Thursday, July 28, 2016

Whole Foods shares fall after sales miss

Whole Foods shares fall after sales miss

Whole FoodsReuters
Whole Foods on Wednesday reported quarterly sales that missed analysts expectations, as it worked to cut prices and boost traffic.
The grocery-store chain reported fiscal-third-quarter sales totaling a record $3.7 billion, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.37. Analysts had estimated that Whole Foods had revenue of $3.72 billion, according to Bloomberg. 
Whole Foods shares fell by as much as 4% in pre-market trading on Thursday. 
Comparable-store sales — at locations open for at least one year – fell 2.6%, greater than an expected decline by 2.4%. 
The company has been focusing on cutting costs, with a $300 million-target. This could lead to cheaper groceries for its customers who have lower-priced options that are also organic; Whole Foods is currently one of the most expensive places to buy food
It launched a new chain of stores, called 365 by Whole Foods Market, to effectively compete with the likes of Trader Joe's and Kroger. To offer cheaper items, the company is scaling back on the design and furnishing of the new stores. 
"Through lower capital and operating costs, we are able to offer great values to our customers, and the response [to 365] has been overwhelmingly positive," said John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, in the earnings statement.
Whole Foods said it expects to open two new stores during its fiscal fourth quarter. It estimated that its adjusted EPS in its fiscal fourth quarter would be between $0.23 and $0.24, short of analysts' forecast for $0.25.  Screen Shot 2016 07 28 at 7.48.05 AMGoogle

Facebook smashes earnings, stock soars

Facebook smashes earnings, stock soars

mark zuckerbergFacebook CEO Mark ZuckerbergSteve Jennings/Getty
Facebook just smashed its Q2 earnings.
The company accelerated its revenue growth in the second quarter, delivering a 59% increase that blew past Wall Street targets and sent its shares rocketing up 8% to a new all time high in after hours trading on Wednesday.
The stock is now only up about 5.5%, likely related to Facebook cautioning investors that it doesn't expect as much growth in the coming quarters.  
Here are the most important numbers:
  • Q2 earnings per share (adjusted): $0.97 vs expectations of $0.82
  • Q2 revenue: $6.44 billion versus $6.02 billion expected, up 59% year-over-year
  • Q2 monthly active users: 1.71 billion (1.69 billion expected), an increase of 15% year-over-year
  • Q2 daily active users: 1.13 billion (1.12 billion expected), up 17% year-over-year
The ratio of DAUs and MAUs — the best way to measure Facebook's engagement — held steady at 66%, despite worries from Wall Street that increased competition from the likes of Snapchat is stealing away people's attention. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said on the company's earnings call that time spent on its suite of apps had "increased double digit percentages" year-over-year. The last update he gave was last quarter, when he revealed that people were spending a stunning 50 minutes a day on its apps, discluding WhatsApp. 
Once again, the company's growth is particularly strong on mobile, where it saw 1.03 billion of its DAUs (up 22% year-over-year) and 1.57 billion of its MAUs (up 20% year-over-year). No surprise, about 84% of Facebook's advertising revenue came from mobile, up from about 76% in Q2 2015.
Facebook DAUFacebook
One less sunny moment of Facebook's earnings call was when CFO David Wehner said that Facebook expects that it will see lower growth rates in the next couple quarters, because it doesn't expect as big of an increase in ad load to help drive revenue. This quarter, Facebook saw a 49% increase in ad impressions, but it thinks it has almost reached the peak number of ads it can squeeze into your Newsfeed. 
In light of the company's recent explosion in video, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told Bloomberg that she's looking for short-form video content deals. This wouldn't be the first time Facebook has paid for content: It has divvied out more than $50 million to publications like Buzzfeed and Business Insider to experiment with its Live video platform. On the call, Zuckerberg said that video is "at the heart" of all its products, and he sees Facebook as "video first." 
As usual, Facebook didn't specifically break out its Instagram ad revenue, but Zuckerberg said that the controversial decision to start ranking posts via algorithm led to an increase in both time spent and sharing. Although Facebook's main social network is driving most of its growth, it's also seeing "significant" growth from Instagram and its Audience Network.  
Here are the other important numbers: 
  • Total costs and expenses were $3.69 billion, up 33% year-over-year andcapital expenditures were $995 million.
  • Free cash flow for the first quarter of 2016 was $2.20 billion.
  • Only 3% (197 million) of Facebook's revenue came from payments and other fees, down 8% year-over-year — the company attributed this decline to a drop in revenue from gaming apps.
  • Most of Facebook's revenue comes from North America and Europe with about only 25% ($1.6 billion) coming from Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world. But those areas account for 67% of its monthly active users.  The average revenue per user in those regions is still tiny, compared to in the US: $1.77 and $1.13, respectively, versus $14.34 and $4.72 in the US and Europe.
  • Facebook has 14,500 employees, up 32% year-over year 
Here's a look at where Facebook makes its money:
FacebookFacebook
Sandberg talked a lot about how Facebook has seen an increase in the number of small businesses advertising on the site. There are now 60 million monthly active business pages. 
Zuckerberg also addressed one of Wall Street's favorite topics: the commercial possibility of search. Right now, Facebook is seeing 2 billion searches per day, which is up from 1.5 billion at this time last year. Although he said that the site isn't trying to monetize yet, he did acknowledge that it has entered the second stage of its monetization evolution. (The company has said in the past that all Facebook products follow the same path: First, make it useful for regular users, then make it organically useful for business users, and finally, start charging business users.)
Business Insider will be covering Facebook's results live, including its earnings call, so hit refresh or click here for the latest updates.

