Rabu, 04 September 2019

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Kroger, Tapestry, Navistar, Zillow, Box & more - CNBC

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Tapestry – The Coach and Kate Spade parent named Chairman Jide Zeitlin as its new chief executive officer. He succeeds Victor Luis, who had been in the CEO job for 13 years. Zeitlin will remain as chairman in addition to assuming CEO duties.

Michaels Cos. – The arts and crafts retailer beat estimates by 5 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 19 cents per share. Revenue also beat forecasts. Michaels also reported a 0.3% increase in comparable-store sales, compared to predictions of a 1% drop from analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Navistar – The truck maker reported quarterly profit of $1.56 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 a share. Revenue topped forecasts, as well, and Navistar raised its guidance for full-year truck deliveries.

Tyson Foods – Tyson cut its full-year earnings forecast to $5.30 to $5.70 per share, compared to a consensus estimate of $5.94 a share. The beef and poultry producer cited the impact of a recent fire at a key factory, as well as commodity market volatility.

Box — Hedge fund Starboard Value disclosed a 7.5% stake in the cloud service provider and called its shares "undervalued." Starboard is now Box's second-largest shareholder behind Vanguard Group, and said it may talk to Box about exploring a potential sale.

Kroger – Kroger is asking customers to stop openly carrying guns in its stores, following a similar move by Walmart. The supermarket chain had previously followed applicable local and state laws on firearms.

Amazon.com – Amazon is testing a biometric payment system that charge users by scanning their hands, according to a report in the New York Post. The paper said Amazon would introduce the technology at some of its Whole Foods stores by the beginning of 2020.

Uber, Lyft – Both remain on watch today after the ride-hailing services saw their stocks post record closing lows Tuesday.

Realty Income – Realty Income announced the acquisition of 454 single-tenant properties from CIM Real Estate for about $1.25 billion in cash. The real estate investment trust updated its full-year guidance, raising its outlook for adjusted funds from operations.

Zillow – The real estate website operator will sell $500 million in convertible securities due in 2024, and $500 million due in 2026.

Apple – Apple will introduce a cheap new iPhone next spring to address declining market share, according to a report from Japan's Nikkei news service. The phone will reportedly be a successor to the iPhone SE.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/04/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-kroger-tapestry-navistar-zillow-box-more.html

2019-09-04 11:44:27Z
CAIiEG2mGrTyBshZJybg1_n4Gp8qGQgEKhAIACoHCAow2Nb3CjDivdcCMJ_5ngY

10 Reasons to Buy Amazon Stock -- and Consider Never Selling - The Motley Fool

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock has been a fantastic investment. Along with crushing the market over the long term, shares of the e-commerce titan have also outperformed in recent years. Over the three-year period through Sept. 3, this growth stock has gained 132% -- more than three times the S&P 500's 41.6% return.

Despite its mammoth size -- its $890 billion market cap makes its stock the third largest on the S&P 500 index behind Microsoft and Apple -- there are countless ways the company can continue to grow.

Here are 10 reasons to buy Amazon stock and consider holding on forever -- or at least for a very long time.

An Amazon box coming down a conveyor.

Image source: Amazon.

1. It's led by a founder

Amazon is led by CEO Jeff Bezos, who founded the company in 1994. He's 55 years old, so investors can hopefully count on him remaining at the helm for at least a few more years.

A number of studies show that shares of founder-led companies tend to outperform in the stock market, often significantly so. A Bain & Company analysis, for instance, determined that the stocks of U.S.-based founder-led companies returned an average of 3.1 times more than than non-founder-led companies from 1990 to 2014. 

2. The CEO has a lot of skin in the game

As of Aug. 1, Bezos owned 57.78 million shares of Amazon. Those shares are worth $102.6 billion as of the stock's closing price on Aug. 30 and gives him an 11.7% stake in the company. With more than $100 billion of his money wrapped up in Amazon, he's extremely incentivized to make decisions to increase the stock's value over the long haul. Investors can feel confident that the Amazon CEO's interest is aligned with their interests.

3. Its intensive focus on the customer

Amazon's mission "is to be Earth's most customer-centric company," and by most counts, it seems to walk its talk. Its intense focus on keeping customers happy should continue to result in customers spending more money on its site.

