolish listener, as Des begins to crank up our Market Cap Game Show music. Stock Number 1, let me turn to you, Mac. Mac, are you more of a beachgoer or a mountain man?

Mac Greer: That's a great question. We do beach and mountains every summer. I'm going to probably have to go beach slightly.

David Gardner: When you stroll down the beach, do you ever have deep thoughts?

Mac Greer: Absolutely. I would say medium-depth thoughts, but yes.

David Gardner: Think of the sand for a minute. Have you ever once marveled on a Mac rear beach walk with medium thoughts that plain old sand can be turned into the world's most advanced technology? Ever pick up a handful and just think, you know, someday, this could end up powering my favorite streaming service.

Mac Greer: I haven't done that exact thing, but I have expressed awe for the beach and the sand.

David Gardner: That's close. Well, Lam Research is a company that harnesses that transformative power, turning raw silicon into the advanced chips that drive our most beloved devices and digital platforms. It's a key player in the semiconductor equipment industry where precision and complexity are the name of the game. Mac Greer, what is your stated market cap range for Lam Research, ticker symbol LRCX?

Mac Greer: So Lam Research, let's see, 9+2, carry the one. I'm going to go 40-60 billion.

David Gardner: Forty billion dollars to $60 billion. Emily, have you ever looked at Lam Research?

Emily Flippen: I have. In fact, it is a Stock Advisor recommendation, so the pressures really going to be on with this one. [laughs]

David Gardner: It is somewhat on, but, Emily, all pressures off you today. I can't even believe you're in the studio. Thank you so much. Emily, do you feel yourself wanting to agree or disagree with Mac's $40-60 billion range?

Emily Flippen: Frustratingly, if I had to give my own range, I probably would have said something like 50-70 billion. I think it's right around that $60 billion mark, but I have to be contrarian. I think it's maybe a little above 60 or a lot above 60. I don't really know. I'm going to go outside that range.

David Gardner: Players at home, if you along with Emily disagreed with Mac's range, give yourself a plus one because Lam Research is $97 1/4 billion. Emily, I'm glad that you said you think it's a little bit bigger. It is.

Emily Flippen: It had.

David Gardner: Lam Research was founded in 1980. It's headquartered in Fremont, California. Its wafer fabrication equipment is used to produce virtually every advanced chip in the world smartphones, servers, AI. I picked it from Motley Fool Stock Advisor on March 18th of 2021. So it was just two months before I retired from Motley Fool stock picking. It was one of my last picks. Our cost was $51.80. Three-and-a-half years later, it's up 46%, which is behind the market by about 10% points. So a steady eddy, but a laggard.

Mac Greer: I had completely forgotten about the wafer fabrication equipment. [laughs]

Emily Flippen: We should spend more time [laughs] contemplating it when you go to the beach.

Mac Greer: Exactly. Pick up the sand.

Emily Flippen: [laughs] There you go.

David Gardner: Emily, you're off to a good start. Emily, one, Mac, zero. Let's move on to stock Number 2. Emily, is it true we all have a hater in us somewhere?

Emily Flippen: I would like to think I have more than one, but I do think [laughs] it exist down there somewhere. [laughs].

David Gardner: I don't want to bring out the mean here because this is a very special day but briefly, if you will, what are one or two stocks that over the last five years have been popular among Fool analysts or advisors, I won't say you're a hater, but you just don't believe?

Emily Flippen: One that I have been a persistent hater upon that just continues to prove me wrong and at some point, maybe I'll change my mind, Duolingo. Nothing against it. I think the app is fabulous. Learning a language is a wonderful thing to do. I think that learning a language is exercise. People want to do it conceptually, but their ability to continue to reliably do it and especially pay for it is maybe less than they expect it is. I'm convinced it hasn't happened yet. But one of these days, it's going to happen to Duolingo.

David Gardner: We're throwing some shade at Duolingo. That is not stock Number 2, but I hear you. It has been pointed out on this show before that maybe it's not actually about learning languages. It's just a very compelling video game and people are paying for the video game.

Emily Flippen: A fair enough point. I spent a lot of my time playing video games, doing management stuff, making beds, running restaurants, [laughs] doing stuff that I could do in real life if I was motivated to. But I much prefer to do it digitally.

David Gardner: Well, I hear you on Duolingo, but I thought you might say Stitch Fix, ticker symbol SFIX.

Emily Flippen: I was very close, David.

David Gardner: Now, this is the online personal styling service that sends curated clothing items to your door. At one point, it was all the rage, but I don't recall you ever having been a fan, Emily. I was, though. Let me picked it for Rule Breakers on August 23rd, 2018. It's down. Yikes a lot since. But I'm not going to spoil it because I'm about to ask you, Emily Flippen, what is your stated market cap range for Stitch Fix, ticker symbol SFIX?

Emily Flippen: I'm very torn about this one. I'm probably giving Mac hence here because I remember consciously thinking to myself, this is not a billion-dollar business. There's no way this clothing delivery service is going to be worth more than a billion dollars. At the same time, I believe Stitch Fix, if I'm not mistaken, has been on somewhat of a tear this year. I could be wrong. Mac is giving me a look. Maybe I'm doing a good thing by over-explaining, buying myself time here. But I'm going to give a range of 900 million to 2.3 billion.

David Gardner: Nine hundred million to 2.3 billion. Again, we are recording this on Friday the 13th, but I'm channeling our listeners listening to us in the future and saying last week the stock had some big moves around earnings. Mac Greer, Emily said 900 million to 2.3 billion. Players at home, Mac Greer, do you want to agree or disagree?

Mac Greer: This is a tough one. I've always had faith in Emily, so let the record show. When I think Stitch Fix, fairly or not, I also think Blue Apron. I had a bad Blue Apron experience because when you order the food, it comes in 9,000 different packages and at some point, you just say,

David Gardner: It's too much?

Mac Greer: Yeah, just give me a pizza. So [laughs] I think this is going to be a low market cap. I'm going to actually say it's in that range.

Mac Greer: I like your thinking, Mac. Unfortunately, you made the wrong call. It's even smaller than Emily was thinking. So the market cap of Stitch Fix, as of Thursday, December 12th, was 589.82 million just below $600 million of share stock around $4.65. I picked it in 2018. It's down 88% over the past six years. I'm even a customer today. I really like the service.

Mac Greer: Do you send a lot of stuff back? Because it just sounds exhausting to me. I mean, I would be the easiest customer they could just send me a Whataburger hoodie once a month, and I would keep it and we would be good to go. So that would be it.

David Gardner: So what is Whataburger? You are wearing Whataburger. It says, since 1950, is this a regional burger place that I don't know about?

