What Is the Worth of Rare Earth?

In this episode of Motley Fool Rule Breaker Investing, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner welcomes Motley Fool analyst Yasser El-Shimy and longtime Fool producer and personality Mac Greer for 10 companies spanning cloud software, credit cards, Norwegian energy, sleep apnea, community banking, rare-earth minerals, biotech real estate, and 78,000 miles of pipelines.

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A full transcript is below.

This podcast was recorded on Sept. 23, 2026.

David Gardner: The price per share of a stock tells you almost nothing. It's one number. But how many shares exist? In math, you multiply two factors. Price times shares outstanding. Without the second of those, well, you can't do meaningful math or understand much of the market. Fools with a capital F know that price times shares equals market capitalization, a company's actual price tag. To make that lesson stick, we invented a game. On August 9th, 2017, the Market Cap Game Show was born, and we've played it every quarter since. You're playing, too. Against my guest stars, against your spouse, your kids. Can you outscore my talented contestants? It's that time again: 10 new stocks, three guest stars, two of my favorite Fools, longtime Motley Fool producer and personality Mac Greer and all-star analyst and advisor Yasser El-Shimy, and you. Only on this week's Rule Breaker Investing.

Welcome back to Rule Breaker Investing. This is the Market Cap Game Show played here in September 2026. For the 43rd time. Joining me this week are Mac Greer and Yasser El-Shimy, and they will be competing for one of our coveted four seats in our upcoming 2027 March Market Cap Madness Final Four, headlined by defending two-time defending world champion Emily Flippen. Of course, the third player, and to us the most important, is you. That's right. You, our dear fellow Foolish listener. Just a quick reminder to you as we play along: the market cap is a simple way to measure the value of stocks of public companies. You simply multiply today's share price by the number of shares outstanding, and that gives you the market cap. These days, market caps range from $4 trillion or so. At the high end, companies like Nvidia and Apple, right down to, well, it can be a quite low number in some cases, and no spoilers, we might have some of those today.

As my producer Bart begins to crank up our signature Market Cap Game Show music, let me just remind, especially new listeners, new players, how the game works. I'll be mentioning a stock. Neither Mac nor Yasser knows what stock is coming. I'll turn to one of them and ask that Fool, to state a numerical range within which the market cap falls, his best estimate. The other contestant and you playing at home, we'll simply say, "I agree," meaning it's accurate, the stock's value falls inside that range, or "I disagree." I think it's outside that stated range. You simply agree or disagree, and if you get it right, give yourself a plus one.

Now, we did add one new rule. For the first time in Market Cap Game Show history, we played it last time I liked it, so we're going to stick with it here. It's the King-Sharon rule, which essentially means that when you, one of my two contestants, Mac or Yasser, when you decide the other guy is wrong, it's outside his stated range. You can now say, "I think it's higher than that. Or lower than that." If you do that and you're right, you get an extra half point. You have an opportunity to bet a half point if you're confident you know which direction the stock was outside your opponent's stated range. Now, if you're wrong, well, you're going to lose a half point. You'll still get a half point for saying "outside," but that is the King-Sharon rule. Gentlemen, any questions about that?

Mac Greer: Clear as day?

Yasser El-Shimy: No questions.

David Gardner: Excellent. That's the Market Cap Game Show. We're focused on the real market caps of real stocks. Nobody knows the next stock that's coming. A perfect score would be, well, it used to be 10, but now I think it's something like 12.5. Yasser El-Shimy is a senior investment analyst at The Motley Fool who covers a wide range of companies, especially small- and medium-cap and international markets. He works as the advisor for global partners, The Motley Fool Service for International Investing. Yasser has a background in political risk and policy analysis as well. In his free time, Yasser, you like to garden, play squash, watch soccer. Study Italian. Welcome back, Yasser El-Shimy.

Yasser El-Shimy: Hi, David, I'm so happy to be back. I have had a very long losing streak on this show. I'm hoping to turn it around this time.

David Gardner: I appreciate that, Yasser. You have also won in the past. Let's get started. Yasser, I want to start our September 2026 Market Cap Game Show with a question to you about work. Think back across all the jobs you've had in your life. What's one job or one particular task within a job that you hope never to have to do again?

Yasser El-Shimy: Oh, my God. I don't know if it qualifies exactly as a job, but I did a PhD, and part of doing a PhD was writing a dissertation, basically a book-length paper arguing something nobody has ever argued before. It was not exactly something that they trained us for. They didn't give us a manual on how to write a dissertation. It was more like, you've taken enough classes. Now go write a dissertation. That was probably the most challenging job I've ever had to do in my life. No guidance, no manual. Just figure it out.

David Gardner: Title of your dissertation, Yasser.

Yasser El-Shimy: Here's a funny part. I made a decision as I was writing that dissertation that once I'm done, I'm going to host a dissertation burning party afterwards because I just hated the process so much. The process took such a toll on me and so many years of my life that, I actually spent something like six months working on a desk over 12 hours a day just to write. One of those times I got out of my chair, and I literally tore my calf muscle.

David Gardner: That is horrific. But wait, what was the topic?

Yasser El-Shimy: The topic was civil-military relations and the relationship to democratization. Now you thought the funniest, not the lightest stuff.

David Gardner: Have you thought much about it since?

Yasser El-Shimy: Over the years, sure, but thankfully, ever since I joined the Fool, I have not had to think about it.

David Gardner: I'm glad to know that. There are probably some things that almost nobody loves doing at work, filling out expense reports for a lot of people, maybe choosing benefits. Requesting time off, completing performance reviews, and increasingly, a lot of those mundane moments of working life happen in one place, which brings us to Stock No. 1. Workday, ticker symbol WDAY, provides cloud software that companies use to manage their people and their money, human resources, payroll, financial management, spending, planning. More than 11,500 organizations use Workday, including more than 65% of the Fortune 500, representing more than 80 million users under contract. These days, Workday is increasingly building AI agents into those same everyday business processes. Yasser El-Shimy, what is your stated market cap range for Workday? Ticker symbol WDAY?

Yasser El-Shimy: My stated market cap range is 28-38 billion.

David Gardner: Twenty-eight billion to 38 billion. Yasser, is this a stock that you own yourself?

Yasser El-Shimy: It's not a stock I own, nor have I covered. However, I'm familiar with the company and what it does.

David Gardner: Mac, do you own some WDAY in the Greer folio?

Mac Greer: I do not. I'm not familiar with Workday, and I would bet heavily on Yasser. I'm not a betting man, but not just for this question, but for the entire game. [LAUGHTER] If I could bet, I would bet on Yasser.

David Gardner: I understand. But you can't. You have to compete against him. Yasser, players at home, and Mac said 28-38 billion. Mac, do you want to agree with that range or disagree with that range?

Mac Greer: I'm going to disagree.

David Gardner: You have disagreed. Would you like to press it? King-Sharon rule, by saying you think it's higher or lower or just leave it be and enjoy a point if you're right? Yes. I'm going to go higher. I think there is a lot of work. There are a lot of days. I'm going higher. [OVERLAPPING] We're doing this, by the way, on the first day of autumn. How about that? It's the autumnal equinox. Players at home. If you also disagreed with Yasser's range and said, "It's higher than that." Give yourself a point and a half, because Mac, you are right. Workday, market cap, 45.36 billion. Not a bad guess at all. Yasser, how confident were you when you threw out your range?

