It’s the end of the road for Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., a company that was once a shining star of U.S. retail.
The troubled home-goods retailer BBBY filed for chapter 11 on Sunday, after spending several months teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The company said it aims to achieve an orderly wind down of its operations, while also seeking to find an interested buyer for some or all of its assets. It has $240 million of debtor-in-possession financing to provide the liquidity needed to support its operations through the process….
The numbers: An early reading of the U.S. economy in April from S&P Global showed that business activity has escaped the doldrums after struggling over the fall and winter months.
The S&P Global U.S. service sector purchasing managers index rose to 53.7 in April from 52.6 in the prior month. This is a 12-month high.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s stock jumped 34.4% in morning trading Wednesday, as shares of the troubled home-goods retailer extended their meme-like bounce to a third straight session.
Shares of the embattled company and sometime meme stock ended Tuesday’s session up 22.5%, which followed a 17.6% surge on Monday. The rally was fueled by social-media speculation, according to retail trading platform Capital.com, which said that the bounce was not likely to last.
A three-day win streak would be the longest such streak since the four-day stretch that ended Jan. 12, 2023.
The rally came after Bed Bath & Beyond’s BBBY, +30.90%
stock closed at a record low of 24 cents on Friday following a 22.6% plunge in three days after the company disclosed a sale of more than 100 million shares. The retailer, which is attempting to stave off bankruptcy, said it could sell up to $300 million worth of stock.
The company’s stock has fallen 81.6% in 2023, compared with the S&P 500’s SPX, -0.03%
gain of 8%.
It has been a tumultuous few months for the retailer, which announced another equity offering earlier this year. That came after a troubled couple of years marked by strategic missteps, cash burn, challenging underlying business trends and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, the company issued a sales warning that sent the stock to a then-record low.
Bed Bath & Beyond is also pushing for a reverse stock split. In a recent filing, the company said a special meeting of shareholders would be held May 9 to vote on the proposal. The vote is on whether to effect a reverse stock split “at a ratio in the range of 1-for-10 to 1-for-20, with such ratio to be determined at the discretion of the Board,” according to the filing.
Stocktwits, a social platform for investors and traders, has been seeing plenty of activity related to Bed Bath & Beyond. “Sentiment and message volume on the platform saw an uptick yesterday and today compared to last week,” Tom Bruni, lead writer of the Daily Rip & Markets, Stocktwits’ newsletter, told MarketWatch.
“It’s important to point out that many retail investors’ positions with meme stocks are so underwater that the narrative is more so self-deprecating than enthusiastic, with tons of comments like ‘only needs to move up 5000% more, and I would break even!’,” he added.
Bruni also noted that companies that file for bankruptcy often end up rallying afterward, citing the recent example of National CineMedia Inc. NCMI, +6.89%,
whose stock popped last week after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
“A potential reason for this is investors may think that a reorganization may be the company’s best shot at surviving,” he told MarketWatch. “Investors may be betting that Bed Bath & Beyond might eventually have to take this route. However, we won’t know until next month’s reverse stock split vote takes place.”
Additionally, bankruptcy often sparks a short covering rally, according to Bruni, who notes that bearish investors don’t want to risk their profits in an attempt to squeeze the last bit of juice out of the stock. “When a company files for bankruptcy, it’s generally a sign your bearish thesis was correct, and you can take some chips off the table,” he added. “Very few investors will ride a stock to zero, as the risk isn’t worth it in many cases.”
“Also, at that point, there are few incentives for people down a lot on their investment to sell for a loss,” Bruni said. “They’d rather hold and see what happens.” Between “bag holders” and shorts covering, there’s more demand than supply for the stock, so prices go up, according to Bruni. “Then, that can feed on itself if that lasts for more than a few hours/days,” he added.
Earlier this month, Bed Bath & Beyond announced a new vendor consignment program with ReStore Capital in an attempt to boost its inventory. Carol Spieckerman, president of retail advisory firm Spieckerman Retail, told MarketWatch that the consignment plan feels like “a Hail Mary pass.”
Spieckerman said Bed Bath & Beyond is continuing “a mighty fight” amid mounting distractions, such as former chief executive Mark Tritton’s recent compensation lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit alleges that in January, Bed Bath & Beyond ceased making payments owed under Tritton’s separation agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Bed Bath & Beyond was required to pay Tritton $6,765,000 in ratable installments over a 24-month period beginning in July 2022, according to the lawsuit. The payments were made from July 2022 to January 2023, it said.