Mac Greer: It is, and Emily knows about it.

Emily Flippen: I think I think all the Texans listening to this podcast are probably.

David Gardner: It is a burnt orange hoodie.

Mac Greer: It's a burnt orange hoodie. It's my official winter uniform. Around November, I just put this on and I take it off in [laughs] Easter.

David Gardner: If the flowers start popping.

Mac Greer: Exactly. But Emily and I are both from Texas, and Whataburger is an institution. The only thing I'll say about Whataburger is I think people like the idea of Whataburger, maybe a little more than the actual food.

Emily Flippen: I'll just reiterate honey butter chicken biscuit. That's all I need from the Whataburger. I've never tried that.

David Gardner: Is it Whataburger?

Emily Flippen: It is. It's their breakfast. If I'm not mistaken, it's been a long time since I've been in Texas up early enough or late enough because I think they serve it after 2:00 AM to get a honey butter chicken biscuit. You don't remember the name?

Mac Greer: I take it back then. I apologize to Whataburger, and I also apologize to Lam Research for undervaluing. [laughs]

David Gardner: Stitch Fix founded in 2011 by Katrina Lake who took the company public in 2017, making her one of the youngest female founders to lead an IPO at that time. But she's not still the CEO of the company. Emily, do you have any further thoughts before we move to stock Number 3?

Emily Flippen: Just that nothing against the service itself, actually. In fact, one of my favorite pairs of pants I got off Stitch Fix. It's just one of those businesses when you look at it and you look at the customer, the size of the market there, of which I guess, David, you are of that key demographic. I just could never really imagine it being particularly large.

David Gardner: She's pitching a shutout so far, Emily two, Mac nothing. Let's move back to you, Mac Greer. Mac, imagine you're managing your own household pantry. Now, are you the type who likes to keep everything just in time, never stocking more than you need? Or do you go the full Costco mode and stack three months' worth of granola bars in your cabinets and there I go mentioning Costco?

Mac Greer: I love me some Costco. I am more the get it at the last minute we live a block from Safeway. So basically, go to the grocery store pretty much every day.

David Gardner: In that case, you roll pretty well with stock Number 3. We're not talking about Costco here. This next company specializes in helping major retailers and distributors optimize their supply chains so they know exactly how much product to have on hand and when. The company is Manhattan Associates, ticker symbol MANH, a leader in supply chain and inventory management software. I'm seeing very confident body language from you, Mac Greer. So let's just go with it. What is your stated market cap range for Manhattan Associates, ticker symbol MANH?

Mac Greer: It's one of my favorite sleeper stocks, 5-10 billion.

David Gardner: Five to $10 billion, he didn't even hesitate. Emily Flippen, players at home. Do you want to agree or disagree? Emily, why?

Emily Flippen: Look, I haven't the first clue, but I do know enough to know a bluff when I see one. [laughs] Mac also hasn't the first clue. If he gets to this point, it's sheer luck. I'm going to say outside of Mac's range.

David Gardner: She's right. Give yourself a plus one. If you disagreed with Mac's range, it is larger than that, $18.92 billion from Manhattan Associates. By the way, it's not that Manhattan. The company's name Manhattan comes from its original office location in the Manhattan Beach area of California, not from the more famous one in New York. Despite this, the firm later relocated its headquarters to Atlanta. That's where it is today, growing substantially.

Mac Greer: I oversold it. I asked before we played, I slacked Matt Argersinger for advice, and he said, it's all about basically bluffing. I bluffed, but it was

Emily Flippen: The problem was that you bluffed on possibly the most obscure company.

Mac Greer: I know. I got to work on my bluffing. Fair point.

David Gardner: I do want to say this company is not that obscure.

Emily Flippen: It's not nearly $20 billion. It's about $19 billion bigger than I thought.

David Gardner: In fact, it's been recommended several times this year by some different Fool services all below $250 a share, and the stock today is about 310. It's been a consistent leader in the Gartner's Magic Quadrant for warehouse management systems. This is not a sexy topic. Not a lot of us think that often about supply chain, but if you do, you're pretty happy if you discovered Manhattan Beach, California, and the Associates of years and years ago because you were crushing the market with the company.

Mac Greer: It's amazing.

David Gardner: Emily, three, Mark, nothing. Let's move on to stock Number 4. Emily, when you're on a road trip, are you the traveler who plans every rest stop ahead of time, or you like to wing it see which roadside gas station calls your name?

Emily Flippen: How about the option of not stopping at all, getting from point A to point B just as quickly and efficiently as possible and holding my bladder the entire time?

David Gardner: I hear you. But what if it's, like, larger than the capacity of your energy in your car?

Emily Flippen: That's fair. I will just, in that case, I will go to whatever is the fastest, most convenient option and continue to move on. I guess the latter.

David Gardner: Have you ever found yourself in a tiny Midwestern community that you'd never heard of only to discover they've got some of the best snacks or even unexpectedly good pizza at the local gas station?

Emily Flippen: Possibly some pizza with egg on it. Breakfast pizza is, I think, maybe the signature item of the company you're probably going to be asking about.

David Gardner: Founded over a century ago, Casey's General Stores started as a dairy delivery service in Boone County, Iowa. I had to look this up. Lots of people love it for its signature made from scratch pizza, Emily, what is your market cap range for Casey's General Stores, ticker symbol C-A-S-Y?

Emily Flippen: I'm hesitantly going to guess, 15-25 billion.

David Gardner: 15-$25 billion. Mark, are you a Casey's fan?

Mac Greer: I don't really know Casey's, no. I can't say.

David Gardner: I don't either, because I'm hopelessly East Coast, and Casey's is much more Midwest, but sometimes I'm unclear whether Texas is counted in the Midwest.

Mac Greer: I don't think I would call Texas Midwest. Texas is a whole another country. It's Southwest, but it's also its own It's.

David Gardner: Its own republic.

Mac Greer: It is. I think that's fair to say.

Emily Flippen: Any Texans that were continuing to listen to this podcast having a slander that was thrown against Waterburger. I definitely turning off the podcast now.

David Gardner: I need to get more in touch with Texas.

Mac Greer: In my defense, I am wearing a Water Burger hoodie, so there's that. I am I'm still representing.

David Gardner: Mark, do you find yourself wanting to agree with Emily's stated range 15 billion to 25 billion or to disagree?

Mac Greer: I'm going to disagree. I think she probably knows it. She used the word hesitantly, and I think that was trying to throw me off, and it got in my head, but I'm already in my own head, so I'm not quite sure, but I'm going disagree.

