quarter

The bright spot in Nike’s disappointing quarter

By Tommy Flemm 2 years ago

New York- 8 May 209: the nike flagship facade in new york. nike is one of the biggest sport manufacturing company in the world.

Nike’s (NKE) disappointing fourth-quarter results reflected the harsh realities of COVID-19 facing most retail brands. However, the fundamentals of the Swoosh brand remain strong, with the company hanging its hat on numerous bright spots centered around its digital platforms.

Nike missed on both the top and bottom lines posting revenue of $6.31 billion, vs. $7.38 billion expected with a loss per share of 51 cents, vs. earnings expectations of 10 cents per share and Q4 revenue declined 44% on a currency-neutral basis.

Though the global sportswear giant missed Wall Streets’ expectations, the consensus among analysts was that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to make Q4 a rough one for Nike.

By March 2020, Nike saw 90% of its retail stores shut down due to COVID-19, which

… Read More

iRobot stock fueled by stay-at-home orders despite tough quarter for vacuum maker

By Tommy Flemm 2 years ago

iRobot’s stock (IRBT) has been on autopilot amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, up a cool 75% in the past three months.

The reason for the strong move may be as simple as people buying iRobot’s legendary Roomba robot vacuums as an investment in their homes. It’s not unlike strong demand of late by consumers for power tools, appliances and paint, as heard on first quarter earnings conference calls from home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe’s.

“Coming out of the first quarter, we are starting to see a very strong, positive trend,” iRobot co-founder and CEO Colin Angle said on Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. “I think people spending more time at home, while at the same time having less time particularly if they are caretakers for kids, to keep them organized. They actually need more help, and that’s leading them to invest in their home.”

All of that’s not to

… Read More

Nearly 40% of the economy may vanish in the second quarter because of COVID-19, but then do something really surprising

By Tommy Flemm 2 years ago

The S&P 500 has crossed the 3,000 level again and investors are clearly riding high on hope for a second half economic recovery post the worst of COVID-19.

But that doesn’t mean the market is immune to a pullback this summer primarily because the economic data will likely continue to be horrible. Remember bulls, the U.S. economy has been kicked in the face by the pandemic, and a rebound won’t happen overnight simply because states are reopening. Corporate sales and profits remain under severe strain, sending many off to explore bankruptcy or cut thousands of workers even with quarantines being lifted.

“We think that the reported unemployment rate may be around as high as 20% in May,” Barclays chief U.S. economist Michael Gapen warned on Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. The unemployment rate in April increased by 10.3 percentage points to 14.7%.

Gapen believes the U.S. economy may contract a

… Read More

‘This is a kitchen sink quarter’: strategist

By Tommy Flemm 2 years ago

On Tuesday the S&P 500 (^GSPC) traded above 3,000 for the first time since early March, and the Dow (^DJIA) hovered above 25,000 for much of the session, but one strategist warns a pause and digestion in the markets is likely.

“While I do think we’re going to 30,000 [on the Dow] next year, and 40,000 by 2023, I don’t think this is the beginning of the run to new highs, right here,” Paul Schatz, president of Heritage Capital told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move.

“I think we need some pause and digestion first,” he added.

Schatz notes that since the middle of April, with the exception of the Nasdaq (^IXIC), the markets have been in a trading range, bouncing around from the lower to upper end of the band.

“The S&P 500 has had a slight upward bias, but really the Dow, the mids, the smalls, have almost been

… Read More

Expectations for the second quarter are relatively strong

By Tommy Flemm 2 years ago

Intel CEO Bob Swan is staying mostly upbeat on the path forward for the tech giant this year.

“So we had an outstanding first quarter. Our expectations for the second quarter are relatively strong. And our outlook for the second half is honestly, it’s a bit cloudy in light of how these global pandemic impacts on the economy is going to impact demand signals for the industry. But the first half will be very strong and we’ll learn more as we go through the second quarter for the outlook for the year,” Swan said on Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade.

Swan has a lot of reasons to stay optimistic on the trajectory of Intel even in the face of COVID-19, which has weighed on companies’ capital expenditure spending plans. Chief among them is a bang-up first quarter, underpinned by strength in the cloud business, PCs, and autonomous driving platform Mobileye.

… Read More