4. Its fulfillment center network acts as a nearly impenetrable moat

Amazon has a few key competitive advantages, though its deepest and widest moat to keep competitors at bay is its fulfillment center network, which it has spent many years and tons of money building. The combined extensiveness and efficiency of this network is the core reason that Amazon is able to so speedily and cost-effectively deliver packages throughout the U.S. and in many parts of the world. In short, it's the key to the company's ability to fulfill its main Prime benefit: one-day free delivery. (In recent months, Amazon has been upgrading its standard free delivery benefit from two days to one day.)

View from above of an Amazon fulfillment center, showing solar panels on roof.

Image source: Amazon.

The company currently has 159 fulfillment centers in the U.S., with plans for 41 more, according to logistics consultant MWPVL International. These are humongous facilities, averaging about 741,000 square feet -- nearly 13 times the approximately 57,600-square-foot size of a professional football field. Beyond the U.S., the company has 189 additional fulfillment centers and plans for 13 more, with India (51), the U.K. (30), and Germany (25) leading the way.

It would likely be cost-prohibitive for any competitor to try to replicate Amazon's distribution network's geographic footprint. Moreover, even if a company was willing to spend billions doing so, it would still likely lag in efficiency, as Amazon was an early mover in using advanced technology, such as robotics, in its fulfillment centers.

5. It has a winning formula for funding expansion

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud computing services business, has historically been extremely profitable. The company has used the cash generated from AWS to grow its empire. Having such a profitable business segment that is growing so briskly is a huge advantage that other e-commerce players -- such as Walmart -- don't have.

Putting some numbers next to this item, in the second quarter, AWS grew revenue 37% year over year and accounted for just over 13% of Amazon's overall sales, yet it comprised 68% of its total operating income. It's the dominant player in the cloud computing service space. In 2018, it had a 32% market share of this $80 billion global market, which grew 46% year over year, according to market research firm Canalys.

6. Its Prime-centric business model is "sticky"

Now let's pivot to another key component of Amazon's business model: its ultra-successful Prime loyalty program. Prime makes Amazon's business model "sticky," which means that it helps the company build tight relationships with its customers. For $119 per year (or $12.99 per month), customers can subscribe to Prime, which gets them standard free two-day shipping (which is in the process of being upgraded to one day); streaming of movies, TV shows, and music; and other goodies.

Amazon had an estimated 101 million Prime members in the U.S. as of December, according to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIPR) report. (The company doesn't disclose its Prime member data by country, though it did say in 2018 that it had more than 100 million Prime members globally.) Prime members are particularly valuable to Amazon because they spend more money on the company's site. They spend an average of $1,400 annually on Amazon, whereas customers who are not Prime members spend about $600, per CIPR.

7. Online shopping has plenty of room for growth in the U.S.

E-commerce sales as a percentage of total U.S. retail sales have been growing at a steady pace. Nonetheless, that figure is still "only" 10.7% as of the second quarter of 2019. In dollar figures, the U.S. e-retail market was worth about $554 billion in the same quarter. 

US E-Commerce Sales as Percent of Retail Sales Chart

Data by YCharts.

As the largest e-commerce player in the U.S., Amazon is poised to continue to capture an outsize chunk of future growth. In 2018, it captured nearly half of online sales growth in the country.

8. E-commerce also has much room for growth internationally

In 2018, online sales accounted for 12.2% of global retail sales, with this number expected to be 14.1% this year and reach about 22% by 2023. Considering that global e-commerce sales are projected to be about $3.5 trillion in 2019, a nearly 8-percentage-point rise in four years equates to a huge increase in market size (more than $276 billion) -- and that's if total retail sales only remain static. 

To put all those new dollars that should be up for grabs within four years into perspective, $276 billion is more than Amazon's current annual e-commerce sales. In the second quarter, the company's global e-commerce sales were $55.1 billion ($38.7 billion in the U.S. and $16.4 billion internationally), which equates to an annual run rate of about $220 billion. And, again, this is assuming the total global retail market doesn't expand in size, which is extremely unlikely. 

The fastest-growing online retail market is India, followed by Spain and China, according to Statista. Notably, Amazon is engaged in a particularly big push in India, where it has 51 fulfillment centers, the most in any country except for the U.S. 

9. It continues to expand into a wide array of new arenas

A silver Ring doorbell.

