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Club holding Disney (DIS) is raising the prices of some U.S. theme park offerings, a potentially notable development after what CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC two months ago about what it would take for further hikes to occur. “It’s all up to the consumer,” Chapek said Aug. 11, when pressed on whether there’d be increases to ticket prices. “If consumer demand keeps up, we act accordingly. If we see a softening, which we don’t think we’re going to see, then we can act accordingly, as well. We’re very flexible.” Those August remarks came to mind when we got word of these new price changes. The hikes are also happening when there have been questions about how well demand at Disney’s theme parks will hold up in the face of persistent inflation and worries of an economic slowdown. What’s changing Recall that Disney adopted dynamic-pricing model a few years ago that results in higher admission prices on historically more popular days. Following these recent pricing changes, a single-day adult ticket to Disneyland Resort in California is $179 on the highest-demand days, about an 9% increase. For context: That’s what it will cost to go to the park on Nov. 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, according to Disneyland’s website. A few days later, on Wednesday Nov. 30, the website shows a single-day ticket is $144. Two-day ticket for Disneyland is now priced at $285, a nearly 12% increase. The price of some parking options also rose. Disney also made changes to the pricing of Genie+, a popular and relatively new digital feature that unlocks premium benefits inside the theme park such as bypassing lines for attractions. At Disneyland, the price of Genie+ is now $25 per day when purchased in advance, up from $20. At Walt Disney World in Florida, Genie+ now ranges between $15 and $22 through the end of October — with prices at the higher end of the range on more popular days. It used to be $15 on all days. After October, the price is of Genie+ at Disney World is subject to change again, according to a company spokesman. It will remain variable, based on demand on a given day. The popularity of Genie+ has exceeded management’s expectations and helped to boost per capita spending at the theme parks. On the company’s third-quarter earnings call in August, Chapek said around 50% of parkgoers upgrade to purchase Genie+. The Club’s take In recent months, we’ve made our frustrations clear with the performance of Disney’s stock. We think the market is getting this all wrong based on the strength of the company’s underlying businesses, especially the highly profitable division that includes theme parks. However, we understand Disney’s theme parks do have economic sensitivity — vacation plans may be scaled back in a recession — and that’s what investors may be worried about, in addition to the losses in the streaming division. We believe in Disney’s unrivaled franchises in the long-term, though. In the near term, these latest price hikes at the theme parks may point to continued theme park-strength, based on Chapek’s August comments to CNBC: “If consumer demand keeps up, we act accordingly.” We know demand has been booming for the last few quarters, as Covid restrictions have eased and many people felt more comfortable to resume their pre-pandemic ways. In its fiscal third quarter, which was reported in August, Disney’s parks, experiences and products division recorded $7.4 billion in revenue, up 70% year over year, and far ahead of the Wall Street estimate of $6.75 billion. The division also contributed around 61% of the company’s overall operating income in Q3, despite making up only roughly 34% of quarterly revenue. The primary source of the theme-park strength in California and Florida has been U.S. residents, Chapek has said before, noting that international travel hasn’t fully recovered yet, so there’s more pent-up demand that’s likely to be unleashed in the future. We’ll get a more detailed look at how Disney’s theme parks did in its fiscal fourth quarter when the company’s official quarterly results hit the tape after the Nov. 8 closing bell. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long DIS. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

A performer dressed as Mickey Mouse entertains guests during the reopening of the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California, U.S., on Friday, April 30, 2021.
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Some 75% of high-net-worth investors between the ages of 21 and 42 don’t expect “above-average returns” solely from traditional stocks and bonds, a study shows.
As a result, 80% of young investors are turning to so-called alternative investments, which fall outside of traditional asset classes.

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More advisors are using alternative investments

Alternative investments typically fall into four categories: hedge funds, private equity, “real assets” such as real estate or commodities and prepackaged investments known as “structured products.”
Amid double-digit losses in the stock and bond markets this year, there’s been an uptick in advisors turning to alternative investments, as planners seek further diversification, according to a recent survey from Cerulli Associates. 
The top reasons for alternative allocations were to “reduce exposure to public markets,” “volatility dampening” and “downside risk protection,” the Cerulli survey respondents said.   