David Gardner: It was very close because the market cap for Casey's General Stores is 15.8 billion. But unfortunately, that means you should have agreed with it,15-25. Emily's getting married today. Mark, you and I side conversation, we talked about this. You obviously cannot win the game shows Emily gets married.

Mac Greer: It's true and it almost may appear to the untrained observer like I'm trying to lose. But no, this is my wedding gift.

Emily Flippen: I am not against getting a pitty here for the Market Cap Game Show. If I get a win off pity, I'll take it.

Mac Greer: I'm trying. I am trying, just to clarify.

David Gardner: If you agreed with Emily, give yourself a plus one, and if you've been agreeing with Emily throughout, you also have four points after four stocks. I do want to mention, since I've already talked about a dog I picked Stitch Fix, that this is the opposite. April 2015 was the month I picked Casey's for stock advisor, $80.99? Today, it's 425. It's up 428%. It's a five bugger, a convenience store chain that has more than doubled up the market's gains over the past nine years. Emily, you've been to a Casey's?

Emily Flippen: I don't think I have, but I'll tell you what. I am waiting for Wawa. I don't want to say version of Casey's because I don't want to offend the Midwesterners now. But a Casey's knockoff. There we go. Waiting for them to go public. I love their coffee.

Mac Greer: I like Wawa, too. In Texas, we have what Bucky's? What's the big one?

Emily Flippen: Bucky's which is expanding. I saw somebody the Bucky's back at the grocery store yesterday, and they said they got it in Florida.

David Gardner: On to stock Number 5, turning back to you, Mac Greer. Earlier, you said you weren't were a mountain man.

Mac Greer: Slightly. I lived in Boulder for four years, Boulder, Colorado.

David Gardner: That counts. Given that the ticker symbol for stock Number 5 is M-T-N, the company is Vail Resorts. This is connecting in some ways with your past, Mac Greer.

Mac Greer: This is, this has [inaudible] .

David Gardner: I know your family of origin from Houston, Texas has spent some of its time on Western ski slopes. You just mentioned several years in Boulder. Ever been to Vale?

Mac Greer: I have been to Vail, yes.

David Gardner: Mac, you and I have known each other more than 25 years at this point. You've told so many great stories. It's time for you to share with Rule Breaker Nation, the Greer Families Brush. I don't think it was Nash Vale. The Greer Families Brush with Steven Spielberg.

Mac Greer: Wow, that was not at Vail. That was in Hawaii.

David Gardner: Close enough.

Mac Greer: Close enough. We were celebrating my father's 60th birthday, and I have one of those coming up in a few months. We were all having lunch, and I looked over at this table. We're at a hotel and we were out on the terrace, and I looked over at this table, and I said, That's Steven Spielberg and my older brother said, No, it's not. No, that's not and I'm like, No, that is Steven Spielberg. I'm pretty good with faces and names. We had a huge group of our family at this table, immediate family, extended family and stuff and 20 minutes later, Spielberg gets up with his kids. He's done with lunch, and he walks, starts leaving, and I pop up, and I walk over to him with a camera, and I say, Mr. Spielberg, I'm so sorry to bother you, but we're celebrating my father's 60th birthday, and we all wanted to get our picture taken and I thought you'd be the best person to take it. He burst out laughing and came over, took the picture, was so friendly said, happy birthday to my dad and was just so, just wonderfully kind and everything you would want him to be. The greatest thing about that whole story, the picture was out of focus.

David Gardner: Heartbreaking. Beautiful and I think there's an addendum to that story, because didn't your dad politely turn?

Mac Greer: He did.

David Gardner: Would you close it out that way?

Mac Greer: I will. My late father, rest in peace. There's a Greer trait, and I don't know how to define it, except that we probably stay on the stage a little too long. We say the one thing extra, you probably shouldn't and I think I have an editor in my brain who basically clocks out at five, and then I keep talking. After this wonderful moment, Spielberg takes the picture, talks to everyone. Just as he's walking away, my dad says, Can we get a picture of you with your kids? Spielberg just looks at him and says, No.

David Gardner: But that's the polite thing to do. You ask somebody to take a picture of you, then you offered to take a picture of them.

Mac Greer: It's true.

David Gardner: That was such a gentleman.

Mac Greer: That's what he meant. But I think Spielberg was like, I'm officially done. But actually it was very of the Greer trait to go one step too far.

David Gardner: I sit corrected on one point because I was just imagining that was at a ski resort and we're going to go right now back to the mountains.

Mac Greer: Shoot.

David Gardner: But it turns out it was Hawaii, it was a resort. You'll grant me that. Mac Greer, what is your stated market cap range for Vail Resorts? Ticker symbol M-T-N?

Mac Greer: This is a tough one because I know they've had some struggles, but I also know they do some off season stuff. So it's not just skiing these days. But I'm going to go 500 million to 4 billion.

David Gardner: 500 million to 4 billion. I would say it's somewhat generous.

Mac Greer: Generous.

David Gardner: Allotment, 3.5 billion dollar spread. Emily flipping players at home, do you want to agree or disagree with Mac's half a bill to four bill range?

Emily Flippen: I feel crazy now. If this is a bluff for Mac, this is a much better bluff, because I thought Vail Resorts. If I had to take a guess, I'm thinking to myself, they made a fair number of acquisitions. I know they just started expanding internationally. To your point, the seasonality of their business and climate change, it's been a headwind for them. But I thought this was still like a $20 billion business. I'm going to have to go outside that range, fully acknowledging my gauge here might be entirely off.

David Gardner: As we enter halftime, Emily, you are shutting out Mac Greer and all of the Greer fans.

Mac Greer: Crushing.

David Gardner: Sure enough. The market cap for Vail Resorts is 7.26 billion. Not tremendously off and you could even argue that Emily thought it was 20. She's farther off than Mac was with the high end of his range, and yet. Plus one, yourself, if you agreed with Emily to disagree with Mac's range, it's a little bit bigger.

Mac Greer: This is crushing. Is this like a no hitter where we're not allowed to talk about it or talk about it? No, you just do.

Emily Flippen: Winning while being so wildly wrong isn't really gratifying to me. I will say that, Mac.

David Gardner: Mac has not been mathematically eliminated and Hope Springs Eternal as we move toward the second half of the show. This stock has really taken it on the chin in recent years. It was a monster winner for stock advisor for many years, but just the last three years, the market's up 30%. Vale Resorts is down 40%, so a significant separation. It's still up 282% for us overall. Not bad, although the S&P 500 is up 349. So we're behind on this one after 11 years of holding, but that's what we do and I still do you think snow skiing is going away? Is climate change going to take away the mountains?

