This is Nick. This is Jack. And it’s swiping season — the data shows that the 4 weeks before Valentine’s day are prime for sliding in. In fact, Sundays are the busiest day of the week for the dating apps — specifically, Sundays in January. In recent years, likes jumped 18%, messaging popped 20%, and swiping surged 70%. 

The best part: The average DM gets a response 19.4 minutes faster. Less ghosts in this pre-V-day season we’re in. You look fantastic btw.

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1) In: RomComs. Out: Superheroes.

The Mean Girls remake came to theaters last week, grossing $32M on opening weekend. 

• 🩷 What no one expected: It’s a musical, but you wouldn't be able to tell that by the trailer.

• ❤️ The ironic plot twist: RomComs are beating Superheroes. More love, less laserbeams. Sorry, Thor. 

• 🩷 Rewind the tape: Last year, we saw the beginning of the superhero slowdown with fan fatigue hitting ticket sales of Marvel movies. And today Anyone But You is on pace to sell more tickets than The Marvels did.

 Anyone but…who??

• Starring: Sydney Sweeney (from Euphoria) and Glen Powell (from TopGun 2). It’s the one about two enemies who end up falling in love. Narrows it down…

• At the Box Office: Anyone But You’s 2nd and 3rd weekends had better sales than the opening weekend (rare). It’s on pace for better-than-expected ticket sales of $100M.

• Compared to Spiderman: Anyone But You’s $100M would be a tenth of what Spiderman made, but it cost only $25M to make — that’s a solid 4x return. That’s Hollywood’s equivalent of a value stock. 

The Takeaway →

Movie Studios love RomCom-enomics. Movies are an art, but they’re also increasingly a business. Looking at the RomCom-enomics, producers can either…

1. Spend big $$$ on Superheroes…and hope for a big payoff. 

2. Or spend less $ on RomComs…and roll in a reliable return. 

2) We’re All Cold. Except for Toro.

95M Americans were under alert on Sunday for dangerously cold weather, from the Caucuses in Des Moines to the cactuses in San Antonio.

And it’s all because of Heather (Winter Storm Heather)…   

• 🥶 Nearly 80% of the US had temps below 0° on Monday night. You’re not alone.

• 🥶 US Airlines canceled 1,700 flights yesterday, so travelers were bummed.

• 🥶 But it’s not all bad: The Bills Mafia in Buffalo paid people $20/hr to shovel the stadium for their NFL playoff game (which the Bills won, btw). 

We were curious to find a winter weather stock and learn about the snow plow industry. So let us introduce you to your driveway hero — Toro.

• Bio: $10B publicly traded plow company based in MN. 

• Hobbies: Lawnmowers in summer, plows in winter for seasonally-balanced revenue streams (talk about range). 

• Mentions: Said “snow” 11x and “ice” 38x in the last earnings call.

• Brand Portfolio: Boss (plow hitches for your truck), Ventrak (turns tractors into plows), and Toro (classic snow blower in your garage). 

• Sales: 70% are B2B and B2-government. 30% are to your fancy neighbor who’s got a shed full of machines.

We know what you’re thinking — How’s a snow plow company doing in the era of climate change? Didn’t NYC go 700 days without snow?

The Takeaway →

More extreme weather means more extreme equipment. The reason scientists changed the term Global Warming to Climate Change is because of storms like Heather. The planet is warmer, but we’re also getting more cold snaps.

• In 2021, Texas had The Great Texas Freeze with temps at their coldest since 1989. And 2 years later, it still had the hottest summer ever by far. Regardless, Texans need snow plows today, and never did in the past. 

• Way up north, Portlanders in Oregon need AC units now, when they never did before.  

As Toro’s CEO said, it sells snow plows “whether they plow or not” — cause Climate Change means more places must prepare for snow, even if overall there’s less snow.

On the pod today…

🦚 Peacock won NFL wild card playoff weekend with Chiefs vs. Dolphins, the most-streamed event ever. To hear about how the streamer is the opposite of the Hotel California, listen to today's pod. And subscribe to our YouTube channel while you’re at it.

Here’s what else you need to know today —

🏦 Big Bank Q4 Earnings kicked off: JPM had its most profitable Q ever, and Goldman beat expectations thanks to Wealth Management.

❌ Denied: A judge just blocked the $4B JetBlue x Spirit merger. The gov’t argued it would hurt competition. Not clear for takeoff. 

🍺 Uber is shutting down alcohol delivery app Drizly after spending $1B for it 3 years ago — alcohol delivery will be added into Uber Eats instead.

👑 An Air Force pilot was crowned Miss America in a military first. The 22-year-old from Colorado impressed with a spoken-word piece centered on earning a pilot’s license at age 16.

🔻 Artifact, the news curation app created by Instagram’s co-founders, is shutting down just a year after launching.

👋 Just 4% of CEOs surveyed by the Conference Board said they’ll prioritize bringing workers back to office full-time in 2024. CEOs aren’t fans of remote work, but they believe the 5-day/week in-office era is over.

Question →

What is your one word for 2024?

Answer →

Nick: It’s gotta be “Planuary” — First, because Jack and I made it up together. Second, because we’re actually doing it: We planned our whole year in January. Travel, product launches, vacations — it’s all on the calendar.

Jack: “Laugh it Off”. With 2 toddlers in the house now, my carefully-crafted weekend itineraries are often crushed by tantrums and blowouts. The key? Just laugh it off.

Do you have The Almost Best Question Yet? Submit yours here.

And one more thing. Are you taking advantage of peak swipe season?

—Nick & Jack