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With the pandemic in the rearview mirror, Independence Day has taken on an entirely new significance for most Americans this time. Americans appear to have gone above and beyond to compensate for the years spent indoors by making the most of the (unofficially) long weekend with short trips, camping, cookouts, pool parties, and eating out.
The increased demand for, and consequently expenditure on, services and experiences is also evident in the recent employment data, with leisure and hospitality adding 208,000 positions out of the expectation-beating private sector employment increase of 278,000 for May. The sector was also a notable contributor to the increase of 339,000 in non-farm payrolls for the month.
In view of the above, leisure stocks could be the beneficiaries of the increased levels of outdoor activities around the nation’s Independence Day. In this context, the following stocks that could witness significant upsides in the near term could be worth watching.
The Walt Disney Company (DIS)
While the global entertainment giant has recently been in the news for its ongoing feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis, outside the political and legal arena, DIS is going through a significant transition under the leadership of its returned CEO, Robert A. Iger.In addition to the Disney Entertainment and the ESPN divisions, the rest of DIS’ businesses will be organized under the existing parks, experiences, and products division.
As a result, DIS reported significant growth at its theme parks during the fiscal second quarter, which saw a 17% increase in revenue to $7.7 billion, with around $5.5 billion contributed by theme-park locations. Moreover, its cruise business also saw an increase in passenger cruise days as guests spent more time and money visiting its parks, hotels, and cruises domestically and internationally during the quarter.
Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (DPZ)
The global pizza chain operates two distinct delivery and carryout service models within its stores. The company operates through three segments: U.S. stores; international franchises; and supply chain. In addition to company-owned and franchised stores across the United States, its network of franchised stores is spread in 90 international markets.
Given the increased outdoor activity, while delivery sales will stabilize, carryout sales are expected to grow in the next twelve months. In view of the widespread reversal of consumer behavior to pre-pandemic patterns, on June 20, DPZ launched its Pinpoint Delivery service nationwide that allows customers to receive a delivery almost anywhere, ranging from parks and baseball fields to beaches, without a standard address.
American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL)
Being one of the major air carriers, AAL is reaping the bounty of the surge in leisure travel during the first summer in three years in which the pandemic is not making headlines.
With enough pent-up demand from consumers ever keener to redeem their pile of airline miles and other travel rewards on their credit cards through revenge travel, it’s unsurprising that AAL has turned to bigger airplanes, even on shorter routes, to help ease airport congestion and find its way around pilot shortages.
As a result of this tailwind, AAL’s revenue surpassed the airline’s cost to help it report a $10 million profit during the first quarter of the fiscal year. Moreover, with fuel prices yet to rise significantly due to a stuttering recovery of the Chinese economy and Memorial Day travel topping 2019 levels, the operator has raised its adjusted earnings outlook for the second quarter.
Nathan’s Famous, Inc.
NATH operates in the food service industry as an owner of franchise restaurants under Nathan’s Famous brand name. The company also sells products bearing Nathan’s Famous trademarks through various distribution channels.
Driven by post-pandemic momentum, for the fiscal year that ended March 26, 2023, NATH’s revenues increased 13.8% year-over-year to $130.79 million. During the same period, the company’s income from operations increased by 15.3% year-over-year to $34.45 million, while its adjusted EBITDA grew 16.8% year-over-year to come in at $36.38 million. As a result, net income for the fiscal came in at $19.62 million, up 44.3% year-over-year.

The struggles of Mullen Automotive, Inc. (MULN) to keep itself well-capitalized in a turbulent macroeconomic environment have been well-documented. As the company resorted to the issue of additional equity shares for infusion of fresh capital amid rising interest rates, its weighted average shares outstanding jumped from 17.47 million as of December 31, 2021, to 1.36 billion as of December 31, 2022.
As the fresh capital was being used to retire old debt that was getting more expensive to service, the consequent dilution of stake opened up a different can of worms for MULN. The electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer and distributor, yet to report revenue, witnessed a precipitous decline in its share price. The stock has plummeted 99.6% over the past year to its current range of just above 10 cents.
The stock performance makes for a grimmer read because this is after the announcement of a 1-for-25 reverse stock split that became effective on May 4, 2023, after a 180-day extension to the March 6 deadline from Nasdaq, to meet the $1 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing.
However, even the reverse stock split wasn’t enough to spare MULN’s blushes. With the company failing to meet the $1 minimum price on or 30 days preceding Russell 2000’s “rank day” on April 28, the index’s annual reconstitution became effective on June 23, leaving the embattled EV maker to fall by the wayside.
Faced with significant downward pressure due to outflows because the funds tracking the index must sell out of their stake in the company, and having until September 5 to regain compliance and remain listed on the exchange, the stock is apparently living on borrowed time caught between a rock and a hard place.