Bed Bath & Beyond told MarketWatch that the company does not comment on legal matters.
Of eight analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover Bed Bath & Beyond, two have the equivalent of hold ratings and six have the equivalent of sell ratings.
and other Chinese stocks fell Tuesday despite the country’s economy rebounding at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter.
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 4.5% in the first three months of the year, convincingly beating the FactSet economists’ consensus for 3.4% growth.
Democrats largely have closed ranks behind President Joe Biden ahead of next year’s election, but he isn’t completely without challengers for the party’s nomination.
Author and activist Marianne Williamson has thrown her hat in the ring, pursuing a longshot bid that comes after her 2020 presidential campaign fizzled out before the Iowa caucuses.
Why isn’t she falling in line and supporting her party’s incumbent president? What’s her pitch to people who think she’s not a serious candidate? What are her top economic proposals?
Williamson, 70, tackled those questions and more in a phone interview earlier this week.
Our Q&A with the Democratic presidential hopeful has been edited for clarity and length.
MarketWatch: In a nutshell, could you explain why you’re running for president?
Williamson: I’m running for president because I believe that some things need to be said and some changes need to be made, in order to repair some serious damage that’s been done to our democracy, to our country, to our people and to our environment over the last 50 years.
MarketWatch: You’ve talked about running to address “systemic economic injustices endured by millions of Americans” because of the “undue influence of corporate money on our political system.” What do you see as the top examples of that?
Williamson: During the 1970s, the average American worker had decent benefits, could afford a home, could afford a yearly vacation, could afford a car and could afford to send their child to college. In the last 48 years, there has been a $50 trillion transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1% of Americans. That transfer has decimated our middle class. We are now at a point where if you are among 20% of Americans, then the economy’s doing pretty well for you. But, unfortunately, that 20% is surrounded by a vast sea of economic despair. We have 60,000 people in the United States who die every year because they can’t afford healthcare XLV, -1.11%,
one in four Americans living with a medical debt, and 18 million Americans unable to fill the prescriptions that their doctors give to them.
If you are in the club in America, if you are making it in America — and I have sold some books, so I understand the high side of the free market and have benefited, and I’m grateful for that — but no conscious persons wants to feel that they create wealth at the expense of other people having a chance. That is not American. It’s not what the American Dream is supposed to be.
I’m not trying to whitewash and romanticize American capitalism before this era. I’m not saying we were ever perfect, but it does seem to me that when I was growing up, the social consensus is that we were supposed to try. We knew that the higher good was that there would be this balance between individual liberty, including economic liberty, and a concern for the common good. But today concern for the common good has become almost derided as some quaint notion, and that we shouldn’t really give much more than lip service to it. And that’s a lot of human suffering that occurs because of that change in the social contract.
MarketWatch: Here’s kind of a two-part question. What would be your top economic priorities, and how in particular would you address high inflation and the recent banking KBE, -1.65% crisis?
Williamson: I’d like to see universal healthcare. I want to see tuition-free college at state colleges and universities, which is what we had in this country until the 1960s. There should be free childcare. There should be paid family leave. There should be guaranteed sick pay and a livable wage. And I think Americans are waking up to the fact that those things that I just mentioned are considered moderate issues in every other advanced democracy. They should not be considered left-wing fringe issues. They are granted to the citizens of every other advanced democracy.
That was your first question. The second has to do with high inflation. A lot of that high inflation has to do with price gouging by huge corporations, whether it has to do with food companies, transportation companies and so forth. All of those CEOs should testify before Congress and talk about the ways that they have — for the sake of their own profits — gouged the American people, particularly at such a time as this. And this is what happens when we normalize such a lack of conscience and such a lack of ethics within our system.
In terms of what happened with the bank in Silicon Valley SIVBQ, -3.39%,
which is what your third question was, right? I think the depositors should be made whole, but the bank executives who were taking multimillion-dollar bonuses for themselves, both before and right after the crash, they certainly should not get those bonuses. And also it’s concerning that some of the tech investors that would benefit the most from those deposits were the ones who caused the run on the bank. I don’t think that they should receive the benefit of what happens when those deposits are made whole. But the average depositor absolutely should be made whole in such cases.
