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Tag: Retail/Wholesale

  • The economy is doing better than anyone thinks, but these troubles are in the pipeline, says Bill Ackman

    The economy is doing better than anyone thinks, but these troubles are in the pipeline, says Bill Ackman

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    Stock investors are showing some hesitancy for Tuesday, with big signals on the economy coming this week via consumer prices and retail sales. Ahead of that, Apple is expected to tempt consumers with yet another new iPhone on Tuesday.

    How much should investors be worrying right now? Our call of the day from Pershing Square Capital Management manager Bill Ackman says that in the near term, we can relax a little, but it isn’t all roses.

    Read: Hedge funds have bailed on the U.S. consumer in a big way, Goldman Sachs data finds

    He told the Julia La Roche Show in an interview where he felt like he had a “crystal ball of what was going to happen,” starting in January 2020 with the COVID-19 outbreak, and that carried on through interest rates and the economy. Indeed, the manager reportedly made nearly $4 billion on a couple of pandemic-related bets.

    “I would say the crystal ball has clouded a bit in the last period. I think these are unusual economic times and perhaps we always say that, but I don’t think this is a pattern that has been repeated…or it hasn’t been for more than 100 years,” he said.

    But he remains near-term upbeat. “For two years, people have been saying that recession’s around the corner and you know we’ve had a very different view, and continue to have this view that I think people are coming around to, that the economy is actually still quite strong,” he said.

    And while those on lower-income rungs have burned through a lot of COVID savings, he thinks the economy has yet to really see impact from the big fiscal stimulus seen in recent years.

    Looking down the road though, Ackman has got a stack of concerns over the economy. He sees about a third of federal debt due to get repriced meaning that over a relatively short period of time, “interest expense will become a much bigger part of the deficit that is not going to be a contributor to the economy.”

    And while higher interest rates do help savers, ultimately that will be a big drag on the economy, he said, adding that rising inflation, mortgage rates, car payments and credit card rates, are all set to slow the economy.

    “We’re still in the midst of a war and there’s political uncertainty you know with an upcoming election,” he said. That partly explains Pershing Square’s hedge via a short position on the 30-year Treasury bond
    BX:TMUBMUSD30Y
    that he laid out in a tweet in early August.

    For roughly a year, long-term Treasury yields have been trading below short-dated ones, which is known as an inverted yield curve, a phenomenon that’s often seen as a precursor to recession.

    “I don’t see inflation getting back to 2% so quickly, if at all, and if in fact we’re in a world of persistent 3% inflation, you know it doesn’t make sense to have a 4.3%, 4.25% Treasury yield,” he said.

    Other risks? Ackman remains worried about regional banks following the spring crisis, as many have big fixed-rate portfolios of assets that have gotten less and less valuable as rates rise. “I would say the commercial real estate picture has not gotten better, if anything, you know, you’re going to start seeing real defaults, particularly with office assets,” he said.

    “Regional banks have the most exposure to construction loans so they are going to be a lot of construction loans that won’t be able to repaid. There will be a lot of restructurings, so either the investors groups are gonna have to put in a lot more equity or the banks are going to start taking some losses,” he said.

    Ackman says investors also face a presidential campaign that could add some stress. The hedge-fund manager said he’s surprised there have not been “more and better alternative candidates” for the 2024 campaign over President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

    He’d like to see JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon toss his hat in the ring and believes Biden is “beatable,” by a strong candidate.

    Ackman himself said it’s “possible,” he himself could run someday, but he’s more focused on having a better investment track record over Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett — and needs some 30 years to match the Oracle of Omaha.

    Read: Here’s an easy way to make a more concentrated play on the ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks

    The markets

    Stock futures
    ES00,
    -0.36%

    NQ00,
    -0.45%
    are tilting south, led by tech, with Treasury yields
    BX:TMUBMUSD02Y

    BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
    steady to a touch lower and the dollar
    DXY
    recovering some ground.

    Read: Watch this ‘canary in the coal mine’ for signs of trouble in markets, Neuberger Berman CIO says

    For more market updates plus actionable trade ideas for stocks, options and crypto, subscribe to MarketDiem by Investor’s Business Daily.

    The buzz

    Oracle shares
    ORCL,
    +0.31%
    are down 10% in premarket trading after disappointing guidance from the cloud database group.

    Apple’s
    AAPL,
    +0.66%
    big event kicks off at 1 p.m. Eastern, with the launch of the pricier iPhone 15 expected to be on the agenda.

    Hot ticket. Arm Holdings’ IPO is already 10 times oversubscribed and bankers will stop taking orders by Tuesday afternoon, Bloomberg reports, citing sources.

    Tech’s wild week: How Apple, Google, AI, Arm’s mega IPO could set the agenda for years

    Upbeat results are boosting shares of convenience-store operator Casey’s General Stores
    CASY,
    -1.02%    .

    Packaging giant WestRock
    WRK,
    -1.48%
    and rival Smurfit Kappa
    SK3,
    -8.87%
    have announced a stock and cash tie up. WestRock shares are up 8% in premarket.

    Read: U.S. budget deficit will double this year to $2 trillion, excluding student loans

    Best of the web

    No better than gambling? Amateur investors are piling into 24-hour options.

    Demand for oil, coal, gas to peak this decade, IEA chief says

    U.S. takes on tech giant Google in landmark case.

    The chart

    Bank of America’s global fund manager survey for September sees investors still bearish, but no longer on the extreme side. Here’s the chart:

    Read: Fund managers just made their biggest shift ever into U.S. stocks — and out of emerging markets

    The tickers

    These were the most active stock-market tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern:

    Ticker

    		 Security name
    TSLA,
    +10.09%         		Tesla
    AMC,
    +2.23%         		AMC Entertainment
    CGC,
    +81.37%         		Canopy Growth
    NVDA,
    -0.86%         		Nvidia
    GME,
    -3.90%         		GameStop
    AAPL,
    +0.66%         		Apple
    ACB,
    +72.17%         		Aurora Cannabis
    NIO,
    +2.89%         		Nio
    MULN,
    +5.77%         		Mullen Automotive
    AMZN,
    +3.52%         		Amazon

    Random reads

    “Worst investment ever.” Brady Bunch fan buys original house for cut-price $3.2 million.