Emily Flippen: I've never been skiing. I don't know how to answer that. I'd hope not. I know Vale Resorts does spend a pretty penny actually on artificial snow, but who's really to say?

Mac Greer: I don't think it's going away, but can I have one curmudgeonly moment? I've been called curmudgeonly by a college and here it is. I think snowboarders are ruining skiing. Because there's a different risk, tolerance and the last few times I've skied, you have these, like, snowboarders just going crazy on the slopes and so what I think we need is separate mountains, and some places do this and have snowboarders on one mountain and skiers on another mountain. That's what I propose.

Emily Flippen: You should pitch that idea to Vail Resorts.

Mac Greer: I like that.

David Gardner: Some people near 60 or over it say stuff like, get off my lawn. Mac you just said get off my slope.

Mac Greer: I know. I'm yelling at the clouds.

David Gardner: Last quarter's halftime show was a stirring musical performance channeled by my producer Des Jones. Des is an accomplished viola player. I was mourning the lack of viola inclusion in the halftime folly shows we see at sports games. We may bring the viola back, but this time we actually have something special, as longtime listeners will know Emily and Mac are competing for the coveted fourth seat in our final four for the March Market Cap Madness World Championships and right now, Mac, you are on the brink of elimination. Not yet, though. That's what you've been competing for whether or not you know that and there are three others who are already there. I asked each of them for some coaching or taunts at halftime for you both.

Andy Cross, Matt Argersinger, and Bill Barker have all previously won and established their seats in March. Andy had this to say; This battle between Emily and Mac is a tough one to call. Both these gladiators have to be, listen carefully, especially Mac, have to be fearless with their reputation at stake. It might even go to midnight. But ultimately, Andy says Emily will claim the final blank space of the 2025 Market cap Final 4, and Mac will simply have to?

Mac Greer: Shake it off.

David Gardner: Exactly. What was Andy doing there?

Mac Greer: He was referring to Taylor Swift. There were four, maybe even five Taylor Swift references. Both Andy and I did see Taylor on the Era's tour, and yes, first name basis.

David Gardner: Fantastic. It's her birthday, as we worked Friday the 13th. Matt Argersinger had this to say; It's too bad there aren't any immunity idols to be found in the Market Cap Game. Mac could use one because I'm pretty sure it'll be Emily who survives to the final four. Emily, does that ring a bell or two?

Emily Flippen: It does. The survivor references do haunt me so thank you, Matt, for the reminder.

David Gardner: Bill Barker had this to say, All of my best trash talk lines Bill wrote are directed at Bill Mann. Is there no way to bring him back into the competition? Regarding Mac V Emily, Bill concludes, I understand the betting line is 4:1 in favor of Emily. I'm really pulling for Mac today to pull off the upset and make the potential final four match up easier.

Mac Greer: I will tell you this, I'm betting on Emily also.

Emily Flippen: I'm very happy that this didn't go the other direction by the time you got to this mid roll read, David. Otherwise, the comments would have aged poorly.

David Gardner: Half time's over. Let's move on to stock Number 6. Turning back to Emily. Emily, you have a cellphone, right?

Emily Flippen: I hope so. I do, yes.

David Gardner: A smartphone of some variety?

Emily Flippen: Yes, I have an iPhone.

David Gardner: Do you love your provider? Let me ask it this way. Scale is 0-10, where 10 is you're considering surprise elopement right now with your cellphone provider, what number do you have your love rating, 0-10 for your provider?

Emily Flippen: Probably a five. The less I have to think about it, the better our relationship is.

David Gardner: Five is not a bad number. If you had to identify the brand color of your provider, think about their marketing their logo. Does any color jump out at you when you think of them?

Emily Flippen: Well, unfortunately, my provider is AT&T, and I have no colors, but I know there is a provider out there that, now I know what provider it is. I do not know the colors. Is it purple and yellow?

David Gardner: Close.

David Gardner: The company we're looking at for stock number six across the broad landscape of mobile service providers. I think this company generates more love, arguably, than all the other competitors combined and they own the color pink.

Emily Flippen: Of course, the moment you said that, it came to me. This is not me just backtracking, trying to cover my tracks. No, it really did. In that exact moment, pink came to me.

David Gardner: That means we are. We're all talking about T-Mobile US, ticker symbol TMUS. Let's cut right to the Chase, Emily. I know you got to get to the courthouse on time. What market cap range do you want to state for T-Mobile US, Ticker symbol TMUS?

Emily Flippen: No pressure there. This is a very large company. That's what I know about T-Mobile. That's the extent of my knowledge of T-Mobile [laughs].

David Gardner: That may be all it takes.

Emily Flippen: Is it bigger than McDonald's?

David Gardner: Can't say.

Emily Flippen: Can't say. I genuinely can't tell you either of those. I'm going to say, 200-300 billion.

David Gardner: Two hundred to 300 billion. She kept it easy round numbers for you, Mac Greer, and players at home. Mac, initial thoughts.

Mac Greer: I think she's probably bluffing. I think she knows a lot more, but I don't know what to do with that.

Emily Flippen: Absolutely flattered.

Mac Greer: I think I'm going to go outside the range just to keep my losing streak alive. Yes, I'm going outside that range.

David Gardner: The shutout continues, [laughs] $270.71 billion solidly within Emily's range. Emily did ask I was looking this up real quick I have the Internet thanks to my mobile service provider, and McDonald's market cap is 213 billion.

Emily Flippen: Bigger than McDonald's.

David Gardner: T-Mobile US is bigger than McDonald's. In 2013, do you remember this then big personality CEO John Legere rebranded T-Mobile as the uncarrier. Like seven up Remember, Mac? You and I the same age?

Mac Greer: Sure.

David Gardner: Was the Uncola back in the day?

Mac Greer: Sure.

David Gardner: By the way, Mac, within five years, what year did seven up drop the Uncola slogan and, in fact, reinvent its formula? And I'm going to give you a half point if you can get this within five years. This is the rare extra bonus point that you can get on the Market Cap Game Show. I've never done this before.

Mac Greer: Nineteen hundred and ninety-eight.

David Gardner: Close. I can't give you the half-point to give it a shot. This doesn't even feel right, It was 1998. I didn't know myself, I had to google it. But Seven Up gave up the cola and 1998 changed its formula. I was a big Legere fan 'cause like Emily, I've never found my providers to be winning brands or interesting companies to follow, and all of a sudden, here comes the un-carrier with Legere trash talking, AT&T and Verizon. I don't know if you remember this. He was calling them dumb and dumber.