MarketWatch: You mentioned free tuition and child care. Where would the funding for that come from?
Williamson: The funding should come, first of all, from taxation. The 2017 tax cut in this country was a $2 trillion tax cut, and 83 cents of every dollar went to the highest-earning corporations and individuals. Now that tax cut also included the middle-class tax cut, and the middle-class tax cut was good.
That tax cut for the highest earners should be repealed, but the middle-class tax cut should be put back in immediately.
Secondly, we should stop all the corporate subsidies. Why are we giving subsidies to these companies that are already making multibillions of dollars in profit and often then price gouging the American people?
Third, I believe there should be a wealth tax. If somebody has $50 million, I don’t have any problem with their paying an extra 2% tax. And if they have $1 billion, let them pay another 1%. Somebody with a $50 million portfolio, much less $1 billion in assets, would not even feel that change, but the changes in people’s lives that would be created by those shifts would be huge.
MarketWatch: Your campaign often gets described as a real longshot bid. Why are you running when so many people say you have a low chance for success?
Williamson: Well, certainly Donald Trump was considered a longshot. For that matter, when he began Barack Obama was considered a longshot. Surely we remember when Hillary Clinton was considered a shoo-in.
MarketWatch: A recent Monmouth University poll of Democratic voters found 11% had a favorable view of you, 16% had an unfavorable view, 21% had no opinion, and 52% had not heard of you. How do you win over those voters who have an unfavorable view, and how do you reach the folks who haven’t heard of you?
Williamson: Well, there was a poll that came out last week that put me at 10%, including 18% with independents and 21% with people under 30.
It’s very difficult for someone like myself to get the message out when you have such institutional resistance to my even being in the conversation, and that is displayed in various ways. But there is independent media today. God knows there’s TikTok, where my information seems to be doing quite well.
This early, no candidate should be allowing the polls to determine their path forward. I didn’t go into this expecting the approval of institutional forces. And I, as a matter of fact, expected the kind of resistance that I’ve received, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that a certain agenda be placed before the American people, and I am providing that option — the option of that alternative agenda.
I believe that agenda is the way for the Democrats to win in 2024. But even more importantly, I think it’s the agenda that will lead to the repair of this country.
MarketWatch: You mentioned TikTok, and that has been a hot topic in Washington, D.C., in recent weeks. Do you have a view on the Democratic and Republican proposals to ban TikTok in the U.S.?
Williamson: I think the United States government does need to be concerned with tech XLK, -1.00%
surveillance, but I wish they were as concerned when it comes to American-run companies as when it comes to Chinese. It’s a serious issue, it’s a valid issue — the whole issue of surveillance. But it’s a gnarly issue as well, and rushing to shut something down, which is so obviously a platform depended on by millions and millions of Americans for information sharing, is never something that should be done lightly.
MarketWatch: Some Americans may know you only for your spiritual work, and these folks may not think you’re a serious presidential candidate. The White House press secretary indicated she’s in that camp. What’s your message to win those folks over?
Williamson: First of all, I don’t think of my campaign as quote-unquote trying to win anyone over. There’s something that I read years ago that has always guided my work: “If there’s something you genuinely need to say, there’s someone out there who genuinely needs to hear it.” I am speaking to people who I know agree with me. I wouldn’t be doing this if I weren’t aware that millions of people agree with me.
I think it’s very sad that the president would allow a presidential press podium to be used to mock a political opponent, and I think that many people were and are offended by that. This is a democracy. We should have as many voices out there as possible. We should have as many people running in an election as feel moved. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas. There are ideas on the left and ideas on the right. There are ideas all across the spectrum, and this is a point in American history where we as Americans should hear them all.
MarketWatch: What do you think are some of the main things that President Biden has gotten right, and in what areas has he gone wrong?
Williamson: Well, the first thing he did right was he defeated Donald Trump. The president has taken an incremental approach to America’s problems, and I believe that he does wish to alleviate the suffering of many people whose lives are affected by some deeply unjust systems. But I don’t think that the alleviation of stress is enough right now. We need fundamental economic reform.
We also need a serious answer to climate change, and the president’s approval of the Willow project is not that. The president has said that he recognizes that climate change is an existential crisis, and yet he has given more oil CL00, +0.34%
permits than even Donald Trump did, and he has approved the Willow project.