    And the house from the “Halloween” slasher films just sold for $1.8 million.

    China may ban clothes that hurt people’s feelings.

    Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

    Listen to the Best New Ideas in Money podcast with MarketWatch financial columnist James Rogers and economist Stephanie Kelton.

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  • Here’s an easy way to make a more concentrated play on the ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks

    Here’s an easy way to make a more concentrated play on the ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks

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    Investors in index funds have been well rewarded by a high concentration in the largest technology companies over the past decade. But there are also continuing warnings about the risk of such heavy concentrations, even in index funds that track the S&P 500. Solutions are offered to limit this risk, but if you expect Big Tech to continue to drive the broad market returns over the coming years, why not make an even more focused bet?

    Comparisons of three index-fund approaches highlight how successful concentration in the “Magnificent Seven” has been.

    The Magnificent Seven are Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +0.16%    ,
    Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +0.72%    ,
    Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    -2.03%    ,
    Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    +2.17%    ,
    Alphabet Inc.
    GOOGL,
    -0.27%

    GOOG,
    -0.32%    ,
    Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    +9.37%
    and Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    +1.67%    .
    We have listed them in the order of their concentration within the Invesco S&P 500 ETF Trust
    SPY,
    which tracks the S&P 500
    SPX.
    The U.S. benchmark index is weighted by market capitalization, as is the Nasdaq Composite Index
    COMP
    and the Russell indexes.

    SPY is 27.6% concentrated in the Magnificent Seven. One way to play the same group of 500 stocks but eliminate concentration risk is to take an equal-weighted approach to the index, which has worked well for certain long periods. But here, we’re focusing on how well the concentrated strategy has worked.

    Let’s take a look at the group’s concentration in three popular index approaches, then look at long-term performance and consider what happened in 2022 as rising interest rates helped crush the tech sector.

    Here are the portfolio weightings for the Magnificent Seven in SPY, along with those of the Invesco QQQ Trust
    QQQ,
    which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index
    NDX
    and the Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF
    XLG
    :

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 % of SPY

    		 % of QQQ

    		 % of XLG
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL,
    +0.16%         		7.05%

    		 10.85%

    		 12.46%
    Microsoft Cor.

    		 MSFT,
    +0.72%         		6.65%

    		 9.53%

    		 11.76%
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    +2.17%         		3.30%

    		 5.50%

    		 5.84%
    Nvidia Corp.

    		 NVDA,
    -2.03%         		3.02%

    		 4.44%

    		 5.33%
    Alphabet Inc. Class A

    		 GOOGL,
    -0.27%         		2.17%

    		 3.12%

    		 3.83%
    Alphabet Inc. Class C

    		 GOOG,
    -0.32%         		1.88%

    		 3.11%

    		 3.32%
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    +9.37%         		1.79%

    		 3.10%

    		 3.17%
    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A

    		 META,
    +1.67%         		1.77%

    		 3.60%

    		 3.12%
    Totals

    		  

    		 27.63%

    		 43.25%

    		 48.83%
    Sources: Invesco Ltd., State Street Corp.

    The same group of seven companies (eight stocks with two common share classes for Alphabet) is at the top of each exchange-traded fund’s portfolio, although the top seven for QQQ aren’t in the same order as those for SPY and XLG. QQQ’s weighting was changed recently as the underlying Nasdaq-100 underwent a “special rebalancing” last month.

    Here’s a five-year chart comparing the performance of the three approaches. All returns in this article include reinvested dividends.


    FactSet

    QQQ has been the clear winner for five years, but it is also worth noting how well XLG has performed when compared with SPY. This “top 50” approach to the S&P 500 incorporates many stocks that aren’t listed on the Nasdaq and therefore cannot be included in QQQ, which itself is made up of the largest 100 nonfinancial companies in the full Nasdaq Composite Index
    COMP,
    +0.45%    .

    Examples of stocks held by XLG that aren’t held by QQQ include such non-tech stalwarts as Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
    BRK.B,
    +0.77%    ,
    Johnson & Johnson
    JNJ,
    +0.79%    ,
    Procter & Gamble Co.
    PG,
    +0.94%    ,
    Home Depot Inc.
    HD,
    -0.12%
    and Nike Inc.
    NKE,
    -0.42%    .

    Now let’s go deeper into long-term performance. First, here are the total returns for various time periods:

    ETF

    		 3 Years

    		 5 Years

    		 10 Years

    		 15 Years

    		 20 Years
    SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
    SPY     		40%

    		 69%

    		 223%

    		 370%

    		 531%
    Invesco QQQ Trust
    QQQ     		41%

    		 113%

    		 430%

    		 882%

    		 1,158%
    Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF
    XLG     		41%

    		 85%

    		 262%

    		 404%

    		 N/A
    Source: FactSet

    Click on the tickers for more about each ETF, company or index.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    There is no 20-year return for XLG because this ETF was established in 2005.

    For five years and longer, QQQ has been the runaway leader, but for 5, 10 and 15 years, XLG has also beaten SPY handily, with broader industry exposure.

    Something else to consider is that during 2022, when SPY was down 18.2%, XLG fell 24.3% and QQQ dropped 32.6%.

    For disciplined long-term investors, the tech pain of 2022 may not seem to have been a small price to pay for outperformance. And it may have been easier to take the pounding when holding SPY or even XLG that year.