While MULN would need to proceed with another reverse stock split in its bid to regain compliance and tide over the current crisis, a look at its recent financial performance could give investors a clearer idea if a more enduring reversal of the fortunes of MULN is likely and whether it’s worth the wait.For the fiscal 2023 second quarter ending March 31, MULN’s losses from operations more than doubled to $67.89 million.
Although the company’s cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash for six months ended March 31, 2023, came in at $86.75 million, which is greater than its current market cap of $30.52 million, and its total assets and liabilities have increased and decreased, respectively, over the same period, dilution of capital structure seems to be the nagging and fundamental issue behind the stock’s decline.
MULN’s weighted average shares outstanding for three and six months ended March 31, 2023, came in at 82.41 million and 68.26 million, respectively, compared to 2.06 million and 1.39 million for the prior-year period.
Hence, despite MULN announcing a moratorium on new financings for the rest of the year followed by the exercise of the final investment option of $100 million by Series D holders, thereby assuring investors of the adequacy of operating capital for almost two years, resale of up to 2.33 billion shares to make that happen neutralizes the progress made.
Therefore, in a nutshell, it appears that in a bid to keep itself afloat and well-financed, the struggling EV maker is simply substituting debt with equity and ending up in the vicious circle of share devaluation and reverse stock splits as a result of this Faustian bargain.
Bottom line
In view of the above, investors who have stayed married to their positions in MULN through this turbulence could find two rules and a simple sentence on investing by the Oracle of Omaha, whose favorite holding period is forever, beneficial:
“Rule #1: Never lose money.
Rule #2: Never forget rule No. 1.
‘You don’t have to make it back the way you lost it.’

According to a recent note from Fairlead Strategies, technology and consumer electronics giant Apple Inc. (AAPL) could witness a major upside in its stock. According to the agency, the stock has confirmed its breakout above the record high of $183. Consequently, its shares could jump to $254 by the end of 2024.
Given that this is one of those relatively-rare occasions in the world of investment research in which a forecast has been accompanied by a time horizon, in this piece, we evaluate the likelihood of this upside which could elevate iPhone maker’s market capitalization from its current levels of $2.96 trillion to $4 trillion.
AAPL has a lot going for it at this point in time. Its fiscal second-quarter earnings exceeded Street expectations, driven by stronger-than-expected iPhone sales.
The company, which has a history of revolutionizing products like the personal computer, smartphone, and tablet, has begun scripting the next key chapter in its success story with the announcement of its first product in the AR/VR market, the Apple Vision headset, which will sell for $3,499 when it is released early next year.
In addition, AAPL also announced its partnership with the game-development software maker Unity and unveiled a slew of other new products. Its year-ahead product roadmap includes the new Apple Watch Ultra along with the traditional fall launch lined up for the iPhone 15.The company is also reportedly beginning work on two new and bifurcated product lines, one second-generation high-end model that will be the continuation of the original Vision Pro and the other a lower-end version. It is also expected to ship new M3-powered laptops, and new OLED-screen iPads will ship by next year.
The Catch
With a strong product portfolio and a healthy pipeline, there seems to be little, if any, that can hinder AAPL’s progress from strength to strength. However, the company isn’t immune to macroeconomic headwinds.
AAPL reported $24.16 billion in net income during the quarter compared to $25.01 billion in the previous-year period. Moreover, sales have declined for two straight quarters, with total revenue down 3% from $97.28 billion in the prior quarter.
With macroeconomic challenges in digital advertising and mobile gaming, part of AAPL’s services business, finance chief Luca Maestri said the company expects overall revenue in the current quarter to decline about 3%.
Hence, brand equity apart, AAPL is quite an expensive stock to own based on fundamental financial performance.Pros Outweigh Cons
Regardless of the near-term and temporary softness and slowdown, traditional valuation metrics seem inadequate to gauge the quality of a compounding machine such as AAPL, which boasts a sticky user base with a retention rate of over 90% that assures the company adequate cash flow through repeat purchases and upgrades.
Moreover, AAPL’s board authorized $90 billion in share repurchases and dividends. It spent $23 billion in buybacks and dividends in the March quarter and raised its dividend by 4% to 24 cents per share.
Through relentless share repurchases, the company increased the existing shareholders’ stake by decreasing its float.
By decreasing the number of outstanding shares, AAPL has been increasing the remaining shares’ intrinsic value (and consequently the price) without a proportional rise in market capitalization. AAPL’s current market cap is $2.96 trillion, with 15.79 billion shares outstanding, compared to a market cap of $2.97 trillion, with 16.33 billion shares outstanding as of January 3, 2022.
Bottomline
Given the above, if the Federal Reserve and other major central banks manage to engineer the much coveted ‘soft landing’ and all else remains (at least) equal, there is a significant likelihood that AAPL can achieve a record share price by the end of 2024.