Wal-Mart’s New Change is Making a Dash for it; Glassdoor’s Latest List Might Just Have You Rethinking Your Workplace; Mega Merger Round Two

 

A dash of this… 

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Big news from Wal-mart today. Huge news, in fact. The retail giant is changing its name… to Walmart. Are you stumped? Okay. Here’s a hint: The company is ditching the dash in its name. Or hyphen. Or line.  Or whatever you want to call that thingy in the middle of its name that’s been there since the retailer was incorporated back in 1969. And not that Wal-mart has anything against dashes, hyphens or lines, mind you. It’s just that Walmart, or Wal-mart, depending on how much you care about the dash, feels that legally changing its name to omit the dash emphasizes the fact that it sells merchandise both online and off. Got it? Neither do I. But I’m guessing Wal-mart must have done some hefty research to arrive at this conclusion. This conclusion being that if you want to give Amazon a run for its money then hyphens be damned. Apparently they don’t exactly scream out e-commerce leader and thus the little unassuming line will be getting the boot come February 1. And if you happened to have grown attached to the name “Wal-mart Stores,” then I have bad news for you. The company will also legally be droppping the word “stores” from its official name. And presumably there is research to support this move as well. Go figure.

How’s that cubicle looking?

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It’s that time of year again where you get to be reminded that you, in fact, do not work for a great company and it’s time to get off your butt and do something about it. Glassdoor did a little research via anonymous employee reviews and came out with a list of the top companies, according to their employees. And wouldn’t you know it – a social media company that goes by the catchy name of Facebook tops the list for the third year in a row. And if you think employees like working there just for all the amazing cafeterias then you’d be partly right. It seems the company’s mission-driven culture and impact on the world really resonates with its employees. Over at Bain & Company it’s all about company culture and competitive compensation packages. Which explains why the consulting firm came in at number two. Other names you know on the list: In-N-Out Burger takes spot number 4. Besides the tasty milkshakes and Double-Double burgers and fries employees enjoy on daily basis, they also get paid vacation time and 401(k) plans, among many many other perks. Google comes in at number 5 and I’m guessing the massages and excellent parental leave plans have something to do with that impressive ranking. Even yoga apparel maker Lululemon lands on the list at the number 6 spot. How zen. A newcomer to the list is St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Given the company’s mission, to help heal sick children, the company culture of literally trying to save as many lives as possible makes this a place where people love to work.  To see if your company made the cut or you just want to do a little research on where you’ll be applying for your next job, check out Glassdoor’s Best Places to work list.

Da-merger…

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Today’s mega healthcare merger is brought to us by UnitedHealth and DaVita, as the battle for healthcare dominance continues to make Wall Street swoon with all the billions involved. Not to be outdone by the $69 billion CVS Health/Aetna deal announced earlier this week, UnitedHealth Group has plans all its own for its nifty not-so-little unit called Optum. Optum is plunking down close to $5 billion in cash for another nifty entity called DaVita Medical Group, which is a subsidiary of the aptly named DaVita Inc.  Now, what’s so special about DaVita Medical Group that’s got UnitedHealth throwing billions at it? The company has hundreds of urgent care centers, surgery centers and medical clinics across the country that, besides providing invaluable services, also, presumably, bring in tons of cash.  Apparently, these mega-mergers are meant to benefit consumers by offering a host of services and benefits at lower costs than what companies can offer on their own. While the verdict’s still out on that bit, plenty of healthcare professionals are also waiting with bated breath to see if and how it will impact them, either positively or not. Until then I would advise you to just stay healthy.

The Mouse is Going After the Fox; Dollar Wise for Fast Food; A Wrinkle in Allergan’s Plan

Fox-y mouse…

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Today’s juicy merger gossip is brought to you by Fox and Disney. Apparently, a deal is thisclose that will have Disney scooping up Fox’s studio and television production assets. The deal, which is rumored to be worth about $60 billion, will also include the acquisition of Fox’s stakes in Hulu and Sky. As for its news and sports division, Disney is taking a pass on those entities. But Disney isn’t the only one with its sights set on Fox. Comcast and Verizon are also trying to get in in some Fox action. It’s just that right now Disney seems to be getting the best crack at the media conglomerate. Wall Street seems to like the news considering it sent shares of Fox up over 3%. But the question you might be wondering about is why Disney even needs  $60 billion worth of Fox’s assets? Doesn’t it have more than enough of its own? Well,  yes, it does. However, in case you missed it, the entertainment industry is changing, with a big push towards streaming and direct to consumer models and believe it or not, picking up those particular assets over at Fox will give Disney a much much bigger global reach. And who couldn’t use some more global reach, right?

