SPC Weekender: A Fintech Superstar and the Bitcoin Beneficiary From the Dollar's Demise

1️⃣The Fintech Frontier

SoFi, the online-only bank that offers student loans, mortgages, and other financial products, has been on our radar ever since our friend Danny Brody of The Net Worth Club made the bold prediction back in July that shares would climb from $6.52 to $10 by the end of the year. It didn’t even take that long: Danny’s prediction came true by October, with the shares crossing that $10 threshold.

But the company’s story is a compelling one, so it’s stayed on our radar. And its latest earnings report rewarded our vigilance.

SoFi’s results smashed three records, including:

✅It hit new highs in both members and products: 800,000 new members joined SoFi, a 34% jump that brings the company to a total to 10.9 million.

✅It offers more than ever: It listed 1.2 million new products for a total of 15.9 million, an increase of 35%.

✅And it recorded record net revenue: That top-line total came in at $772 million, up 20%.

SoFi has staked a substantive claim out in the “Fintech Frontier,” where it offers conventional banking products, as well as investments in assets like stocks and crypto. And it does this all in one app … on a phone … in your pocket.

For our SPC Premium members, we’ll share three more stocks in our upcoming Monday Morning Kickoff issue that are part of that “new frontier.” Our Monday Morning Kickoffs share investment lessons or strategies, updates to storylines, and briefings on the companies we’re tracking. Our goal is to help our members start their week with a meaningful “investing advantage.” In addition, SPC Premium members have access to our Model Portfolio, Super 10 Special-Situation Portfolio, Farm Team, Investment Dossiers, Quarterly Roundtables and more.

You get access to all of that for less than a standard Netflix subscription at just $10 a month.

2️⃣More Bitcoin, Please

In our April 23 issue, I shared why Strategy Inc. $MSTR ( ▲ 0.82% ) CEO Michael Saylor is backing up the proverbial truck to buy Bitcoin.

As a quick recap:

Saylor’s venture already owns over 553,000 Bitcoin. But he wants to own even more, which he’ll finance via a planned $21 billion stock offering.

As I shared in our April 23 issue, what’s most interesting is that Saylor’s actions have essentially fostered an “economy” unto itself with investment vehicles that feed off his creation.

Those include:

1. Strategy — Offers an indirect investment in Bitcoin through Strategy’s holdings.

2. MicroStrategy 8% Perpetual Strike Series A Preferred Shares $STRK ( ▲ 0.48% ) — Holders of STRK shares have the option to convert them into MicroStrategy's Class A common stock at a specified conversion rate. It pays an annual 8% dividend.

3. MicroStrategy 10% Perpetual Strike Preferred Shares Series A $STRF — Holders of STRF can not convert their shares into Class A common stock, but do receive a higher dividend payout at 10% annually.

4. YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF $MSTY ( ▲ 0.71% )  — Invests primarily in Strategy and generates income by selling/writing call options on MSTR. As of this writing, the yield is 77.37%. While that sounds alluring, the stock price is very volatile, trading between $16.80 and $46.47 over the last year. That means those dividend payments may not make up for the loss in share value.

5. YieldMax MSTR 2X Daily Leveraged ETF $MSTU ( ▲ 1.41% )  — This fund is designed to deliver 2x the daily returns of MSTR. So it MSTR increases by 1% in a day, MSTU aims to increase by 2%. Conversely, if MSTR decreases by 1%, MSTU would decrease by 2%. So that means you can achieve outsized gains when MSTR goes up, you will also achieve outsized losses when it goes down.

6. The Defiance Daily Target 2X Long MSTR ETF $MSTX ( ▲ 1.34% )  — This is the same concept as MSTU above.

7. And Bitwise MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF $IMST ( ▲ 0.94% ) — This just launched at the start of April, but it also plans to pay out monthly income by selling/writing call options on MSTR.

If Saylor’s goal is to prevent the cash on the balance sheet from becoming a “declining asset” tomorrow, his aggressiveness today is absolutely warranted.

But what makes this situation difficult to evaluate is its seemingly binary nature.

Saylor’s Bitcoin bet is either right … or it’s wrong.

But as crypto expert David Zeiler said in our last Quarterly Roundtable, “Personally, I wouldn’t bet against Saylor.”

3️⃣Spilled Coffee

From our list of “stocks to avoid” in 2025, Starbucks Corp. $SBUX ( ▼ 1.12% ), made the list because we thought it would take time for new CEO Brian Niccol to fix some of the issues plaguing the company …

Issues like long wait times, stores prioritizing online orders over the in-store experience, labor strikes, and shrinking sales in China.

There was also a lot of “upside” already baked into the stock when Niccol joined the company in September.

In its most recent quarter, Starbucks reported same store sales fell 2%, marking the fifth consecutive decline. Starbucks also missed analysts’ expectations for earnings per share (EPS) and revenue:

• Reporting EPS of 41 cents vs. expectations of 49 cents.

• And revenue of $8.76 billion vs. expectations of $8.83 billion.

We never thought Starbucks was a bad company. But we accurately foresaw tough sledding ahead in the turnaround. And that was even before tariffs entered the picture.

A company we like more in the same space is Dutch Bros Inc. $BROS ( ▼ 4.57% ), which has more of a definable growth story than the already-established Starbucks. The Oregon-based Dutch Bros sells coffee, tea, smoothies, and snacks. It’s known for fast service, a fun rewards program, and an “eventized” ordering experience

With a little over 1,000 locations, Dutch Bros is just 25% of the way to its corporate goal of 4,000 shops in the next 10 to 15 years.

We sold out of it in our SPC Premium Special-Situation Portfolio to lock in a near-60% return in 10 weeks. But we still like the long-game storyline for Dutch Bros and its investors. And now that the shares have dropped back nearly 30% from their peak, we’re intrigued again.

Here’s something else to note: Insider Monkey and Motley Fool have both recently profiled Dutch Bros (Motley Fool just this week listed it as “a brilliant growth stock to buy now and hold for the long term.”)

I’m sharing that for a reason: It underscores the value of SPC Premium. We keep you “ahead of the crowd.” That’s where true Wealth Builders operate.

That’s where the real money is made.