
MarketWise Appoints Erik Mickels as Chief Operating and Financial Officer
In this newly combined leadership role, Mickels will drive the company's operational excellence, financial strategy, and enterprise transformation as MarketWise advances its mission to deliver world-class financial insights to self-directed investors.
Mickels brings more than 25 years of experience serving a broad range of organizations from startups to Fortune 500 market leaders and has played a pivotal role in the strategic transformation of businesses, including supporting cooperation across segments. He's guided acquisitions and led successful initiatives, including the sale of a billion-dollar international subsidiary. His leadership has delivered improvement in performance, cost discipline, and value for past shareholders.
'Erik is an enthusiastic leader with the wonderful ability to apply strategic finance, encourage operational rigor, and understand the benefits of our industry for individual investors.' MarketWise CEO Dr. David Eifrig said. 'He shares my passion for delivering value for our customers. His experience transforming complex organizations and driving sustainable growth makes him the ideal person for this expanded role. I am thrilled to have him as our Chief Operating and Financial Officer.'
Mickels commented, 'I am incredibly honored to step into this role and work alongside our talented leaders at such a pivotal time for MarketWise. As more individuals seek to take control of their financial future, the need for trusted, independent insights has never been greater. I'm excited to partner with our teams across the organization to build on MarketWise's strong foundation and support the next chapter of growth, innovation, and operational excellence.'
A graduate of Hillsdale College and the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, Mickels has proven himself to be a collaborative and innovative executive.
About MarketWise
Founded with a mission to level the playing field for self-directed investors, today MarketWise is a leading multi-brand subscription services platform providing premium financial research, software, education, and tools for investors.
With more than 25 years of operating history, MarketWise serves a community of millions of free and paid subscribers. MarketWise's products are a trusted source for high-value financial research, education, actionable investment ideas, and investment software. MarketWise is a 100% digital, direct-to-customer company offering its research across a variety of platforms including mobile, desktops, and tablets. MarketWise has a proven, agile, and scalable platform and our vision is to become the leading financial solutions platform for self-directed investors.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Globe and Mail
11 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Thinking of Buying Amazon Stock? Here's 1 Green Flag and 1 Red Flag.
Key Points Amazon's retail engine is slowing. Advertising is quietly gaining momentum. Amazon's integrated ecosystem is a competitive moat. 10 stocks we like better than Amazon › Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is one of the most important businesses of the internet era -- and arguably still not clearly understood. Many still view it as an e-commerce company. But beneath the surface, Amazon has quietly built up a multiengine empire, spanning cloud computing, advertising, and entertainment. This article will explore one of Amazon's underappreciated strengths and one real risk that long-term investors should keep in mind. Red flag: E-commerce growth is slowing, and margins remain thin For years, Amazon's e-commerce has been its bedrock for growth, slowly capturing market share from offline retailers and other incumbents. It has been wildly successful, making it a giant of its own. But here's the thing: For all its dominance, Amazon's core e-commerce business is maturing. Worse, it is increasingly facing pressure on multiple fronts, and that's reflected in its recent numbers. In the second quarter of 2025, North America segment sales rose just 8% year over year while the international segment's revenue grew by only 5%. That's a far cry from the breakneck growth rates of the 2010s. More concerning, the company's core commerce revenue (online sales, physical stores, and third-party services) grew at around 5% to 6%, much lower than the numbers above after excluding advertising and subscription revenue. And despite its gigantic size -- net sales reached $126 billion in the first quarter of 2025 -- it had an operating profit of just $6.8 billion, or 5.4%. That margin might be acceptable for a grocery store. But for a tech giant with massive infrastructure costs, it limits how much the retail engine can contribute to long-term earnings power. To make things tougher, Amazon faces growing competition from low-cost, well-positioned challengers like Temu and Shein. These newcomers are leveraging ultra-lean supply chains and social virality to win younger consumers -- and they're increasingly encroaching on categories like apparel, beauty, and home goods. The silver lining? Amazon isn't standing still. Its logistics network is becoming more efficient, with faster delivery speeds and lower costs per package. It's also pushing hard on its own low-cost e-commerce (Amazon Haul) to overcome Temu and Shein. Still, investors will want to see Amazon prove it can sustain even modest growth -- and expand margins over time for its commerce segment. Otherwise, this red flag could remain a drag on the stock, even as other business lines post better numbers. Green flag: Amazon's advertising business is quietly exploding If retail is showing signs of fatigue, advertising might be