Image source: Getty Images.

Amazon continues to enter new turf. In 2007, it entered the grocery delivery business via its Amazon Fresh service, which it has gradually expanded. And in 2017, it spent more than $13 billion to acquire Whole Foods, which gave it a major presence in the brick-and-mortar organic grocery space and increased its grocery delivery muscle.

Last year, Amazon made two major acquisitions that underscore its ambitions in the huge healthcare and smart-home markets. It threw its hat into the $400-billion-per-year U.S. pharmacy market when it spent $753 million in cash to buy online pharmacy PillPack, giving it the ability to speedily deliver prescription drugs across the country. It also dropped $839 million in cash to acquire Ring, best known for its video doorbells. This purchase bolstered Amazon's smart-home technology business, centered on its market-leading Echo line of smart speakers that are embedded with its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant Alexa.

10. Its efficiency should continue to increase thanks to driverless vehicles

Within about the next five years or so, fully autonomous vehicle are widely projected to be legal across the U.S. Investors can expect that Amazon will be an early adopter of this tech for at least some portions of its delivery operations, which should drive (pardon the pun) further increases in efficiency.

Moreover, the company might eventually be using drones for some lighter so-called last-mile deliveries -- or from its fulfillment centers to many customers' homes.

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https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/09/03/10-reasons-to-buy-amazon-stock-and-consider-never.aspx

2019-09-04 02:24:00Z
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Bizarre Huawei press release claims the US is behind cyberattacks and employee threats - Yahoo News

Click here to read the full article.

Huawei has stepped up its counter-attack against the US-led ban on the company’s products, with a bizarre press release issued Tuesday that levied a number of sensational claims against the US while offering no proof to support them.

In the wake of news that the US Justice Dept. is launching additional investigations into the beleaguered Chinese tech giant over claims of intellectual property theft, Huawei accused the US in the press release of “unscrupulous” behavior. Behaviors that includes, among other things, the US supposedly launching cyberattacks against the company.

More from BGR

“For the past several months, the US government has been leveraging its political and diplomatic influence to lobby other governments to ban Huawei equipment,” the press release notes. “Furthermore, it has been using every tool at its disposal — including both judicial and administrative powers, as well as a host of other unscrupulous means — to disrupt the normal business operations of Huawei and its partners.”

Those tools include, according to Huawei, the US “launching cyberattacks to infiltrate Huawei’s intranet and internal information systems.” It also supposedly includes the deployment of FBI agents to the homes of Huawei employees to pressure them to collect dirt on the company, in addition to unnamed US citizens supposedly pretending to be Huawei employees “to establish legal pretense for unfounded accusations against the company.”

That’s not even the extent of it, with Huawei also claiming that the US is conspiring with companies that either work with Huawei or have a business conflict with it in order to try and bring unsubstantiated accusations against the company.

Huawei hasn’t released anything in addition to the press release yet by way of comment or supporting evidence to back up the claims in it. This all comes as the bad news has inexorably mounted this year for the company, which has had to confront the fallout of a US-led opposition campaign that stems from allegations of intellectual property theft and national security concerns.

The company punching back like this was probably to be expected, not that it’s had much effect as of yet. And the bad news keeps coming. Huawei’s upcoming Mate 30 flagship, for example, is set to launch on September 19, but Google has said it won’t provide a licensed version of Android for the device, effectively dooming it outside of China.

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https://news.yahoo.com/bizarre-huawei-press-release-claims-020533542.html

2019-09-04 02:16:26Z
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Selasa, 03 September 2019

Beyond Meat and Zoom Video Top the List of Best 2019 IPOs - Barron's

Photograph by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The IPO market has been humming in 2019, and we’ve still got more than a quarter to go—a period which should include some high profile issues, including closely scrutinized WeWork and fast-growing Peloton.

The year to date has included some huge winners—a dozen newly public stocks have posted IPO gains of better than 85%. Here’s a quick look at the year’s top four IPOs.

Beyond Meat

The producer of plant-based meat-substitutes went public in May at $25 a share and has been on a remarkable tear since. The company sold more stock to the public market in August at $160 a share, more than six times the IPO price. The stock has benefited from a combination of strong buzz and excellent financial performance. For the second quarter, Beyond Meat (BYND) posted revenue of $67.3 million, up 287% from a year earlier, with $6.9 million in positive adjusted Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, compared with a loss on that basis a year earlier. The company sees full-year revenue of better than $240 million, which would be up 170% from the previous year. Investors are responding to the growth. Beyond Meant shares now trade at close to 40 times projected revenue.