The Democratic House and Senate — they did cut child poverty in half with the child tax credit, but then, when that expired six months later, they didn’t bother to permanentize it.
These are the kinds of half-measures and incremental measures which are not enough to change the fundamental economic patterns in this country that lead to so much chronic economic anxiety and despair.
Joe Biden is shown in conversation in August 2019 with Marianne Williamson during an event for Democratic presidential candidates in Clear Lake, Iowa.
AFP via Getty Images
MarketWatch: One thing that comes up often with President Biden is his age, which is 80, while you’re 70. Do you think his age should be a concern, or is it ageism to bring it up?
Williamson: I think the individual has to consider this themselves. I have a problem, of course, contributing to the conversation because of the issue of ageism. But on the other hand, everybody can see for themselves what they can see for themselves.
I can only say if I were 80, I wouldn’t be running. But you know, I will not take potshots at the president, and I think that veers into potshots.
MarketWatch: Let’s talk about taking on Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis or whomever the Republican nominee ends up being. Why do you think you’re the Democrat who could end up beating one of them?
Williamson: Republicans are going to throw some big lies at the Democrats in 2024, and the only way that we’re going to defeat them, in my opinion, is to tell some big truths. Franklin Roosevelt said we would not have to worry about a fascist takeover in this country as long as democracy delivered on its promises. Democracy has not delivered on its promises. The only way to beat Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis in 2024 is to propose an agenda in which democracy once again delivers on its promises to the majority of the American people. And that would mean the issues I mentioned before: universal healthcare, tuition-free college, free child care, a guaranteed livable wage and paid family leave. Those are given to the citizens in every other advanced democracy, and there is no good reason whatsoever why they are not delivered to the average citizen in the United States.
MarketWatch: There are Democrats who could be challenging President Biden for the party’s 2024 nomination, but they aren’t and instead they’re supporting him. Why aren’t there more efforts in the party to get people to run for president?
Williamson: Well, you’d have to ask them why they’re not running. But there’s clearly a trope that the field should clear, and everybody should simply get in line with the opinion of the Democratic establishment that Biden is the man because they have decided so. I don’t see it that way. I believe the Democratic primary voters — and independent voters and anyone else, if it’s an open primary — they should decide who the Democratic candidate is. To me, that’s what democracy is. That’s what elections are about.
MarketWatch: The Democratic Party is not expected to hold presidential primary debates for 2024. What can you do to change that and get some time on a debate stage?
Williamson: Well, I hope to have a successful campaign. I hope to have high poll numbers. I hope to have a lot of people in those primary states yelling foul. It’s a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The American people should hear what their options are, and that’s what a debate would be. If enough people realize that and believe it and make laws about it, then that is what will happen.
I think sometimes there’s a kind of learned powerlessness on the part of the American people today. We forget the radicalism of the American experiment, which is that the governance of this country is supposed to be in our hands. But the American people have been trained to expect too little and almost trained to give up the power of independent thought. I hope that my campaign and other things that occur in this campaign season will awaken people, and I think a certain kind of awakening is happening already.
MarketWatch: We’re a financially focused publication, so here’s a question along those lines. I looked at your financial disclosure from your 2020 presidential run. It showed some investments in big public companies like Apple AAPL, -0.58%
and Mastercard MA, +0.27%
…
Williamson: Wait, what are you talking about?
MarketWatch: That’s from your 2019 executive-branch personnel public financial disclosure report. It shows investments in various stocks and funds. The question — for our readers who are investors or people saving for retirement — is could you describe your own approach to investing and preparing for retirement?
Williamson: Socially responsible investing, and that’s why I said, “Whoa, what?” Because I believe in investing in socially responsible companies.
MarketWatch: One last question: What else would you like people to know?
Williamson: America has some serious problems, but we have infinite potential to solve those problems. We need to revisit our first principles, as John Adams said, and find that place in our hearts where, as Americans, as adults in this generation, we recognize that this profound idea of American democracy is put in our hands for safekeeping. And that doesn’t just give us rights; it gives us responsibilities. The political system in the United States speaks to us too often like we’re children, like we’re seventh-graders. Our public dialogue is too often on this kind of seventh-grade level. This is not a time to be an immature thinker, and it’s not a time to get into mean-spiritedness or cynicism either. If we allow ourselves to rise to the occasion, no matter what our politics are, we’re going to repair what has been broken, and we are going to initiate a new beginning. I think that’s possible. Other generations have done it, and we can do it, too.