Yasser El-Shimy: I would say I was about 80% confident. I think the stock was recently actually within that range, and it has experienced a bit of a spike lately, but I purposefully went under because I was trying to trick Mac. [LAUGHTER].

David Gardner: Brilliantly done. I would like to point out, not that Mac would probably want me to do this, but I went back and checked Mac's last appearance on this show, and he was competing against Emily Flippen, our world champion. I believe Emily may have won that game 9-1, which means, Mac, you have already outscored your entire output in the first question answered this game.

Mac Greer: Can I quit now or?

David Gardner: No. [LAUGHTER] By the way, here's a number that gives you some sense of just how much invisible work flows through Workday. Company says its platform now generates roughly 1.4 trillion transactions a year. That's people, they're clicking request vacation, but they're also doing an enormous flow of personnel, financial spending, planning, activity occurring behind the scenes at thousands of organizations around the world. Mac, 1.5. Yasser zero. Let's move on to Stock No. 2. By the way, all of these market caps are as of market close Tuesday, September 22nd.

Mac Greer is a long-time producer with The Motley Fool. He works on our quarterly call. Premium podcasts, stock reveals, and Fool events. He's also responsible for booking some of the greatest guests in Motley Fool history. Mac, just a quick rogues' gallery of some of your bookings for The Motley Fool over the years. Mr. Rogers, Billie Jean King, Weird Al, Loretta Lynn, the San Diego Chicken. I have to cut you off right there. You could keep going, but that's pretty great. I got to be part of a lot of those. Mac, thank you for all you've done for the Motley Fool over the years. Outside The Fool, Mac enjoys spending time with his family, going to and thinking about Costco. Navigating his beagle's separation anxiety. I'm not sure we'll get into that this week, but maybe we will and driving stick shift. Welcome back Mac Greer.

Mac Greer: Thanks, David.

David Gardner: Stock No. 2, Mac, you've spent much of your career communicating with people for a living, radio, podcasts, video, live events. Take me back to the Mac Greer of, let's say, 1995. What part of how you and I communicate professionally today would absolutely astonish Mac Greer in 1995?

Mac Greer: 1995. I was working for a nonprofit here, working with high school students for the Close Up Foundation and talking about civics education, taking them around DC. We'd go to New York. We'd go to Williamsburg.

David Gardner: Nice.

Mac Greer: Just setting the stage here. Well, there's a whole Internet thing that's happened since then. I'm going to say the Internet. Just the Internet.

David Gardner: Well, one of the greatest changes in our working lives in part, thanks to the Internet, is that somewhere along the way, a meeting stopped necessarily being a place that you would go to. One company has done so much to make that happen. It's company name today, something pretty close to a verb. Let's Zoom. I'll Zoom you. We're on a Zoom. Of course, there was a moment in 2020 when an awful lot of us were zooming an awful lot. Zoom Communications. Ticker symbol ZM, founded in 2011, started out trying to make video conferencing simple and frictionless. Today, well, it's a bit broader than video meetings. Mac Greer, what is your stated market cap range for Zoom Communications, ticker symbol ZM?

Mac Greer: I should know this, because I'm a shareholder. A sad Zoom shareholder.

David Gardner: I understand. It hasn't been a great few years.

Mac Greer: It has not been a great more than a few years.

David Gardner: You're right. [LAUGHTER] It got a Zoom bump, didn't it?

Mac Greer: It did.

David Gardner: It had our recommendation on it. It was on fire.

Mac Greer: What's the top part of the bump called? Because that's where I bought it.

David Gardner: The peak.

Mac Greer: Yes, the peak. That's the word I'm looking for. I'm going to say 50-100 billion.

David Gardner: Pretty broad range. 50billion-100 billion for Zoom Communications. Yasser, have you ever used Zoom before?

Yasser El-Shimy: I use it every day. Almost every day.

David Gardner: Fire me. That's such a ridiculous question. [LAUGHTER] Mac has said 50-100 billion. Yasser, players at home, would you like to agree with that range or disagree with that range?

Yasser El-Shimy: It's funny because if you look at my notes, I was trying to guess with Mac what the market cap might be.

David Gardner: That's the best practice. You're writing right along with your opponent as he's thinking. I like it.

Yasser El-Shimy: One number I wrote was $100 billion, but that was the start of the range. I thought it might be higher. I'm going to disagree with Mac and go for higher.

David Gardner: Disagree. Yasser, you've said higher. The correct answer is the market cap for Zoom Communications. Remember how it hasn't done that well the last few years? $26.54 billion. The good news for Yasser.

Yasser El-Shimy: Did I say higher?

David Gardner: You were right to disagree with the range. You do get a point minus a half point for thinking it was even bigger than that. Friends, it has been a tough few years for shareholders.

Mac Greer: It has been. That's half what I thought.

David Gardner: Zoom founder Eric Yuan knew this business before starting Zoom. He was one of WebX's founding engineers. He stayed after Cisco acquired WebEx, and eventually he left Cisco in 2011 to start his own video communications company. Zoom meetings launched two years later. I should mention that the company isn't actually called Zoom Video Communications anymore. In 2024, it changed its corporate name just back to Zoom Communications, reflecting its effort to become more than just a video conferencing product. The score is Mac 1.5, Yasser one-half. Players at home? How you doing? Keep it up. Let's move on to Stock Number 3. Yasser, I'm going to give you a phrase. I'd like you to tell me what comes to mind. Are you ready?

Yasser El-Shimy: I'm ready.

David Gardner: Status symbol.

Yasser El-Shimy: Status symbol. Luxury car, luxury watch, maybe a purse.

David Gardner: I agree. Those are all good examples. A status symbol. Something that people acquire or wear, drive, as you said, carry, or do, partly because it communicates status. Mac Greer, same question to you. What's a status symbol you notice out there in 2026?

Mac Greer: I think a watch because you don't see watches. I was going to say Crocs. But then I realize that maybe that's just me.

David Gardner: I love my Crocs.

Mac Greer: Do you go Crocs with socks? Because I go Crocs with socks.

David Gardner: I love the phrase.

Yasser El-Shimy: But I'm not sure what's status. [LAUGHTER] You're exactly communicating.

David Gardner: I agree that I don't wear my Crocs thinking that people think I'm rocking my Crocs with socks.

Mac Greer: I get looks.

David Gardner: You do.

Mac Greer: But no, I would say a luxury watch.

David Gardner: Very valid. I guess part of what we just did is we just raised the possibility that sometimes the object itself, the status symbol itself, isn't especially valuable. It's what everybody has agreed that that object means. For decades, one company has been particularly good at turning a little rectangle of plastic or, these days, sometimes metal. Into exactly that, American Express, ticker symbol AXP, one of the world's largest payments companies, unlike Visa and Mastercard, American Express operates what is known as a closed-loop network. It issues many of the cards. It runs the payment network itself. It maintains direct relationships with the merchants accepting them, and surrounding all of that is the membership ecosystem, rewards, travel, airport lounges, dining, experiences that's helped make cards like Platinum and Centurion brands unto themselves. Stock Number 3, is a throwdown.That's right.

