well, that's it for us this week. be sure to physical me on twitter, facebook and instagram, and i'll be back next week on "the wall street journal at large." thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪ jack: welcome to baer ron's round table. i'm howe in for jack otter, he'll be back next week. for now, i feel drunk with power. coming up, papa john's ceo rob lynch on why his pizza business is piping hot during the pandemic and how much room left for growth. but we begin with what we think are the three most important things investors should be thinking about right now. apple and tesla la announce stock splits and their shares charged higher. why investors are going bananas

for splits and which companies might be next. also robin hood finish not the guy in tights, the free stock-trading t.a.r.p.. why it's outgrowing the competition. and as investors wait for a covid-19 vaccine, powerful new treatments could soon make a difference. we look at the companies racing to test them. on the "barron's roundtable", my colleagues, ben levisohn, carlton english and al root. ben, let me start with you about stock splits. they used to be common. we've been through kind of a drought. all of a sudden there are a couple of high profile ones. they don't change the value of a company, it's like me giving you a 10 for two 5s, but investors are responding. what do you think is going on? >> the first thing is we actually are some high profile stock splits. we haven't had these in years. companies have been letting their stock prices just rise

well into the thousands in the way they never have before, so now all of a sudden you yet two high -- you get two high profile companies, supposedly their stocks go up -- both of their stocks go up on the day of the announcement. it really got people excited. there's this idea that maybe the companies are signaling that things are going pretty well, but nothing's really changed. it's just investor excitement for these things. though history has shown that you do get a pop after the announcement, but then the stocks tend to underperform after the split. jack: okay. so whether or not it's justified, right, it's happening which makes me wonder who might be next for a stock split. what do you think? >> well, i think you're absolutely right. when people see these kind of moves after a stock split, they go, huh, i wonder if that could happen for me too. and there's suggestion stocks out there that trade -- six stocks, am, autozone, chipotle, alphabet and a real estate

company. any one of those could be a candidate. jack: carlton, i want to give you a shocking statistic from a story from this week's "barron's." of the roughly six million online trading accounts opened in the first six months of the year, at least three million were robin hood accounts? what explains the popularity of this trading platform? >> well, yeah. so, or you know, no fee trading, that's been around to some extent for a while, but when you're on robin hood, they kind of figured out how to get that young orer trader excitement around the platform. you make your first trade, you get digital confetti. i don't know that you get that -- jack: i've never gotten that for anything. it sounds exciting. go on. [laughter] >> yeah. so that's exactly e the tube of user that robin hood has been able to tap into. you also have a lot of people, you know, at home. their looking -- they're looking for something to do.

that's why there's been some concern about the surge in this kind of at-home day trader that may not have the type of experience that, you know, they should have for trading on some of the products that they have. jack: i hear that robin hood is going to stop reporting the most popular stock holdings among its users, and there are outside services like robin track that have picked this up. what do you think it means for the trading in certain stocks for some of the volatility that we've seen if traderrers no longer have this piece of information? >> yeah. so, you know, for a novice trader, you know, popularity might be where they want to go and, oh, everyone's buying into this stock, that must mean it's good, i should go into it, and they may not be thinking about the fundamentals of the company and if, you know, that stock is for their broader goals. and there has been some concern on robin hood that it gives novice traders, you know, access to products that maybe they shouldn't have, trading with leverage or options or things they a may not know enough about.

so without that robin track feature, it's possible that some of that volume on robin hood may go down a little bit. jack: guy like ben and i who day traded back in the late 1990s had to shout across the room to find out what everyone else was buying, so if this makes a difference. al, i want to is can you about treatments for -- ask you about treatment for covid-19. we're all watching for vaccines, and we're hopeful that we see one soon, but even when we get one, we have to wait until it gets administered across the population for it to be effective. meanwhile, companies are working on more effective treatments for people who already have covid that can keep people from dying. those can make a difference right away, so i'm wondering what to you so from -- what do you see from companies that are in advanced stages of testing for treatments that they hope will be more effective than what we have now? >> yeah, jack, excellent question. it feels -- for me, the covid therapy space seems still very

muddled. but the picture is starting to get a little clearer as we get further into the year. so to your point, we all want a a vaccine, but vaccines don't treat disease, they just prevent you from getting it, and there is the problem of administering it and making sure that everyone who needs it will take it. the treatments are almost or as important, right? and the first treatment was probably gilead's remdesivir. that's an unfusion, it's expensive -- infusion, it was for severe cases. regeneral ron, for instance, put another antibody therapy in trials in july. what happened this week is one of the analysts on wall street said that that data could be ready by the end of the year. so what we're going to get in the next few months is a lot of data about the vaccines and how effective they were and these

therapies, how effective they are. so in a best case scenario, we'll have this menu of options, of successful therapies -- not approved yet or approved in limited cases -- but by the end of the year, hopefully we'll be able to say this is what you should take for mild disease, this is if you have a severe reaction to the virus and along with vaccines for long-term protection. jack: and i've seen companies like regeneral ron and flax sew smith klein that are in the hunt for new, more effective treatments as well. thanks, al. coming up, pandemic piece is saw sales are soaring. papa john's ceo r r r r