    Here’s a look at the average annual returns for the three ETFs:

    ETF

    		 3 years

    		 5 years

    		 10 years

    		 15 years

    		 20 years
    SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
    SPY     		11.8%

    		 11.0%

    		 12.4%

    		 10.9%

    		 9.6%
    Invesco QQQ Trust
    QQQ     		12.0%

    		 16.3%

    		 18.2%

    		 16.4%

    		 13.5%
    Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF
    XLG     		12.2%

    		 13.1%

    		 13.7%

    		 11.4%

    		 N/A
    Source: FactSet

    So the question remains — do you believe that the largest technology companies will continue to lead the stock market for the next decade at least? If so, a more concentrated index approach may be for you, provided you can withstand the urge to sell into a declining market, such as the one we experienced last year.

    Here is something else to keep in mind. In a note to clients on Monday, Doug Peta, the chief U.S. investment strategist at BCA, made a fascinating point: “The only novel development is that all the heaviest hitters now hail from Tech and Tech-adjacent sectors and are therefore more prone to move together than they were at the end of 2004, when the seven largest stocks came from six different sectors. “

    Nothing lasts forever. Peta continued by suggesting that investors who are tired of big tech taking all the glory “need only wait.”

    “[I]f history is any guide, their time at the top of the capitalization scale will be short,” he wrote.

    Don’t miss: These four Dow stocks take top prizes for dividend growth

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  • Just how much is the AI discourse helping stocks? An analyst scoured earnings calls for clues

    Just how much is the AI discourse helping stocks? An analyst scoured earnings calls for clues

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    Talking about AI alone has been pixie dust for big technology stocks this year. And as executives look for any way to shoehorn AI into their business plans, more S&P 500 index companies during their second quarter earnings calls mentioned “AI” than at any point since at least 2010, according to a report published on Friday.

    What’s more, according to the report from FactSet, the companies talking about AI — even the ones that aren’t the big, obvious tech names — have seen their stocks fare better than shares of companies that haven’t.

    For S&P 500 companies that mentioned “AI” on their second-quarter earnings calls, shares on average since June 30 dipped 0.8%, while rising 13.3% since Dec. 31, FactSet said. For companies that didn’t talk about AI on those calls, shares on average fell a bit more since the end of June — 2.3% — while inching only 1.5% higher since the end of last year.

    “Even excluding the ‘Magnificent Seven’ (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla), the S&P 500 companies that cited ‘AI’ still outperformed the S&P 500 companies that did not cite ‘AI’ on average during these periods,” FactSet Senior Earnings Analyst John Butters said in the report.

    Meanwhile, Wall Street has long believed corporate America’s profits would rebound for the second half of 2023, after a year ruled by anxieties over inflation’s impact on the economy. Still, that collective bounce-back, as it has through this year, will hinge on strong results from the world’s biggest tech players.

    Wall Street analysts expect S&P 500 companies to eke out a 0.5% gain in per-share profit growth during the third quarter, according to the FactSet report. If that number holds, it would be the first quarter of earnings growth since the third quarter of last year.

    Those potential gains, however, will largely depend on results from Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    +0.28%    ,
    Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    -0.26%
    and Alphabet Inc.
    GOOG,
    +0.73%

    GOOGL,
    +0.83%
    — outsized companies with outsized influence on markets and S&P 500 company financials overall. Financials for those companies have rebounded this year, after big tech retrenched amid a drop-off in pandemic-related digital demand from people spending more time at home and online.

    This week in earnings

    Three years of supply disruptions have upended the economy and driven prices higher, forcing the Federal Reserve to embark on a delicate effort to bring them lower by discouraging borrowing and spending through a series of interest-rate hikes. But what about the impact on bowling? For answers, we turn to results this week from bowling-alley chain Bowlero Corp.
    BOWL,
    -3.43%    ,
    which saw a jump in demand following the economy’s reopening but now faces questions about that demand as it shows signs of returning to Earth. Convenience-store chain Casey’s General Stores Inc.
    CASY,
    +0.85%
    and homebuilder Lennar Corp.
    LEN,
    +0.50%
    also report.

    The call to put on your calendar

    Adobe results: Digital-media, analytics and design firm Adobe Inc. reports quarterly results on Thursday. But Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz said his focus was on the company’s broader digital transformation.

    He cited stronger Web traffic, the potential for more deals with bigger customers, signs of improving trends in Adobe’s
    ADBE,
    -0.02%
    analytics segment, as well as the segment that includes design tools like Photoshop. But he said the company’s moves in generative AI could be “a significant growth driver.” Adobe this year unveiled Firefly, an AI image and text-enhancement model that can be incorporated into Adobe’s software. Moskowitz said that “while very early, our checks indicate an already high level of large customer interest in GenAI projects, including Firefly for Enterprise.” However, he said the company’s $20 billion acquisition of online design platform Figma was still “a big question mark,” as costs and regulatory scrutiny accumulate.

    The number to watch

    Oracle results, supply situation: Cloud and IT-network developer Oracle Corp.
    ORCL,
    +0.98%
    reports results on Monday. Like much of the tech world, Wall Street sees the company as an AI play. But UBS analysts said that as businesses race to secure the components that power AI, Oracle could have an “underappreciated edge” over rivals.

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  • U.S. economy seen growing at about a 2.2% annual rate in the July-September quarter, according to real-time New York Fed estimate

    U.S. economy seen growing at about a 2.2% annual rate in the July-September quarter, according to real-time New York Fed estimate

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    The U.S. economy could expand at about a 2.2% annual rate in the current quarter, according to a revamped real-time estimate from the New York Federal Reserve released Friday.

    According to the weekly New York Fed’s Staff Nowcast, the economy has been on an upward trend since late July.

    The regional Fed bank had discontinued the real-time estimate during the pandemic. The New York Fed said the series will now be available weekly.

    The New York Fed’s estimate is much lower than the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model, which shows growth could expand at a 5.6% annual rate in the current quarter.

    Economists say the strength of the economy will be critical going forward in deciding whether the Federal Reserve needs to continue to raise its policy interest rate to cool inflation.