It's throwdown time. Pencils out, Fools. Yasser and Mac will now write down their best market cap range for American Express, ticker symbol AXP. Once they share their ranges, players at home, your job is to pick the contestant you think made the better guess. You simply say Yasser or Mac. If you're right, score a point. Now, as they think of their guesses, a bit more on how this works, if only one of them gets the market cap range right, well, of course, the correct guess wins the point, but if both are right. Well, then the contestant with the tighter range takes the point, but what if they're both wrong? Well, I can't now recall for sure whether that could ever have happened on this show before. But supposing this ever should happen, if they both miss, we measure proximity. It's the Barker protocol. Whosever nearest parameter is closest to the true market cap will win the points. We do this twice every show. Let's do it. Stock Number 3 is American Express, and I'll now turn to Yasser. First, Yasser, what is your stated market cap range for AXP?

Yasser El-Shimy: Four hundred to $500 billion.

David Gardner: Four hundred billion to $500 billion. Mac Greer, what do you have written down on your orange post-it note?

Mac Greer: I have 150-200.

David Gardner: One hundred and fifty to $200 billion. Players at home, your goal is now simply to say, who you think has it right. I'm going to give you three seconds, and then you're going to say their name. Ready, three, two, one. You said it. It just so happens American Express falls in between both of my talented guests' ranges, which technically means neither of them got it right. But then the question is, who got closer? The market cap, as of Tuesday, market close, for American Express is $206.02 billion. Mac, your 150-200 was awfully close, and you get a point.

Mac Greer: That's a six. That's a 206.

David Gardner: You're lying. [LAUGHTER] Mac is referencing his handwriting on the orange Post-it note, and your zero doesn't at all look like a six. But it's good enough for a point, Mac, because that was a pretty darn good guess.

Mac Greer: I'll take it.

David Gardner: Again, if you said, Mac, give yourself a point. Long before American Express moved money, it moved stuff. I had to go back and look this up. I had forgotten. The company was founded in 1850 as a freight forwarding business. It was transporting packages and valuables across a growing America. It didn't introduce its first charge card until the 1950s. That's a full century after the company started. Here's a wonderfully obsolete-sounding Amex innovation that some of us probably both of you guys, but at least Mac, because you're the oldest in this room. I know you're going to remember this wonderfully obsolete-sounding innovation, the American Express Traveler's Check.

Mac Greer: Absolutely.

David Gardner: The year was 1891. They invented them back then. You can't buy new ones anymore, but old American Express Travelers' Checks still have no expiration date, Mac, and can still be redeemed.

Mac Greer: I'm old enough to remember if you traveled to Europe, like in the '80s, the first time I ever went to Europe, and you had to bring your traveler's checks. I was just petrified that I was going to lose them, because if you lost them, that was bad.

David Gardner: While I'm making it sound like we're the old guys who know this Yasser, I'm pretty sure you've had some experience with American Express Travelers' Checks.

Yasser El-Shimy: Well, not traveler's checks, but I watched them in movies. But I used to own an American Express card, and it gave me a really hard time when I traveled abroad because nobody would take it. Everybody asked for Mastercard or Visa. Now there's more adoption, thankfully, but I remember those days.

David Gardner: Good. Well, I always figure since you were born and you're a native of Egypt, I always think you've probably traveled more than I have, Yasser. I'm surprised that you had never rocked the American Express Traveler's Check, except now I started thinking, Mac, they really haven't been around for quite a long time.

Mac Greer: No, and now you travel, and you don't even need cash.

David Gardner: Kids these days.

Mac Greer: It's like a magical world where you do something with your phone.

Yasser El-Shimy: You don't even need a wallet.

Mac Greer: It's incredible.

Yasser El-Shimy: You just take your phone.

David Gardner: Let's move on to Stock Number 4. I'm counting Mac 2.5, Yasser, half. I turn now back to Mac Greer. Mac. Norway. Give me your associations. When I say Norway, what comes to mind?

Mac Greer: Conan O'Brien, because on his recent show, he went to Norway. It was just fantastic. It was absolutely fantastic. Then I, of course, think Winter Olympics, because they're so dominant in the Winter Olympics. It's unbelievable.

David Gardner: What else? Vikings?

Mac Greer: Well, Vikings, of course. Vikings, yes.

David Gardner: Yasser?

Yasser El-Shimy: Well, we just had the World Cup, and we watched the wonderful rowing motions of the Norwegian fans.

Mac Greer: Oh, my gosh.

David Gardner: Rowing up our escalators. [LAUGHTER]

Mac Greer: I buried the lead, Erling Haaland.

Yasser El-Shimy: Exactly.

Mac Greer: How did I forget? I apologize because, love that guy.

David Gardner: Did you forget the Nobel Peace Prize, as well, Mac?

Mac Greer: Oh, yes.

David Gardner: Are you undervaluing the Nobel Peace Prize?

Mac Greer: Yes, can we start this one again? [LAUGHTER] I'd like to go, Erling Haaland, then Nobel Peace Prize, and then the thing about Conan O'Brien.

Yasser El-Shimy: Can I get an extra half point if I predicted the next stock?

Mac Greer: Nice.

Yasser El-Shimy: Norwegian Cruise Line.

David Gardner: Yes, actually good guess. I will not dock you. That is not it. It's only a guess.

Yasser El-Shimy: Come on.

Mac Greer: Nice. Here's another thing that Norway has in abundance, my friends, and that is energy. One of the more interesting economic stories of the last half century is what Norway has done with the enormous oil and gas resources discovered beneath the North Sea. That takes us not to Norwegian Cruise Lines, although it's a beneficiary, but to Equinor. Ticker symbol EQNR. Equinor is Norway's giant energy company producing oil and natural gas primarily from the Norwegian Continental Shelf, while also operating internationally and investing in renewable power and other lower-carbon energy businesses. It produced more than 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025, and the Norwegian government still owns 67% of this company, Mac Greer, Erling Haaland, Vikings. Norwegian Cruise Lines. Nobel Peace Prize. But what is your stated market cap range for Equinor, ticker symbol EQNR? This is a tough one. I'm going to draw on my Houston roots because, as you may know, there's some oil and gas in Texas.

David Gardner: You were born in an oil pit, weren't you?

Mac Greer: Yes.

David Gardner: Yes, sure. If that's even the thing, which I don't think it is by the way.

Mac Greer: I was. Yes. I'm going to say that the market cap for Equinor.

David Gardner: It feels like you're picking your numbers very carefully here.

Mac Greer: It's Equinor?

David Gardner: Yes. You got it. Ticker symbol EQNR.

Yasser El-Shimy: Fun fact, old name of Equinor was Statoil.

Mac Greer: Oh, my gosh.

David Gardner: That's coming. I cued up that fun fact after, but thank you. You're helping your opponent a little bit. That helped Mac alot.

Mac Greer: [OVERLAPPING] This is such a mismatch. This is like Erling Haaland playing a manatee. This is not right. I have no shot. I'm going to say 70-110 billion.

David Gardner: Seventy billion to $110 billion. Yasser, you knew the Statoil thing because you've researched the stock?

Yasser El-Shimy: I had looked at this talk in the past, correct?

David Gardner: I know that International Investing. Clearly, a focus of yours here at The Motley Fool, so that would be a reason why, maybe.

Yasser El-Shimy: Definitely. It's actually a recommendation in one of our services.

David Gardner: Juicy.