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shutdown. papa john's says its north american comparable sales jumped 28% during the quarter end in june and looked even better in july. the stock has doubled in price since the company installed a new chief a year ago, so what does the growth potential look like from here? ceo rob lynch joins me now. rob, we spoke last in april, and you said business was picking up at the time. i see what you mean now. [laughter] what portion would you attribute to changed behavior during the pandemic, and what would you put on some initiatives that you put boo place even before this year? >> well, we're thinking about it as about 50/50. there's obviously a tailwind with the pandemic and the shutdowns that have occurred as a result. as people have been more concerned about going out and sitting down to eat dinner, they're eating at home more often, and that benefits pizza delivery. so definitely a tailwind. as you called out, 30% comps in

july, about half of that is coming from strategic purity, priorities that we put in place as far back as q4 of last year when i came into the company. we laid out what our plans were, and we started to see some good momentum prior to the pandemic. we started seeing a lot of fruit from the initiatives we had put in place around innovation and technology. and then the pandemic really hasn't changed our plans at all, it's just accelerated all of our actions. jack: how do you keep it though? you know, let's hope for the -- keep it going, though? >> we've added over 5 million new customers this year, and the key is we need to keep those customers. we need the take cower of them while they're coming into our restaurants, and we've invested a lot on our loyalty e platform and our one to to one marketing

platform. we're able to leverage the information we have about them to make sure we're meeting their needs, and we're finding that they're repeating. so it's not a one and done phenomenon. they're come back more often. if we keep taking cower of them, we'll keep those -- taking care of them -- >> you said you were going to sure 20,000 new workers, you did. now you saw you're working for 10,000 more. i have to believe it's easier now to find workers than it was. what are you learning that you can tell us from the hiring process? >> well, you know, it's been, it's been a challenge, obviously, for the last few years as the country has ebbs experienced record low levels of unemployment. and, you know, we wake up every morning to record sale es a little bit like the twilight zone. as you mentioned, we hope this pandemic goes away tomorrow, but, you know, what we feel like we can do during the pandemic to help our communities is make sure we're delivering great, high quality, safe food but also give people jobs. as unemployment has definitely increased as a result of the

challenges we face, we've been suring, and we're ready to hire 10,000 more. we need more people. there are great jobs, we've got great teams in every one of our restaurants, and that's how we feel we're able to give back to the community. jack: the company's founder left in 2018, and you came from arby's, and a couple months after you came to papa john's, he had some unflattering remarks. from where i'm sutting, it looks like a roast beef guy can do a good job selling pizzas. what advice do you have for a new manager who is catching some criticism from the outgoing management? >> you have to believe in yourself, and, you know, you have to believe in what you've done in the past has prepared you for your future. you have to believe in your team, you have to surround yourself with great people who know more than you do and help you be better at everything you trying to be.

but confidence and not arrogance, but confidence and believing in yourself, believing in those around you is the key to success. jack: i've got do you about the shaq-aroni. i heard you sold 2 million of these. my understanding it's big, it's got a lot of end pepperoni on it. is it the pizza? is it shaq? do you have plans for a shaq-call zone at some point? will you make a charles barkley pizza? what's next? [laughter] >> you know, one of the great things about what we're doing right now and a big contributor to our success and, frankly, our success moving forward has been we've pulled off any guardrails on innovation. we believe that great ideas can come from everywhere. we're soliciting great ideas from people in our headquarters, from our restaurants, from our franchisees, from our customers. yeah, it's a big pizza, but how can you have a pizza that's not big called that? we're open to anything.

if barkley wants to reach out and has ideas, you know, i think he likes pizza too -- [laughter] perhaps we can do that. jack: i bet he does. papa john's ceo rob lynch, thanks for coming by to talk with us. coming up, the s&p 500 heading for a new high. has the market gone into

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♪ ♪ jack: the s&p 500 index was recently up more than 50% from its march low. even though the past decline in the last six months on jobs remains one of the largest on record. melt-up doesn't have a formal definition, and that makes out perfect for arguing about here. carlton, start us off. are we in a melt-up?