Bucking the trend…

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Fast food restaurants are engaged in a bloody dollar war. But that just means good news for consumers. McDonald’s is bringing back its dollar menu, which it ditched just four years ago because it didn’t pull down the kind of cash McDonald’s wanted to see. As for the term “dollar,” well that might be a bit generous in its definition. To be clear, the fast-food chain is offering the $1-$2-$3 Dollar Menu. If you’re in the mood for a sausage burrito, cheeseburger or any-size soft drink, well then, feel free to fish out that dollar bill that’s burning a hole in your wallet. Otherwise, prepare to shell out more. Not to be left out of the fast food fiscal fun, Burger King and Wendy’s are also trying to woo you with their version of “value” menus. But it’s Taco Bell that’s really taking aim at the Golden Arches with 20 items listed for just a dollar.  For McDonald’s, the cheapy menu is its answer to win back customers. The company apparently lost out on some “500 million transactions” because it didn’t have a value menu. Ironically, or not, Taco Bell’s dollar menu actually generated $500 million in sales. To make up for the lack of profitability that comes with McDonald’s having a value menu, the chain is expanding its “Signature Crafted Recipes” – which is really just code for more expensive menu items that will offset the value items.

A wrinkle in time…

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There’s a new Botox sheriff in town and Allergan doesn’t like it. Not one bit. Enter Revance Therapeutics Inc., a small biotech company that holds the formula for RT002, aka “the better, longer-lasting botox.” If it’s approved people can start sticking their faces with the stuff as early as 2020. Which is great news for everyone. Well, everyone except for Allergan, the pharmaceutical giant behind Botox, the original, whose stock fell over 4% on the news today. In fact, today Allergan hit its lowest price since 2013, after losing a third of its value in the last five months. And, while RT002 uses the same main ingredient for wrinkle reduction as Botox does, that being botulinum toxin Type A, it also uses the company’s proprietary peptide technology, which is apparently the reason why this particular formula lasts about a month longer than Botox.  In any event, Allergan wasn’t especially impressed by Revance’s new data released today and called it “underwhelming.” As for Allergan’s response, you could probably just call it sour grapes.

AT&T vs. U.S. Government. And President Trump; Turkeys: CBS and Dish Networks Can’t Work Things Out; Lowe’s and Behold! It’s Earnings Win

Trump’d up suit?

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Dontcha just love a good fight? Today’s nasty dispute is brought to us by the U.S. government and AT&T. Not sure who my money’s on yet. You see, the government isn’t down with AT&T’s proposed $85 billion vertical merger with Time Warner. So it went ahead and did the most “American” thing possible: It sued AT&T to block the merger. Knowing that the U.S. government was going to be pesky about the merger, AT&T did what any smart company would do: It pre-emptively retained counsel. And AT&T went for the big guns hiring Dan Petrocelli. You remember him, dontcha? Or maybe you’re just trying to forget? He’s the dude that very shrewdly defended President Trump over lawsuits relating to the infamous Trump University real estate seminars. Oh, the irony. Trump hates the very thought of the merger and that may have something to do with his feud with CNN, which, incidentally, is owned by Time Warner. Petrocelli, who seems to have forgotten all about his Trump days, is arguing that not only does this lawsuit not pose a threat to industry competition, but the merger actually has the potential to lower cable bills. However, I have a hard time believing a cable carrier would willingly lower bills. As for investors, they seem to be on Team AT&T and believe the telecommunications giant will emerge victorious, especially because the last time the government was successful against a vertical merger, Nixon was president. Yikes!

Whose the turkey now?