Yasser El-Shimy: Focused on energy.

David Gardner: Mac, what did you say again?

Mac Greer: Fixed.

David Gardner: You said 70-110?

Mac Greer: I think, or did I say 7-10?

David Gardner: I'm going to lock it at 70-110.

Yasser El-Shimy: Having said that, I'm really bad with numbers, so I could know the history of the company, but ask me about the market cap, and I'm going to glitch. I'm going to agree with Mac on that state of range.

David Gardner: Yasser is agreeing with Mac's stated range of 70-110 billion players at home? Are you going to agree or disagree? You did that. If you agreed, give yourself, along with Yasser, a plus one because, Mac, that was an excellent call. 70-110 billion. But the way this game works, Yasser gets the point. Not you. I know it feels so wrong, but it's so right. This is the 43rd episode of the Market Cap Game Show.

Mac Greer: Holly smokes.

David Gardner: This is how it goes.

Mac Greer: That's never happened to me, though. It's okay. I don't care about the point.

David Gardner: But no one's ever agreed with you, and you've been right.

Mac Greer: I feel such pride.

David Gardner: Next time, if you tighten it a little bit, you put more pressure on your opponent.

Mac Greer: How much was it?

David Gardner: But you don't need my advice, good point. Let me give you the answer. $99.96 billion. [LAUGHTER] Basically 100 even, friends.

Yasser El-Shimy: Nice.

David Gardner: Thanks for making me say that. Sorry, I skipped it. As Yasser said, the company was actually created in 1972. It was the Norwegian state oil company Statoil, and the government owned 100% of it. It went public, though, in 2001, Norway does remain, of course, the controlling shareholder today. But then in 2018, Statoil dropped oil, right out of its name. Equinor combines EQUE, which I think a lot of us would recognize where it's like equality or equilibrium, with NOR. Any guesses as to where the NOR would have come from?

Yasser El-Shimy: Norway.

David Gardner: Excellent guess. Equinor intended to reflect the company's evolution into a broader energy business. Despite that broader identity, though, oil and gas remain overwhelmingly its principal energy output today. $99.96 billion, pretty much even 100. Great guess, Mac. Great point, Yasser, and those who agreed. By my count, it's 2.5-1.5 as we move to Stock Number 5. Now, I want to remind my contestants, you guys are the halftime entertainment. I've asked you each to bring a joke. I think a lot of us are already rubbing our palms together in anticipation of the halftime entertainment. But before halftime, we go to Stock Number 5. Yasser, let's talk about sleep. What does Yasser El-Shimy need for a really good night's sleep? What's your ideal setup or routine?

Yasser El-Shimy: Man, I have to turn off all lights.

David Gardner: Smart.

Yasser El-Shimy: I cannot have any light however faint in the room. In the hallway, most of the house. I don't know. I feel like if it's nighttime, it's time to sleep. You got to let your body work its natural rhythm of complete darkness.

David Gardner: Did you see recent studies that confirm that, in fact, that disruptive light actually undermined the strength of our heart, over long periods of time.

Yasser El-Shimy: I did not know that.

David Gardner: That was in just the last couple weeks. Google it, guys. You'll see it. Yasser, you're doing it right there. Anything else about a perfect night's sleep for you?

Yasser El-Shimy: You got to have a good pillow and a good mattress. Otherwise, I personally might go to, is a Tempur-Pedic mattress.

David Gardner: Temperature. Speaking of temperature. Does that matter?

Yasser El-Shimy: Yes. It does matter. You can't be too hot. You can't be too cold. It has to be just the right temperature.

David Gardner: What about the phone? Do you have your phone in reach, out of reach? Is that a factor for you around sleep?

Yasser El-Shimy: Unfortunately, I have the bad habit of looking at my phone right before I go to sleep. But I do use my phone to help me sleep, actually. I play, usually some white noise, and that helps put me right to sleep.

David Gardner: I'm actually feeling a little bit more relaxed myself just hearing Yasser talk about that. Mac, do you have any violent agreements or disagreements, with what Yasser just shared?

Mac Greer: I think that all makes sense. I'm also worried about my heart because having heard you with that sleepy research.

David Gardner: Check it. Basically, you don't want to have light interfering with your sleep in any regular way at all.

Mac Greer: Does that include ESPN? [LAUGHTER] Because, if I'm checking scores, or is that different?

David Gardner: I would say maybe the dark web version, where you flick it from light to dark on your browser or on your iPhone, that might help.

Mac Greer: Do you, and maybe I'm dating myself, but I wake up at 3:15 pretty much every night. Is that just a sign that I'm old, or is there something about 3:15? Is there something happening at 3:15 Eastern?

David Gardner: I think some questions are best left rhetorical. That is a powerful moment for this podcast. Thank you. Picking is right up there. For a lot of people, the problem isn't about temperature or light. It's about breathing. Simply breathing. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the airway becomes blocked repeatedly during our sleep, often as the tongue and airway muscles relax. CPAP has long been the standard treatment using a mask and hose to keep air flowing. Our next company approaches the problem very differently. Inspire Medical Systems. Ticker symbol INSP. Makes an implantable device for people with obstructive sleep apnea who've struggled with the CPAP. The device is implanted near your collarbone. It senses your breathing. While you sleep, it sends gentle electrical pulses that stimulate the nerve that controls your tongue. It moves your tongue forward and helps keep that airway open. We patients then turn it on at bedtime with our remotes. Yasser El-Shimy, what is your stated market cap range for Inspire Medical Systems, ticker symbol INSP?

Yasser El-Shimy: My stated range is 2-6 billion.

David Gardner: Two billion dollars to $6 billion, just a smaller-cap company. I think it's fair to say than Equinor?

Yasser El-Shimy: Absolutely.

David Gardner: You're very confident in that.

Yasser El-Shimy: Smaller.

David Gardner: Much smaller. Mac, you've already shared a possible addiction to ESP and disrupting some of your sleep. I don't think there's an implantable device necessarily for you there. But if you ever or your loved one suffer from sleep apnea, this is a new option. Now, Yasser said $2 billion dollars to $6 billion. Mac, what are you feeling right now before you give your official answer? How are you feeling?

Mac Greer: I'm a little anxious. I'm also thinking about how the Breath Right strips used to be.

David Gardner: Oh, my gosh.

Mac Greer: The Big Sleepy. I don't know if that's still a thing.

David Gardner: It was the athletes on the field, but then people would go to sleep with them.

Mac Greer: Yes, and then who knew? But I'm pretty sure I don't know if that really worked. [LAUGHTER]

David Gardner: [OVERLAPPING] They're not around anymore.

Mac Greer: No.

David Gardner: Are they? Where did the Breathe Right nose strips go?

Mac Greer: Couldn't you just put a band-aid on your nose? That's the thing that always threw me about that. I'm a little nervous. This is a tough one. I'm familiar with the company. I've definitely heard about the company.

David Gardner: Inspire. You're inspired.

Mac Greer: I'm inspired.

David Gardner: He said 2 billion to 6 billion players at home, Mac Greer, do you want to agree or disagree with that range?

Mac Greer: I had written down on my notepad here, 10-18 billion. But then I start thinking, that's a pretty small market of people who need that. Maybe it's lower than 2 billion, but then I start thinking I'm usually wrong about stuff. I'm going to say that it's higher and it's out of the range.