I mean, loved it and so, on July 15 of 2016, in Stock Advisor, we picked T-Mobile and it's worked out well. T-Mobile is a five-bagger with 200 plus points of Alpha up over the S&P 500. This is crazy, how has AT&T done over the same period? The answer is -30%. How has Verizon Communications done over the exact same period? -30%. They were dumb and dumber. As T-Mobile goes up 439%, it's two big competitors -30 each, staying in the loss column, which is where some people still are right now as we move on to stock number 7. Mac, turning back to you now, imagine for a sec that your digital life is like your home. Are you with me?

Mac Greer: The dogs, cats.

David Gardner: Cats. Here's my question for you. That home, have you invested in installed kept up to date with a high-tech security system with cameras and alarms, or do you stick with sturdy locks and good lighting? There are cyber threats out there.

Mac Greer: Can I choose not to answer this given that this is going to be, somewhat public-facing?

Emily Flippen: I think you can do answer.

Mac Greer: Do I have to disclose, passwords next where are we going?

David Gardner: You don't have, but I'll tell you. I'm going to allow you to pivot briefly. In order to tell the story of macgreer.com.

Mac Greer: My gosh. I don't even know if there is much of a story other than you or Tom, your brother and Motley Fool co-founder, CEO, I think, registered it at some point as a joke and I'm not sure if it's still registered or it's available.

David Gardner: I do remember, as our longtime radio producer, that you were sometimes a target of the brother.

Mac Greer: This is fair.

David Gardner: That's not fair to you because you're a really good guy with a great sense of humor, and I think one of us decided we would just register your name and take and own your URL.

Mac Greer: It's fair Internet. I'm sure it gets a lot of traffic.

David Gardner: I'm checking it right now. I invite the people of the Internet to go to mac greer.com, but I'm going to show you both state of mac greer.com today.

Mac Greer: Parked on the bun. It has been registered at pork bun [laughs] and there's a pig and a bathroom.

David Gardner: It's remarkable. Well, getting back to the dock at hand, Palo Alto Networks is a company that embodies that very essence of protection and proactive security in the digital realm. They're at the forefront of cybersecurity, safeguarding countless organizations from ever-evolving cyber threats, and this one's been a Rule Breakers since but wait, my gosh. Stock number 7 is actually a throwdown. Yep, throw down in time, pencils out, Fools. Mac and Emily will now write down their best market cap range for Palo Alto Networks. Once they share their ranges, players at home, you just pick the contestant you think made the better guess. You simply say, Mac or Emily. If you're right, score a point.

Here's how it works. If only one of them gets the market cap range right, of course, they get the correct guess and win the point. But if both of them are right, then the contestant with the tighter range takes the point. But what if they're both wrong? First of all, that would never, never happen. I don't ever remember that happening even once ever on this show. For instance, that definitely didn't happen both times last Market Cap Game Show with Matt Argersinger and Yasser El-Shimy in September. Anyway, supposing this ever should happen, whoever's closer to the actual market cap gets plus one. We do this twice every show. That means another one's coming, let's do it. Stock number 7 is Palo Alto Networks, ticker symbol PANW. Mac, I'm going to turn to you first. What is your range for Palo Alto Networks?

Mac Greer: I feel like this is a big one of Palo Alto and because it's a network. So I'm going 300 -800 billion.

David Gardner: That is a wide girth, to say the least, 300, 800 billion scrawled on a Post note, 'cause that's the production value this show has. Emily, what does your Post note say?

Emily Flippen: The self-doubt is really creeping in [laughs]. I know CrowdStrike, who I consider the gold standard for cybersecurity, somewhere around 80-90 billion. I think Palo Alto is worse than them, and I don't know why I feel that way. I shouldn't say worse. Sorry, smaller than them so I said 50-80 billion.

Mac Greer: I'd like to change my guess.

Emily Flippen: Me, too. Can I also change?

David Gardner: There are their ranges. Players at home, you're either gonna say, Emily, if you agree with her or Mac, if you agree with him, I'm going to count down 3, 2, 1, and you're going to say it out loud. You ready? Player at home,3, 2, 1 who, the market cap range for Palo Alto Networks is $130 billion. My gosh, you're you're both wrong. But Emily's 80 at the top line is closer to 130 than Mac's lowest parameter of 300. Eighty is closer to 130 than 300, therefore, if you said Emily, give yourself the plus one. Do you both remember earlier this year, CrowdStrike? CrowdStrike going down and what happened?

Mac Greer: Yes.

Emily Flippen: The world stopped for a day there.

David Gardner: It was July. I even had to look that up and checking it now, here we are in December, looking back just five months, CrowdStrike went 380-200 inside of a single month. Where is it today? This isn't the stock, so you don't have to know. It's back to 360. It's basically back where it started five months ago. It's one of those. It was real, and it was unfortunate, but the market vastly quickly overestimated how serious this was and here we are kind of back to status quo. Palo Alto, to its credit, has a big business, too, and didn't have those problems at least that time. By the way, shout out to our colleague, Tim Beyers, Rule Breakers advisor, Tim, picked Palo Alto Networks in 2014. The stock has been phenomenal. It is a six-bagger for Rule Breaker members and we're still holding. Let's move on to stock number 8. With stock number 8, this one's a gift to longtime listeners. If you heard Bill Barker's Eureka moment earlier this year, and I'm thinking Emily and Mac probably don't know about this, and that's fine. But if you're a dyed-in-the-wool market cap game show viewer, this one's for you. My question back out to you right now, dear listener is. Can Lightning strike the same place twice? Emily, I'm about to give you a corporate tag line. I'm not expecting you to guess this. Who rocks this on the front page of their website? You ready?

Emily Flippen: I'm ready.

David Gardner: Technology is our how people are our why.

Emily Flippen: Technology is our how people are our why.

David Gardner: By the way, before we talk about this, how would you rate that corporate tag line 0-10, where 10 would be that you would honestly, again, consider eloping right now with this corporate tag line?

Emily Flippen: Yet, the fact that it's not immediately identifiable and can apply to so many businesses makes me presume that it's maybe substandard. I'm going to give it a three. I think you can do better.

David Gardner: I hear you. Do you want to take a guess at who's rocking that on the front page of their homepage?

Emily Flippen: Since it can apply to so many companies, why not? I'll go with Accenture. I think about what they do consulting, and then they do it with so many different people. Their employees are their number one assets. People technology, etc.

David Gardner: That is a good guess. But how could you have gotten it, right? And yet Bill Barker, without blinking, nailed it earlier this year, and I'll explain why in a second. But that corporate tag line is put forth by Endava, PLC, a British company favored by Bill, which we'll get to in a sec. But first, the most important question is, Emily, what is your stated market cap range for Endava, ticker symbol DAVA? This is an ADR. This is a foreign security, a British company Endava.