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OMG! It’s football season and Dish Networks did the unthinkable – to football fans, anyway – and dropped CBS in some markets. “Some markets” includes over 3 million customers in 18 cities who will be feeling the effects of tryptophan sans quality NFL time if a deal is not reached by kickoff time. As if blocking football games isn’t bad enough, some viewers will even be getting deprived of “The Big Bang Theory” which is just so not cool. The issue, of course, is fees. Because it always is. Dish isn’t happy about CBS’s demands for higher fees, especially since Dish viewership is down (note: Google streaming on-demand video). Dish also insists that viewers are watching less CBS and feels that CBS ought to show a little more restraint in its fee demands. CBS, on the other hand, is accusing Dish of punishing its viewers while Dish is calling foul on CBS for not extending its contract until negotiations end.  However why any of this matters is beyond me since, invariably, those fees, on which the two sides eventually agree, usually end up getting passed on to subscribers via their monthly bill anyway. Now subscribers have something to look forward to once those inconveniently-timed negotiations come to a close.

Hurricane win…

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Hurricanes suck. Except for home improvement retailers. Lowe’s would agree. The company just reported third-quarter earnings, much to the delight of Wall Street. As a result of Mother Nature’s very unappreciated wrath, sales at Lowe’s went up 5.7% to $16.8 billion, way more than the predicted 4.6% and $16.6 billion. $200 million of those sales came courtesy of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma that wreaked its proverbial havoc on a large swath of the country. But they helped the home improvement chain take in an $872 million profit that added $1.05 per share, which was three cents higher than analysts’ estimates.  That number was particularly impressive since last year at this time, Lowe’s took in $462 million, nearly half that amount.  But Lowe’s doesn’t owe all its quarterly success to natural disasters. The company also made a big push to cater to professional contractors. And with good reason. They spend more money. Sure DIY home improvement is Lowe’s theme, but the company was savvy enough to recognize an additional opportunity and the fact that the housing market is doing pretty awesome lately only sweetens the pot.  And even though Lowe’s shares dropped a smidge during trading this morning, it can’t be too distraught since the company’s shares are up about 15% for the year.

Macy’s Mixed Up Day; Uber Pumped for Some IPO Magic; Madoff Victims Rejoice. Well, Maybe Not.

It could have been worse…

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There’s good news. And there’s bad news. Well, for Macy’s anyway. So let’s start with the bad because, why not. The department store chain just released its third-quarter earnings and very unhappily reported that comparable same-store sales fell 3.6%. That’s not even the bad part. What’s worse is that analysts expected those sales to fall, but only by 2.6%. This latest quarter marks Macy’s 12th consecutive quarter of straight declines and these dismal results come smack in the middle of Macy’s turnaround plan called “North Star.” To be fair, however, it was expected that this turnaround plan wasn’t going to change numbers overnight. As for the good news, Macy’s profit rate went up, helped by cost-cutting measures and store closures. That helped the retailer take in $36 million, almost double what it took in last year at this time. Online sales also went up by so much, that it almost took the sting out of the fall in comparable sales. Almost. So naturally, shares went up today, as well. A smidge. But those shares were at the highest point they had been in nine months. Too bad, though, they are still down more than 50% in the last twelve months.

IPWhoa!

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Uber is almost ready to make its big Wall Street debut.  Almost. The company’s new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, wants to make that happen by 2019. With a $70 billion valuation, Uber is the most highly-valued private company in the world. According to Khosrowshahi, “We have all of the disadvantages of being a public company, as far as the spotlight on us, without any of the advantages of being a public company.” Even Travis Kalanick, the ousted CEO but current board member, agrees. As for Kalanick, he’s not really gone and you can bet he won’t be forgotten. Not if he can help it anyway. IPO’s weren’t the only thing Khosrowshahi’s been discussing lately. Earlier this week, the CEO unveiled his own “cultural norms” for the company, and one of them goes a little something like this: “We do the right thing. Period.” A far cry from the climate under Kalanick that had a former employee write a scathing blog post detailing allegations of sexual harassment.  Which brings us to the much-discussed Soft Bank deal, where Uber is poised to give a very hefty 20% stake to the Japanese bank. For the right price, of course. Khosrowshahi insists the deal is really, truly going to happen. For real. It. Will. Happen. The primary issue being the price, because isn’t it always?