Scott Bishop, a certified financial planner and executive director of wealth solutions at Houston-based Avidian Wealth Solutions, said some clients use a portion of their portfolios to educate their adult children about investing. And these younger investors are increasingly eyeing alternative assets.
“I think everybody’s very worried about the stock market, and if they’re in their 40s, they’ve probably been burned a couple of times,” he said.

‘Know what you own and why you own it’

With more interest in alternative investments, experts say it’s important to understand the risks — as well as the products themselves — before shifting portfolio allocations.  
“First and foremost, know what you own and why you own it,” said Ashton Lawrence, a CFP and partner at Goldfinch Wealth Management in Greenville, South Carolina.
There’s a growing range of products falling under the umbrella of alternative investments, and it’s critical to understand how an asset could perform through different market conditions, he said. 

First and foremost, know what you own and why you own it.

Ashton Lawrence
partner at Goldfinch Wealth Management

“It’s not really fair to compare a sports car to a minivan and question why the minivan isn’t keeping up,” Lawrence said. Of course, alternative investments may be the minivan or the sports car in that analogy, depending on the economic climate.
For client allocations, Lawrence uses stock alternatives to boost returns while reducing risk, and on the bond side, alternatives may provide a “stabilizer” for the portfolio.  
“I don’t have to outperform on the upside,” he said. “But when that market pulls back, I don’t want to incur the full breadth of that pullback.” 
For high-net-worth investors, alternative allocations may vary by portfolio size, goals and risk tolerance. However, a larger allocation may be riskier for do-it-yourself investors without professional guidance.

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Shares of AMC Entertainment fell to a 52-week low on Wednesday.
The slump comes as shareholders and investors question the company’s capital structure and overall business strategy.
The company’s cash pile could help it weather a light movie release schedule, which is expected to pick up over the next two years.

The AMC 25 Theatres in Times Square in New York is seen on Tuesday, July 8, 2014.
Richard Levine | Corbis News | Getty Images

AMC Entertainment hit a new 52-week low Wednesday as the movie theater company contends with a massive debt load, dilution of its stock and a film release schedule short on blockbusters.
Shares of the world’s largest movie theater company have fallen about 80% to under $6 so far this year, as investors question the company’s capital structure and overall business strategy.

The company came back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2021 thanks to millions of retail investors who turned its shares into a meme stock. Since then, AMC has devised several plans to raise more capital to pay down its debts and invest in acquisitions, theater upgrades, a popcorn business and even a gold mine.
In its latest effort, AMC issued a dividend to all common shareholders in the form of preferred shares called “APE,” a reference to the “Apes” moniker adopted by meme stock investors. However, analysts say the company was unable to fully capitalize on selling off these new shares before disillusioned investors pulled their support.
For now, AMC has enough cash in hand to survive and operate for the next several years, said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at MKM Partners. As of June 30, AMC had availability liquidity of more than $1.17 billion. Its share slump, he added, is “purely about the capital structure.” Even at its depressed price, the stock is overvalued, according to Handler.
AMC has also struggled to post a profit in recent quarters, and its debt load is $5 billion, about $2 billion more than its market value. The company amassed the debt prior to the pandemic, when it acquired several smaller theater chains and invested in upgrading its theaters seating and screens. While AMC may have delayed its debt payments, “that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a favorable environment when they do have to refinance,” said Alicia Reese, an analyst at Wedbush.
Reese noted that initial declines in the stock came as management executives sold off shares when they were at their height in mid-2021and steadily declined in the months that followed. There was another selloff in August, when AMC announced that it was issuing a dividend to all shareholders in the form of preferred APE shares.