    The Fed has been expecting the economy to slow in the second half of the year. Fed officials forecast only 1% growth for 2023. In the first six months of the year, U.S. gross domestic product is averaging about a 2% growth rate.

    If the economy reaccelerates, it is likely that inflation will also move higher. Fed officials had been hoping that slower economic growth would continue push down inflation.

    Faster growth means “you are probably going to get some inflation numbers that aren’t going to be as good as people were anticipating,” said James Bullard, the former president of St. Louis Fed president and now dean of Purdue’s business school.

    “There is some risk that the Fed will have to go a little bit higher” even than the one more interest rate hike that the central bankers have penciled in this year, he said, in a recent CNBC interview.

    The first official government estimate of third-quarter growth won’t be released until Oct. 26.

    The picture of the health of the economy painted by U.S. GDP statistics can change quickly.

    The growth estimates for the first half of the year could be revised at the end of September when the Commerce Department releases benchmark updates to GDP data.

    The sharp revisions are one of the reasons why the Fed typically pays more attention to the unemployment rate and the inflation data.

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  • Walgreens Is Looking for a New CEO. Why That Could Make the Stock a Winner.

    Walgreens Is Looking for a New CEO. Why That Could Make the Stock a Winner.

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    Usually, the announcement of a CEO change at a struggling company brings optimism and maybe even a stock pop. Not for


    Walgreens Boots Alliance


    Its shares have tumbled since Rosalind Brewer announced on Sept. 1 that she was stepping down. That could present a buying opportunity if the company makes the “right” choice…

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  • Wall Street is raising quarterly profit forecasts for the first time in two years, and executives are relaxing about recession prospects

    Wall Street is raising quarterly profit forecasts for the first time in two years, and executives are relaxing about recession prospects

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    After nearly two years of concerns about a recession, growing optimism about the economy is starting to filter down into Wall Street’s expectations for individual companies’ quarterly results, with analysts growing more upbeat about corporate profit in the months ahead

    While expectations for those quarterly results usually trend lower as earnings season arrives, analysts over the past two months have actually nudged their profit forecasts higher for the first time in two years, according to a FactSet report released Friday….

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  • Airbnb, Blackstone to join S&P 500, while Deere will replace Walgreens in S&P 100

    Airbnb, Blackstone to join S&P 500, while Deere will replace Walgreens in S&P 100

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    Shares of investment giant Blackstone Inc. and vacation-home rental platform Airbnb Inc. rallied after hours on Friday after both won the nod to join the S&P 500 index
    SPX
    later this month.

    The announcement, from S&P Dow Jones Indices, said that the change would take hold before the start of trading on Monday, Sept. 18. The move, among others announced Friday, will “ensure each index is more representative of its market-capitalization range,” according to a release.

    Airbnb
    ABNB,
    +0.87%
    currently has a market value of $83.98 billion, and its shares are up 64.7% so far this year. Blackstone
    BX,
    -1.77%    ,
    currently worth $129.29 billion, has seen its stock rise 43.6% year-to-date.

    Shares of Airbnb and Blackstone were up 5.7% and 4.8%, respectively, after hours on Friday.

    Blackstone and Airbnb will replace Lincoln National Corp.
    LNC,
    +2.14%
    and Newell Brands Inc.
    NWL,
    +1.23%
    in the index, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday. In the process, Lincoln and Newell will join the S&P SmallCap 600.

    Blackstone in July said it had reached $1 trillion in assets under management, aided by a growth trajectory that it said had outpaced its private equity rivals.

    “We’ve established an unparalleled global platform of leading business lines, offering over 70 distinct investment strategies,” Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman told analysts. “We believe our clients view us as the gold standard in alternative asset management.”

    Meanwhile, Airbnb last month said that travelers were seeking longer stays and bigger properties in pricier areas, as the rebound in travel endures despite a tidal wave of inflation last year. The company’s second-quarter results and third-quarter sales forecast topped Wall Street’s estimates.

    Meanwhile, S&P 500 member Deere & Co.
    DE,
    +1.94%
    will replace Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
    WBA,
    -7.43%
    in the S&P 100, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday. That change also takes hold on Sept. 18. S&P Dow Jones Indices said Walgreens “is no longer representative of the megacap market space” but will stay in the S&P 500.

    Shares of Deere fell 0.2% after hours. Walgreens stock was up 0.4%.

    Don’t miss: Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer steps down with stock at decade-and-a-half low

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  • Labor Day is just a ‘milestone’ in the marathon to get workers back to the office

    Labor Day is just a ‘milestone’ in the marathon to get workers back to the office

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    The U.S. Labor Day holiday will mark another milestone in the marathon to bring workers back to the office, but it won’t be a quick fix for landlords, according to Thomas LaSalvia, head of commercial real estate economics at Moody’s Analytics.

    Employers from Facebook parent Meta
    META,
    +0.27%
    to Goldman Sachs
    GS,
    -0.26%
    recently laid out mandates for staff to return to the office more frequently, starting this fall, including the big one — the federal government.

    “A lot of companies are saying that after Labor Day, ‘We expect more out of you,” LaSalvia said, referring to days in the office. Still, office attendance, he argues, likely only stages a fuller comeback if a job or promotion is on the line.

    Amazon.com Inc.’s
    AMZN,
    +2.18%
    Chief Executive Andy Jassy has been trying to drive home the point by warning staff to return at least three days a week, or face the consequences.

    That could prove difficult, with Friday’s U.S. jobs report for August expected to show U.S. unemployment at a scant 3.5%, near the lowest levels since the late 1960s, even if hiring has been slowing. The labor market, so far, appears unfazed by the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate reaching a 22-year high.

    It has been a different story for landlords facing a roughly 19% vacancy rate nationally and piles of debt coming due, especially for owners of older Class B and C office buildings with a bleak outlook or properties in cities with wobbling business centers.

