Consumer

Valuation multiple We’ve used the forward PE (price-to-earnings) multiple for our analysis, due to its high visibility in Starbucks’s (SBUX) earnings. The forward PE multiple is calculated by dividing a company’s stock price by analysts’ earnings estimates for the next four quarters. Starbucks’s forward PE multiple Starbucks’ lower-than-expected SSSG (same-store sales growth) in fiscal 3Q17, lowering of […]

Alibaba’s (BABA) stock fell about 6.2% on February 1—the day the company released its fiscal 3Q18 (December quarter) earnings.

National Oilwell Varco’s (NOV) capital expenditure or capex fell ~32% in fiscal 2017—compared to its capex spend in fiscal 2016.

DISH Network will release its 4Q17 earnings before the market opens on February 20, 2018. As per Yahoo Finance, DISH’s revenue in 4Q17 is expected to be $3.5 billion.

Farmers for Free Trade’s campaign was rolled out on September 12 with the slogan “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland.”

On March 8, Netflix (NFLX) stock fell 0.9% to $349.60 after Buckingham Research downgraded its rating from “buy” to “neutral.”

Whole Foods Market reported a 1.9% year-over-year (or YoY) increase in its top line, primarily driven by new store openings.

In the first quarter, Home Depot (HD) posted SSSG (same-store sales growth) of 4.2%, lower than analysts’ consensus expectation of 5.4%.

Philip Morris International (PM) announced its 3Q17 earnings on October 19. The company posted adjusted EPS (earnings per share) of $1.27 on revenues of $7.47 billion.

Sales fell 0.2% in November. Inventories increased 0.2%. Interestingly, the inventory build was with the retailers, not the manufacturers.

Apart from investors’ concerns about rising interest rates, the major worry that triggered a massive sell-off in the fourth quarter of 2018 was the US-China trade war triggered by President Donald Trump.

Renaissance Technologies eliminated a position in online retailer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) that accounted for 0.34% of the fund’s 3Q portfolio.

Analysts expect Lowe’s (LOW) to post revenue of $15.33 billion in 4Q17, which represents a fall of 2.9% from $15.78 billion in 4Q16.

Apple (AAPL) was the biggest public company by market cap between 2011 and last November, when holding that title became a game of cat and mouse.

Amazon (AMZN) stock closed at its highest point ever on July 11, at $1,755.

Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet (GOOGL), is phasing out the pod-like cars it has long used to test its autonomous driving technology.

This article considers the impact of Japan’s trade dynamics on Japanese automakers like Toyota (TM) versus General Motors (GM) from a macroeconomic perspective.

Last week, which ended October 13, 2017, Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) stock remained mixed and witnessed a minor rise of 0.90%.

Analysts expect Papa John’s (PZZA) to post EBITDA of $43.9 million in 2Q16. This represents an EBITDA margin of 10.6%, compared to 10.3% in 2Q15.

In 2Q17, analysts expect Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN) to post EPS (earnings per share) of $0.62, which represents a rise of 8.8% from its EPS of $0.57 in 2Q16.

The 2.3% home price expectation is much lower than the 6%–7% forecast we’re seeing out of the National Association of Realtors and the mid single-digit forecast we’re seeing from most Wall Street professionals.

In the third quarter, eBay accounted for 11.0% of PayPal’s total payment volume, which was down from 13.0% in the third quarter of 2017.

Endo Health Solutions is a 1.26% position initiated by Lone Pine Capital in the 2013 last quarter.

  In this six-part series, we will go through some of the main positions Eton Park Capital traded this past quarter Eton Park Capital Management is a multi-strategy hedge fund founded in November 2004 by former Goldman Sachs partner Eric Mindich. The firm started new positions in Family Dollar Stores (FDO) , Constellation Brands (STZ), […]

Appaloosa Management enhanced its position in American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) last quarter that now accounts for 3.48% of Appaloosa’s total 1Q portfolio.

Why higher gasoline prices can reduce people’s leftover spending at restaurants, which will negatively affect restaurant sales.

The tech sector’s competitive edge So far in this series, we’ve discussed the potential effects of Trump’s proposed tax reform on prominent tech stocks such as Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), IBM (IBM), and Amazon (AMZN). Tech companies continue to be preferred by investors due to their proprietary technological expertise and large cash balances. Their technical […]

Alphabet’s (GOOGL) biggest division, Google, has recently gained traction in the home automation segment where Amazon (AMZN) has a dominant position with its Echo Devices.

In the fourth quarter, analysts expect Shake Shack (SHAK) to post adjusted EPS of $0.03, a fall of 69% from $0.10 in the corresponding quarter of 2017.

On December 19, Alibaba (BABA) stock opened at $140.75 and closed at $137.14, posting an average volume of 27.24 million.

Apple’s stock is trading at a forward P/E of 12.5x, which is lower than its main peers, Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT).

While there is no denying that China (FXI) needs stimulus measures to kickstart its slowing economy, any propping up needs to be done in a way to avoid another debt-fueled crisis.

Verizon’s (VZ) media-focused business, Oath, reported a revenue fall of 6.9% YoY (year-over-year) to $1.8 billion in the third quarter.

Chilton started a new position in aerospace engineering company TransDigm Group Inc. (TDG) that accounts for 0.76% of the fund’s fourth quarter portfolio.

Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management took Harrah’s Entertainment, now Caesars Entertainment, private in a leveraged buyout deal valued at $30.7 billion in 2008.

Owning properties reduces real estate costs A restaurant business that owns its own building is a bit different from a restaurant business that rents its buildings or lands. From a business standpoint, you can think of a restaurant that owns its buildings as the sum of two businesses: restaurant and real estate. Because the real […]

Performance in 2Q17 In 2Q17, Papa John’s International (PZZA) posted EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) of $37.2 million, which represents an EBIT margin of 8.6%. In comparison, the company posted an EBIT margin of 8.7% in 2Q16. Why Papa John’s margins narrowed Papa John’s EBIT margins were impacted by a rise in the cost of […]

Japan is showing signs of investment recovery with its new economic policies coming into play.

Marriott increased its fee income at a ten-year compound annual growth rate (or CAGR) of 7.6% to $1,543 million in 2013—from $742 million in 2003.

In 3Q17, Comcast’s Business Services segment generated revenues of $1.6 billion, which rose 12.6% year-over-year.