“AMC could have capitalized on that, if they had moved very quickly,” she said. “And if they had sold enough shares to wipe out their debt balance, they could have done that. They would have lost all of their retail shareholders pretty quickly, but then they would have been a bit more attractive, fundamentally, even though the share count would have been pretty massive.”
Representatives from AMC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Rise of the APEs

In an August letter to shareholders, CEO Adam Aron said the APE shares would “deeply and fundamentally” strengthen AMC. “Given the flexibility that APEs will give us, we likely will be able to raise money if we need or so choose, which immensely lessens any survival risk as we continue to work our way through this pandemic to recovery and transformation,” he wrote.
Then, in late September, the company hired Citigroup as an underwriter to help it sell up to 425 million units of its preferred stock. Reese noted that that sale could amount to around $750 million, a “small dent” in the company’s overall debt.
“To me, it looks like a lost opportunity,” she said. “And now APE shares are priced so low that it’s not as great to position as they saw themselves in mid August.”
APE shares, which started trading in August, were down around 5% on Wednesday, falling to their lowest point yet. The shares have a 52-week high of $10.50, which was achieved in late August.

These APE shares were designed as a workaround, of sorts, to help free up AMC to sell additional units of stock as it works to revive its business after the pandemic. The company raised billions during the pandemic by selling new stock but ran out of shares to sell. Investors, including AMC’s most stalwart fans, feared dilution and rejected the company’s efforts to issue additional stock.
Reese noted that before the retail investors began buying up stock in late 2020 and early 2021, AMC had around 100 million shares outstanding. That number ballooned to 500 million over the next two years.
Now, the combination of AMC’s regular shares and its APE preferred stock equates to more than a billion outstanding shares.
“They’ve been diluted into oblivion,” Reese said.

Where have all the blockbusters gone?

Also weighing on investors is a significant lack of blockbuster content during the last few months of the year.
There are only four would-be blockbuster releases coming to theaters before the end of the year: Warner Bros.′ “Black Adam (Oct. 21), and Disney’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Nov. 11), “Strange World” (Nov. 23) and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Dec. 16.)
In 2019, there were nearly two-dozen blockbuster-style films slated on the calendar for the last four months of the year, including “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” which generated $177 million in domestic ticket sales during its opening weekend.
Audiences have returned to cinemas in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and are spending more than ever on tickets and popcorn. However, the lack of steady theatrical releases will weigh heavily on the industry during the final months of the year. AMC should be able to ride out this lack of content because of its significant cash stockpile.
“You need your dry powder to guard against any type of disruptions,” Handler said. “I think they can limp along for many years with their current balance sheet.”
Hollywood production has ramped back up, and the release calendar will improve in 2023 and beyond. Currently, the 2023 box office is expected to reach around $9.5 billion in total ticket sales, according to estimates from Eric Wold, senior analyst at B. Riley Securities. For comparison, the 2019 box office reached $11.4 billion.
“I think the outlook is positive for AMC with the potential to return to pre-pandemic box office by 2024,” he said.

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Entrepreneur Dennis Tito and his wife Akiko purchased seats on a private trip with SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
It’s the third such spaceflight Elon Musk’s venture has announced to date.
Timing for the mission is yet to be determined, and likely years away.

Dennis Tito, most widely known as being the first space tourist back in mid-2001.

Entrepreneur Dennis Tito and his wife Akiko purchased seats on a private trip with SpaceX’s Starship rocket, the third such spaceflight Elon Musk’s venture has announced to date.
Tito – 82, and famous for becoming the first private space tourist after flying with Russia to the International Space Station in 2001 – bought two seats on a SpaceX mission that would fly a Starship to the moon and back on a week-long mission.

“I’ve been wanting to go to the moon since my first trip to space,” Tito said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Akiko, 57, is a real estate investor and pilot, who married Dennis Tito in 2020. Together they’re expected to be the first married couple to fly around the moon.
Unlike the other two private Starship flights previously announced, the first one purchased by billionaire Jared Isaacman and the second by billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, Tito and his wife did not buy the entire flight but rather two seats. That means the lunar flight is “open for 10 others to sign up,” he said.
Tito declined to comment on the cost of the seats, and a brief SpaceX blog post did not reference any financial arrangements.

The world’s first space tourist Dennis Tito waves in front of the International Space Station crew shortly after his arrival to the station April 30, 2001 in this image from television.
Oleg Nikishin | Hulton Archive | Getty Images

SpaceX’s director of Starship crew and cargo programs, Aarti Matthews, said during the briefing that the plan for Tito’s flight is to spend three days flying to the moon, travel within 125 miles (or about 200 kilometers) of the lunar surface and then return to Earth.