    See: San Francisco’s office market erases all gains since 2017 as prices sag nationally

    As with shopping malls, LaSalvia said it’s largely a problem of oversupply, with many office properties at risk of becoming obsolete as tenants flock to better buildings and locations staging a rebirth. The trend can be traced in leasing data since 2021, with Class A properties in central business districts (blue line) showing a big advantage over less desirable buildings in the heart of cities (orange line).

    Return to office isn’t going to save the entire office property market


    Moody’s Analytics

    “Little by little, we are finding the office isn’t dead,” LaSalvia said, but he also sees more promise in neighborhoods with a new purpose, those catering to hybrid work and communities that bring people together.

    Another way to look at the trend is through rents. Manhattan’s Penn Station submarket, with its estimated $13 billion overhaul and neighboring Hudson Yards development, has seen asking rents jump 32% to $74.87 a square foot in the second quarter since the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Moody’s Analytics. That compares with a 2% bump in asking rents in downtown New York City to $61.39 a square foot for the same period.

    The push for a return to the office also doesn’t mean a repeat of prepandemic ways. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that part-time remote work in the U.S. has stabilized around 20%-25%, in a late August report, but that’s still up from 2.6% before the 2020 lockdowns.

    Furthermore, the persistence of remote work will likely add another 171 million square feet of vacant U.S. office space through 2029, a period that also will see tenants’ long-term leases expire and many companies opting for less space. The additional vacancies would roughly translate to 57% of Los Angeles roughly 300 million square feet of office space sitting empty.

    “The fundamental reason why we had offices in the first place have not completely disintegrated,” LaSalvia said. “But for some of those Class B and C offices, the writing was on the wall before the pandemic.”

    U.S. stocks were mixed Thursday, but headed for losses in a tough August for stocks, with the S&P 500 index
    SPX
    off about 1.5% for the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    2.1% lower and the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    down 2% in August, according to FactSet.

    Related: Some employers mandate etiquette classes as returning office workers walk barefoot, burp loudly and microwave fish

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  • Shopify Is Offering Amazon’s ‘Buy With Prime.’ 3 Benefits From the Deal.

    Shopify Is Offering Amazon’s ‘Buy With Prime.’ 3 Benefits From the Deal.

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    Shopify


    unveiled a deal that permits merchants on its platform to offer shoppers the choice to buy items using


    Amazon


    Prime perks. Analysts anticipate a boost in merchant usage, among other benefits for the tech firms involved.

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  • U.S. consumer confidence retreats markedly in August, close to levels signaling recession

    U.S. consumer confidence retreats markedly in August, close to levels signaling recession

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    The numbers: The index of U.S. consumer confidence dipped to 106.1 in August from a revised 114 in the prior month, the Conference Board said Tuesday.

    Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a modest pullback to 116 from the initial reading of 117, which was the highest level in two years.

    The revised July reading was the highest since December 2021.

    Key details: Part of the survey that tracks how consumers feel about current economic conditions fell to 114.8 this month from 153 in July. 

    A gauge that assesses what Americans expect over the next six months dropped to 80.2 from 88. The August reading is just above to 80 level that historically signals a recession within the next year.

    Big picture: The tight labor market had bolstered confidence in June and July. The decline in August reverses all of those gains. The index is still 10.8 points above the recent cycle low in July 2022.

    Economists think that higher gasoline prices were behind some of the decline in August. The price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline is up 19.6% from the start of the year and over 2% from last month.

    What the Conference Board said: The organization said it still expects a recession before the end of the year.

    “Write-in responses showed that consumers were once again preoccupied with rising prices in general, and for groceries and gasoline in particular,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board.

    What are they saying?  “The August drop does not definitively end the upward trend in place since last summer, and the expectations index still points to faster growth in real consumption spending. We are not convinced, however, in part because some of the strength in July retail sales was due to boost from Amazon Prime Day, which won’t continue, and because near-real-time indicators of discretionary services spending paint a much less upbeat picture,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

    Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, said he didn’t think confidence would rise significantly until inflation falls further.

    Market reaction: Stocks
    DJIA

    SPX
    were trading higher on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
    BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
    fell to 4.16%.

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  • How the stock market’s performance under Biden is worse than under Obama or Trump — in one chart

    How the stock market’s performance under Biden is worse than under Obama or Trump — in one chart

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    U.S. stocks so far haven’t fared as well under President Joe Biden as they did in Donald Trump’s single term or in either of Barack Obama’s two terms.

    The research team at Wilshire Indexes is pointing that out this month with the chart below, which features the FT Wilshire 5000
    XX:W5000FLT,
    an index that aims to reflect the performance of the total U.S. stock market.

    U.S. stocks haven’t performed as well in Biden’s current term as they did under Obama or Trump.


    Wilshire Indexes

    Biden and his allies could be worried about how stocks
    SPX
    are doing, and it’s possible his administration will try to help the market somehow in 2024, according to Philip Lawlor, managing director of market research at Wilshire Indexes.

    “With the 2024 election in sight, the disparity in cumulative equity return generated so far under the Biden administration compared to the superior return trajectory delivered by the Trump and Obama presidencies could cause some concern,” Lawlor wrote. “Electoral cycle logic points to the Biden administration doing its utmost to ensure that the gap closes next year.”

    Biden officially launched his re-election campaign in April, and the Democratic incumbent and his cabinet officials have traveled around the U.S. in recent months to talk up their economic policies, including measures such as the Inflation Reduction Act. 

    When asked about the stock market’s struggles earlier this year, one White House official told MarketWatch that the administration wants to see “strong performance,” but he also noted that roughly half of Americans don’t hold stocks and highlighted other economic indicators.

    “The markets are going to go up and down. The main measure that the president has about the state of the economy is, how are middle-class families doing?” said Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council.