MarketWatch: Thank you for being available to chat.
There is currently no dispute over who wears the crown of world’s wealthiest person. It isn’t Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk.
The net worth of Bernard Arnault, the founder and chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE MC, +1.01%,
stood at $210 billion as of Thursday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. That makes him the world’s richest person by that marker, with an increasingly comfortable lead over Tesla’s TSLA, -0.48%
Musk, who also leads SpaceX and Twitter and whose wealth stands at $180 billion. At times the two have been in a neck-and-neck race for that top spot.
LVMH shares closed at a record €883 on Thursday, helping lift the French CAC-40 PX1, +0.52%
to an all-time high. That followed forecast-beating first-quarter sales from the luxury giant, thanks to returning China shoppers as COVID-19 restrictions eased, and rebounding international travel that drove duty-free sales. Up 7% so far this week, LVMH shares rose another 0.5% on Friday to €888.70.
The stock surge padded Arnault’s fortune by $11.6 billion on Thursday, the second-biggest single-day gain ever for him and a fresh record fortune, according to Bloomberg. Musk didn’t do badly.
He increased his wealth by $3.83 billion on Thursday, before Tesla and U.S. equities SPX, -0.21%
generally retreated a bit on Friday.
LVMH owns jewelers Bulgari and Tiffany, alongside fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Dior. Results released late Wednesday showed the luxury standard-bearer beating expectations across every division, led by fashion and leather goods, the latter of which is significant, Berenberg analysts observed.
“As the most profitable division, this also bodes well for margin development,” said Berenberg analyst Graham Renwick, in a note to clients on Friday.
“This performance sets the standard for [first quarter] luxury reporting and gives encouragement on China’s recovery from pandemic disruption. Overall, we think these results continue to demonstrate LVMH’s strong momentum and best-in-class execution — again reaffirming its high quality and strong track record, which we believe investors are favoring in this uncertain macro environment,” said Renwick, who reiterated a buy rating on LVMH’s stock and lifted his share-price target to €960.
The luxury sector got another confidence boost on Friday, as Hermès International SCA RMS, +1.52% revealed sales momentum in the first quarter, driven by a bump in tourism and new stores. The maker of the legendary Birkin handbag saw a 23% annual increase in first-quarter sales and backed “ambitious” organic revenue-growth targets.
Luxury stocks have seen an impressive rebound in 2023, after a weak 2022 — LVMH shares fell 6% in 2022 as travel restrictions in China and overall economic worries weighed on shoppers.
LVMH shares are up 30% so far in 2023, with Hermès up 36% and Christian Dior SE CDI, +1.46%
and Gucci owner Kering SA KER, +1.30%
up 26% and 21%, respectively.
As for Musk, his wealth is divided among his businesses. While Tesla accounts for $76 billion, Bloomberg estimates his share of SpaceX is worth $49 billion, and his share of Tesla is worth nearly $10 billion. He paid $44 billion for Twitter last year, after an attempt to wriggle out of the deal, and its current valuation is a matter of much speculation. Musk has fired thousands of employees and claimed this week that a return to profitability is now just around the corner.
Tesla is slated to report quarterly results next week, and some analysts aren’t optimistic due to persistent price cuts of its models.
The numbers: Sales at retailers dropped 1% in March and declined for the fourth time in the past five months, reflecting a slowdown in the U.S. economy and a shift in consumer-spending habits.
Retail sales are a big part of consumer spending and offer clues about the strength of the economy. Sales had been forecast to drop 0.4%, based on a Wall Street Journal poll of economists.
Receipts shrank a smaller 0.3% if auto dealers and gas stations are excluded. Car and gasoline purchases exaggerate overall retail spending.
Key details: Sales in March posted the biggest decline in four months, largely because of lower auto and gasoline sales.
A late Easter holiday might have also shifted some sales into April that normally would have taken place in March, economists say.
Sales of new vehicles and parts, an up-and-down category, fell a sharp 1.6% last month.
Receipts at gas stations declined 5.5% largely because of lower oil prices. It’s a good thing when Americans spend less on gas, however.
Americans are likely to pay more for gas in April, though, after the oil cartel OPEC cut production and prices surged.