Turning Point Therapeutics

An April 17 IPO at $18 a share, Turning Point (TPTX) shares have surged to $54, tripling from their public market debut. The San Diego-based oncology company is developing targeted treatments for solid tumors. Throughout the year, the company has been providing some positive incremental data on its lead compound, repotrectinib, for non-small cell lung cancer patients.

CrowdStrike Holdings

CrowdStrike (CRWD), which makes cloud-based enterprise security software, went public in June at $34 a share, and now trades at close to $81, up 139% since its debut. The company posted impressive results for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, with 103% revenue growth. CrowdStrike’s story strikes multiple hot buttons: the cloud, security, and edge computing. The company says it provides “the only endpoint protection platform built from the ground up to stop breaches.” As with Beyond Meat, investors here show a willingness to pay up for high growth: the stock trades for almost 40 times forward revenue.

Zoom Video Communications (ZM)

Zoom’s (ZM) big run up in the public market has become everyone’s example of investor interest in fast-growing enterprise tech businesses. The San Jose-based provider of videoconference services has proved particularly popular with technology clients. Growing revenue at more than 100% and already profitable, Zoom went public in April at $36 a share and immediately started, well, zooming. Zoom traded as high as $107 before settling back into the low 90s, with a gain since the IPO of more than 150%. With triple-digit growth, investors will follow companies anywhere—in Zoom’s case, to a valuation of more than 46 times forward revenues.

Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com

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https://www.barrons.com/articles/best-ipos-2019-51567199862

2019-09-03 09:30:00Z
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Chinese stocks close at best level since July while yuan briefly slumps to a record low - CNN

The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) ended up 0.2% at 2,930.15, the best close since July 31. It extended a 1.3% rally on Monday. Infrastructure, shipbuilding and consumer electronics stocks continued to lead the market higher after promising economic data on Monday showed China's manufacturing sector expanded to a five-month high.
Japan's Nikkei (N225) closed up by less than 0.1%.
But Hong Kong's Hang Seng (HSI) finished down 0.4%, following slight weakness Monday. Last month, the Hang Seng recorded a 7.4% drop — one of the worst among major global indexes. The index has been weighed down by escalating US-China trade tensions as well as intensifying protests in the city.
South Korea's Kospi (KOSPI) fell 0.2%.
The Chinese yuan touched a record low in offshore trading early Tuesday morning — it briefly hit 7.196 yuan per one US dollar, the lowest since it began trading outside of mainland China in 2010. It's now trading a bit higher at 7.184 per dollar, which is slightly stronger than Monday.
So far this year, the yuan has lost about 4.6% against the dollar in offshore trading, where the currency trades more freely.
The onshore yuan, meanwhile, was trading at around 7.179 per dollar Tuesday. It has also fallen around 4.4% this year.
Here's what is happening elsewhere at about 4:30 p.m. Hong Kong time:
  • The Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate unchanged at 1%. The decision was expected. "The outlook for the global economy remains reasonable," though risks remain, said the central bank's governor, Philip Lowe, in a statement. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was down about 0.1%.
  • Xiaomi, which is the world's fourth largest smartphone manufacturer, jumped 4.2% in Hong Kong after it announced a share buyback plan of up to 12 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.5 billion).
  • South Korea revised its estimate for GDP growth for the second quarter on Tuesday. Its GDP expanded by 1% in the quarter compared with the first quarter, which is slightly lower than a previous estimate, the Bank of Korea said.
  • US markets were closed Monday because of the Labor Day holiday.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/02/investing/asian-market-latest/index.html

2019-09-03 09:11:00Z
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People with gun demand Popeyes chicken sandwiches in SE Houston - KTRK-TV