    “Do they have good-paying jobs that allow them to support themselves and their families? Are they seeing their wages go up? Do they feel like they have good opportunities to advance in their career, good opportunities to switch jobs and make more money? Or live in a better neighborhood, or whatever the case may be? By those metrics, we think that the economy is doing very, very well.”

    Republican presidential hopefuls made their economic pitches at a debate on Wednesday night in Milwaukee, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is currently running second in GOP primary polls, saying the country “must reverse ‘Bidenomics’ so that middle-class families have a chance to succeed again.” Trump, the current frontrunner in the 2024 primary, skipped the debate and instead released an interview just before the event kicked off.

    Betting markets tracked by RealClearPolitics give Biden a 35% chance of winning the 2024 presidential election, while Trump is at 27% and DeSantis is at 6%.

    Stocks
    DJIA

    COMP
    were higher in choppy trading Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that the central bank may need to raise interest rates even higher to temper a strong U.S. economy and quell inflation, while assuring investors that the Fed would proceed cautiously.

    From MarketWatch’s archives (Dec. 31, 2022): U.S. stocks log their worst year since 2008, crushed by Fed’s rate hikes

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  • Foot Locker Slashes Its Outlook and Suspends Dividend. The Stock Sinks.

    Foot Locker Slashes Its Outlook and Suspends Dividend. The Stock Sinks.

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    Foot Locker


    stock plunged on Wednesday as investors kicked around a bevy of bad news. The shoe and sportswear retailer missed expectations for second-quarter sales, slashed its full-year outlook again, and paused its dividend.

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  • Republican debate: Why you may hear big numbers like 19% inflation, and how to make sense of it all

    Republican debate: Why you may hear big numbers like 19% inflation, and how to make sense of it all

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    Economists don’t much like presidential-campaign seasons. For them, it’s a bit like seeing their manicured gardens getting trampled by schoolchildren having a water-balloon fight.

    Robert Brusca, the president of consulting firm FAO Economics, predicted that the political discussion of the U.S. economy in the 2024 campaign would be “a farce.”

    Talk of inflation is likely to dominate the Aug. 23 Republican debate, for example.

    Republicans, eager to lay the blame for higher prices at the feet of President Joe Biden, are going to make the strongest case they can for that. For them, it is a happy coincidence that inflation started to pick up right when Biden was sworn into office.

    Larry Kudlow, a former top economic adviser to President Donald Trump, put it succinctly. “I have numbers. The consumer-price index is up 16% since February 2021. Groceries are up 19%. Meat and poultry up 19%. New cars up 20%. Used cars up 34%,” Kudlow said in an interview on the Fox Business Network.

    From last month: Mike Pence says inflation is 16%, but CPI is 3%. This is his logic.

    Unlike Kudlow, the Federal Reserve doesn’t usually measure inflation over 29 months. Instead, the central bank favors using inflation data that looks at the past 12 months.

    By that year-over-year measure, CPI is up 3.2%. Groceries are up 3.6%. Meat and poultry prices are up 0.5%. New-vehicle prices are up 3.5%, but prices of used cars and trucks are actually down 5.6%.

    Economists, meanwhile, tend to like even shorter measures, such as the three-month annualized rate. They think the 12-month rate says more about the rate a year ago than it does about what is happening today.

    “Looking at year-over-year [data], the only new piece of information is the current month. You are looking at 11 months that you already know,” said Omair Sharif, president and founder of research company Inflation Insights.

    Using the shorter metric, headline CPI for the three months ending in July is up 1.9%, while food at home rose 1.1% and meat and poultry is down 4.5%, he said.

    Trends have been favorable in recent months, but that might not last. “It’s been a good summer,” Sharif said. “But unfortunately, the winter data won’t be as pleasant.”

    What caused the spike in inflation?

    Economists tend not to blame one political party or the other for spikes in inflation.

    In the 1970s, for example, the culprit was increases in oil prices by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

    This time, there was no one single factor. While the debate is not yet over, economists tend to focus on the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the move to end reliance on fossil fuels in order to combat climate change.

    Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Boston College, said prices started to rise when the healthcare industry had to adjust to a new, unforeseen risk. There were steep costs to dealing with the deadly coronavirus and developing vaccines.

    People working in frontline industries were able to command higher wages. And demand outstripped supply for many things, as shelves were emptied by consumers and supply chains were strained.

    Bethune also stressed recent moves toward renewable energy. The best way to explain inflation to your grandmother, he said, is to look at a chart of electricity prices.


    Uncredited

    The steady increase stems from efforts to move closer to a carbon-free economy, Bethune said. And those prices get passed along “right through the whole cost pressure of the economy,” including the price of refrigerated foods.

    Inflation boomed and is now coming off its peak, said Brusca of FAO Economics. Prices are still rising, but not at the same rapid clip. And they won’t roll back to prepandemic levels.

    “Consumers are caught in a trap,” he said. “If prices are going to come down, you have got to have deflation.”

    Deflation comes with its own unique set of woes. It can make the cost of borrowed money, like mortgages, much more expensive. And it can lead to serious economic weakness.

    “All of this is why the Fed targets price stability,” Brusca said.

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  • The iPhone 15 could help Apple clinch a title it’s never held before

    The iPhone 15 could help Apple clinch a title it’s never held before

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    In a dreary smartphone market, Apple Inc. could do something it’s never done before.

    The consumer-electronics giant has a chance to finish the year as the global leader in smartphone shipments for the first time, according to analysts at Counterpoint Research.

    Read: ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks are losing some of their shine, but their bonds are doing fine

    Consumers continue to hold on to their smartphones for longer, one reason that the Counterpoint team expects overall shipments to fall 6% this year, to 1.15 billion units. That would be the lowest level in a decade.

    “But we’re watching [the fourth quarter] with interest because the iPhone 15 launch is a window for carriers to steal high-value customers,” Jeff Fieldhack, Counterpoint’s North America research director, said in a release.

    With a big base of current iPhone 12 owners due for upgrades, “promos are going to be aggressive, leaving Apple in a good spot.”