Emily Flippen: This is a great, great question. I'm confident, incredibly confident when I give you the Market Cap rangers. I'm going to give you here.

David Gardner: Is a Buff coming?

Emily Flippen: Any second now. Let me go with 20-35 billion.

David Gardner: Twenty to $35 billion, Mac Greer? What are you thinking here right now? Technology is our how, people.

Mac Greer: ADR [inaudible] and it's an ADR.

David Gardner: It is.

Mac Greer: To clarify, this would be US dollars, though.

David Gardner: Sure. Let's go with that, the market cap.

Mac Greer: I'm going to say outside the range.

David Gardner: It's over. The shut out [laughs]. Emily was dramatically off with this one.

Emily Flippen: I have no doubt.

David Gardner: We saw a little bit of a bluff coming, and it didn't work, but we were starting to cheer Mac on.

Mac Greer: Finally.

David Gardner: On Friday, December 13. The market cap for Endava is $1.36 billion, so not even close to 20 to 35, a much smaller company. Again, anybody who's been with us on the Market Cap Game Show tour of 2024 will remember, but Bill Barker, the day that we recorded our Market Cap game show in the spring of this year, was literally in the process of sending out an email to our members following Motley Fool Firecracker. Recommending Endava PLC to our members. We couldn't actually air that on the show. We had to replace it because we can't give out our new advice free on this podcast. In fact, we regulate ourselves away from doing that and it was absolutely stunning when I pulled what I think of as one of the more generic tag lines out, and Bill without Batting an eye taking a sub $2 billion company and said, that's Endava [laughs].

Bill Mann: I don't know how you feel about that. That almost feels like a cry for help to me.

David Gardner: Let it be known that the stock is up 8% since Bill picked it, the market's up 10%. It's kind of a market also run right now, but let's peel one layer of the onion back further here, Emily and Mac, because I'm looking right now at the company's Wikipedia page, and it's description of In Endavas services. This is a tech consulting company at its heart and yet, you're about to give them some consulting, because some of us may have done this exercise before, especially in business, but maybe in other contexts, a start-stop continue. And so this is strategy consulting coming from Emily Flippen and Mac Greer.

But we're only going to do the stop part. Mac and Emily, I would like you each to take one of the services listed on this roster for this sub $2 billion company and advise them to stop doing it with maybe 30 seconds of coaching or so, because here is what the company offers on its Wikipedia page description. Ready? Go, the company offers. Listen carefully, services with respect to strategy consulting, creative and user interface design, insight through data, mobile and Internet of things, systems architecture, automation, software engineering, test automation, DevOps, cloud computing, advanced application management, and Smart desk. Mac, I'm going to turn to you first, since you are flush with your first point of the game. Stop Sarkad, I think one of these things we need to focus people, there's too much going on. We're trying to do too many things at a low market cap.

Bill Mann: Smart Desk feels like it's made up. I mean, I'm not sure what that is. I feel like they just needed a list of 10.

David Gardner: How many was that? Let me count 12.

Bill Mann: I feel like they had a bunch of people in a room, and they just said, We actually, I think 12 is a better number. Let's come up with one more and someone just threw out Smart Desk. So I'm not sure what Smart Desk does exactly, but I'm sure it's covered by some of the other like advanced management application software.

David Gardner: Some of those studies where we study, like, buyer mentality, and if you put three things out, people will pick one of them and buy it. But if you put 12 things out, nobody buys anything?

Bill Mann: Yes.

David Gardner: I think you're helping. No more Smart desk at Endava, Emily.

Emily Flippen: My mind went to a similar place as Mac, which is to say, advanced application management. If they're so advanced, can't they manage themselves? I never rid of that.

Mac Greer: True.

David Gardner: We'll leave it there. It's Emily's seven Mac one. Now, Mac, while you can't win, in some senses, you have already won and as I often like to point out, this one doesn't count because it's the last one people tend to remember. We're about to do stock number 9, but just remember, stock number 10 is how you'll leave them feeling. And that's your opportunity, I think, to win today.

Mac Greer: True and that actually reminds me of just this wonderful quote I read. Former RBI guest James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.

David Gardner: Love it. Love James.

Mac Greer: Love the book and love the emails that he sends out and in a recent email, he sent out this Hemingway quote. I'm like, you know what? This reminds me of Emily because I'm a big fan. I think I'm a charter member of the Emily Flippen Incorporated Bulls of America.

David Gardner: We all love.

Mac Greer: The world. Here's the quote, Hemingway. Be humble after, but not during the action.

Mac Greer: I love that. You want to have conviction but after you win, you want to be humble?

David Gardner: Yeah. It reminds me of a great line about hope. Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. In some senses, we're talking about being in the moment.

Mac Greer: Love that.

David Gardner: How important hope is and performance. But if you're still hoping and we're at supper time now, probably not a great idea. But if you've won and it's supper time now, be a little humble.

Mac Greer: Absolutely. My favorite football player, Earl Campbell, played for the Houston Oilers running back. Every time he would score, he would just take the football and he would just put it down in the end zone and walk away.

David Gardner: A total contrast with just a simple tackle on third and four, these days.

Mac Greer: So true.

David Gardner: The linebacker pounding his chest, well, we don't do that here, and thank you for sharing that. Mac, let's move on to stock number 9. Mac, I've talked about some of my bad investments this game show. I always do. I need you to do so too, now. Come on, man. Throw me a bone. What's been a bad?

Mac Greer: David, one of my early investments was a biotech. I'm actually not going to even give the name because I'm not sure I remember the name exactly. But I do remember going to Charles Schwab during my lunch, this is pre-Internet. This is early '90s. I was so excited. I owned the stock, and they had some big, like phase 2, phase 3 review, and the results were going to be announced, and those are important, my understanding with biotech.

David Gardner: Yeah, it matters.

Mac Greer: I get there, and I get to the little kiosk, and they have the computers in the lobby of Schwab, and I type in the ticker, and I bring up the report, and the first phrase I see is grossly inadequate. I'm pretty sure that that's the phrase you never want to see if you're trying to get anything approved. Grossly inadequate. Actually, I don't think there's ever a good time to hear that phrase. The stock cratered, and I learned a valuable lesson.

David Gardner: You don't even remember the name Mac. You're going to try?

Mac Greer: I'm pretty sure it was ICN Pharmaceuticals, but if it wasn't, then I apologize.

David Gardner: You know what they needed to do diversify into Smart Desk and advanced Appia management.

Mac Greer: Yes. They weren't advanced enough.