Amazon's next growth engine. In Q1 2025, Amazon's ad revenue jumped 18% year over year to $13.9 billion, making it one of the largest digital advertising platforms globally. Moreover, advertising is a high-margin business, meaning it may eventually contribute more to the bottom line than the retail business. What makes Amazon ads unique isn't just impressions. It's intent. Amazon reaches customers at the moment they're ready to buy -- giving it higher conversion rates than search or social platforms. And with its massive trove of first-party purchase data, Amazon offers brands a powerful platform for targeted marketing. But advertising doesn't end on Amazon's shopping sites. The recent move to introduce ads in Prime Video has opened a new chapter. With hundreds of millions of global Prime members, Amazon now runs one of the largest ad-supported streaming platforms in the world. Even Google and Meta Platforms can't fully match this. That's because Amazon owns the entire customer journey -- from ad exposure, to product search, to purchase -- all within its ecosystem. This closed-loop attribution model allows brands to track precisely how ads turn into sales. For example, a user might see a product placement on Prime Video, tap an ad on their Fire TV, and complete the purchase on Amazon's app -- all while feeding Amazon's flywheel of shopping and behavioral data. That kind of end-to-end visibility is gold for marketers. What does it mean for investors? Amazon isn't just an e-commerce company anymore. While retail remains a critical piece of its empire, it's becoming clearer that Amazon's long-term profit engine will come from high-margin businesses like cloud computing and advertising. In particular, the ad business is gaining real momentum, with unique advantages that could drive years of growth. Yes, retail faces challenges. But if Amazon can stabilize commerce and let other faster-growing segments do the heavy lifting, the stock could still compound over time. For long-term investors, understanding which parts of Amazon are growing -- and which are not -- may be the key to seeing the company's future. Should you invest $1,000 in Amazon right now? Before you buy stock in Amazon, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Amazon wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025


Globe and Mail
36 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Is Apple Stock a Buy Now?
Key Points Apple has fallen behind in the AI race. Apple's growth has been poor for several years. The stock remains pricey for its growth rate. 10 stocks we like better than Apple › Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) used to be the world's largest company by a wide margin, but it has now fallen solidly into third place behind Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). It was knocked from the top thanks to a lack of growth and innovation, but it was still a best-in-class operator that was well managed. As of Apple's most recent results, the issue of lack of growth has been resolved, as Apple managed to post its quickest growth rate in years. But is it enough to make Apple a solid stock to buy now? Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Apple is behind in AI Apple is the leading consumer tech brand in the U.S., and it is also popular around the world. It rose to this position through continuous innovation and always having some of the best products available. However, it has fallen behind in a key area: Artificial intelligence (AI). It's no secret that Apple Intelligence (Apple's take on AI) hasn't lived up to the hype, and has failed to launch several key features that it promised would be launched last year. Whether these features will make a difference in selling more phones is up for debate, but this is just one area where Apple has fallen behind recently. CEO Tim Cook hinted at one way Apple may be open to catching up in the AI race: Acquisitions. On Apple's third-quarter fiscal year 2025 conference call (ending June 28), Cook mentioned that management is open to making an AI acquisition, and is not concerned about the size of the company. Depending on which company Apple scoops up, this could propel Apple from an AI laggard to an AI leader, and could be the next technological innovation it needs to get back on top. Apple's revenue growth lags compared to its peers Even without AI, Apple's growth has finally returned. In Q3, Apple's revenue was up 10% year over year. While that's not rapid growth by any means, it's at least market-matching and is a big improvement from where it has been. AAPL Operating Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts. If Apple can continue this trend and return to mid-teens growth, Apple could finally start to justify its valuation. Even though Apple's growth has been lackluster over the past few years, it still maintains a premium valuation in the market. The argument was that Apple is Apple, and it will eventually return to growth mode. Still, despite Apple's successful quarter, it remains a pricey stock. AAPL PE Ratio data by YCharts. PE = price-to-earnings. At 31 times trailing earnings and 28 times forward earnings, Apple's stock still trades at the high end of its range over the past four years. Furthermore, Apple is more expensive than the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), which trades for 25 times trailing earnings and 24 times forward earnings. Additionally, if you compare Apple to its " Magnificent Seven" peers, it also looks rather expensive for its growth. Company Last Quarter Revenue Growth Rate Forward P/E Ratio Apple 9.6% 27.5 Nvidia 69.2% 41.4 Microsoft 18.1% 34.0 Amazon 13.3% 32.5 Alphabet 13.8% 19.7 Meta Platforms 21.3% 27.6 Tesla (11.8%) 183.0 Data source: YCharts. Companies like Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) provide better growth at a cheaper or similar price tag. But if Apple can improve its growth into the low double-digit range, it will start to look like an attractive pick compared to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) or Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). I don't think Apple is a buy just yet, although it's getting close. I want to see what happens to Apple once its supply of iPhones -- its most important product -- runs out in the U.S., and it has to deal with tariffs. Apple is an improving story, but I'm not quite ready to invest in it yet. There are some better big tech options out there. Should you invest $1,000 in Apple right now? Before you buy stock in Apple, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Apple wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


Globe and Mail
41 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
2 Dividend ETFs to Buy With $1,000 and Hold Forever
Key Points The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF provides exposure to high-quality, dividend-paying U.S. companies. The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF is a popular choice for exposure to companies with a history of increasing their dividends in any economy. 10 stocks we like better than Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF › Dividends can be a great way to boost your overall portfolio returns and generate capital to save, reinvest, or otherwise put to work as you desire. You can choose shares of individual income stocks or use dividend exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that provide access to an entire basket of dividend stocks. If you're considering dividend ETFs for your portfolio right now and have $1,000 to put to work, here are two options to consider. 1. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEMKT: SCHD) tracks the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 index, which tracks the performance of 100 high-yield U.S. dividend stocks. As such, the ETF typically invests in about 100 stocks across various sectors like energy, consumer staples, healthcare, technology, and industrials. Some of the top holdings of this fund include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, PepsiCo, Amgen, Cisco, Merck, and AbbVie. It also has positions in Target, General Mills, Paychex, and Lockheed Martin. The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF is built around companies that have paid dividends for at least 10 consecutive years and possess the financial strength to continue doing so. That underlying emphasis on quality and strong fundamentals helps create a more resilient and potentially stable portfolio that has paid off big for investors through the years. The ETF contained about $69 billion in total assets at the time of this writing, with an expense ratio of 0.06%. Considering that the average expense ratio for ETFs is in the ballpark of 0.1%, an expense ratio of 0.06% falls nicely below this average. It's worth noting that the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF is passively managed since it aims to replicate the performance of its chosen index rather than having a manager actively selecting and trading stocks. In general, passively managed ETFs tend to have lower expense ratios compared to actively managed funds because they don't require the same level of research and trading activity. The ETF also offers a yield of about 3.85%, notably higher than the average S&P 500 stock (1.3%). With a total 10-year return including dividends of about 200%, and its payout spiking by 160% in that time frame, the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF looks like a no-brainer buy for income-seeking investors who want to put cash into a basket of high-quality companies and hold it forever. 2. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEMKT: VIG) tracks the performance of the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers index, which replicates the performance of large U.S. companies that have consistently increased their dividends for at least 10 consecutive years. The top industry weightings in the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF include technology, financial services, healthcare, consumer defensive, and industrials. The fund had total net assets of $109.6 billion at the time of this writing and contains 337 stocks with a median market cap of $226 billion. Most of the stocks in the ETF are large-cap companies (78% to be exact), while only about 2.7% are small caps. Some of the major names that represent the most significant holdings in the ETF include Microsoft, Apple, Eli Lilly, and Visa. Its current yield is relatively low compared to some other dividend ETFs (around 1.65%) because it prioritizes dividend growth over initial high payouts or the highest yields. Many of the underlying companies are growth-focused stocks that offer the potential for consistent capital appreciation alongside dividend income. Its current expense ratio of 0.05% is on the low end, making it accessible to a much wider group of investors. The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF has delivered a total return of about 240% over the trailing 10 years, while its dividend has increased by about 97%. For investors seeking long-term, reliable income through exposure to high-quality, large-cap U.S. companies with a demonstrated track record of increasing their dividends, this ETF could warrant a long-term portfolio position. Should you invest $1,000 in Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF right now? Before you buy stock in Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025