It’s about time…

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Thousands of victims of Ponzi Schemer Bernie Madoff are set to receive over $770 million in compesation for the money they lost. The $770 million is part of a $4 billion fund set up to compensate victims. And sure, that’s good news. Except for the fact that it took nine years to happen and much of those funds will only cover about 25% of the losses.  But guess what? It still counts as “the largest restoration of forfeited property in history.” Close to 25,000 checks will be mailed to victims, ranging from institutions to individuals in 49 states and 119 countries.  If you recall, Bernie Madoff was accused and found guilty of perpetrating a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. These days, the schemer of the century is chillaxin’ in Club Fed for the next 150 years.

Trump’s Commerce Sec’y Gets Delisted; Valeant Unvaliant with Female Viagra; Rainbows and Unicorns: Oprah’s Effect on Weight Watchers

Oops, I did it again…

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Looks like things are getting awkward for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Jr. Turns out Trump’s buddy has some Russian connections that might just put him in a bit of a pickle. It goes a little something like this: The Commerce Secretary has some investments in a shipping firm he used to run called Navigator Holdings. The problem here is that this particular shipping firm has ties to some people that are subject to U.S. sanctions. One of those ties is none other than Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law.  Mr. Ross knew that he was supposed to unload all kinds of holdings that could potentially be a conflict of interest once he took office. And he did. Mostly. Just not really with this one. To be fair, Mr. Ross has a lot of partnerships and it’s those partnerships that retain a significant stake in Navigator Holdings. But still. It’s a problem, even if there’s nothing necessarily illegal about his ties to this shipping firm since he didn’t disclose those ties in the first place. This new development, along with tons of other juicy information, came courtesy of the leaked documents known as the “Paradise Papers” from the Bermuda-based law firm, Appleby. As for Mr. Ross, that’s not the only reason he’s been making headlines today. Apparently, on those very disclosure forms, where Mr. Ross neglected to mention his dubious Russian ties, he also neglected to mention that he isn’t a billionaire. Not to say that he’s a pauper. Far from it. However, his estimated assets are less than $700 million, not the $2 billion he said he’s worth. Even worse, for Ross’s ego anyway, is that he’s getting dropped from Forbes 400 wealthiest list, because let’s face it, $700 million just doesn’t cut it.

Typical…

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Valeant is the big kahuna making good waves on Wall Street with an earnings beat that sent the stock up 15% today.  Much of that had to do with a 6% increase across its divisions not to mention the boost it got from unloading some of its debt. The company picked up $3.69 per share on a $1.3 billion profit. But that wasn’t the only reason for the boost. Remember Addyi? It’s the drug that was dubbed the “female viagra”  and Valeant bought it from Sprout Pharmaceuticals around two years ago for about $1 billion. Problem is, the deal had been bleeding money since the beginning. Now, two years later, Valeant actually gave Sprout shareholders $25 million just to take the drug back and put it back in business. But that was only after Sprout sued Valeant because it felt the drugmaker wasn’t marketing the drug well. In all fairness to Valeant however, plenty of medical experts just weren’t that into the drug. Because, besides saying that the drug wasn’t that effective, they also felt that potential users wouldn’t be inclined to taking Addyi given that there was a risk of fainting. Yes, fainting. In fact, the fainting would occur following alcohol consumption while taking the drug. I’m pretty sure anyone could see why that would be a problem.

Weight a minute…

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Oprah Winfrey seems to have the Midas touch, at least with Weight Watchers, as the stock rallied today way over 20% to 54.43, its highest price in four years. Revenue numbers were also ridiculously impressive, coming in at almost $324 million, a 15% increase over last year’s revenue during this period. But back to Oprah. The media titan bought a hefty chunk of the company two years ago and will once again grace Weight Watchers ads. Besides the Oprah effect, the weight-loss company put some major thought into both its digital operations and marketing campaign, which apparently paid off given the fact that the company increased its subscribers by 18% to 3.4 million. Here’s the fun part: Analysts thought the company would do pretty good anyway, bringing in 51 cents per share. But Weight Watchers did better than pretty good, adding 67 cents per share on a $45 million profit. That, by the way, was a $10 million increase from last year at this time. Which kind of has me starting to think about all the companies that good use Oprah on their boards. Twitter, maybe?  Oh, and did I mention that Weight Watchers also raised it full year earnings outlook? Indeed it did and now, instead of expecting to earn between $1.57 and $1.67, it now expects to make between $1.77 and $1.83.  And if that’s not impressive enough for you, consider that shares of Weight Watchers are up 360% just for 2017.