“This mission is really groundbreaking in that it puts us on a very firm step towards airline-like operations, where now, for the first time, you can buy an individual seat to the moon,” Matthews said.

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But timing for the mission is yet to be determined, and likely years away.
SpaceX has yet to reach orbit with a Starship prototype, has an expensive and high-profile NASA astronaut moon mission under contract, and needs to begin using the rocket to more rapidly deploy Starlink satellites. Plus, Tito’s flight is third in the company’s priority of private crew missions announced thus far.
For his part, Tito emphasized that he understands the trip around the moon “is not going to happen in the near term.” He added that he expects SpaceX will complete “hundreds” of Starship flight before he and Akiko fly.
But his enthusiasm for the company’s long-term goals is unabated. Two years ago Tito sold Wilshire Associates, the investment firm he founded in 1972. Since retiring, he said, he’s been “looking for something to do.”
“I’ve been following SpaceX almost on a daily basis, watching YouTube for the last 5 years, and I could see that there was an opportunity,” Tito said.

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General Motors on Wednesday revealed a new version of its Chevrolet Trax — the brand’s entry-level crossover.
The starting pricing of the 2024 Trax will be $21,495 for an LT trim, which is $1,400 less than the current model.
The compact is key to attracting and retaining cost-conscious buyers for the Detroit automaker, as interests rates rise and prices of new vehicles continue to break records.

2024 Chevrolet Trax ACTIV

DETROIT — General Motors on Wednesday revealed a new version of its Chevrolet Trax — the brand’s entry-level crossover — with new technologies and a more aggressive design, and at a lower price than the current vehicle.
The compact is key to attracting and retaining cost-conscious buyers for the Detroit automaker, as interests rates rise and prices of new vehicles continue to break records. The Trax also acts as a so-called “gateway vehicle” for consumers to move into the brand’s larger, more expensive crossovers and SUVs, according to executives.  

“This is a great opportunity for us with folks at the low end of the market,” Chevrolet Vice President Scott Bell said during a media briefing. “This is a vehicle that, we quote, ‘Has everything you need and nothing you don’t.'”

2024 Chevrolet Trax RS

The starting pricing of the 2024 Trax will be $21,495 for an LT trim, which is $1,400 less than the current model. The highest starting price will be $24,995, with additional trims in between. The only Chevrolet vehicle less expensive than the Trax is the much smaller Spark hatchback, which starts at under $15,000. All pricing includes mandatory destination charges.
The redesigned Trax is expected to go on sale next spring. It will be produced at a GM plant in South Korea, where the current model is built.
The vehicle will be powered by a 1.2-liter turbocharged, three-cylinder engine that will produce a GM-estimated 137 horsepower and 162 pound-foot of torque. Standard and optional add-on features on the redesigned Trax include larger control and information screens, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, active noise cancellation, automatic emergency braking, blind zone monitoring and adaptive cruise control.

2024 Chevrolet Trax RS

The 2024 Trax features styling that debuted on the midsize 2019 Chevrolet Blazer and reappeared on the Chevy Trailblazer, another compact crossover. The Trax is longer, lower and wider than the current model — more in line with the pricier Trailblazer.

Executives expect the redesigned Trax to assist in growing the brand’s more than 10% market share in the smaller crossover segment. Chevrolet expects the redesigned Trax to become the third bestselling vehicle in the brand’s lineup, behind the Silverado full-size pickup and compact Equinox crossover. Those vehicles typically sell hundreds of thousands of units a year.
“We forecast a lot of growth here,” said Steve Majoros, vice president of Chevrolet marketing. “There’s still a lot of people who want a car of this kind of size, proportion and price point.”
GM on Wednesday didn’t announced any electric or hybrid models, despite the company’s plans to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035.

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Nike has updated its terms of sale to say it could cancel online orders made using automated technology or software.
The company added it can also charge restocking fees, refuse refunds or suspend accounts of users suspected of being resellers or exceeding the spending limits set by the brand. 