David Gardner: You're saying outside the range?

Mac Greer: Outside the range.

David Gardner: You believe it's higher?

Mac Greer: It's higher.

David Gardner: Players at home, do you want to go with Mac's approach or stick with Yasser's range? If you stuck with Yasser's range, give yourself a plus one, which makes this game tied because the market cap for Inspire Medical Systems is $20.06 billion just inside.

Yasser El-Shimy: Nice.

David Gardner: Yasser's range, but on the low end of his range, it is a smaller problem, a smaller company. It is an emergent company. In fact, Inspire Medical Systems actually began inside a much larger company, Medtronic. The technology and its intellectual property were spun out in 2007, and that created the company we know today as Inspire Medical Systems. The resulting system later became the first FDA-approved neurostimulation technology for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, and probably not as important as that, it gave Yasser a point in this game to tie it at 2.5-2.5. Which means, players at home, if you've scored three or more points, you're actually winning. Let's move on to halftime. Now, traditionally, I have whoever's winning tell the first joke. But gentlemen, this game is tied; therefore, I'm going to randomize who's going first. I'm going to my dice-rolling app on my phone: 1-3, Yasser, you'll be telling the first joke. Mac, you're four to six. Yasser, what do you have for us?

Yasser El-Shimy: I have one: Why do chefs love to invest?

David Gardner: Why do chefs love to invest? I'm always unclear: are we supposed to give our best shot at answering that question or just let it happen, Mac?

Mac Greer: Absolutely, go for it.

David Gardner: Why do chefs love to invest? Is this going to make us laugh?

Mac Greer: Maybe not.

David Gardner: Probably not.

Mac Greer: I'm working on something with net margins, but I can't quite get there.

David Gardner: Let's just go right back to the source. Yasser, why do chefs love to invest?

Yasser El-Shimy: No guess, even. Not even a guess?

David Gardner: Net margin.

Yasser El-Shimy: Net margin.

Mac Greer: Net margin [LAUGHTER] Amortization.

David Gardner: Possibly the worst guess we've ever had at halftime.

Mac Greer: I have no idea where you came up with that.

David Gardner: It's unclear where that came from.

Yasser El-Shimy: Why do chefs love to invest? They know all about stocks: beef stock, chicken stock, vegetable stock.

Mac Greer: Nice [APPLAUSE]

David Gardner: That does make sense.

Yasser El-Shimy: Maybe one day, they can aspire to become billionaires.

Mac Greer: That hurts in a good way. I like that. In a bad way. I like that.

David Gardner: That was the cherry on top.

Mac Greer: That's good.

David Gardner: I was not expecting that, Yasser. Thank you. No one is laughing harder than Yasser at his own joke.

Mac Greer: That's good. It's good stuff.

Yasser El-Shimy: It's a sign of a really bad joke [LAUGHTER]

David Gardner: No. Thank you. It was well delivered. Mac, you have an opportunity to continue the entertainment.

Mac Greer: David, Yasser, a termite walks into a bar and says, is the bar tender here?

Yasser El-Shimy: I got that.

David Gardner: I did too. What I'm doing is I'm weighing the value of these two jokes. I'm actually weighing whether we should keep doing jokes at half time.

Yasser El-Shimy: Oh, my God. I think we should allow our listeners to vote on the best jokes.

Mac Greer: That's bad for your heart, also [LAUGHTER]

David Gardner: I will say this next week on this show, it is our September 2026 mailbag. Dear listener, if you feel as if you have a better joke than my contestants brought and you'd like to share it with the world, I will share it through this podcast next week on our mailbag.

Mac Greer: It's a low bar.

David Gardner: We might have a lot of entries. I also want to mention that we have audio mailbag now on Rule Breaker Investing. We've enjoyed doing this last couple of months. If you'd like to submit, I mean, the email address is the same, RBI@Fool.com. If you'd like to submit an audio thought, question, poem, challenge, we enjoy doing audio as well. You can be famous on next week's show with your voice, or you could mail us a joke. You probably shouldn't do both. Should we have people send in audio mailbags with their jokes?

Mac Greer: I'd be careful of that.

David Gardner: We'll see. It has to be PG, Family Show. Thank you. Well, speaking of family shows, this is one that I hope is entertaining the family because we have a tie at halftime. This is getting exciting, guys. Let's move on to stock number 6. Stock number 6. Mac Greer, we're back from halftime. Let's start with a little quiz. I'm going to give you the name of a real person whose name became the name of a public company. You're going to tell me what that person did. Pretty basic. You ready? Charles Schwab.

Mac Greer: Invest and help people invest.

David Gardner: Yeah, like brokerage account. Discount brokerage. good. You got that one. Next one. John Deere.

Mac Greer: Ag equipment, tractors, all the good.

David Gardner: But who was John Deere?

Mac Greer: John Deere. I think it's a trick question.

David Gardner: You can't use AI. By the way, I'm the only one with a computer because I'm running the Game Show. These guys can't see anything. You can't use ChatGPT right now to tell you who John Deere is. I admit I didn't know who John Deere was myself. I do know now.

Mac Greer: I do know. I just don't like talking about it.

David Gardner: Because blacksmiths who develop commercially successful steel plows just on your [OVERLAPPING] Charles Schwab, you nailed it. I would say you mostly got John Deere. You ready for another famous American who gave his name to a public company? Who is Jack Henry.

Mac Greer: John Henry was a steel-driving man, I think.

David Gardner: He's probably a friend of John Deere.

Mac Greer: Johnny Tremaine, those were fictitious. John Henry fictitious.

David Gardner: It sounds like you don't know who Jack Henry is.

Mac Greer: No, I'm getting there. Jack Henry was, John, Jack, they were brothers. Is it Jack Henry or John Henry? Jack Henry.

David Gardner: I'm going to answer the question.

Mac Greer: He was an entrepreneur.

David Gardner: That is true.

Mac Greer: He was, and he was very successful.

David Gardner: Do you remember what America's bicentennial year was?

Mac Greer: Yes, 1976.

David Gardner: That was the year that Jack Henry and his business partner, Jerry Hall, started a little company in Monet. Which state?

Yasser El-Shimy: Missouri.

David Gardner: Dang it. Yasser was born in Egypt. He just nailed that.

Mac Greer: Oh, my gosh. Wasn't Jerry Hall married to Mick Jagger?

David Gardner: Jack Henry and our Jerry Hall provided computer systems to community banks. So 50 years later now, Jack Henry & Associates, ticker symbol well, JKHY is one of the I would say, one of the important technology companies that sits invisibly behind American banking. It provides the core systems, digital banking, payments, fraud protection, lending, other technologies that help banks and credit unions actually function. Today more than 7,200 financial institutions use not John Henry and not Jerry Hall, although, yes, Jerry Hall, but Jack Henry technology. We've talked about the company. What I haven't shared yet is, this is a throwdown. This is throwdown No. 2. Our final throwdown for this episode of the Market Cap Game Show. Mac and Yasser, pencils out. What are your stated market cap ranges for Jack Henry & Associates, ticker symbol JKHY? Maybe not as well known as Charles Schwab, maybe? By now, players at home, I think you know the deal. When I count three, you're simply going to say Mac or Yasser. If that Fool gets it right, you get a point. I see, Mac. You are already ready. Yasser, your pencil is down. Let me turn right back to Mac Greer. Mac, what did you write down for the market cap for your guy, Jack Henry?