 

 

Russia? What About Russia? Facebook Earnings Seem to Be So Much Bigger Than Russia; Major Chink in Under Armour; All Night Long: It’s Party Time at Walmart

It’s good to be Facebook…

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It’s another quarter of rainbows and unicorns for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The social media mega-monster blew expectations out of the water with its daily active users growing to almost 1.4 billion, an increase of 50 million users. Revenue increased 47% and came in at over $10 billion. I won’t even bother boring you with what analysts expected. In the meantime, shares picked up an additional $1.59, which was a swift kick in the rear to predictions of $1.28 per share and a majorly impressive 77% increase over last year at this time. Apparently, all this talk about Russia using propaganda on Facebook to influence the presidential election seems to be having a nominal effect on the company.  Amid all this glorious earnings news, Facebook’s general counsel was hanging out in our nation’s capital, taking a beating because some folks in Congress just aren’t down with the way Facebook has this uncanny knack for effectively targeting digital ads to users simply based on their likes. I guess politicians are worried that those targeted ads might be – and have been – too effective in getting their opponents elected.  But Wall Street just laughed away sending shares all the way up to almost $183 per share.

Over Armour?

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Under Armour released its quarterly profits and it seemed like there was carnage all around.  The big bad ugly issue, aside from the actual numbers, is that the company is slashing forecasts for 2017. If that’s not a fiscal kiss of death, I don’t know what is. As for revenue, it fell. A lot. To about $1.4 billion, an almost 5% drop year over year. However, if we’re just looking at what happened just in the U.S., Under Armour revenue fell a whopping 12%. That’s a huge problem because it was the first time that ever happened since the company made its super-hyped Wall Street debut. Of course, you can’t have bad news on Wall Street without shares of the company in question going south. Which is precisely what happened as shares of Under Armour tanked 24% today. Add that to the fact that since September of 2015, shares have fallen around 85%. The carnage, unfortunately, doesn’t end there. Profit was down to just over $54 million and 12 cents per share, which was about half of what it was last year at this time. To add insult to injury, expectations were for $75 million. Of course, some would say those dismal figures are partly the result of the company’s $85 million restructuring charge. But I guess that’s the kind of money you have to spend when you are trying to keep a multi-billion dollar company like Under Armour from hemorrhaging more money. And true to CEO fashion, Under Armour’s own Kevin Plank made sure to blame, among other factors, businesses that went bankrupt since those other businesses, like sporting good stores, sold Under Armour merchandise. The bad news seemed to be contagious as shares of both Nike and Adidas took a nasty dip as well.

Par-tay!!!!!

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Walmart wants to win the holidays. And it’s training hardcore for the finish. Sure, that means sales. And promos. And all the rest of the gimmicks and sales. But Walmart’s also throwing in some partying. I’m totes serious here.  Starting this Saturday, Walmart will hold 20,000 parties in its Super Centers with the first one being called, “Toys that Rock.” Not to be outdone by toys, the retailer will also have parties called “Gifts that Rock” and “Parties that Rock.” Are you sensing a theme here? Of course, no party is complete without a decent goody bag or giveaway, so for you, the shopper, that means a curated gift guide and catalog. See how nicely that works out for Walmart. And you, maybe. Sort of. Walmart is also adding lots more “holiday helpers” to help guide shoppers to cashiers, open more registers and grab things from all over the store…and beyond. And demos, We mustn’t forget the demos. Apparently, there will be 165,000 of them spread all through Walmart’s gazillion stores. Laugh all you want, but Wall Street’s digging Walmart’s latest initiatives and overall drive, sending shares of the company up today by almost 1%.

No Churning Back: France Needs Your Butter!; The New “It” Couple; Americans Are Spending! Yay.