    Counterpoint notes that premium smartphones have been picking up share within the market and called out China as a region where that trend holds true. Apple
    AAPL,
    -0.12%
    focuses on the premium market and is expected to debut its next lineup of devices, the iPhone 15 family, in September, and sales likely will begin later that month or in early October.

    Don’t miss: Meta’s stock joins Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia shares in correction territory as tech-stock boom fizzles

    Projections from Counterpoint put Apple the closest its ever been to capturing the top spot. “We’re talking about a spread that’s literally a few days’ worth of sales,” Fieldhack said. “Assuming Apple doesn’t run into production problems like it did last year, it’s really a toss-up at this point.”

    Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
    005930,
    +0.45%
    was the market leader in shipments last year, and it held the top spot in the first quarter of this year.

    Read on: Red flags waving for tech stocks as AI bounce fades, China fears escalate

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  • Expectations for Nvidia’s earnings are massive. Will they even matter?

    Expectations for Nvidia’s earnings are massive. Will they even matter?

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    When Nvidia Corp. last reported quarterly results, the chip maker forecast record revenue that was far above anything it had put up before. In response, investors sent the stock into orbit. On Wednesday, the latest round of earnings for the company will be a test of Nvidia’s status as the darling of the AI investment boom, and a test of whether it can deliver on its own lofty expectations.

    The results will also be an update of tech demand overall, after businesses tightened their IT budgets following worries about an economic slowdown. But even with Nvidia’s
    NVDA,
    -0.10%
    stock up more than 200% so far this year and expectations rising just as much, some analysts still say there’s room for shares to go higher, despite supply-side logjams.

    Barclays said that Nvidia, whose chips analysts say will help power AI technology in the days to come, has “monopolized the economics of the AI boom, with no clear competitor close behind.” They added that “cloud capex budgets are being funneled towards AI.”

    Signs that Nvidia might be falling behind on meeting chip demand have started to emerge. But as businesses rush to mark their territory, or potential territory, in the world of AI, Wedbush analysts have asked whether Nvidia’s results and forecast would even matter, as today’s production constraints turn into tomorrow’s sales.

    “We don’t think NVDA results/guidance need to hit the high end of expectations,” Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson said in a research note on Friday.

    “With demand for AI training having lifted substantially in the past quarter and with no other silicon supplier now capable of providing part volumes within an order of magnitude of NVDA’s output, we believe any unfilled demand will just be pushed into forward quarters fueling future sales and (earnings per share),” he continued.

    Synovus analyst Daniel Morgan was also bullish on Nvidia’s business targeted toward data centers, as those facilities try to integrate generative AI and large language models. And within Nvidia’s gaming segment, he said the company’s new Ada Lovelace graphics-processing unit ecosystem “appears to be seeing a high level of success in retail.”

    Still, the longer a stock runs higher, the harder it can fall. And Nvidia’s $1 trillion valuation, Morgan said, “is not for the faint-hearted.”

    This week in earnings

    Along with Nvidia, China search giant Baidu Inc.
    BIDU,
    -3.63%
    reports, as the nation’s economic rebound sputters. And if more businesses are still cautious about cloud spending, or shifting spending to AI, the mood could filter through to results from Splunk Inc.
    SPLK,
    +0.35%
    and Snowflake Inc.
    SNOW,
    +0.47%    .
    Peloton Interactive Inc.
    PTON,
    +1.59%    ,
    Workday Inc.
    WDAY,
    +0.16%
    and Marvell Technology Inc.
    MRVL,
    +0.05%
    also report.

    The call to put on your calendar

    Zoom and offices: If even Zoom is calling some of its workers back to the office, what could that possibly mean for its results on Monday and the business of videoconferencing? Zoom Video Communications Inc.
    ZM,
    +1.42%
    hasn’t been spared from the wave of tech-industry layoffs, and the company is trying to branch out from its pandemic-mainstay video-call platform, and harnessing its technology to handle phone calls and customer contact centers. Benchmark Research analyst Matthew Harrigan, in a note last week, said he still liked Zoom’s prospects, even though he wasn’t expecting “much instant gratification.” “We do expect AI to crystallize as a significant positive for Zoom even as it navigates through customer pushback on using customer data to train AI models off privacy concerns,” he said.

    The numbers to watch

    Sales, forecasts and inventories from retailers: Last week, Target Corp.
    TGT,
    +0.85%
    reported what one analyst called “the definition of mixed results,” while another said the results amounted to “Recessionary trends without the recession.” Sales of essentials like groceries, as they have over the past year, helped Walmart Inc.’s
    WMT,
    +1.44%
    results, but management said that consumers were still feeling the pain from inflation, which for some shoppers over the past year has left little room for much beyond the basics.

    In the week ahead, we’ll get results whole bunch of retailers that don’t sell basics — like department stores Macy’s Inc.
    M,
    +0.53%
    and Kohl’s Corp.
    KSS,
    +3.53%
    ; clothing chains Nordstrom Inc.
    JWN,
    +0.47%    ,
    Gap Inc.
    GPS,
    +2.17%    ,
    Urban Outfitters Inc.
    URBN,
    +2.00%
    ; shoe retailer Foot Locker Inc.
    FL,
    +0.60%
    and beauty-products chain Ulta Beauty Inc.
    ULTA,
    +1.40%    .
    Those retailers will report as prices for some things start to come down, or at least not rise as fast, and as some economists overcome their recession fears. But remarks from executives could offer some sense of the impact from higher borrowing costs and the return of student loan payments, and how much they’ll be able to bank on the back-to-school season and wealthier — and more carefree — consumers.

    Dollar-store Dollar Tree Inc.
    DLTR,
    +0.44%
    will also report results, as low-income consumers suffer more under inflation and deal with the end of pandemic-era supplemental food assistance. Off-price retailer Burlington Stores Inc.
    BURL,
    +1.43%
    reports as well, after Ross Stores Inc.
    ROST,
    +5.01%
    Chief Executive Barbara Rentler said that while its low- and moderate-income shoppers were still hurting, shoppers overall “responded well to our improved value offerings throughout our stores.”