Mac Greer: Twenty to 30 billion.

David Gardner: Twenty billion to 30 billion. Yasser, what do you have on your pink post at now?

Yasser El-Shimy: Sure, I went a little lower with 13-18 billion.

David Gardner: $13 billion to $18 billion. Players at home, I'm about to count three. You're either going to say Mac if you think it's 20-30 or Yasser if you think 13-18 billion. Three, two, one. You said it. I'm here to let my players know you guys both missed it again. One of you got closest to the actual market cap of Jack Henry, which is $10.45 billion, which means if you said Yasser players at home, you and Yasser get a point, 10.45 billion, Yasser you said 13-18. That was closest. The Jack Henry origin story is almost suspiciously perfect for a game show because the year was the Bicentennial, Mac Greer and Jack and Jerry sketch out their business idea where literally? On the back of a napkin. Where did they rent that space to make it all happen? An engine repair shop. They were renting for $40 a month. This is a classic business start up a situation, 50 years later, Jack Henry is an S&P 500 company. By the way, one year later, in 1977, their grand total revenue was $115,222,. Eight years after that, Jack Henry went public on the Nasdaq, and JKHY has been its ticker ever since. Yasser, were you confident as you wrote down? Is this a stock you've looked at 13-18?

Yasser El-Shimy: It's a stock I looked at way in the past, and I don't know about a year ago or so, I looked at it again, and it still seemed not to have moved that much from when I had looked at it at it several years ago, so I figured it was a little bit on the smaller side.

David Gardner: A spot of Internet research shows that Jack Henry, 10 years ago this week was at $87 a share. Today, it's at 149, so it's up, but it certainly is underperforming the market averages. The markets have more than tripled. Over these 10 years, the stock has not yet doubled. It is way ahead of where it started, though, 50 years ago. Congratulations to Jack Henry and Mick Jagger's main squeeze Jerry Hall.

Mac Greer: I could be wrong about that, I don't know.

David Gardner: I had to check back in with my pal Wikipedia to just remember. Yes, you're absolutely right. In fact, on her Wikipedia page, her partner, Mick Jagger, 1977-1999, I think we may all be a little bit guilty, though, of failing the cultural literacy test here, because Jerry Hall married Rupert Murdoch in 2016. They divorced six years later, but we need to keep up a little bit more with like, what's happening in the world.

Mac Greer: I had forgotten that. My wife informed me a few years ago that I needed to update my cultural references because I told someone like, three years ago that I guess I wasn't cool because I didn't listen to radio head. She said, "You need to update your references."

David Gardner: Well, you're slightly less cool than you were five minutes ago because Yasser has just taken a one point lead 3.5-2.5 and on to stock number seven. Yasser, rare Earths a phrase that we've probably heard dozens of times, especially in recent years. I'm not convinced that I personally could pass a pop quiz on what exactly a rare Earth is. Help me out here. Is this an area of knowledge for you? Have you studied this?

Yasser El-Shimy: Vaguely, I've looked at it.

David Gardner: What are rare earth?

Yasser El-Shimy: Those are minerals that are found. They are actually fun fact, they're not rare at all. They're plentiful. However, the effort and expense and costs necessary to actually refine the dirt or the ground or the rocks.

David Gardner: Neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium.

Yasser El-Shimy: I can never say those words. I wouldn't even be able to pronounce them correctly, but they are plentiful they're expensive to refine.

David Gardner: You're right. They're relatively abundant in the Earth's crust, but it's rare to find them concentrated enough to extract them. Powerful permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, robotics, drones. The list goes on. That all takes us to MP Materials, ticker symbol MP. MP owns and operates the Mountain Pass rare Earth mine and processing facility in California, it has expanded downstream into making rare Earth metals and magnets at its independent facility in Fort Worth, Texas. In other words, MP is trying to build an American supply chain that goes from rock in California to finished magnet in Mac Greer's home state. The proud state of Texas, the Lone Star State. Yasser El-Shimy, what is your stated market cap range for MP Materials, ticker symbol MP?

Yasser El-Shimy: My stated market cap range is $20 billion to $33 billion.

David Gardner: Twenty billion to 33 billion. Now, Mac, Yasser showed, I would say, a high degree of comfort with the phrase rare Earth. While he didn't name any of the errors themselves and said he couldn't pronounce them, he already understood the gist of it. His market cap range of 20-33 billion would probably strike you would have to strike you as plausible. Yes, absolutely.

Mac Greer: But I think it may be a little rich. I think that the valuation is a little more down to earth.

David Gardner: You're going to disagree.

Mac Greer: I'm going to disagree.

David Gardner: Are you going to say I'm going to go press a half point?

Mac Greer: I'm going to press a half point, and I'm going to go below the range.

David Gardner: Players at home, you can either agree with Yasser. In which case, if it's 20-33, you're going to get a point, or you could disagree with Yasser and take Mac's Gambit saying it's lower than that. The market cap for MP materials at market closed Tuesday, September 22, was $9.09 billion, which means if you disagreed with Yasser and, in fact, went and pressed with Mac, give yourself a point and a half. Now, this is part of the fun of the King Share and Rule introduced last show that we use now because normally you could only score a point. But what just happened with Yasser up 3.5-2.5, Mac, you just took a half point lead. You're now winning 4-3.5.

Mac Greer: It's a rare win, but I'll take it.

David Gardner: Your emotions right now.

Mac Greer: I'm on the verge of tears.

David Gardner: It's so emotional.

Mac Greer: [OVERLAPPING] it's audio, so you can't see it, but I'm incredibly choked up right now.

David Gardner: Mountain Pass, by the way, has been around a lot longer than today's rare earth headlines. Rare Earths were discovered there in 1949. By 1966, the year of my birth, Mountain Pass had become the world's leading source of rare Earths, a position it held for decades. Here's some sense of its scale. MP has historically produced roughly 15% of the world's rare Earth content from this one California operation. Although as we just noted, it's now not just mining, it's also crafting. That's an interesting company, but a smaller cap company than some of us were thinking. As we move on to stock number eight, again, it's Mac four, Yasser, 3.5. Let me turn back to Mac Greer. Mac, we haven't talked at all about landlords so far this episode. Let's talk a little bit about landlords. Over your lifetime, you may have been a renter at points? You might be a homeowner today?

Mac Greer: I'm a homeowner. I rented in Washington DC for 10 years, so a long time.

David Gardner: What makes somebody a good landlord?

Mac Greer: I think responsive. When you have a problem, they respond. They're on it.

David Gardner: Did you have a moment with a landlord where you experienced responsiveness?

Mac Greer: Very few. I will say that part of the deal was I had a very good setup. I didn't know that my place ended up being rent-stabilized, and it was crazy. My rent essentially didn't go up over 10 years, which is nuts. In DC, it went up like $30 over.

David Gardner: You should be thanking the Washington, D.C. city government.

Mac Greer: I know. It's crazy, and we won't get into the politics of it. But what I took from that is I just need to fix all my own stuff and never complain and never say peep to the landlord because I have a good deal. That was my approach.

David Gardner: Got it. Yet you walked away from it all and bought a house at some point.

Mac Greer: Yes.