Très mal…

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Nothing screams “It’s time to panic!” quite like a butter shortage in France. Oui oui. The country is in the throes of a shortage of the stuff that dreams and croissants are made of, primarily because the cost of the creamy spread has gone up and the supermarkets aren’t forking over the euros to pay for it. So how exactly does an entire country find itself in the midst of such a supply shortage? First, France has been dealing with some bad weather which has somehow affected the supply of cow feed. Don’t ask me the mechanics here because I have no idea. Then we get to New Zealand. Yes, New Zealand. Did you know that New Zealand is a leading butter producer? Neither did I. New Zealand, with its own issues, has been decreasing its exports of the stuff, which in turn has contributed to France’s shortage and price increases.  However, the all-time proverbial buzz-killer/price-increaser is basically an overall global increase in demand for butter. When the whole world is eating more of the stuff, the price magically, and inconveniently goes up. In fact, butter went from $2,800 per ton in April 2016, to $8,000 per ton this past September. Crazy, right? And like Americans stockpiling batteries and water before major storms, the French have been stockpiling…butter. I dare you not to laugh. Out loud. In any case, if you don’t believe me, just check out Twitter for all sorts of French/butter humor. You won’t believe how many jokes this is churning out – sorry, had to do it.

Let’s get together…

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There are some things in life that are just meant to be. For instance, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, and of course, beer and cannabis. Hence, Corona beer maker Constellation Brands just scooped up a 10%, $191 million-stake in Canopy Growth Corp, a Canadian company that makes cannabis and medical-marijuana products.  As for Constellation Brands, a company valued at $42 billion, it now has the dubious distinction of becoming the very first major company that specializes in wine, beer, and spirits to invest in this budding – no pun intended –  pseudo-legal industry.  The fact is, the issue of legalizing marijuana seems to be on the table in the U.S. and Canada, and not just for medical use. But Constellation really isn’t planning on doing anything major with its stake. Just yet, anyway. It plans on maybe just starting to produce some cannabis-infused drinks. Interestingly enough, the more marijuana gets legalized, the less alcohol gets consumed. For Constellation Brands, it was a pre-emptive move, positioning itself at the forefront of the industry, enabling it to take advantage of the all the opportunities that await once legalization, on the federal level, is securely in place. Nice little fun-fact: Canopy Growth Corp’s ticker symbol, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange is…wait for it…WEED. Catchy, huh?

You “auto” know…

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U.S. consumer spending went up quite impressively last month – a whopping 1% (yes, that is whopping) –  in large part because of the auto industry.  That’s especially important since consumer spending accounts for 2/3  of the U.S. economic output.  And who doesn’t love strong economic output, right? Yes, spending rose a lot, the most since August 2009, because there seemed to be a major increase in consumers buying cars. Sadly, that surge in car-buying was helped by the two recent major storms that ravaged a large swath of the United States and effectively destroyed a ton of vehicles. Incidentally, August 2009’s rise in spending was also attributed to the auto industry. At the time the government put out a program called “cash for clunkers” that fueled its own surge in pending.  Along with that nifty bump in consumer spending came a 0.4% increase in personal income. And bonus: wages increased by the same amount.

Wanna Be a Billionaire? Then Move to China; Rainbows and Unicorns!: Twitter Might Finally Churn Out a Profit; Nike’s Game Plan Leaves No Room for the “Undifferentiated​”

Something tells me we’re doing it wrong…

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There’s a new report out published by UBS and PwC, called the Billionaires Insights report that tracked 1,542 billionaires all over the world and their combined $6 trillion. And while some might quickly assume that the United States might hold the top spot for the billionaires club, they would be wrong. As it turns out, Asia has the most billionaires, topping out at 637, whereas the United States can only boast 563 billionaire residents. In fact, every two days a new billionaire is minted in Asia, with China having the most.  But, to be fair, the wealth of the U.S. billionaires is much higher, coming in at $2.8 trillion, compared to Asia’s $2 trillion. So six in one, half dozen of the other, I suppose. Except not for long. The report also mentioned that the wealth of Asia and its billionaires will far surpass the U.S. in four years. One of the biggest “problems” listed for these poor billionaires face is how they intend to pass on their wealth. Rich people problems. But somehow they manage, whether they choose to pass it on to their heirs or leave it to charitable organizations. Decisions decisions. Of course, the more people the billionaires leave behind, the more complicated things get. But such is life when one is saddled with so much friggin’ cash.