Even after setting aside car dealers and gas stations, retail sales were weak. Sales fell in most major categories, including home centers, electronics stores and department stores.
The only segment to stand out: Internet retailers. Sales jumped 1.9%.
One category economists watch closely is bars and restaurants, the only service sector in the retail report. Restaurant receipts rose a tepid 0.1% last month after a 1.6% decline in February.
Restaurant sales tend to rise when the economy is healthy and Americans feel secure in their jobs. Sales slack off during times of economic distress.
Big picture: Retail sales haven’t fallen off a cliff, but they also aren’t rising rapidly like they did in 2021 and early 2022.
How come? High inflation has eaten away at household incomes. Government pandemic stimulus has dried up. And rising interest rates have made purchases of big-ticket items such as cars more expensive.
Americans are still spending plenty to get out and about, however.
Americans have been spending more on services such as travel, hospitality and recreation and less on goods such as consumer electronics and home-office supplies. That’s a big reversal of what happened during the pandemic.
That’s helping to keep the economy afloat. If the economy continues to slow, however, spending on services could also go slack.
Looking ahead: “U.S. retail sales fell sharply in March as consumers became more cautious, adding to other recent data releases that have signaled a deterioration [in the economy],” said economist Katherine Judge of CIBC Economics.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.42%
and S&P 500 SPX, -0.21%
fell in Friday trades after Federal Reserve Gov. Chris Waller said interest rates need to keep rising to squelch high U.S. inflation.
After a long period of underperformance when compared with the U.S. equity market, stocks in other countries are holding their own this year. One way to lower your overall risk with real diversification is to add exposure to an active international management style that doesn’t mirror a broad stock index.
One example is the $2.7 billion Columbia Overseas Value Fund COSZX, which is rated four stars out of five by Morningstar in its Foreign Large Value category. Fred Copper and Daisuke Nomoto co-manage the fund and described…
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DBS Bank India Limited, a hundred per cent subsidiary of Singapore headquartered DBS Bank, will by June this year roll out its proprietary credit cards, Bharath Mani, Executive Director (Head-National Distribution) said on Tuesday.
This credit card offering will be targeted at mass affluent and above (premium segment, including HNIs), he said.
Mani highlighted that the credit card market opportunity is huge and demographics in India also work in favour of banks, such as DBS, to expand its play in the credit card segment (unsecured debt market)..
Currently, DBS Bank India has co-branded credit card with Bajaj Finserv —Bajaj Finserv DBS Bank SuperCard.
Meanwhile, Mani said that DBS Bank India is also planning to foray into the affordable housing loans segment this fiscal. It will look to target mostly customers in the Tier II and Tier III cities for selling this product.
This lender, which is the country’s largest foreign bank by branches, is looking to grow its retail and SME book by five times in the next five years, Mani added. This is part of the bank’s overall strategy to emerge as a primarily retail/SME-focused bank in the next five years. “We want to pivot from being a Corporate focused to a retail-focused bank. The share of corporate loans will come down as the overall loan book increases in the coming years. It does not mean we will not do corporate loans, but the share will go down”, Mani said.
DBS Bank India, which now has 522 physical branches in the country, will look add another 80-100 branches in the next 18 month with bulk of this increase expected to come in North and Western India, he said..
DBS Bank India had few years back acquired Lakshmi Vilas Bank (South India Based). Asked if any more inorganic growth opportunities are now being considered by DBS Bank India, he replied in the negative.
Shares of CarMax Inc. KMX rallied 4.0% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the used car seller reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit that was more than double what was expected even as revenue that fell well short of expectations citing “vehicle affordability challenges.” Net income for the quarter to Feb. 28 fell to $69.0 million, or 44 cents a share, from $159.8 million, or 98 cents a share, in the year-ago period. That beat the FactSet consensus of 20 cents. Revenue declined 25.6% to $5.72 billion, which missed the FactSet consensus of $6.11 billion, as used vehicle sales fell 21.1% to $4.53 billion and wholesale vehicle…
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Tupperware Brands Corp.’s stock slid 45% Monday to the lowest level in three years, after the maker of food-storage goods issued a going-concern warning late Friday, saying it has hired financial advisers to help navigate its near-term challenges.
The news is just the latest blow to the company TUP, -46.90%,
whose products were once a fixture in American homes, made popular in the 1950s by stay-at-home moms who would gather at special parties to introduce the product line to friends and family.