David Gardner: Well, let's upgrade your needs substantially for the purpose of stock number 8. You're starting a biotech company, Mac Greer. You've raised your first serious round of funding. You've hired some scientists. You need a place to put them. What does your dream landlord need to provide now?

Mac Greer: It's biotech. You need a clean space. I need a sterile clean space.

David Gardner: Maybe some laboratory ventilation?

Mac Greer: Yes, a cryogenic chamber [OVERLAPPING] but a clean space.

David Gardner: Hazardous material handling?

Mac Greer: Absolutely.

David Gardner: Not every landlord provides.

Mac Greer: That's true. Some good gloves, but clean space. I want a clean space.

David Gardner: You'd probably love to be surrounded, maybe by universities.

Mac Greer: That, too.

David Gardner: Hospitals?

Mac Greer: Yes. Sorry, and a clean space.

David Gardner: Other scientists. Capital?

Mac Greer: That's good. Starbucks.

David Gardner: Excellent. That all brings us then to the business of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, ticker symbol ARE. Alexandria is a real estate investment trust specializing in life science campuses it owns and develops laboratory and research properties concentrated in places like Greater Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and New York City. As of June 2026, Alexandria had 36 million rentable square feet of operating properties. I'm providing some numbers, maybe a little bit of help for players at home and Mac Greer, who's now on tap to announce his stated market cap range for Alexandria Real Estate Equities, ticker symbol ARE.

Yasser El-Shimy: Five to $10 billion.

David Gardner: Five to $10 billion. Now, the Motley Fool started in Alexandria, Virginia. Alexandria Real Estate Equities actually started one year later. It was in 1994. No connection whatsoever, by the way. The latter, this company is actually named for Alexandria, Egypt, which I think you'll appreciate. Yasser.

Yasser El-Shimy: I do.

David Gardner: The great ancient Center of Science and Learning. Also their market cap is a bit larger than ours. Mac, you said 5 billion to 10 billion.

Mac Greer: Correct.

David Gardner: Yasser, players at home, do you want to agree or disagree with Mac's 5-10 billion?

Yasser El-Shimy: I'm going to disagree.

David Gardner: You're going to disagree. Would you like to press it or leave it alone?

Yasser El-Shimy: I'm going to press it and say it's higher.

David Gardner: Mac said 5-10. Players at home, you could agree with that, or you could disagree and specifically say it's higher than that and press for a point and a half. If you agreed with Mac, give yourself a plus one because that was a good call, Mac Greer. You made it hard on your opponent, $9.38 billion. Pretty squarely. It was close, but pretty squarely in your range. Is this Mac you're coming off the par four where you birdied the hole with an awesome long pot and you drop the ball on the T, and you bring out your biggest club, your driver, and you're like, I am going to absolutely crush this. Is that how you felt, as you said 5-10?

Mac Greer: I feel like I'm living a lie every time I win in this game. That's how I feel [LAUGHTER]

David Gardner: This score is 5-3.5. There are two questions left, two stocks left. Let's keep moving. By the way, before we do, Alexandria began as a garage startup with $19 million in capital. It bought its first lab in Torrey Pines, San Diego. It went public just three years after that. What a story. Let's go on to stock number nine. Yasser, tomorrow morning, let's say you wake up after a beautiful night's sleep and decide you're done analyzing other people's businesses, you're going to start your own. What business does Yasser El-Shimy Start?

Yasser El-Shimy: Wow [LAUGHTER] I probably would start a bakery.

David Gardner: Love it.

Yasser El-Shimy: Because there is a conspicuous need for fresh pastries in Montgomery County, Maryland. I'm just going to leave it a doubt.

David Gardner: I'm already your first customer. Sounds fantastic. Yasser, you need some money, though. You walk into a bank. You're looking for your first serious business loan. What would you want your banker to understand about your business before you'd feel comfortable borrowing to start that bakery from them?

Yasser El-Shimy: I think I would want my banker to know that I have done a feasibility study that I've studied the area. I know what the traffic is going to be like and have some projections.

David Gardner: Thank you. Mac, now that you know that Jack Henry is probably running that bank systems, does that inspire you to maybe start a competing bakery?

Mac Greer: No, because I don't have the skills. I would invest in Yasser's bakery. I would.

David Gardner: I would, as well.

Mac Greer: Yes.

David Gardner: I don't want him to leave the Motley Fool and walk away from analyzing businesses, but I am excited about the possibility of a better croissant.

Mac Greer: He's done a feasibility study. I have not [LAUGHTER]

David Gardner: Well, this conversation gets to the unusual idea behind our next company. Rather than simply saying, we make small business loans, this bank has built teams that specialize in particular industries. In fact, it all started with a remarkably narrow customer base. The year was 2008, and Live Oak Bancshares in Wilmington, North Carolina, said, we're just going to focus on one customer type, veterinarians and they nailed it. They figured out that industry, and then that gave them confidence to go to other specialized industries. In today Live Oak Bancshares. Well, I'm not going to share the market cap because I'm going to turn to Yasser in a moment and ask him. But that is the story behind ticker symbol LOB, which Mac, you'll also appreciate as a Houston Astros fan stands for left on base.

Mac Greer: Been rough here.

David Gardner: My Minnesota Twins have been worse.

Mac Greer: It's been mediocre. It's just all. A lot of mediocrity.

David Gardner: You guys gave his Correa. Then we gave him [OVERLAPPING] I'm confused by what's been happening in baseball.

Mac Greer: It makes no sense.

David Gardner: This is a sidelight. We'll pick it up later. Yasser, Live Oak Bancshares, ticker symbol LOB, what is your market cap range for LOB?

Yasser El-Shimy: My range is 3-5.75 billion.

David Gardner: $3 billion to $5.75 billion. Mac, have you ever been to Wilmington, North Carolina?

Mac Greer: Yes. I think I have. I should know the answer to that. I'm going to go with yes.

David Gardner: Sure. Did you visit Live Oaks corporate headquarters?

Mac Greer: I did not.

David Gardner: Really?

Mac Greer: I'm working with that.

David Gardner: They're beautiful trees, North Carolina. One of my favorite places on Earth, Wilmington.

Mac Greer: But they take a while.

David Gardner: Yasser said 3-5.75 billion.

Mac Greer: First of all, that's very close, but it's just a hair under three. I'm going to say out of the range, and I'm going to say below the range because it's a hair under three a oaks are slow growers.

David Gardner: Mac has disagreed with Yasser's range and also provided questionable reasoning behind his answer. Players at home, do you want to stick with Yasser's 3-5.75 billion Yasser specific. We appreciate the second digit on this game show. Or you could disagree, and with Mac, say, not only is it outside that range, it's lower than that range.

Mac Greer: For questionable reasons [OVERLAPPING] Yes, for reasons just a hair lower, a hair.

David Gardner: We have a new champion because Mac Greer, you just nailed it once again. This is one of the rags-to-riches stories, not just for this game show, but I would say, for the last 50 years in American history, this is an amazing. You lost to Emily 9-1.

Mac Greer: Yes.

Yasser El-Shimy: Wow.

David Gardner: The market cap for Live Oak Bancshares, and I wouldn't have guessed this myself, but it's 1.75 billion. You basically reasoned correctly. I was trying to throw players at home off. You're sent, but the fact is you nailed that. It was a little bit lower than three.