Fairytales do come true…

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There’s a lovely rumor going around that maybe, possibly Twitter just might crank out its first-ever profit. We just need to wait until next quarter to see if that’s actually going to happen. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility since the social media company did make a major push to cut expenses while engaging in deals with other companies that don’t have them relying so heavily on advertising. Wall Street, at least is super stoked, causing shares of Twitter to soar 16% to over $20 per share.  And that company definitely needs all the share-soaring it can get. Twitter’s revenue was $590 million, a 4% dip from last year at this time but still decent since expectations were for $587 million. The other big news on the Twitter front is that the company made a very big mistake and is apparently trying to make amends for it. It seems that somehow an error was made in how user base was calculated for the last few years. But the company did revise the previous estimates, that had those numbers coming in a bit smaller than what was previously reported. Twitter insists that the difference amounted to less than one percent and that’s the story they’re sticking to. Their monthly active users, by the way, are up to 330 million and that number is supposed to be accurate, just disappointing since analysts expected that number to be 330.4 million. Oh well, Can’t win ’em all.

You’re out!

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Nike’s annoyed at under-performing retailers and has put them on notice. Which is definitely one way to make enemies. But hey, Nike is all about competing and if a struggling retailer is unable to “just do it,” then they’re out. Because Nike has a plan – a big one – that’s got them trying to hit $50 billion in sales by 2020. Nike wants to just do it, naturally. However, Wall Street is not so sure it can. I have yet to decide who my money’s on at this point in time. Apparently, 40% of Nike’s wholesale business comes from “differentiated” retailers and they want to up that to 80%.  Those retailers have a way of presenting the merchandise that gets customers wanting to spend their money at those establishments. According to Nike brass, “undifferentiated mediocre retail” just won’t cut the mustard and can expect a nasty goodbye within five years. Ouch. Nordstrom and Foot Locker apparently have nothing to worry about. For now. There were some obvious omissions, though, including Macy’s and JC Penney. Just saying. Whatever Nike has in store for those “undifferentiated” retailers doesn’t seem to bother Wall Street. Investors sent the stock up 3.5% today.

American Airlines: Going for Great or Going for Racial Insensitivity?; Congress Lets Banks Off the Hook. For Now; Things Aren’t Looking Sunny at Tesla Lately

Something racially insensitive in the air…

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Some say there’s no such thing as bad publicity but I’m skeptical about that. Take for example American Airlines. The NAACP just issued an advisory cautioning African Americans about traveling on American Airlines because the organization found an alarming pattern of “disturbing incidents” by the airline where black passengers were removed from flights. And the NAACP might just be onto something since it listed four distinct incidents where African American passengers were either taken off flights or moved to other sections of the aircraft despite holding tickets for higher class cabins. The NAACP said that the incidents “suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity” which I am pretty certain counts as bad publicity no matter how you slice it. Of course, American Airlines is “disappointed” about the advisory, and not just because it looks sooooooo bad. However, it still plans to reach out to the NAACP and invite representatives to its corporate offices in Texas to discuss the situation. Of course, just like with any bad publicity, American Airlines shares are down over 2%. Rightfully so, I suppose.

Don’t bank on it…

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You might not remember when, during President Obama’s presidency, a regulation was passed that allowed consumers to file class-action suits against banks.  But Congress remembered and today duly killed the regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that was established back in July. Just. Like. That.  The rule went like so: If a consumer was unhappy with a financial product or service, think of Wells Fargo or Equifax, and wanted action and accountability from the institution, the said financial institutions could not force a consumer into mandatory arbitration. And if a consumer wanted to participate in a class-action lawsuit, they could. Financial institutions had to nix clauses in their contracts that effectively forced consumers into arbitration. Before that rule came about, consumers could not sue. Could. Not. Sue. There was no option to settle lawsuits. Dems are hopping mad because they wanted that rule to stay put arguing that it allowed consumers to hold banks and financial institutions accountable and that arbitration always seemed to go more in favor of the banks. Republicans argued that class-action suits do not benefit the consumers anyway and have the potential to greatly harm businesses that ultimately and adversely affect the economy. Consumers are no better off, they argued, whether they go through arbitration or are part of a class-action lawsuit. Republicans even cited information from a Treasury report supporting those claims.  Of course, the recent scandals at Wells Fargo and Equifax didn’t exactly help the Republicans argument. Yet miraculously, Congress still managed to put the kibosh on the rule. Consumer advocates are all over this and insist that the war is not over. Except that a key battle was just lost.