The company’s website opens on an image from the Amazon Prime show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” with the title character hosting her own party and showing friends a pastel-colored vintage line.
That direct-selling model is no longer fashionable in the U.S., although it has traction in markets like Indonesia, where women have limited earnings opportunities but often gather to eat and drink.
The company has struggled for years to retain its selling force, which has been shrinking thanks to the proliferation of other gig-economy opportunities around the world.
In March, the company told analysts on its fourth-quarter earnings call that the sales force fell 18% last year.
That wasn’t even the worst news from that call, because Tupperware had warned in its earning release that it had identified weakness in internal control over financial reporting and that it expected to restate prior financials.
On Friday, it said that once it finalizes its 10-K annual report, which is now late, that the numbers announced in March would differ significantly from the restated numbers. It expects to file the 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next 30 days.
Then there’s the issue of the company’s debt burden, which has led to repeated efforts to squeeze concessions from bank lenders so it can remain compliant with financial covenants.
Due “to the challenging internal and external business economics, coupled with the increased levels and cost of borrowings under its credit facility, the company currently forecasts that, if it is unable to obtain adequate capital resources or amendments to its credit agreement, it may not have adequate liquidity in the near term,” the company said on Friday.
The company is looking for additional financing and is discussing its options with potential investors or financing partners. Tupperware is also reviewing its real-estate portfolio with an eye toward potential sales or lease-back transactions, it said.
On its third-quarter earnings call in November, Fernandez acknowledged that some of the company’s problems are of its own making. “The global macro environment continues to be challenging, and we are not executing internally at a level or consistency that we believe we should be,” he told analysts on the call, according to a FactSet transcript.
One key challenge is connecting with younger consumers, who are unlikely to attend Tupperware parties. The company started to sell its goods at 1,900 Target TGT, +2.12%
stores in the U.S. at the start of the third quarter as part of a strategy of reducing its reliance on direct selling.
But those sales accounted for just 1% of total sales in the fourth quarter, suggesting the strategy has not gained traction.
One challenge facing Tupperware is price. Amazon AMZN, -0.27%
and other retailers such as dollar stores offer far cheaper food-storage containers. In addition, Americans are increasingly shopping online.
Tupperware’s stock has fallen 98% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.12%
has fallen 9%.
First-quarter earnings season kicks off this week. Results from big U.S. banks later in the week will be heavily scrutinized for the impact of the past month’s turmoil in the sector. Economic-data highlights will include the latest inflation data and minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s late-March meeting.
The numbers: U.S. private payrolls climbed by 145,000 in March, according to the ADP National Economic report released on Wednesday.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a gain of 210,000 private sector jobs.
The private sector added a revised 261, 000 jobs in January.
Key details: Service sector providers added 75,000 jobs in March. Leisure and hospitality added 98,000 workers. Meanwhile, goods producers added 70,000 jobs. Manufacturing shed 30,000 jobs.
By company size, small businesses added 101,000 private-sector jobs in March while medium businesses added 33,000. Large-sized businesses added 10,000 jobs.
Pay growth decelerated for both job stayers and job changers, ADP said.
For job stayers, year-over-year gains fell to 6.9% from 7.2%. For job changers, pay growth was 14.2%, down from 14.4%.
Big picture: The job market has been strong, with jobless claims trending below 200,000. Companies seem wary of letting workers go.
Economists are forecasting that the U.S. Labor Department’s employment report will show the economy added 238,000 jobs in March. That estimate includes government jobs. If the data comes in as expected, it could show over one million jobs created in the first three months of the year.
What ADP said: “Our March payroll data is one of several signals that the economy is slowing,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Employers are pulling back from a year of strong hiring and pay growth, after a three-month plateau, is inching down.”
SPX, -0.25%
were set to open lower after the data. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 3.282%
fell to 3.32% after the data was released.
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Surprise crude oil production cuts from Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich countries shouldn’t produce worries of skyrocketing gas costs for U.S. drivers still smarting from last year’s pump price shocks, according to fuel industry experts.
At a time when gas prices are already increasing because of rising seasonal demand, the slashed crude oil output that Saudi Arabia announced Sunday will translate into higher prices, they say. But compared to last year — when energy markets were absorbing the initial impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the altitude on those gas price increases may not feel so steep.