Mac Greer: I'm going to credit my father rest in peace, lifelong banker, his father, lifelong banker. I think some of that must have gotten into osmosis. I thought when I was a kid, I was going to be a banker. It turned out I didn't want to a banker.

David Gardner: I'm so glad you weren't.

Mac Greer: But I think that's maybe something got through there.

David Gardner: Your father was a fantastic man. What a generous family you come from Mac. Thank you for sharing that memory of your father on a serious note. I'm glad you're not a banker. You know something about banks. Well done. You just took a lead 6-3.5, no matter what Yasser does for this last question. He can't catch you. Yet, as I'll often point out, people tend to forget everything else and just remember what happens at the end, Yasser. Let's move on to stock number 10. Mac, this is the final stock. I want you to think about everything that has to happen before you pull into a gas station, put the nozzle in your car, and gasoline actually comes out. Now, I know I'm talking to a native of Houston area, Texas. Starting in an oil field somewhere and ending up in your gas tank, talk me through that journey. What do you think happens along the way?

Mac Greer: A lot of refinement, processes that I'd rather not get into.

David Gardner: Some pipe maybe.

Mac Greer: Of course, standard pipeline stuff and refinement.

David Gardner: Really well said.

Mac Greer: Can we talk about Yasser's bakery?

David Gardner: What about the tanker truck to the local gas station?

Mac Greer: That's true [OVERLAPPING] You got to transport it. You got to get it out of the ground. You got to transport it.

David Gardner: You did so well with that. Let me ask you a further question. What about natural gas? How would you describe that journey? It was out of wells.

Mac Greer: Much more natural, a different form.

David Gardner: Processing plants remove water [OVERLAPPING] and other substances? Near Mac's community, it enters a local distribution system where pressure is reduced and smaller pipes carry it beneath the streets and ultimately into maybe his house or his parents' house or friends' houses and furnaces. That's the story behind the physical network that makes filling up your house or your car possible. Our final company today.

Mac Greer: I was going to get to that. I felt rushed. I was going to get to all of that.

David Gardner: I was just trying to take the ball from you and run with it for a while. Our final company today is Kinder Morgan, ticker symbol KMI. It's one of my poorer stock picks in my own personal history. But it is one of North America's largest energy infrastructure companies. It owns interest. Well, I won't even say that starts creating a spoiler. Let me just cut to the quick here. Mac Greer, for our 10th and final stock, what is your stated market cap range for Kinder Morgan, ticker symbol KMI?

Mac Greer: Can I call my brother? Can I phone a friend because he would know this, because he has covered this company.

David Gardner: Sorry, Jim. You can't take Mac's call this time. But you guys can talk about it after the podcast.

Mac Greer: Kinder Morgan [OVERLAPPING] Rich Kinder.

David Gardner: That's right.

Mac Greer: I'm going to use my oak tree logic, Rich. I suggest a slow rich valuation.

David Gardner: I see.

Mac Greer: I'm going to say Kinder Morgan is 30-60 billion.

David Gardner: All right, 30 billion to $60 billion for again, one of North America's largest energy infrastructure companies, 30-60 Mac?

Mac Greer: Correct.

David Gardner: Yasser, while it's not possible to win, it is possible to get stock number 10 right. We're playing for everybody at home right now. Some of whom have like six, and they're tied with Mac, and they need you to come through for them, so 30-60 billion.

Yasser El-Shimy: 30-60 billion.

David Gardner: This is admittedly not in your wheelhouse. A number of these companies have not been in your wheelhouse. I randomized from The Fool 500 every time. We had a couple, we had [OVERLAPPING] for you.

Yasser El-Shimy: I'm going to go with disagree and I'm even going to press it with lower.

David Gardner: Yasser has disagreed with Mac's 30-60 billion range players at home. What are you doing? Give yourself plus one if you disagreed because you're right. Yet, I'm going to have to take away half point because it's not that it was smaller, it's that it was a little bit bigger. I wouldn't have got this one myself, but the reality is Market Cap, Kinder Morgan KMI $69.63 billion outside Mac's range. You were right to say outside, a little bit not right to say lower, but you get a half point, which gives us an even score of 6-4. This This was close. Mac, you got off to a little bit of a lead. Yasser made a nice comeback. We were tied at halftime, but you were strong in the second half. Looking back right now, Mac Greer, little postgame interview, what do you think did it for you in the second half?

Mac Greer: I thought my termite joke may have that's when the momentum shifted [LAUGHTER]

Yasser El-Shimy: I couldn't recover from that. I couldn't recover.

Mac Greer: It didn't really land in the room, but I could hear the people at home.

David Gardner: Well, thank you both. The final accounting then is this? I think I got it right. Mac six, Yasser four. But Mac and Yasser and I know we're not playing this game for each other. We're playing for you. How did you score? Dear Fool, dear listener at home. We hope that you outscored all of us. The purpose of the Market Cap Game Show is to make more popular. I'm never going to say as popular as Jeopardy!, but to make more popular market caps, the real value of stocks on the market that most people don't understand, except that, well, dear listener, you do understand 'cause you just listened to us for an hour. I hope you scored at least a few points this week and maybe beat one or both of our competitors. Yasser and Mac, thank you both for helping make the world a little bit smarter, happier, and richer this week. A quick reminder: next week is our month-end September mailbag. If you feel like you have a better joke than you enjoyed at halftime, we'd love to hear from you. Audio mailbags welcomed, as well. Before I go, though, I would be remiss if I didn't turn to each of my noble contestants and ask them for a final line or a final thought, Yasser, I will turn to you first. What have you got?

Yasser El-Shimy: Someone wise once told me, if you don't ask, the answer is always no. It's a piece of advice I've taken with me throughout much of my adult life and hope to also convey to my kids, as well.

David Gardner: I love that. Uncommon. Usually, people have throwaway. You actually threw down wisdom on this show. I love that. Thank you very much, Yasser. I will remember that. Now, turning to you, Mac, I see you've whipped out your phone. Are you about to present a dramatic reading?

Mac Greer: A termite. Now, I've got a reading. It's one of my favorite quotes, Maya Angelou. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Yasser El-Shimy: That was beautiful, by the way.

David Gardner: It is a great line, by the way.

Mac Greer: Jerry Hall was apparently married to Rupert Murdoch.

David Gardner: Thank you, Yasser. Thank you, Mac. Thank you, fools at home for suffering three fools gladly this week. We hope all your market caps are on the rise. See you next week. Fool on.

American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Charles Schwab is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. David Gardner has positions in Apple, Costco Wholesale, Crocs, Mastercard, Starbucks, and Visa. Mac Greer has positions in Apple, Costco Wholesale, Nvidia, Starbucks, and Zoom Communications. Yasser El-Shimy, PhD, MBA has positions in Equinor Asa, MP Materials, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alexandria Real Estate Equities, American Express, Apple, Cisco Systems, Costco Wholesale, Deere & Company , Equinor Asa, Inspire Medical Systems, Jack Henry & Associates, Kinder Morgan, Live Oak Bancshares, MP Materials, Mastercard, Medtronic, Nvidia, Starbucks, Visa, Workday, and Zoom Communications. The Motley Fool recommends Charles Schwab and Crocs and recommends the following options: short September 2026 $95 calls on Charles Schwab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.