Rolling heads…

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While the ranks at Tesla continue to get smaller by the hundreds following an ugly recall of 11,000 Model X SUV’s, employees at Tesla-owned SolarCity are starting to smell the stench of unemployment too.  Over 200 employees were dismissed from their jobs at SolarCity with the dismissed being told that they lost their jobs for performance reasons, or lack thereof. However,  that proved to be an awfully strange excuse considering that several of the aforementioned employees said they hadn’t even received performance reviews since Tesla acquired SolarCity last November for $2.6 billion. Things that make you go hmmm.Tesla did announce it would be firing employees from SolarCity’s Roseville, California office. And it did. Except the carnage didn’t stop there. Apparently, SolarCity employees all over the country were also fired.  As for the Roseville office, some say the office will stay open with 50 employees while others insist that the whole office is being shut down.  In any case, I’m guessing the holidays are going to be awkward this year for Elon Musk and his family since SolarCity was founded by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive back in 2006. Critics of Musk’s plan to buy the solar company felt that it would distract the CEO from making great cars.  Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing is for sure: A lot of people are wondering how much longer it is going to be until Elon Musk finally rolls out the super-hyped but affordable Model 3.

 

Sears and Whirlpool: The Breakup; Mall Rats: Target vs. Amazon; 3M Earnings: It’s More Than Just Post-its

It’s not you. It’s me…

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Breaking up is hard to do. Especially if the numbers don’t add up. Which is precisely why Sears is dumping Whirlpool along with all of its other brands including Maytag, KitchenAid and JennAir. According to Sears, “Whirlpool has sought to use its dominant position in the marketplace to make demands that would have prohibited us from offering Whirlpool products to our members at a reasonable price.” Which I guess is Sears’s way of telling everyone that Whirlpool really just needed to get over itself because it felt people weren’t going to pay a lot of money for appliances that don’t say Wolf on them. If you know what I mean. And I think you do.  And just like that, a one-hundred-year-old relationship was brought to its knobby knees.  In case you were wondering if this breakup had anything to do with Sears’s own fiscal woes, you’d be mistaken.  After all, you can still walk into your local Sears and pick up a very fancy schmancy Bosch or LG appliance. And while Sears stock took a 3% hit today on the news, Whirlpool’s stock fared worse with investors sending the stock down over 10%.As for Whirlpool, while the company did report disappointing earnings, it can’t really point the finger at Sears, since the beleaguered retailer was only responsible for 3% of Whirlpool’s global sales.

Down with Amazon…

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Could it be that the unstoppable, unflappable Amazon is actually getting stopped and flapped? Apparently, that’s the case as it goes up against Target and other major big-box retailers, not in the online arena, but in the real estate realm. Of course Amazon’s A-game is in its e-commerce, but it’s the big box retailers that have the advantage when it comes to brick-and-mortars. Just ask Whole Foods, who can tell you a thing or two about trying to find a place to call home. You see, it all boils down to leases. Think of a co-op board, except the president of the board in this case tends to be big companies like Target, Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond, among others. Those guys get a lot of say in who moves into their malls. And because Target and friends are paying the biggest amount of money in leases, they get to make all sorts of demands, like who is and isn’t allowed to move into a particular mall and under what conditions they can move in. Now that Whole Foods calls Amazon its boss, it’s finding it challenging to get into new locations if there are already other big retailers installed that find themselves competing with Amazon. See how the tables have turned?

Post this!

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If you used a Post-It note today then you helped contribute to 3M’s third-quarter boffo earnings. All those office supplies and little pieces of paper may not look like much but they raked in $8.2 billion in sales with a profit of $1.43 billion that added $2.33 per share. That profit, by the way, was an 8% increase over last year’s profit at this time. But in all fairness, the company’s not just about it post-it notes and tape. The company also makes industrial coatings and ceramics and those items bring in big money. The stock itself is up over 30% in the last year and today’s news sent shares up the most in eight years. Crazy, I know. It also helps that two-thirds of 3M’s sales come from overseas. So even when there’s a strong dollar working against U.S.-based business, a company that earns a majority of its money outside the country is able to hold its own very well and can offset losses. The icing on the cake, for 3M anyway, is that the company beat Wall Street’s expectations. And who isn’t a sucker for a good Wall Street beat?