David Gardner: Well, speaking of consumer-facing consumables, I rocked my Krispy Kreme. This company doesn't sell donuts, but it does sell something pretty sweet, energetic, and its stock has dropped quite a bit since late May, but I don't want to say how much because that would be a spoiler Mac. Do you do the workout energy drink thing?

Mac Greer: I do not. Cappuccino is my vice. Do you do the workout thing? Define workout is what I would say. That's all I have done some core and strength training recently.

David Gardner: I would say you look in pretty good shape to me. Something's going right for you. But you're not using energy drinks to supplement.

Mac Greer: I am not. I've never had a Celsius.

David Gardner: Celsius Holdings is ticker symbol CELH. Looks like you might be ready for this one. You've been in a soundproof chamber for months.

Mac Greer: That's right, since Groundhog Day.

David Gardner: What is your stated market cap range, Mac, for Celsius Holdings, ticker symbol CELH?

Mac Greer: I know this has been an incredibly volatile stock. That's all I know and I think it had an incredible run, and then it sold off a lot.

David Gardner: I would say you're right on everything you're saying so far.

Mac Greer: But I'm not sure what it's done lately, and I'm very confused. I'll say 500 million to 3 billion.

David Gardner: Five hundred million to $3 billion. Emily, have you ever tried a Celsius drink?

Emily Flippen: I have. Actually, so this was a business that I was very against initially, of course, during its massive run-up and eventually came around to about the point where it hit its 52-week high and have since held it and watched it decline, I think, 60-70%, just over the course of the past few months.

David Gardner: It's been brutal.

Emily Flippen: It has been. I actually, hilariously, I think there's a fair amount of skepticism, the business. They have distribution through Pepsi and Pepsi's change the way they manage their inventory. That has led to some negative growth and I understand the hesitations. But I love this stock. I really do still do.

David Gardner: I like the orange flavor.

Emily Flippen: I will say, yes, I have tried it after becoming interested. Now I am I won't say daily consumer because there is a lot of caffeine. Some days I like my coffee, but I do consume it probably on a weekly basis.

Mac Greer: Do I have to exercise to drink it because that's my. Or can you just have one?

Emily Flippen: No, it actually gives you the satisfaction of exercising without a hah.

Mac Greer: Oh, this is perfect. I've been looking for this my whole life.

David Gardner: Emily Mac said 500 million to $3 billion. Do you want to say players at Home inside or outside that range?

Emily Flippen: I know it's fallen, but it cannot have fallen that much, so I have to say outside that range.

David Gardner: If you agree with Emily, give yourself a plus one it is bigger still than at least Mac thinks the company's market cap is 7.5 billion, $7.52 billion for a stock that was at $93 in late May, it's now at 31.

Mac Greer: Wow.

David Gardner: We love stocks that triple. We don't love stocks that strike out or, in this case, get one-thirded Zoom out, though, and even after this drop, Celsius holdings over the last five years is a 20-bagger.

Mac Greer: Nice. That's amazing, David. I apologize for underestimating Celsius. Again, I apologize to Lam Research. [laughs]

Emily Flippen: I apologize to all the Celsius shareholders who bought alongside me earlier this year.

David Gardner: It is disappointing. It's a bit of volatile stock. I think this episode, I hope every episode of this show, whether we're playing game or not, is replete with that humility that Mac was mentioning earlier, because part of winning is losing to win, in my opinion. It's hard to watch stocks like Krispy Cream which stayed down, although eventually came back. Or Celsius recently, lose a lot of value really quickly. Shout out to shareholders. It's been quite a remarkable company. Is at least twice larger than Mac thought, Mac, you don't have to apologize to Celsius or Lam Research. You may end up having to apologize to INDAS Associates. Calling out Smart Desk for a smaller cap, more vulnerable natural energy, and like going after them.

Mac Greer: I don't even know what it is. I could use a Smart Desk. I don't have a smart disk. I apologize to Nava, also. Add it to the list. [laughs]

David Gardner: Here we've now arrived in stock number 10. Emily, when you plan a getaway, I don't know, like a honeymoon? Are you the type to meticulously craft every detail of your trip, booking each activity in advance? Or do you prefer to embrace the spontaneity letting adventures unfold as you go?

Emily Flippen: Hilariously, I'm either one or the other. My trips are either planned down to every tiny detail, including where we're eating every meal, or I have done no preparation. In fact, I think I need to find that nice middle ground.

David Gardner: Now I know you're about to connect your life to the life of a young man, and so you're a team. You and Eric are a team. What is Eric's approach to planning getaways?

Emily Flippen: Oh, he just does whatever I do. He's even worse than I am. In fact, when it comes to the passivity of vacations, which is actually great because it means that I can do the most and he's happy, or I can do absolutely nothing, and he's equally happy.

David Gardner: In my own marriage, I play the role of Eric, as well. I don't know about you, Mac, but I mean, I'm happy just to have you plan the whole trip, and I'll just go along. Where are we going?

Mac Greer: I'm the planner. I love it. I love planning, and Ellen's fine with me planning.

David Gardner: When you think about visiting a new city, do you imagine staying in a Boutique hotel with all the amenities, or do you love the idea of finding unique local spot that feels like a home away from home?

Emily Flippen: As usual, a little bit of both. Almost recently, I have been doing a lot of Airbnb, though. That has been probably the more accessible option, especially for a lot of my last-minute planning when there may be less boutique hotel options.

David Gardner: Well, Airbnb has transformed the hospitality industry by offering unique lodging options, fostering a global community of hosts and travelers alike. Yeah, that's stock number 10 and oh, my gosh, it's a throw-down. It had to be, we're at the last stock, and we hadn't done our second throw-down. Mac and Emily are getting their pencils out and estimating their best tightest accurate market range they can manufacture right now in approximately 10 seconds or less. Pencils down, Fools. Excellent. Emily, turning back to you, what is your stated market cap range for Airbnb, ticker symbol ABNB?

Emily Flippen: I'm going back in my head because I remember at one point, this was a if I remember correctly, a $90+ billion company. I think it's fallen since then, and for some reason, I think it is smaller today than Marriott. I'm going to say 60-80 billion that's my range. I'm sticking with it.

David Gardner: 60-80 billion. Mac, what did you write down?

Mac Greer: I went with a slightly wider range based on being much more uninformed. I'm going 100-200 billion, 100. I know it's a big company. Yeah.

David Gardner: You're both right. Players at Dome, again, you simply are going to say, I agree with Emily. I agree with Mac. I'm going to give you the 321 countdown. Here we go. Say the name of the one you agree with 3, 2, 1. You said it. If you said, Emily Flippen, give yourself a plus one. Now, neither of you got this one. Shocking? It was right in between, and you were both very close. It was $87 billion, so Emily said 80 at her top end. Mac said 100 at his low.