It looks like the biggest takeover in years is in trouble

It looks like the biggest takeover in years is in trouble

sad Budweiser can on train tracksThe maker of Budweiser is in a deal to buy the maker of Miller for $125 billion — but now that deal might be in trouble. YouTube/Scott Taipale
The beer giant SABMiller has told its employees to stop working on the company's combination with Anheuser-Busch InBev,Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
That follows news out Tuesday that AB InBev, the maker of Budweiser, had raised its bid to £45 ($59) a share from the £44 ($57) announced back in October.
The new offer values SABMiller at roughly $125 billion, up fromabout $109 billion last October, based on exchange rates at the time.
Numerous activist investors in SABMiller, including Elliott Management, had raised concerns about the deal following a 12% drop in the pound versus the dollar since the UK voted in June to leave the European Union.
AB InBev also tweaked the terms of an alternative share-and-cash structure designed for SABMiller's two largest shareholders, raising the cash element by £0.88 ($1.15) a share,according to Reuters.



AB InBev's new bid for  SABMiller is $125bn (£82.7bn), the 3rd largest M&A deal on record  
The beer maker's shares dipped in response to the news Wednesday.
Screen Shot 2016 07 27 at 12.10.11 PMInvesting.com

Fed holds rates and says there are now fewer reasons to be worried about the US economy

Fed holds rates and says there are now fewer reasons to be worried about the US economy