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  1. People with gun demand Popeyes chicken sandwiches in SE Houston  KTRK-TV
  2. Police: Man pulls gun on Popeyes employees, demands chicken sandwiches  KHOU 11
  3. Social media battles, massive crowds, and overworked employees: Inside the rise and fall of Popeyes' chicken sandwich  INSIDER
  4. Best cheap chicken sandwich from McDonald's, KFC, Wendy's, Burger King  Business Insider
  5. Armed and hangry: Group tries to storm Popeyes in Houston when told chicken sandwich is sold out  KABC-TV
  6. View full coverage on Google News

https://abc13.com/people-with-gun-demand-popeyes-chicken-sandwiches-/5510088/

2019-09-03 04:59:47Z
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Senin, 02 September 2019

The Changes Luxury Brands Need to Make in China - Jing Daily

China has become the most important luxury market in the world. Some analysts attribute up to 40 percent of global luxury sales to Chinese consumers inside and outside of China, with a recent growth rate of 20 percent overall for the luxury sector. If the consumers of one country are responsible for almost half of the world’s luxury sales, companies should listen. But there’s more: No other major country has as many young consumers ad China does, and no other country is more digital. Looking at consumers in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, you can see the future: They are digital natives who want instant gratification and demand the best.

Most Western brands are not prepared

This future will necessitate a shift that most luxury brands aren’t prepared for. Many managers are convinced that older, more experienced consumers are their demanding customers while thinking it’s okay to neglect young consumers because they have no money and low expectations. These stereotypes are wrong on every front, and they offer big opportunities for luxury disruptors. If brands — whether they offer products, services, or both — don’t take young Chinese millennials seriously and don’t “wow” them with their offerings, they will be out of business fast.

Even major luxury brands get it wrong

Some have said that perception is the reality, but perception is an illusion unless it’s backed by data. When trying to optimize traffic in one of their Asian flagship stores, a successful luxury fashion brand offered me about ten reasons why their store wasn’t profitable. But instead of listening to the brand, we scanned any conversation we could find about them and their primary competition on social media, blogs, and elsewhere. This was done with sophisticated A.I. listening engines, and the results were then analyzed — and revealing!

The top managers’ perceptions of the brand were completely wrong. The true issue was an inability to connect with Asian consumers, and their competitors, including some they did not see as important, were hijacking consumers simply by providing more relevant content. Hence, consumers didn’t go to the store because they were going to competing brands instead. In the end, it was not a problem with the store but a branding issue.

The belief that millennials and especially GenZ are a fad because they have no money is a major misconception!

In China, more than 80% of luxury purchases are done by millennials and GenZ, worldwide close to 40%. Those numbers contradict the belief of many that younger consumers have no money. Besides, the world’s most successful luxury fashion brand in the last years, Gucci, is the luxury brand that has the highest affinity with young consumers.

Brands must question everything — even more so if a brand is successful

When a brand is successful, it’s at its most vulnerable because that’s when they get complacent by simply continuing what had made the brand successful. With rapidly changing trends and consumer expectations, doing the same over and over will guarantee failure. Luxury brands need to create unique experiences. Most of them forget this, especially when they are successful. By definition, a unique experience cannot be repeated, hence, the secret of luxury is the art of perpetual surprise. This is why, when brands are audited, everything needs to be challenged to identify gaps and opportunities.

Luxury brands are not focusing enough on brand equity

Recently, the marketing director of a fashion brand’s Chinese management team told me that her impression was that all Western brands do the same things in China. It’s true, many brands will focus on new product launches, campaigns, and fashion shows and events. What they forget to do, alas, is give consumers a reason to buy their specific brand.

Very few brands tell their story right, and even fewer are excellent in providing a “branded experience” along all touchpoints of the customer journey. One inconsistency can end a brand’s relationship with a customer. And in luxury, the stakes for brands are much higher, especially when it comes to younger consumers. If those consumers feel cheated by a negative experience or become bored because they aren’t surprised anymore, they will move on. This is why relying on internal perception is so dangerous.

Customer perception is reality. And this is why excellence in luxury brand equity definition and execution is not optional — it’s a must. And with most luxury brands currently losing money in China, the time to act is now.

Daniel Langer is CEO of the luxury, lifestyle and consumer brand strategy firm Équité. He consults some of the leading luxury brands in the world, is the author of several luxury management books, a regular keynote speaker, and holds management seminars in Europe, the USA, and Asia. Follow @drlanger

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https://jingdaily.com/the-changes-luxury-brands-need-to-make-in-china/

2019-09-02 09:11:49Z
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