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  • Nvidia, Lowe’s, Dollar Tree, and More to Watch

    Nvidia, Lowe’s, Dollar Tree, and More to Watch

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    The majority of second-quarter earnings season is over, with a handful of major technology and retail names left to report this week. Economists will be focused on any news from an annual gathering of monetary policy thinkers and practitioners in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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  • ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks are losing some of their shine, but their bonds are doing fine

    ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks are losing some of their shine, but their bonds are doing fine

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    The so-called Magnificent Seven grouping of technology stocks lost some of its luster this week after four of the seven moved into correction territory, meaning their stocks have fallen at least 10% from their recent peaks.

    The corporate-bond market, in contrast, seems to like all seven names.

    The group is made up of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    -0.65%    ,
    Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +0.28%    ,
    Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    -0.13%    ,
    Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    -0.10%    ,
    Amazon. com Inc.
    AMZN,
    -0.57%    ,
    Google parent Alphabet Inc.
    GOOGL,
    -1.89%

    GOOG,
    -1.80%
    and Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    -1.70%    .

    One caveat: Tesla has no outstanding bonds. In the past, the electric-car maker issued convertible bonds, but they have all been converted into equity.

    The group is credited with helping drive the stock market’s gains in the first half of the year, driven by excitement about artificial intelligence. But the rally has stalled in recent weeks as investors have fretted over the potential for U.S. interest-rate increases, surging Treasury yields and China worries, with property developer Evergrande filing for U.S. bankruptcy protection late Thursday.

    On Thursday, Meta followed Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia into correction territory, as MarketWatch’s Emily Bary reported. Tesla, meanwhile, is in a bear market, meaning it’s down more than 20% from its recent peak.

    Read: Have AI stocks like Nvidia reached bubble territory? Here’s what history can tell us.

    The following series of charts from data-solutions provider BondCliQ Media Services show how many bonds each company has issued by maturity and how they have traded as the stocks have pulled back.

    The first chart shows that Microsoft has by far the most bonds, mostly in the 30-year bucket. The software and cloud giant has more than $50 billion in long-term debt, according to its 2023 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Outstanding Magnificent Seven debt by maturity bucket.


    Source: BondCliQ Media Services

    This chart shows trading volumes over the last 10 days, divided by trade type. The green shows customer buying, while the red is customer selling. The blue shows dealer-to-dealer flows. Microsoft, for example, has seen almost $1.3 billion in customer buying from dealers in the last 10 days and $960 million in customer sales to dealers.

    Magnificent Seven debt trading volumes (last 10 days).


    Source: BondCliQ Media Services

    This chart shows that every name in the group has enjoyed better net buying in the last 10 days, with Microsoft leading the way.

    Net customer flow of Magnificent Seven debt (last 10 days).


    Source: BondCliQ Media Services

    This chart shows spread performance over the last 50 days for an intermediate-term bond from each of the seven issuers. Most have tightened or remained steady over the period.

    Historical spread performance of Magnificent Seven debt.


    Source: BondCliQ Media Services

    Read also: Red flags waving for tech stocks as AI bounce fades, China fears escalate

    Apple’s stock entered correction Wednesday upon falling more than 10% from its July 31 peak of $196.45. The company sells mainly discretionary products, and right now “consumers are still being pinched” and thinking more carefully about where they spend their money, according to Matt Stucky, senior portfolio manager for equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.

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  • Pictet Asset Management SA Sells 19,298 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

    Pictet Asset Management SA Sells 19,298 Shares of CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS)

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    Pictet Asset Management SA lowered its position in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS – Free Report) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 572,422 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 19,298 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management SA’s holdings in CVS Health were worth $42,537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

    Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in CVS Health by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,576,388 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,128,984,000 after purchasing an additional 3,311,928 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in CVS Health by 103,371.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,547,559 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,448,877,000 after purchasing an additional 15,532,533 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CVS Health during the fourth quarter valued at $1,425,416,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,055,009 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,103,488,000 after acquiring an additional 155,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of CVS Health by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,615,521 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $989,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.96% of the company’s stock.

    Insider Buying and Selling

    In related news, SVP James David Clark sold 25,759 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.92, for a total value of $1,929,864.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $351,974.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

    Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

    Several brokerages have recently commented on CVS. TheStreet downgraded CVS Health from a “b” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Mizuho decreased their target price on CVS Health from $120.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 11th. Barclays decreased their target price on CVS Health from $89.00 to $86.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on CVS Health from $95.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, May 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on CVS Health in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.82.

    Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on CVS

    CVS Health Trading Down 8.1 %

    CVS opened at $66.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $71.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.89. CVS Health Co. has a one year low of $64.62 and a one year high of $104.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.86.

    CVS Health (NYSE:CVS – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pharmacy operator reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $88.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.41 billion. CVS Health had a return on equity of 15.43% and a net margin of 0.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that CVS Health Co. will post 8.62 EPS for the current year.

    CVS Health Dividend Announcement

    The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 21st were paid a $0.605 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 20th. This represents a $2.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. CVS Health’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.14%.

    About CVS Health

    (Free Report)

    CVS Health Corporation provides health services in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Pharmacy Services, and Retail/LTC segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services. It serves employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates.

    Further Reading

    Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CVS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS – Free Report).

    Institutional Ownership by Quarter for CVS Health (NYSE:CVS)

    Receive News & Ratings for CVS Health Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for CVS Health and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.

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  • JD.com Earnings Beat. Stock Can’t Escape China Gloom.

    JD.com Earnings Beat. Stock Can’t Escape China Gloom.

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    JD.com Posts Earnings Beat. But the Stock Can’t Shake the China Gloom.

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