janet yellenFederal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 21 to testify before the US Senate Banking Committee.Evan Vucci/AP
There are now fewer reasons to be worried about the US economy, according to the Federal Reserve.
"Near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished," the Fed's policy statement said on Wednesday.
As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee left the benchmark fed funds rate unchanged in a 0.25% to 0.50% range.
"On balance, payrolls and other labor market indicators point to some increase in labor utilization in recent months," the statement said.
This more upbeat assessment compared to the June statement indicates that the Fed still thinks that it can raise interest rates at least once this year, as its projections show. Concerns about the economic impact of the UK referendum to leave the EU, employment, and perhaps the market's lack of desire for higher rates right now likely put the Fed on hold in July.
The Fed noted that business spending has been weak, while inflation continues to run below its 2% objective. It said that it will continue to monitor inflation and global economic events.
The statement came at the end of the FOMC's two-day meeting in Washington, but was not accompanied by new economic projections or a press conference by Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
Investors are looking ahead to the minutes of this meeting due in August, and to Yellen's comments at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in August.
"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June indicates that the labor market strengthened and that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate rate. Job gains were strong in June following weak growth in May. On balance, payrolls and other labor market indicators point to some increase in labor utilization in recent months. Household spending has been growing strongly but business fixed investment has been soft. Inflation has continued to run below the Committee's 2 percent longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and in prices of non-energy imports. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; most survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed, on balance, in recent months.
"Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee currently expects that, with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market indicators will strengthen. Inflation is expected to remain low in the near term, in part because of earlier declines in energy prices, but to rise to 2 percent over the medium term as the transitory effects of past declines in energy and import prices dissipate and the labor market strengthens further. Near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished. The Committee continues to closely monitor inflation indicators and global economic and financial developments.
"Against this backdrop, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting further improvement in labor market conditions and a return to 2 percent inflation.
"In determining the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will assess realized and expected economic conditions relative to its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation. This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments. In light of the current shortfall of inflation from 2 percent, the Committee will carefully monitor actual and expected progress toward its inflation goal. The Committee expects that economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate; the federal funds rate is likely to remain, for some time, below levels that are expected to prevail in the longer run. However, the actual path of the federal funds rate will depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data.
"The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction, and it anticipates doing so until normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is well under way. This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions.
"Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Janet L. Yellen, Chair; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Lael Brainard; James Bullard; Stanley Fischer; Loretta J. Mester; Jerome H. Powell; Eric Rosengren; and Daniel K. Tarullo. Voting against the action was Esther L. George, who preferred at this meeting to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1/2 to 3/4 percent."

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Twitter warns that advertiser demand is falling and the stock is crashing

Twitter warns that advertiser demand is falling and the stock is crashing

Jack Dorsey Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey AP Images
Twitter's stock is crashing, down 10% in after-hours trading, after delivering a revenue forecast that fell well short of Wall Street expectations.
"We're seeing a continuation of the trends discussed last quarter with less overall advertiser demand than expected," Twitter said in its letter to shareholders on Tuesday.
Here are the key numbers:
  • Q2 revenue: $602 million, up 20% year-over-year, and short of the $607 million expected by analysts.
  • Q2 EPS (adjusted): $0.13 versus $0.09 expected by analysts.
  • Q2 monthly active users: 313 million, up a hair from 310 million in the first quarter of the year.
  • Q3 revenue guidance: $590 million to $610 million versus $681.4 million expected by analysts.
Twitter's revenue growth continued to slow in the second quarter, expanding 20% year-on-year, compared to the 61% growth it delivered at this time last year. Twitter blamed the slowdown on increasing competition for social-marketing budgets and the fact that the prices it charges to advertise on its service is higher than others.
"This has proven to be a headwind in growing Twitter's share of overall social budgets and in our ability to grow faster in both video and performance advertising," Twitter said.
Meanwhile, the company's number of users continues to be stuck in the mud, with Twitter adding just 3 million new users in the second quarter. In the US, Twitter's monthly active users grew from 65 million to 66 million.
Here's a look at Twitter's stalled user growth:
TwitterTwitter
Twitter is trying to rekindle its growth and prove that it can be a mainstream online service to rival Facebook, rather than a niche product. Twitter's monthly active users have stalled over the past year, even as younger rivals such as Snapchat and Instagram are growing rapidly.
Under CEO Jack Dorsey, Twitter is trying to position itself as the go-to destination for live video and updates for following real-time events, from sports to political protests.
But investors are not convinced. Twitter's stock has plunged about 50% from its 52-week high of $36.67, though it's regained some ground in recent weeks after bottoming out under the $14 mark.
Twitter posted a net loss of $107 million, or $0.15 per share, on a GAAP basis in the second quarter.

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