On Monday, the national average for a gallon of gas was $3.50, according to AAA. That’s around 10 cents more than a month ago, but almost 70 cents less than the $4.19 average cost one year ago.
The effects of decreased oil production could translate into initial price increases of up to 15 cents per gallon, according to two different energy sector watchers.
There’s Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
At OPIS, an outlet focused on energy sector news and analytics, Chief Oil Analyst Denton Cinquegrana said he was previously expecting summer gas prices to average around $3.60.
“This move probably boosts that by about 10 – 15 cents to about $3.70-3.75/gal.” Cinquegrana told MarketWatch.
OPIS is owned by Dow Jones, which also owns MarketWatch.
It’s possible for gas price averages to hit around $3.60 in the next week or so, he said. The other 10 to 15 cents might filter into retail pump prices later this month or in early May, according to Cinquegrana.
The surprise move came from Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, including Russia. In Saudi Arabia, officials were reportedly “irritated” by recent remarks from U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
After the Biden administration tapped the country’s strategic petroleum reserve to combat last year’s high gas costs, Granholm said it will difficult to restock the reserve.
By May, more than 1 million barrels of oil a day will be slashed from output in the global energy markets. That’s in addition to OPEC+ production cuts announced last fall.
In cost breakdowns for a gallon of gas, the price of crude oil is responsible for more than half the price tag, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In Monday morning trading, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery jumped 6% to just over $80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
For context, when gas prices were breaking records last year, the costs of West Texas Intermediate crude were in the triple digits. While retail prices surged in early March 2022, West Texas Intermediate crude briefly traded for more than $130 during the trading day on March 7, 2022.
The national average for a gallon of gas hit a record $5.01 in mid-June, according to AAA. In the current context, Cinquegrana doesn’t see a return to $5 gas averages, he said. Gas prices vary across the nation. California drivers are paying $4.80 on average while Mississippi drivers are paying $3.02 per gallon.
Even if price increases are not as sharp as last year, hot inflation is retreating slowly. So any extra costs are unwelcome to millions of American drivers who are living their lives and more frequently commuting to the office.
Like last year, oil prices are poised to increase, said AAA spokesman Devin Gladden.
But the economy’s background noise right now could dampen the impact as downturn worries keep sticking around, he added. Furthermore, there can be discrepancies in the announced production reductions and the amounts that are actually reduced, Gladden said.
“If recessionary concerns persist in the market, oil price increases may be limited due to the market believing lower oil demand will lead to lower prices this year,” he said.
On Monday, energy sector stocks and related exchange traded funds were climbing after the production cut news. In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.81%
was up more than 200 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.03%
is little changed and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.98%
dropped 100 points, or 0.8%.
stock was on track for its best day in months after the Chinese technology giant announced that it would split itself into six units, opening the door for its subsidiary businesses to go public.
Akin to Alibaba (ticker: BABA) shifting from conglomerate to holding company, the move is designed to unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness, said the group, which is one of China’s largest and most important companies. It’s a nod both to investors who have weathered years of losses for the stock—caused largely by regulatory pressures—as well as regulators who have hammered Alibaba and the rest of the Chinese tech sector over competition concerns since late 2020.
Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WMB, +0.66%
rallied 2.6% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the health care services and drug store chain reported fiscal second-quarter profit that beat expectations, but fell from a year ago due in part to lower COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. Net income for the quarter to Feb. 28 fell to $703 million, or 81 cents a share, from $883 million, or $1.02 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.16 was above the FactSet consensus of $1.10. Sales grew 3.3% to $34.86 billion, well above the FactSet consensus $33.53 billion, boosted by an “acceleration” in February. U.S. Retail Pharmacy sales slipped 0.3% to $27.6 billion, but was above the FactSet consensus of $26.5 billion, while international increased 1.6% to $5.7 billion and U.S. Healthcare revenue more than doubled, to $1.6 billion from $500 million. Gross margin contracted to 20.2% from 22.8%, as cost of sale rose more than sales, up 6.8% to $27.81 billion. Looking ahead, the company affirmed its fiscal 2023 adjusted EPS guidance range of $4.45 to $4.65, which surrounds the FactSet consensus of $4.50. The stock has shed 11.8% year to date through Monday, while the Consumer Staple Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund XLP, +0.53%
has eased 1.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.60%
has slipped 2.2%.