>> yeah, i'm going to say, yes, we are. now, i'm old enough to remember back in february when the s&p was trading, oh, i don't know, or about 19 times earnings, and we were saying, hey, are valuations getting too high? here we are and we're at home, we're not doing stuff, we're not consuming the same way, and the s&p is trading at about 25 time projected earnings. i think that feels a little bubbly to me. jack: ben, what do you say? >> i think this is a rational ponce to a completely irrational situation. i mean, just think, there was this disease that caused us to hut down the entire country. shut down the entire country. and then that could have led to some sort of depression if nothing was done, but then we saw this onslaught of support from the fed and the government. the fed's doing more now and faster than it did after the financial crisis. the fiscal support has been enormous. it's almost impossible -- it's not impossible, but almost for a company to go bankrupt, and

consumers are saving during a recession. this is crazy stuff x. yields are so low on treasuries that the only place to put money is in the stock market. i'll start to worry when things start going back to normal. jack: so the bad news gives us all that stimulus. don't we need to keep that? should i be worried things are start going too well and investors will get concerned? >> absolutely. i think if you start seeing things go well, you start seeing rates go up, yields go up, people start to get scared and start saying, oh, maybe those multiples are too high. that's when you have to worry. jack: okay, i'm putting you down for team not a melt-up. everything else has gone crazy. al, you're the tie breaker. are we in a melt-up right now with the stock market? >> well, seeing as i directly report to ben, i will go in the -- it's a totally reasonable

reaction. but part of a melt-up fear of missing out, and things were getting better, and then you mix in there what carlton was talking about with millions of new retail trading and zero commissions, and you have this recipe for a melt-up. but things are still getting better, right in the economy is still improving. so for at least the next three months i say melt-up, and then i say bring it on. jack: it's a melt-up, but it could get even meltier. i i spoke recently with the u.s. stock chief over at credit suisse, and he said we're -- as carlton says, about 25 times earnings in the stock market right now. historically, the average is closer to 15 times. he says stick with stocks, but you better get used to it. he says we could see price to earnings ratios for the broad stock market in the mid 20s

for the next decade because rates are going to remain low, and even if growth remains slow, we could see these expanded valuationses. i mean, ben, when you're faced with that kind of menu as an investor, if you're a cheapskate like me, how do you bring yourself to stay in it with prices this high? >> you think about what could come next. stocks look expensive if we believed that the earnings expectations are what they are or that they're not going to be better or worse. if earnings come in worse than people are expecting, the market's even more expensive. but if they're better, than the stock the valuation come down, and that's what happened this last quarter where the earnings were supposed to come in around 125, and i think they calm in around 130 or so. if the market can keep surpassing this estimates, it might be cheaper than it appears. jack: i find this discomfort over valuationses comforting so long as the prices are going to

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♪ ♪ jack: let's talk about stocks. carlton, i had plans this past week to do some aggressive teeth whitening to beautify myself for television. i never got around to it, but i i see here that you like align are technologies, and they're in a teeth straight thenning business. tell me about the product and what you like about the company. >> sure. so they make the unvisi line clear liner, a braces alternative. the stock has held up really well during the downturn, and that's even with dentist offices

closed. you do have to go to a dentist to get the product. the stock's done well. dentist offices are reopening, and if you check out the internet, there's all these articles on how to look better on your zoom calls, people learning makeup and lightening tips. also i think people have been looking at themselves maybe too much a little bit, so i think that there are some catalysts for a align. jack: my trick to just turn off the camera, but i take your point. [laughter] some people out there want to be seen, and i guess this can help with that. hey, ben, andrew berry has a positive story in this week's barron's act merck. can you -- about merck. can you give me a couple of bullets? >> sure. merck is a really successful pharmaceutical company, but you wouldn't know it by looking at us stock which is down 8% this year, and this is when stocks like regeneron are soaring. the stock is cheap. it has a great cancer drug that they have a patent on til 2028. so people are starting to worry

about that a little bit. it's also working on covid vaccines, but it's not really getting rewarded for out. people will start to give it more value for the cancer drug because they're going to get more comfortable with the pipeline. jack: and, al, bank of america recently upgraded tesla. you say to sell. why? >> well, it was a bit of a -- it was a long-term affair, and he went from sell to hold, and he even took a few shots at the company in his upgrade report. listen, i am not a tesla bear, but the stock is up 20% since announcing a split. it just closed at an all-time high. it is 26% above its 50-day moving average. you don't have to sell everything. you can sell a little when things are this good. so i am a profit taker in tesla for a little while. jack: the hate upgrade. i learned something new. carlton, ben, al, great ideas

and thank you. to read more, check out this week's edition at barron's.com and don't forget to follow us on twitter. that's all for us. see you next week on "barron's >> from the fox studios and new york city, this is maria bartiromo wall street. maria: happy weekend everyone, welcome to the program that analyzes the week that was an helps position you for the week ahead. i am maria bartiromo, welcome to our special program, coming up in a few moments my exclusive interview with donald j trump as we discussed joe biden, here is to the stimulus package and why the talks stalled as well as his crackdown on chinese companies like wall weight and tiktok, it's coming up in my exclusive interview with the president. let's take a look bt