Mac Greer: I thought I said 88.

David Gardner: Yeah, I mean, it is a dynamic company. I often need to be reminded of this. Like, where did the name come from again? Do you both know that?

David Gardner: Where did Airbnb, the name come from?

Emily Flippen: Bed and breakfast, B and B.

David Gardner: You got that part.

Emily Flippen: Yeah.

David Gardner: I feel like I've heard this six times, but each time I forget, founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gabia decided to rent out air mattresses in their San Francisco apartment to attendees of a design conference, and that humble beginning as Air Bed and Breakfast laid the foundation for what has become a global lodging powerhouse. Emily, have you ever stayed in a particularly interesting or exotic Airbnb?

Emily Flippen: I have, actually, a fair number of them. In fact, for aforementioned wedding, I'm actually heading back to Texas for the holidays going to get our families together, and we have rented out a really nice historic home on Airbnb so we can all stay together.

David Gardner: Fantastic. Is it a tree house? They have treehouses?

Emily Flippen: It is not a trans. I think this one might be a horse farm. It's in Texas. Keep the expectations low. Horse farms are our versions of tree houses.

David Gardner: I think that's a much better selection than a tree house. Yurts luxury villas, Igloos. Mac, have you ever stayed in Airbnb Igloo?

Mac Greer: I have not. I like that, but it sounds interesting.

David Gardner: Really? That's all you have for me. It sounds interesting, an Igloo?

Mac Greer: I'm sorry. I'm still hung up on the horse farm. I'm just trying to I have this image. Like, you get there. You're so excited, and the horses are actually inside the place, as well. It's just a little It's a little unmanageable. I don't know.

Emily Flippen: Ironically, I actually I'm afraid of horses. As long as the horses stay away from me, I won't bother them.

Mac Greer: There are those small horses that I love. Oh, tiny miniature horses.

Emily Flippen: That are called ponies?

David Gardner: Well, no, I'm thinking like really small.

Emily Flippen: Miniature horses.

Mac Greer: They're like miniature horses.

David Gardner: You're thinking of toy horses.

Mac Greer: I think they're called miniature horses, and they're just unbelievable. They're just so great. They're like little dogs.

David Gardner: Well, speaking of miniature horses, that's kind of what Airbnb stock has been. I was checking it. It came public four years ago at about 135. Today, it's about 135. The stock has returned 0%. It's one of those companies that just blew up so much as a private finance venture capital investment that when it finally came public, at an 80 or so billion dollar market cap, it just hasn't changed much from there. Most I guess I should say, all of the appreciation was for the founders and the early investors, public market investors. Again, this is a great company. It's definitely a Rule Breaker. Maybe it will grow forward from the 0% from here. Well, I want to start by thanking both Emily Flippen on a very special day and Mac Greer. The final accounting is then this Emily nine Mac one.

Mac Greer: Here's my issue with one. Is I think, three Dog Knight.

David Gardner: One is the loneliest number.

Mac Greer: Thank you, David. One is the loneliest number. I can now tell you that one is the loneliest number.

Emily Flippen: Well, two can be as bad as one, though. I don't know if eight would really fixed anything.

David Gardner: That's true. As we talk to Emily and close this show, Emily is one right now. She's about to be two.

Emily Flippen: That's exciting.

Mac Greer: That's true. Any advice?

Mac Greer: What a burger.

Emily Flippen: What a burger?

Mac Greer: What a burger.

David Gardner: You back?

Mac Greer: I always heard before I was married don't go to bed angry. I actually think that's really bad advice. Sometimes maybe you get in a stupid fight.

Emily Flippen: Sometimes you're just tired.

Mac Greer: And you're tired. And so, go to bed, get some rest, and in the morning, you're like, you know what? I'm sorry.

Emily Flippen: Thank you, Mac. If this ends in divorce, then I will myself a water burger sandwich and blame you for always encouraging.

Mac Greer: Thank you.

Emily Flippen: Go to bed angry.

David Gardner: A perfect ending, really, but let's extend it just a little bit more and say, Emily and Mac and I had a lot of fun, but we're not playing this game for each other. We're playing for you. How did you score dear Fool? Dear listener at home. We hope you outscored all of us. The purpose of the Market Cap Game Show is to make more popular. I'm never going to say as popular as Jeopardy, but to make more popular market caps, the real value of stocks on the market that most people don't understand. Except that you do understand because you just listened to us for an hour, and I hope you scored at least a few points this week. It's probably going to be hard to beat Emily this week, but Emily and Mac both distinguish yourselves and help make the world a bit smarter, happier, and richer. Next week is our year-end December mailbag. I hope you're able to enjoy a lovely holiday wherever you are Mac Greer, a last line from you.

Mac Greer: Skate to the puck.

David Gardner: Nice. Rocking Wayne Gretzky?

Mac Greer: Just rocking Mac Greer.

David Gardner: Well done. Macgreer.com?

Mac Greer: Macgreer.com.

David Gardner: Emily, a last line from you.

Emily Flippen: God, I guess good things do happen on Friday the 13th.

Mac Greer: Nice.

David Gardner: The last line for me, just as we saw in This Hour Today, Emily Flippen provides Fool fans, members, listeners at large, everywhere, a wealth of insights, personality, fun, and Foolishness, whether it's surviving on Survivor or on market cap game shows, Emily has proven her quality across many contexts and brought delight and interest to so many of us in so doing me included. Emily, I know I'm joined by tens of thousands of people who are listening to you right now and have over the years, going back to when you started as a Motley Fool college intern in the year.

Emily Flippen: God, was it 2015 or 2016?

David Gardner: I think it was 2016.

Emily Flippen: 2016.

David Gardner: We wish you boundless joy, deep love, and a lifetime of adventures as exciting and fulfilling as the ones you've already embarked on. Here's to your next great chapter. Cheers to you and your happily ever after.

Emily Flippen: Oh, my gosh. Thank you. Unexpectedly kind. Thank you, David.

David Gardner: Fool on.

Charles Schwab is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. David Gardner has positions in Costco Wholesale and Duolingo. Emily Flippen, CFA has positions in Airbnb and Celsius. Mac Greer has positions in Costco Wholesale and McDonald's. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Accenture Plc, Airbnb, Best Buy, Celsius, Costco Wholesale, CrowdStrike, Endava Plc, Lam Research, Manhattan Associates, and Vail Resorts. The Motley Fool recommends Casey's General Stores, Charles Schwab, Duolingo, Palo Alto Networks, Stitch Fix, T-Mobile US, and Verizon Communications and recommends the following options: short March 2025 $80 calls on Charles Schwab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.