It’s a noteworthy Sunday, May 10 – Mother’s Day (and my birthday, too) – and I wanted to send you a special Wide Moat Weekender so you can catch up on everything we covered in one place. Whether you’re celebrating with family, getting a little quiet time, or just enjoying a long coffee, here are this week’s top ideas and stories.
Source: ChatGPT
We broke down whether Starbucks’ moat is eroding under pressure from drive‑thru upstarts and changing consumer habits, or quietly strengthening under new leadership. The verdict: The brand and global scale remain powerful, but the stock’s rich valuation keeps it on our wide‑moat watchlist rather than in the strong‑buy bucket.
This essay shows how SWAN‑quality dividend payers, combined with DRIPs and a few simple behavioral rules, can become a “lifetime income machine.” Using names like Realty Income as case studies, it illustrates how boring, repeatable compounding does more for long‑term wealth than any hot trade ever will.
We unpacked GameStop’s $55.5 billion unsolicited bid for eBay and why the financing, leverage, and lack of a clear moat make it look more like theater than serious capital allocation. In our view, this remains speculation, not investing – and a reminder to avoid confusing noise with questionable value.
We looked at two “pretty” stocks that can upgrade a portfolio’s quality and income by combining wide moats, strong balance sheets, and rising dividends. They underscored our core message. In a market full of meme deals and macro noise, owning great businesses at reasonable prices is still the best way to build SWAN wealth.
This week’s market overview pushed back on the doom‑and‑gloom narrative, arguing that the rally we’re seeing isn’t a fragile, tech‑only melt‑up, but is grounded in broadening earnings strength and powerful AI‑driven capex trends. With Mag‑7 spending spilling over into the rest of the market, we believe this bull has farther to run.
This weekend piece revisited my development roots to show how the oldest rule in real estate creates powerful moats for REITs like Federal Realty and VICI. We show how owning assets in scarce, high‑barrier trade areas and experiential corridors lets high-performing landlords produce steady dividend growth from reliable, compounding income machines.
Where Brad’s traveling
I’ll be in Las Vegas May 18–20 for ICSC LAS VEGAS 2026 at the Las Vegas Convention Center… one of the industry’s biggest dealmaking and networking events. While I’m there, I’ll be doing boots‑on‑the‑ground research at VICI and HHH Properties on and around the Strip, with a full written report and video recap coming soon for Wide Moat subscribers.
P.S. Catch our latest episode of The Wide Moat Show, where we dig into big‑tech valuations, and what the Mag‑7 really means for forward returns.