Nike shoes are displayed on a shelf a Nike factory store on June 28, 2022 in Milpitas, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Nike is taking steps to curb the proliferation of sneaker-buying bots and resellers.
The sneaker company added new terms for U.S. online sales this month to prevent resellers from purchasing its products and reselling them on the secondary market using automated technology or software. The Wall Street Journal first reported the changes Tuesday.

Previous versions of Nike’s terms already prohibited buying products for resale. But the new rules allow the company to cancel orders placed with bots. Nike also added that it can decline refunds, charge restocking fees and suspend the accounts of users it suspects of reselling.
The company also said it could reject orders if an account has an excessive amount of returns or exceeds product purchase limits.
Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Nike took legal action against online resale marketplace StockX for allegedly allowing sales of counterfeit versions of its sneakers. Nike said in May that it bought four pairs of counterfeit footwear from StockX, despite that company’s claim it authenticates the shoes sold on its site. 
In late September, Nike’s shares fell more than 10% after the company said it was taking aggressive steps to lower its overstocked inventory.

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The new Polestar 3 is an electric five-passenger SUV with over 500 horsepower available.
The first version will be fully loaded and priced at $84,000, but lower-cost trims will follow.
Production will start in China next fall and in the U.S. in mid-2024.

Polestar 3
Courtesy: Polestar

Swedish EV maker Polestar on Wednesday unveiled a new electric SUV that it’s counting on to expand its sales and presence in the United States.
The new model, called the Polestar 3, is a five-passenger EV that the company describes as a “performance SUV.” It’ll launch with a 111 kilowatt-hour battery and a dual-motor configuration that delivers up to 517 horsepower with an estimated 300 miles of EPA-rated range.

Priced at about $84,000, the car comes loaded with technology, including an Nvidia computer running advanced driver-assist software developed by Polestar’s part owner, Volvo Cars.
Only one version of the Polestar 3 will be available at launch, though less expensive trims are expected to follow. An optional “Pilot Pack” will add a Luminar lidar unit and other sensors needed for autonomous driving, which Polestar expects to make available in the future via an over-the-air update.  
It’s a step up in size, performance, technology and price from the company’s current model, the Polestar 2 crossover, which starts at around $48,000. The Polestar 1 was a limited-production hybrid coupe, now discontinued.
It’s also something of a step up in price from what will likely be its main competitor: Tesla’s Model Y, which costs about $70,000 in similar dual-motor trim. Another potential rival, BMW’s all-electric iX SUV, starts at about $85,000.
The Polestar 3 will be built in China, starting next year, and in the U.S. — at a Volvo Cars factory in South Carolina — starting in mid-2024. Deliveries are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Polestar expects to deliver 50,000 vehicles to customers around the world in 2022. Through September, it had delivered about 30,400, it said last week.
Polestar is a joint venture between Volvo Cars and Chinese automaker Geely, which has owned Volvo Cars since 2010. Polestar went public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in June. Its shares have fallen about 58% since.

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Lucid said it’s on track to build between 6,000 and 7,000 of its Air electric luxury sedans in 2022, in line with its August guidance.
The company built more than 2,200 Airs in the third quarter, and delivered about 1,400 to customers.
Lucid has cut its production guidance twice this year, citing supply chain and logistics issues.

Electric vehicle start-up Lucid on Sept. 28, 2021 said production of its first cars for customers has started at its factory in in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Electric luxury vehicle maker Lucid Group confirmed Wednesday that it remains on track to produce between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles in 2022, in line with the more conservative guidance it provided to investors in August.
Lucid’s shares opened more than 5% higher following the news before giving up some of those gains. The stock was up around 2% in midmorning trading.

The company said in a statement that it produced 2,282 vehicles at its Arizona factory in the third quarter. It delivered 1,398 vehicles to customers during the same period.  
Lucid has twice cut its production guidance for 2022. The California-based startup had originally expected to build 20,000 of its Air electric luxury sedans this year. It lowered that target to between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles in February, saying at the time that global supply chain issues had hampered its ability to obtain basics like glass and carpet.
The company reduced its guidance again in August, to between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles for the year, citing logistics challenges as well as ongoing supply chain issues. At that time, Lucid said it had about 37,000 reservations for the Air.  
Lucid is scheduled to report its full third-quarter results after the U.S. markets close on Nov. 8.

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